How can you align cloud architecture with overall system architecture?

N?o podemos deixar de dar êndase ma quest?o da seguran?a cibernética, seja ela dos dados (se falamos do mundo enterprise) ou seja ela dos dispositivos de controle industrial (se falamos do mundo de OT (Operational Technology). Um dos grandes desafios é conseguir aplicar os conceitos de seguran?a em uma arquitetura de nuvem. Ja que o mundo de OT usa o modelo de Purdue (segrega??o em níveis de acordo com a funcionalidade do componente e/ou do sistema). Por exemplo: para acessar um sensor do campo desde um PC na rede corporativa da empresa, deve-se acessar o nivel 1 (PLC), depois o nivel 2 (esta??o de engenharia), depois nivel 3 (scada), depois passar pela DMZ industrial (3.5), até chegar no dito PC. Como aplicar esse conceito com cloud??

aligning cloud architecture with system architecture is essential for organizations seeking to optimize their IT infrastructure, enhance their performance, reduce costs, improve security, and achieve better alignment with their business goals. By embracing a cloud-first approach and carefully considering the integration of cloud resources with existing system architecture, businesses can reap the full benefits of cloud computing and position themselves for success in the digital era. In my experience, we have aligned choose correct machine type for having appropriate system performance. So there are many such Benefits.

The cloud and system architecture must align on the risk posture, cybersecurity posture, non functional abilities and business goals. If they don’t align even on any one of these aspects, it can bring down the value of the overall solution.

As a CTO, I once tackled the challenge of aligning cloud architecture for Kubernetes and data analysis. We integrated Kubernetes for its container orchestration and scalability, improving our infrastructure's adaptability. We tailored our cloud architecture for data-intensive workloads, choosing compute and storage solutions for efficiency. Despite challenges, this focus enhanced our data analysis. Designing for scalability was key. Our architecture could dynamically scale, maintaining performance during data traffic surges.

By following a systematic approach that includes defining architecture goals, understanding cloud capabilities, selecting appropriate adoption patterns and deployment models, ensuring integration and interoperability, considering scalability and performance, addressing security and compliance, establishing governance and management practices, and planning for change, organizations can effectively align their cloud architecture with the broader system. This alignment enables organizations to leverage the benefits of cloud technologies while maintaining coherence, flexibility, and future-proofing their IT infrastructure. Ultimately, a well-aligned cloud architecture contributes to the success and resilience of the overall system architecture.

It helps to have different staging areas. Say setting up a development zone, a unit test zone, a key user test zone and finally the live zone. I cannot overemphasize the value of automated qc checks when moving up the staging ladder (from dev to deployed). I have had good experience with Sonarqube and Zeronorth for this particular task.

To build a cloud-native application that meets high technical requirements, the architect and developer must align the system and cloud architectures. Applications must be able to take advantage of the capabilities of the cloud environment. For example, Kubernetes, lambdas, and instance groups provide a powerful mechanism for horizontal scaling. Applications must take this into account in their design - be stateless, support graceful shutdown, and run correctly concurrently.

As a CTO, I orchestrated the alignment of our cloud architecture with our system architecture, focusing on understanding the system's context and objectives. We selected cloud service and deployment models to match our requirements and constraints, emphasizing flexibility and scalability. Our design principles included modularity, cohesion, and encapsulation, ensuring a robust and scalable architecture. We used standard frameworks for clear documentation and communication. Finally, we continuously evaluated and improved the architecture against quality attributes and non-functional requirements, ensuring a dynamic, evolving system.

You need to virtualize hardware environment, storage, and communications then you decide what is the most cost effective solution that meets requirments.

This should be looked at from four lenses - Infra, Data, Application logic or code (like containerisation) and finally DevSecOps. We did a full lifecycle development of a platform taking it from docker to EKS, plus migrating across region while also migrating the business data. It is better when all angles are covered, and principles around security, regulations, optimisation of CAPEx as well OPEX are aligned.

Aligning cloud architecture with system architecture presents challenges due to the complexity and diversity of cloud environments and system components. It's important for a CTO to balance the trade-offs and dependencies between the two architectures while managing issues related to security, privacy, compliance, and governance. Furthermore, adapting to the changes and uncertainties in cloud and system contexts is crucial, as is coordinating and collaborating with cloud providers and system stakeholders.

You need a Object Request Broker which routes Requests for Services to the appropriate environment that can fulfill them and is dynamically updated with status of those environments.

Aligning cloud and overall systems architecture presents notable challenges, including the complexity of integrating disparate systems, particularly legacy ones, with cloud solutions. Ensuring consistent security and compliance across hybrid environments is another significant hurdle. Additionally, the skills gap in cloud and traditional systems expertise poses a challenge, as does the risk of vendor lock-in, which can limit flexibility and potentially increase long-term costs. These issues require careful strategic planning and skilled resource management to overcome.

Aligning cloud architecture with system can pose challenges due to - differences in compute capabilities restricts application movement - time sensitive adaptations with deviations in latency - distinctions in access to sensor data & connectivity - diverse constraints in power and memory resources

The most important part for a Cloud Adoption is to have a deep analisys in your current architecture. The Cloud adoption could not be a way you move from OnPrem environment to cloud without a deep analisys (if it is your case). Also to accelerate the could adoption a cloud first adoption is a mindset and aligment with the organization to speed up your transformation. Always aligning cloud and systems architecture, a detailed assessment of current stage of your architecture is mandatory.

In a system design both edge and cloud come with own advantages to fulfill application needs. Key Strategies for alignment can be to - analyze data patterns in application context - create scalable design nodes - define application agnostic interfaces - dynamic compute activation

For a concrete strategy in aligning cloud and systems architecture, start with a detailed assessment of current systems to identify compatibility and integration points with cloud services. Adopt a microservices architecture to enable modular, scalable design. Prioritize staff training in cloud technologies to address the skills gap. Use a multi-cloud strategy to prevent vendor lock-in, ensuring flexibility in choosing services that best fit different needs. Implement robust governance policies for security and compliance across both cloud and on-premises systems. Regularly review and adjust the alignment strategy to stay in sync with evolving technology trends and business objectives.

TOGAF is a structured framework aligning business goals with technology. "Overall system architecture" covers an organization's comprehensive structure. TOGAF's ADM method guides systematic enterprise architecture development. When integrating cloud architecture, TOGAF ensures alignment with business objectives, incorporates security, and aids change management. Overall, TOGAF guides cohesive development and integration of architectures to meet organizational goals.

To tackle the challenges of aligning cloud architecture with system architecture, adopting effective strategies is vital. This involves defining and prioritizing cloud architecture goals and principles, ensuring they are in harmony with the system's vision and strategy. Implementing a systematic and iterative process for cloud architecture is crucial, with stakeholder involvement in each phase. A holistic and integrated approach is key, treating cloud and system architectures as interrelated and interdependent. Utilizing cloud architecture standards, guidelines, methods, and tools can be highly beneficial. Additionally, learning from the experiences and best practices of other systems and organizations offers valuable insights.

At Iturintel, cloud architecture is aligned with system architecture to support a microservices ecosystem using Kubernetes, gRPC, and Kafka. This setup allows independent development, deployment, and scaling of services, enhancing agility and resilience. Kubernetes orchestrates these microservices, providing automated container operations across clusters. gRPC facilitates efficient, low-latency communication between microservices, crucial for real-time data processing. Kafka, as a distributed streaming platform, handles real-time data feeds, supporting high throughput and fault tolerance for Iturintel's data analysis services.

The ORB needs to have a Transaction remapping function to convert transactions from differing Services and a Processing Plan that can be dynamically modified to accommodate error conditions or workloadd.

Uma coisa que n?o podemos fazer esquecer é em finops, é como a limpeza em casa, temos que sempre fazer uma faxina. Os custos tendem a crescer sempre, ent?o temos que ver possibilidades de n?o deixar os custos antigos aumentarem para que pelo menos tenhamos novos custos para novos produtos.

You can’t run before you can walk in this case. This requires vast variety of skills and experience that is not easy to come by. Hence one should not jump into a major complex use case till they develop internal skill pool, success stories based on small use case and confirmation of stakeholders to support such ambitions. Finally, cloud does not mean simplicity always, however it does way out when it comes to security, overall cost of ownership, risk management etc.