Private Cloud

Private Cloud
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Private Cloud
2 a) Understanding the business requirement is the first step. The cloud should be able to
accommodate the company’s needs. The company should evaluate if required resources are
available, the cost effectiveness of providing the services and security and privacy constraints
consideration are to be made. The vendor should also be audited to offer long term services.
The cloud should also be flexible. The company and the cloud’s needs increase with time. The
cloud infrastructure should be able to handle the constant workload.
Some of the applications being used could evolve during the development and maintenance
cycle. Manually moving these processes during the cycle could lead to inefficiencies. In this case
automation could ease the process and facilitate faster service delivery and lower cost. It is
therefore appropriate to consider automation fast delivery of solutions (Cisco Blogs, 2015).
b) Microsoft system center is a set of tools used by IT experts to manage systems. It helps an
organization experience the benefits of using Microsoft Cloud Platform. Its features include
automation, self service, configuration and monitoring. The platform helps in optimization of
storage performance by management of storage spaces in Windows server, discovery of
networks which enables monitoring of networking devices and virtual networks through the
Operations Manager Console, enables seamless integration of through enabling monitoring of
private cloud infrastructure and resources (Techopedia, n.d.).
Its components include-
i. The data protection manager for backup and recovery of data
ii. The orchestrator which allows for automation of infrastructure
iii. The operations manager for monitoring of the data center. It also helps in ensuring
performance and applications availability.
iv. Service manager- It is a self-service tool that handles simultaneous connection of clients
in different environments. It is accessible from the knowledge base.
v. Virtual machine manager- This component enables unified configuration and
management of components in a data center (Svobunas, 2017).

Private Cloud
3 a) Third party data centers are cost effective, allow for availability of services throughout and
help a company to deal with complexity of new initiatives and requirements that the organization
does not have in-house (Enterprise Systems Journal, 2012). However, development in
technology keeps attackers at bay. The most severe threats posed to data centers by attackers
include:
Distributed Denial of Service attacks - Attackers exploit the vulnerability in web applications by
converting web servers into bots. They then use the bots to attack other websites. Third party
data centers could use their servers as bots to attack websites of the outsourcing companies
(Barnes, n.d.).
Structured Query Language (SQL) injections- This attack happens when a malicious code is sent
to a website then get through to the backend database. This leads to execution of database query
requests that were not intended for execution. Information retrieved from this type of attack
could be used in cyber crimes such as identity theft when a website containing credit details is
attacked (Techopedia, n.d.). SQL injections could be mitigated by only using third-party data
centers if necessary, using web application firewalls, use static instead of dynamic queries. Only
necessary information should be kept in the data centers (eSecurity Planet, 2012).
Collateral damage on Doman Name Systems- DNS servers are targeted for attacks because
being offline, subscribers cannot be able to access services . Incapacitation of the servers could
prevent domain names resolutions or access of other internet services. When the third party data
center being used by a company has a DNS attack, the company might not be able to access
internet services like sending emails if the server hosting the data center goes offline (Barnes,
n.d.).
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) security issues- More applications currently support the use of SSL.
Attackers now target the encrypted traffic. Since decryption takes more time than encryption,
firewalls could take more time trying to decrypt data for inspection giving time to attackers.
In order to mitigate these attacks, the third party data centers could deploy Application Delivery
Controllers and intercept its traffic from clients and also outsiders (Cross, 2014). The data center