How can you design and deploy a cloud infrastructure that meets your business needs?

2 Choose your cloud model

When deciding on a cloud model, you have to consider your requirements and the levels of control, responsibility, and customization that each model offers. The main cloud models are public, private, hybrid, and multi-cloud. A public cloud is provided by a cloud provider such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform. You benefit from scalability and security but have less control and flexibility over the configuration of the resources. A private cloud is built and maintained by you either on-premises or in a colocation facility. This gives you more control over the resources but also requires you to bear the costs and risks of building and managing the infrastructure. A hybrid cloud combines public and private cloud resources to benefit from both worlds. Lastly, a multi-cloud uses multiple public cloud providers to diversify your portfolio and avoid vendor lock-in. However, this can lead to complexity when managing different cloud platforms and services.

3 Design your cloud architecture

When designing your cloud architecture, it's essential to ensure that it aligns with your business objectives, requirements, and constraints. Additionally, your cloud architecture should be scalable to handle fluctuations in demand and workload without compromising performance and availability. It should also be reliable enough to recover from failures and disruptions, as well as secure enough to protect data and resources from unauthorized access. Furthermore, it should be efficient in optimizing the utilization and allocation of cloud resources through automation, orchestration, and optimization tools and techniques.

4 Deploy your cloud infrastructure

Once you have designed your cloud architecture, you need to deploy your cloud infrastructure. This process involves provisioning, configuring, and launching your cloud resources. Depending on the cloud model, different tools and methods can be used for deployment. For instance, you can use the graphical user interface (GUI) or command-line interface (CLI) of your cloud provider to create and manage resources manually or programmatically. Additionally, predefined or customized templates or scripts of the cloud provider can be used to automate and standardize deployment. Furthermore, third-party tools such as Terraform, Ansible, or CloudFormation can be employed to automate and orchestrate deployment across multiple cloud platforms and services.

6 Review and improve your cloud infrastructure

Finally, you need to review and improve your cloud infrastructure, which involves evaluating and enhancing your cloud resources. To do this, you can use various tools and methods depending on your business needs. For instance, cloud audit tools such as CloudCheckr, CloudHealth, or Azure Advisor help with compliance, governance, and best practices. Cloud optimization tools like Spot, ParkMyCloud, or Azure Cost Management can be used to optimize and reduce resources for efficiency and savings. Lastly, cloud innovation tools like AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, or Google Cloud Run allow for experimentation with new cloud services and features.