Webb's Stores: Cloud Computing Strategy, Risks, and Mitigation

This report provides a comprehensive overview of Webb's Stores' strategy for migrating from an SQL database platform to cloud computing. It explores the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) approaches, comparing their advantages and disadvantages to determine the most suitable path for the company. The report delves into the security measures required to protect the database within an IaaS instance, addressing potential risks associated with the database, IaaS infrastructure, communication, data backup, storage, and retrieval. It also outlines a disaster recovery strategy and discusses measures to protect access to the IaaS infrastructure, MS SQL Server, cloud network, and backup/restore infrastructure. The conclusion emphasizes the benefits of cloud adoption, recommending employee training to facilitate the transition.

Running head: CLOUD COMPUTING
Cloud Computing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

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Executive Summary
The aim of this report is to get an overall idea of the Webb’s Stores strategy to move to cloud
platform from SQL Database platform. This report also discusses about IaaS and PaaS in brief. It
also points out the several risks and measures to mitigate the risk in using the cloud platform.

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Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................4
Part 1....................................................................................................................................4
IaaS approach of moving the database to the Cloud........................................................4
PaaS approach of moving the database to the Cloud.......................................................4
Advantages and Disadvantages of IaaS and PaaS approach...........................................5
Recommendations............................................................................................................5
Part 2....................................................................................................................................6
Security to protect database in an IaaS instance public cloud.........................................6
Benefits and issues of security measures.........................................................................6
Risk associated with the database....................................................................................6
Risk associated with the IaaS infrastructure....................................................................7
Risks associated with communications between Webb’s and their IaaS database..........7
Risk of Backing up data to the Cloud..............................................................................7
Risk of Storage of data in the Cloud................................................................................7
Risk of Retrieval of data from the cloud.........................................................................7
Disaster Recovery Strategy..............................................................................................8
Protecting the access to IaaS Infrastructure by Webb’s Stores.......................................8
Protecting the access to Ms SQL Server 2012 R2 cloud instance by Webb’s Stores.....8

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Protecting the access to Cloud Network Infrastructure by Webb’s Stores......................8
Protecting the access to Cloud Backup and Restore infrastructure by Webb’s Stores....8
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................9
References..........................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Cloud Computing is an internet or web based methodology of computation that allows
sharing of resources, processing and storing data online.
This report discusses about the approach that Webb’s Stores will adopt to move to a
cloud technology. It also discusses about the risks and benefits of moving to cloud.
Part 1
IaaS approach of moving the database to the Cloud
Infrastructure as a service is one of the three service models of Cloud Computing that
will allow Webb’s Stores to access certain resources without purchasing on its own (Jadeja &
Modi,2012). The IaaS approach to build an application to load all the software for running it in
the cloud. It also requires the use of virtual machines. Webb’s stores need to take into
consideration certain points like technology domain before moving into cloud (Rittinghouse &
Ransome, 2016). IaaS provides the access to certain infrastructural facilities. This approach of
migration is distinct from migrating through PaaS approach.
PaaS approach of moving the database to the Cloud
Platform as a service is one of the three models of Cloud (Wang et al., 2012). Webb’s
Stores will get the facilities of delivering and developing software that will enable them to design
cloud applications. Webb’s Stores need to configure an Azure SQL Database along with Azure
Webb App in order to move to cloud via PaaS approach. The company will never have to log in
the VM server (Gibson et al., 2012).

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Advantages and Disadvantages of IaaS and PaaS approach
IaaS Approach PaaS Approach
Advantages:
 The workload required is less.
 There is no requirement for adaptation
(Kavis, 2014).
 This approach saves the expenses of
capital required for hardware.
Advantages:
 This approach is scalable and dynamic
in nature.
 The procedure of configuration is easy.
 It has the lowest cost.
Disadvantages:
 This is the most expensive approach
among.
 Customers take the responsibility of the
virtual machine and backups.
 The control of the server is not in the
hand of the customers.
Disadvantages:
 The migration complexity is moderate.
 To make the application compatible
with PaaS, the customer needs to
modify. (Garrison, Kim & Wakefield,
2012).
 Platform is can be shared among
several customers.
Table 1: Benefits and Challenges of IaaS and PaaS Approach
Recommendations
The best suggestion for Webb’s Stores would be to take the PaaS approach as this is easy
to configure and scalable. It will also provide the company with storage and application
developing platform. This approach is cost effective and less time consuming.

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Part 2
Security to protect database in an IaaS instance public cloud
The data in the database must be protected by VPN or SSL. In case of IaaS public cloud
the customer must secure the operating system. The use of MFA or access based on role to the
dashboard is also another measure. The database must be incorporated with the cloud security
measure. The IaaS vendor must provide tools for protecting the database in the cloud. The users
must gain total visibility into the public cloud. They must take the help of services that will help
the users to detect any type of threats (Moreno-Vozmediano, 2012). These kinds of security
measures must protect the database in an IaaS instance public cloud.
Benefits and issues of security measures
The benefits of the security measures are much more as compared to the issues. The
benefits are that the security differentiates the company from the rest in the market. It is able to
rapidly scale resources and gather evidences. It makes the system efficient. The issues involved
in taking security measures are isolation failure and governance loss because the vendor takes the
responsibility of the security system.
Risk associated with the database
The major risks are the risk of security and control. The information must be encrypted in
order to protect the database. Any kind of malicious attack might cause loss of all data. In case of
downtime there must be severe problem.

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Risk associated with the IaaS infrastructure
The major risk is badly implemented API. There can also be malicious attacks from any
insiders leading to major loss of data. Credentials can be lost due to serious issues harming the
users of the data. Here it will affect the Webb’s Stores.
Risks associated with communications between Webb’s and their IaaS database
The main issue in communication arises during any technical difficulty. There can be
down time that might cause the communication process to become slower or there can even be
no communication due to this (Nathani, Chaudhary & Somani, 2012). The air traffic control and
internet plays a major role that affects the communication.
Risk of Backing up data to the Cloud
The backup windows are extremely large where the pipe of the internet acts as a limiting
factor. The process of backup is totally dependent on the speed of the LAN and there is also a
chance of bandwidth constraint.
Risk of Storage of data in the Cloud
There is no control over the access of data. There are also chances of data loss and
leakage. Files stored in the cloud are vulnerable to data snooping. All these are the main risks
associated with storing data in the cloud.
Risk of Retrieval of data from the cloud
The windows considered for restoring or retrieving the data is too small. Other risks are
that the technology is shared among several clients other than Webb’s Stores. There are chances
of government intrusion and also the location of the server can create an issue. These risks are
associated with retrieval of data.

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Disaster Recovery Strategy
The recovery strategy in case of a disaster can be many types. Webb’s Stores uses the
cloud based recovery where the requirement is only storage and virtual machines. The RTO is
less favorable. The recovery of cloud can take long time in the time of recovery (Nathani,
Chaudhary & Somani, 2012). A replicated form of data can be kept in another application or an
entire virtual machine can be replicated. This process of recovery is much simpler than Webb`s
Stores previous method.
Protecting the access to IaaS Infrastructure by Webb’s Stores
Webb’s must know who is accessing what kind of data. They must authorize few people
for accessing certain sensitive data. They must also limit the data access of data.
Protecting the access to Ms SQL Server 2012 R2 cloud instance by Webb’s Stores
Cloud providers can play a major role in protecting the access to cloud instance. There
must be authenticated groups who can access the cloud instance.
Protecting the access to Cloud Network Infrastructure by Webb’s Stores
The cloud network must be encrypted and certain policies and protocols must be
incorporated to limit the access cloud network (Nathani, Chaudhary & Somani, 2012).
Protecting the access to Cloud Backup and Restore infrastructure by Webb’s Stores
Few employees are given the authority to backup and restore data through the cloud. The
cloud must be protected with encryptions and other security policies.

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Conclusion
This report concludes that the Webb’s Stores decision of moving to the cloud has risks as
well as benefits. However the benefit is more so they should train employees to get accustomed
of this cloud technology.

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References
Garrison, G., Kim, S., & Wakefield, R. L. (2012). Success factors for deploying cloud
computing. Communications of the ACM, 55(9), 62-68.
Kavis, M. J. (2014). Architecting the cloud: design decisions for cloud computing service models
(SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS). John Wiley & Sons.
Rittinghouse, J. W., & Ransome, J. F. (2016). Cloud computing: implementation, management,
and security. CRC press.
Wang, C., Wang, Q., Ren, K., Cao, N., & Lou, W. (2012). Toward secure and dependable
storage services in cloud computing. IEEE transactions on Services Computing, 5(2),
220-232.
Moreno-Vozmediano, R., Montero, R. S., & Llorente, I. M. (2012). Iaas cloud architecture: From
virtualized datacenters to federated cloud infrastructures. Computer, 45(12), 65-72.
Nathani, A., Chaudhary, S., & Somani, G. (2012). Policy based resource allocation in IaaS
cloud. Future Generation Computer Systems, 28(1), 94-103.
Jadeja, Y., & Modi, K. (2012, March). Cloud computing-concepts, architecture and challenges.
In Computing, Electronics and Electrical Technologies (ICCEET), 2012 International
Conference on (pp. 877-880). IEEE.
Gibson, J., Rondeau, R., Eveleigh, D., & Tan, Q. (2012, November). Benefits and challenges of
three cloud computing service models. In Computational Aspects of Social Networks
(CASoN), 2012 Fourth International Conference on (pp. 198-205). IEEE.