Page 144 - Cloud Essentials

evaluation in hand, it becomes easier to decide which alternative is better

and would merit further detailing.
There are considerations that will shape your portfolio of strategic
options. When servers stop being available (for example, because an IaaS
provider goes out of business), one alternative might be to rehost
applications on different servers. This could be done by moving to a
different cloud provider, by hosting applications in-house, or by adopting a
hybrid cloud solution.
If a cloud provider SaaS offering is no longer available, a functional

equivalent may be available by the same provider or another provider,
possibly even internal to your organization. If this is the case, consider the
data from previously used SaaS solutions and how it can be used with a
new SaaS solution. This could require exporting old SaaS data to a standard
file format such as comma-separated value (CSV) or Extensible Markup

Language (XML) before importing it to a new SaaS system.
An alternative might be to migrate to a different application (probably
including migrating the underlying infrastructure). This might also be the
strategy if a SaaS provider stops delivering. Business processes that use the
application or SaaS solution might be outsourced. An example could be
credit card processing.
Cloud providers going out of business does not present the only future
possibility that must be considered. Maintaining strategic flexibility

includes using the cloud to enhance business processes and ultimately bring
value to the business. For example, a business might use their own IT
infrastructure during normal business activity levels, but when there are
peaks in business activity (which translates to increased IT service
demand), cloud IT services (for example, additional virtual servers) are

provisioned only when needed during the peak activity.

CERTIFICATION SUMMARY

In this chapter, we began by discussing how cloud adoption introduces
changes in how companies adhere to standards. Cloud adoption means
companies no longer have full control over all IT resources and services.
Complying with regulations or standards such as PCI DSS requires
companies to work with their cloud provider to ensure both parties meet
their responsibilities. For example, many laws, regulations, and standards
require companies to know who has access to which resources, and this
access must be audited.

The cloud changes how we think of security. Security risks have always

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