Multi-Cloud Design Architecture Landing Zone

Unifying the Cloud: Designing a Multi-Cloud Landing Zone for Maximum Flexibility and Security

Investing in hyper-scaler solutions is becoming increasingly common among industries seeking to enhance their innovation, agility, speed, and time to market. In a multi-cloud design, it is important to have a well-designed landing zone that enables seamless integration between different cloud platforms. In this use case, we will be discussing a multi-cloud design between AWS and Azure. The landing zone has been designed to accommodate both platforms seamlessly.

Setting up a landing zone is the first step in any organization's cloud journey, and it serves as a modular and scalable foundation for enabling cloud solutions for businesses. When designing a cloud landing zone, several key areas must be meticulously planned to ensure a solid foundation for a successful cloud journey. In this whitepaper, we will discuss the AWS and Azure architectures for the following key areas of a landing zone.

This case study presents my unique perspective on various global engagements I have undertaken, and the solutions I have developed based on my experiences. This version emphasizes the individuality and expertise of the author, while still maintaining the focus on the case study and solutions approach.

Sample Architecture Diagram

Multi-Account Architecture: -

Creating multiple accounts is highly recommended as it provides the highest level of resource and security isolation. It enables organizations to separate different environments and applications, allowing them to isolate workloads and enhance security. AWS Control Tower and Azure Blueprints are both great tools for automating the process of creating multiple accounts and enforcing security guardrails.

AWS Control Tower simplifies the process of setting up and configuring a multi-account environment on AWS. It automates the setup of a landing zone, which includes account structure, identity and access management, networking, logging, and security. AWS Control Tower also provides a set of pre-configured guardrails that can be customized to meet specific organizational needs.

Azure Blueprints is a service in Azure that enables organizations to define a repeatable set of Azure resources that adhere to standards and requirements. It allows organizations to create a blueprint that can be used to provision a new environment that includes multiple Azure resources, such as virtual networks, storage accounts, and virtual machines. Azure Blueprints also allow organizations to enforce compliance with policies and regulatory requirements.

Overall, both AWS Control Tower and Azure Blueprints are powerful tools that enable organizations to set up an initial landing zone with implicit guardrails, security, and compliance.

Identity and Access Management: -

On this POV which I worked on, It needs to have a simple access feature for a multi-cloud environment. It had Office 365 which is a cloud-based suite for productivity and collaboration tools. Office 365 supports Single Sign-On (SSO), which allows users to access Office 365 applications and services using their existing organizational credentials.

We used Office 365 to enable IAM for AWS and Azure can be a cost-effective solution for managing access to cloud resources. Office 365 provides a range of identity and access management capabilities, including user authentication, authorization, and group management, which can be used to manage access to cloud resources.

In AWS, you can use Office 365 to enable IAM by using the AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory, which allows you to use your existing Active Directory environment to manage access to AWS resources. This can help to simplify administration and improve security by using a single set of identity and access management policies and procedures.

Similarly, in Azure, you can use Office 365 to enable IAM by using Azure AD Connect, which allows you to synchronize user identities between your on-premises Active Directory environment and Azure AD. This can help to streamline user management and ensure consistent access control across on-premises and cloud resources.

However, it is important to note that using Office 365 for IAM in AWS and Azure may have some limitations and may not provide all the capabilities that you need. For example, if you require fine-grained access control, you may need to use additional IAM tools or services.

Network Design: -

Using AWS Direct Connect and Cloud Exchange Fabric to enable hybrid connectivity between on-premises and AWS can help to ensure high-speed, secure, and reliable network access. AWS Direct Connect provides a dedicated network connection between the on-premises network and the AWS cloud, while Cloud Exchange Fabric enables easy and secure connections to multiple cloud providers, including AWS.

Using Private Connect for API connectivity to expose services within clouds or across the cloud provider. This can help to ensure that none of the services are exposed to the public internet, improving security and compliance. Private Connect enables secure, low-latency connections between services within and between cloud providers, ensuring that data stays within the private network.

Overall, designing a network that enables secure and reliable connectivity between on-premises and cloud resources is a critical component of cloud infrastructure design. By using AWS Direct Connect, Equinix Cloud Exchange Fabric, and Private Connect, you can ensure that your network is secure, high-performing, and meets your organization's specific requirements.

Network Security: -

Using a Hub & Spoke architecture for security design can help to ensure that all traffic flows through a central point, allowing for better monitoring, detection, and reporting. Workloads can be isolated by placing them in their own subnets, which can help to improve security by limiting the scope of potential attacks.

Security groups can be used to control access to specific ports and services, further improving the security of the solution. By limiting access to only those ports and services that are necessary for each workload, you can reduce the attack surface and limit the potential impact of security incidents.

Using a Next-Gen Firewall such as Palo Alto for both AWS and Azure can enable centralized monitoring and operational views, making it easier to identify and respond to security threats. The firewall can be used to enforce security policies across both cloud providers, ensuring consistent security across the entire solution.

Logging & Monitoring: -

Centralized logging and monitoring are critical components of a secure and well-managed cloud infrastructure. By consolidating logs from various sources and analyzing them in a single dashboard, you can quickly identify security threats, track user activity, and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.

The Centralized Logging on AWS solution can help organizations collect, analyze, and display Amazon CloudWatch Logs in a single dashboard. This solution can be used to consolidate, manage, and analyze log files from various sources, including audit logs for access, configuration changes, and billing events.

To integrate these logging and monitoring services with an on-prem, you can use various integration methods provided by the cloud service providers. For example, AWS provides integration with a variety of third-party tools, like Splunk, Dynatrace, or open-source Nagios, etc., ?through its AWS Partner Network. Azure also provides integration with third-party tools through its Azure Marketplace.

Overall, designing a logging and monitoring solution requires careful consideration of the various sources of logs and events, the tools and services needed to collect and analyze them, and the integration methods required to integrate with on-prem environments. By using solutions like Centralized Logging on AWS and leveraging CloudWatch, CloudTrail, and CloudWatch Monitoring, you can ensure that your cloud infrastructure is well-monitored and meets your organization's specific logging and monitoring requirements.

Cloud Resource Consumption: -

A cloud-agnostic approach is a strategy that aims to avoid vendor lock-in by leveraging services and products that are not tied to a specific cloud provider. This approach can help organizations to avoid being locked into a particular cloud provider's services and products, which can be challenging to migrate from and can limit flexibility.

In this solution, third-party products were used to avoid vendor lock-ins, such as the Palo Alto firewall and Terraform for IAC. By using third-party products, the client can avoid being tied to a specific cloud provider's services and products, making it easier to switch to another cloud provider if necessary.

All compute resources were right-sized with compute savings plans, providing flexibility in changing the instance type depending on the resource usage without any major penalty compared to the standard reserved instance type. This approach can help to optimize costs by ensuring that compute resources are used efficiently while providing the flexibility to adjust resources based on workload demands.

Overall, designing a cloud-agnostic solution requires careful consideration of the services and products used and their potential impact on vendor lock-in. By leveraging third-party products and right-sizing compute resources with savings plans, organizations can avoid being tied to a specific cloud provider's services and products while optimizing costs and improving flexibility.

Disaster Recovery: -

The importance of disaster recovery and designing a landing zone for a cloud environment cannot be overstated. The availability of regional data centers and availability zones are crucial factors in determining the resilience and availability of a cloud environment. Azure solutions have an advantage over AWS due to their availability in two regions in Canada. However, the recent announcement of the AWS secondary region in Calgary, Canada, may change future solutions. Since the below architecture, leveraged only one region on both Azure and AWS as it was a Proof of Concept.

To ensure a successful cloud journey, it is recommended to connect with experts such as Kyndryl who can assist in designing, building, migrating, and managing a cloud environment. A well-designed landing zone is essential for a solid foundation to build upon and ensure the desired outcomes are achieved.

Author: -

As a cloud practice architect with Kyndryl Canada, Arun Kumar brings his expertise in architecting system design for customers and holds architect certification on AWS, GCP, and OCI. With such knowledge and experience, he can assist in guiding customers toward making informed decisions and creating a robust cloud environment.