Analysis of Cloud Computing Solutions for Webb's Retail Operations

This report analyzes the implementation of cloud computing for Webb's Stores, a regional retailer in Australia and New Zealand. The report focuses on migrating the existing database to the cloud (IaaS), addressing security concerns, and evaluating cloud backup and disaster recovery strategies. It explores the benefits and risks associated with database migration, including data loss, corruption, and application stability. The report recommends security measures to protect access to the IaaS infrastructure, the MS SQL Server cloud instance, the cloud network infrastructure, and the cloud backup and restore infrastructure. The report also considers the impact of cloud backup on disaster recovery plans, addressing risks such as security, standardization, and data control. The overall aim is to increase the organization’s responsiveness and flexibility by leveraging the advantages of cloud computing.

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Executive Summary
Webb’s Stores in Australia is a successful regional retailer that operates stores, are planning to
close the Auckland data centre and hence update or replace the older infrastructure by moving
their existing data to the Cloud service. The Webb’s store is concerned at the increasing costs of
LTO 6 tapes that are being used for their backup of mission critical data, the at the cost of off-
site storage of these tapes, but they are really concerned at the time it is taking to complete a full
backup of their databases and other critical data. Webb’s Board is considering the strategies as a
technique to increase the organization’s responsiveness and flexibility.

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Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................4
1. Migration of Database.....................................................................................................5
a. Security to protect critical database on moving to IaaS instance.................................5
b. Benefits and Issues result in deployment of security measure....................................6
2. Risks associated...............................................................................................................6
a. The Database................................................................................................................7
b. The IaaS infrastructure................................................................................................7
c. Communications between Webb’s and their IaaS database in the cloud.....................8
3. Webb’s consideration for the use of Cloud backup.....................................................8
a. Risks and Issues associated with backing up data to the cloud...................................9
i. Backing up data to the Cloud...................................................................................9
ii. Storage of data in the Cloud....................................................................................9
iii. Retrieval of data from the Cloud..........................................................................10
b. Affect on DR plans by the use of Cloud backup.......................................................10
4. Accessibility protection of the service...........................................................................11
Recommend to Webb’s Board to protect access to:......................................................11

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a. Their IaaS infrastructure..................................................................................11
b. Their Ms SQL Server 2012 R2 cloud instance.................................................12
c. Their Cloud network infrastructure.................................................................12
d. Their Cloud backup and restore infrastructure.................................................12
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................14
References..........................................................................................................................15

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Introduction
The Webb’s store is present in the states of Australia and New Zealand which sells a
wide range of food stuffs along with some specialty items. Webb’s store is planning to
implement Cloud Computing in their daily retailing operations. The store has been facing issues
continuously along with the operational complexity and application management of the
information (Banerjee et al., 2015). The store retailers were advised that moving their traditional
data base to the cloud infrastructure must be an advantage for them. Webb’s Stores are
considering a plan to close the Auckland data centre and hence update or replace the older old
infrastructure by moving their existing data to the Cloud service. The Webb’s store is concerned
at the increasing costs of LTO 6 tapes that are being used for their backup of mission critical
data, the at the cost of off-site storage of these tapes, but they are really concerned at the time it
is taking to complete a full backup of their databases and other critical data. The main aim of the
store is to increase the organization’s responsiveness and flexibility. Webb’s has also planned to
start a Security and Risk workshop for the assessment of the security issues, risks and the method
that is possibly required for this is the “Hybrid Cloud” approach where the Board is concerned
about the strategic approach that may affect the (Business Continuity Plan), backup and disaster
recovery strategies.
The aim of the report is to discuss the various aspects of the Cloud approach to the
company and how is it effective enough to increase the productive and security of the
organization database.

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1. Migration of Database
As the Webb’s have decided to move their MS SQL Server 2012 R2 database to an IaaS
instance in the cloud, there can be some consequences regarding the security and privacy of the
organizational database. Hence, in this section we are going to discuss about the impact of the
strategy.
a. Security to protect critical database on moving to IaaS instance
As we have to choose a cloud for the SQL server, we will be selecting the SQL server on
Azure VMs (IaaS) over the MS SQL Server 2012 R2 database. The SQL Server installed and are
hosted in the clouds on the Windows Server Virtual Machine (VMs) that is running on Azure
which is also called the IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service). SQL servers on Azure Virtual
machines are optimized to migrate the existing applications of SQL servers where every other
SQL server application’s version and edition are present (Bruneo, 2014). This cloud server
allows hosting of multiple databases as per need and is compatible with SQL server. This also
executes cross-database transaction but offers total control over the Windows and SQL server.
SQL Server or the Azure Virtual Machines (VMs) comes within the category Infrastructure as a
Service (IaaS) that has the facility to run SQL Server inside the virtual machine in the clouds
(Drutskoy, Keller & Rexford, 2013). This has been built on the standardized hardware as similar
to the SQL Database which is owned, hosted and maintained by the Microsoft. Using a SQL
Server on a VM one can either uses a existing license or maintain pay-as-you-go for SQL servers
that are licensed and already exist in the SQL server image. It is flexible to use in every aspect.
IaaS generally has this Policy based service. The hybrid cloud utilizes both Private and
Public Cloud that performs distinct functionalities. The implementation of Hybrid Cloud is

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mainly for the e-commerce website in the retail store within the private cloud that is scalable and
secure. And the brochure website has public cloud implementation which is more cost effective.
b. Benefits and Issues result in deployment of security measure
Possible benefits of security measure in Cloud migration:
 Reduce the increasing traffic that may make it difficult to scale resources
 Reduces the operational costs with increase in the effectiveness of IT
 Fast implementation of the application and deployment for the customers
 Helps in expansion of business(García-Valls, Cucinotta & Lu, 2014)
 Helps strategically over the problems faced regarding the over growth of storage
 Helps in building a widely distributed development team. Allowing remote locatable
employees in cloud computing environment to access the applications via internet.
Though there are several security issues regarding then scenario of the retail shop:
 Usage Monitoring and Data Leakage Protection
 Authentication and Authorization
 Infrastructure Hardening
 End to End Logging and Reporting
 End to end encryption
2. Risks associated
The risk and drawbacks associated with the migration of database into clouds cannot be
ignored. Especially the risks associated with the database, IaaS infrastructure and
Communications between Webb’s and their IaaS database in the cloud (Hu & Kaabouch, 2014).

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a. The Database
Data Loss Risk: Amid the information relocation process, information misfortune can happen. At
the point when the information is relocated to the new framework or target framework, a portion
of the information may not move over from the source framework. This hazard can be dodged by
directing information relocation testing (Kumar & Charu, 2015).
Data Corruption Risk: Data corruption can always occur when ever the organization applies
terms and condition and validation over the targeted system. This may cause the unwanted data
to migrate to the new system affecting the system with crashes and information corruption. The
end user of the application thus may face several issues regarding the system.
Target Application Parameterization Risks: The parameterization risks always relates to the
targeted applications. If there are few restrictions, the targeted system can become incompatible
with programs of data migration, leading to potential error in the system introduced. Migration of
data is a great process to combat these risks.
b. The IaaS infrastructure
Semantics Risk: Semantic errors can occur at anytime if even the migration process of data has
been done efficiently. Like for example: the source data of one field can be migrated to different
column or field in the targeted system.
Extended Downtime Risk: The risk comes in the extended down time when the data migration
process takes much more time than expected. The source system in the migration time does not
gets active and hence poses potential risk for the stakeholders and the organizations (Malhotra,
Agarwal & Jaiswal, 2014).

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Application Stability Risk: The targeted system or the targeted application gets unstable at times
for numerous reasons, that may include improper development, improper coding of the new
a[application or wrong coding in the requirement of the business in the new system (Peng,
Nejabati & Simeonidou, 2013).
Interference Risk: Interference risk can make difficulty when more than one stakeholder makes
use of the application when the migration process stimulates. Risk affecting operation in the
business may occur by locking a particular table by the stakeholders and thus making it difficult
for the other stakeholders to use the table (Rittinghouse & Ransome, 2016).
c. Communications between Webb’s and their IaaS database in the cloud
The IaaS Providers provide development options for multiple platforms: mobile, browser,
and so on. This might be an easy way to make that happen, if the organization wants to develop
software that can be accessed from multiple platforms,
3. Webb’s consideration for the use of Cloud backup
 Generally the existing applications that require faster migration with minimum changes
in the clouds are implemented by the SQL Server in Azure Virtual Machine.
 There is a requirement of rapid development and examine the scenarios in case of not
buying the SQL server hardware (Swathi, Srikanth & Reddy, 2014).
 There are teams which can manage and configure the higher availability, recovery from
disasters and patching for SQL servers. To simplify the management issues some
automated feature are provided dramatically in the system software.
 The instance of 64TB SQL Server supports multiple databases as per the requirement.
 Helps in migration and constructing enterprises as well as Hybrid application.

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 Eliminated the cost of Hardware (Tao et al., 2014).
 With IaaS in public cloud, the VMs and the service running can be controlled.
a. Risks and Issues associated with backing up data to the cloud
i. Backing up data to the Cloud
There are four risks that can be considered with the backup data to the cloud:
 Security: Cloud services uses the primary security functions like the login and
pass codes but the hackers can find the way to access through the security
protocol very easily (Sharma et al., 2016). This is the place where hybrid tools
makes usable, as for keeping the local backup handy. This validates the data and
ensures that they do not just float out of the cyber space.
 Lack of standardization: All the vendors do not follow the same kind of protocol
to support the business. These vendors offer various terms to assist the
organization with upgrades, deployments and issues.
 Control over data: Migration of all the data to the cloud server in the unknown
location to the users via cloud providers can make one feel like they no longer
have the control over the database. But one can still have their rights over the data
they own (Rankothge et al., 2015).
 Outage: One of the biggest advantages of the migration of data to the cloud
platform is that it has the accessibility to the cloud.
ii. Storage of data in the Cloud
There are six main risks associated while storage of data to the clouds
 No control over the data (Manvi & Shyam, 2014)

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 Leakage of data
 BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)
 Snooping
 Key management
 Cloud Credential (Lin, Chen & Lin, 2014)
iii. Retrieval of data from the Cloud
 Requires higher internet connectivity: To obtain the information there is a
requirement of high internet speed. Any issues regarding the network would let
down the accessibility of the database (Jain & Paul, 2013). Retrieval of data may
be interrupted is not having good connection of internet.
 Data stored in the third party server: Sometimes the data may get loss if stored in
any third party server. It is important to search for a trusted and valued cloud
service provider that offers top-level security and contending service (Guide,
2013).
 Determine the bandwidth allowance: Most of the services provide unlimited
bandwidth there retrieval of data may cost more than one can expect. It is required
to limit the allowance and hence change the additional costing.
b. Affect on DR plans by the use of Cloud backup
There is always a chance for the disasters to occur all of a sudden and strike down the
business at any time. Thus, hosting the DR program in the clod service has many advantages like
the follows:

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 Elimination of Disks, back-up tapes and many more: There is no requirement to
maintain the backups by using tapes and disks. Even in the real time the data
backups could be done (Ferretti et al., 2013).
 Mission-critical data can be kept off-site: The cloud servers are redundantly
designed and are hugely. Cloud service providers would be having the DR plans
within place.
 Cost effective: The cloud service provider’s change for the service used only, thus
the business has the property to pick and choose accordingly. This leads to
immense loss in the cost (Callegati et al., 2014).
 Easily implemented with high reliability: Tape drives, disks, flash drives etc. may
be durable, but difficulty may be faced when restore functions are carried out.
 Scalable: Depending on business requirements, the cloud option can be easily
scaled up or down.
 Efficiency: leading to lower capital costs, since the data is stored in the cloud,
large servers and associated hardware is eliminated.
4. Accessibility protection of the service
Recommend to Webb’s Board to protect access to:
a. Their IaaS infrastructure
Advancement choices have been given to the IaaS provider to different stages: portable,
program and many more. IaaS Cloud Provider may give preferable security to the current
programming (Bourguiba et al., 2014). Better security may come to some degree since it is basic
for the IaaS Cloud Provider and is a piece of their fundamental business. In the event that the