CLOUD SERVICE REFERENCE MODEL:

CLOUD SERVICE LIFE CYCLE:

The goal of cloud life-cycle managemen t is to manage the dynamic nature of

the cloud environment, accelerating provisioning, facilitating flexibility, and rapidly
meeting the needs of the business. It's a value-chain- based approach that comprises
four value steams. They are the following:

1. Conceptual Service Blueprint (Plan):

The conceptual service blueprint is a high-level representation of the cloud
service that outlines its purpose, features, components, and interactions with other
services or systems.
Purpose in Planning: It serves as a foundational document during the planning
phase, helping stakeholders visualize the service before detailed design and
development.

 Policy Management (Plan and Operations):

Policy management involves the creation, enforcement, and monitoring of
policies that govern the use and behavior of the cloud service.
Purpose in Planning:During planning, policies are defined to ensure security,
compliance, and optimal usage of the cloud service.

 Service Portfolio Management (Plan and Operations):

Service portfolio management involves the strategic planning, analysis, and
optimization of the organization's portfolio of cloud services.
Purpose in Planning:Identify the most valuable and strategic services to
include in the organization's portfolio.

 Demand Management (Plan and Operations):

Demand management involves forecasting, influencing, and managing the
demand for cloud services to ensure optimal resource utilization.
Purpose in Planning: Estimate the expected demand for the new service and
plan resource allocation accordingly.
 Finance Management (Plan and Operations):
Finance management involves budgeting, accounting, and financial analysis of
the costs associated with the cloud service.
Purpose in Planning: Estimate the costs associated with developing,
deploying, and maintaining the cloud service.

2. Logical Service Blueprint (Design):

A logical service blueprint is a detailed representation of the cloud service at a
logical or abstract level. It focuses on the relationships between different components,
their interactions, and the flow of data.
Purpose in Design:Helps translate the conceptual service blueprint into a more
detailed and structured plan for development.

 Defect and Test Management (Design and Testing):

Defect and test management involve the identification, tracking, and resolution of
defects or issues in the cloud service, as well as the planning and execution of testing
activities.
Purpose in Design:Identify potential issues early in the development phase to improve
the quality of the service.

 Release and Deployment Management (Design and Deployment):

Release and deployment management involve planning, scheduling, and
controlling the movement of releases from development to testing and ultimately to
production.
Purpose in Design:Plan how different features and components will be
released and deployed.

 Service Level Management (Design and Operations):

Service level management i defining, negotiating, and managingnvolves the
service levels agreed upon with customers or stakeholders.
Purpose in Design: Determine the expected service levels and design the
service to meet them.

 Capacity and Availability Management (Design and Operations):

Capacity and availability management involve planning, monitoring, and
managing the capacity and availability of the IT infrastructure supporting the cloud
service.
Purpose in Design:Design the service to meet capacity and availability
requirements.

3.Fulfill (Released Service Blueprint):

The fulfillment stage in the cloud service life cycle involves the activation and
delivery of the released service as per the specifications outlined in the released
service blueprint.
Purpose in Operations: Execute the processes defined in the service blueprint
to make the service available to users.

 Offer Management (Operations):

 In the operational phase, offer management involves actively managing and
maintaining the various service offerings that were defined during the planning phase.
Purpose in Operations:Continuously assess and update service offerings to
meet changing business requirements and customer demands.

 Catalog Management (Operations):

Catalog management in the operational phase involves ongoing maintenance
and updates to the service catalog.
Purpose in Operations:Ensure that the service catalog remains accurate and
reflects the current state of available services.

 Fulfillment Execution Management (Operations):

Fulfillment execution management in the operational phase focuses on the
ongoing automation and optimization of processes related to service delivery and
activation.
Purpose in Operations: Streamline and automate fulfillment processes to
improve efficiency and reduce manual intervention.

 Usage and Chargeback Management (Operations):

Usage and chargeback management in the operational phase involves
monitoring and reporting on resource consumption and associated costs.
Purpose in Operations: Continuously track resource usage, generate usage
reports, and manage billing or chargeback processes.

4.Run (Realized Service Blueprint):

The run phase involves the day-to-day operations of the realized service based
on the specifications outlined in the realized service blueprint.
Purpose in Operations: Execute the processes defined in the realized service
blueprint to ensure the continuous availability and performance of the service.

 Incident Management (Run):

Incident management involves the identification, logging, categorization,
prioritization, resolution, and closure of incidents that affect the service's normal
operation.
Purpose in Operations:Minimize service disruptions by quickly resolving
incidents and restoring normal operations.

 Problem Management (Run):

Problem management focuses on identifying the root causes of recurring
incidents and implementing solutions to prevent them from happening again.
Purpose in Operations:Reduce the frequency and impact of incidents by
addressing their underlying causes.

 Knowledge and Collaboration (Run):

Knowledge and collaboration involve creating, sharing, and leveraging
knowledge to improve service delivery and problem resolution.
Purpose in Operations:Enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of service
management by fostering collaboration and leveraging institutional knowledge.

 Change Enablement (Run):

 Change enablement involves managing changes to the cloud service, including
the evaluation, planning, approval, and implementation of changes.
Purpose in Operations:Implement changes in a controlled manner to avoid
disruptions and maintain service stability.

 Configuration Management (Run):

Configuration management involves maintaining and controlling the
configuration items (CIs) associated with the cloud service, ensuring that the service's
configuration is accurate and up-to-date.
Purpose in Operations:Manage and control changes to the service's
configuration to maintain consistency and integrity.

 Event Management (Run):

Event management involves monitoring and responding to events or alerts
generated by the service, such as system notifications or performance indicators.
Purpose in Operations:Detect and respond to events that may impact the
service's performance or availability.

 Asset Management (Run):

Asset management involves tracking and managing the physical and virtual
assets associated with the cloud service, such as hardware, software, and licenses.
Purpose in Operations: Optimize asset usage, ensure compliance with
licensing, and prevent unauthorized use.

 Runbook Automation (Run):

Runbook automation involves automating routine operational procedures and
tasks to improve efficiency and reduce the potential for human error.
Purpose in Operations: Automate repetitive tasks to streamline operations and
enhance reliability.

BASICS OF CLOUD SERVICE DESIGN:

Logical Service Blueprint (Design):

A logical service blueprint is a detailed representation of the cloud service at a
logical or abstract level. It focuses on the relationships between different components,
their interactions, and the flow of data.
Purpose in Design:Helps translate the conceptual service blueprint into a more
detailed and structured plan for development.

 Defect and Test Management (Design and Testing):

Defect and test management involve the identification, tracking, and resolution of
defects or issues in the cloud service, as well as the planning and execution of testing
activities.
Purpose in Design:Identify potential issues early in the development phase to improve
the quality of the service.

 Release and Deployment Management (Design and Deployment):

Release and deployment management involve planning, scheduling, and
controlling the movement of releases from development to testing and ultimately to
production.
Purpose in Design:Plan how different features and components will be
released and deployed.

 Service Level Management (Design and Operations):

Service level management i defining, negotiating, and managingnvolves the
service levels agreed upon with customers or stakeholders.
Purpose in Design: Determine the expected service levels and design the
service to meet them.

 Capacity and Availability Management (Design and Operations):

Capacity and availability management involve planning, monitoring, and
managing the capacity and availability of the IT infrastructure supporting the cloud
service.
Purpose in Design:Design the service to meet capacity and availability
requirements.

Service Design: Service design results from inputs from the value stream “Plan”,
where policy management & portfolio management pro- vide policy requirements and
portfolio backlog items to service design.
Service Level Management:
Service Level Management is responsible for assuring that all Operational Level
Agreements (OLA) and underpinning contracts are appropriate and for monitoring
and reporting on service levels.
DEALING WITH LEGACY SYSTEMS AND SERVICES:

Dealing with legacy systems and services in the context of cloud service management
involves addressing and integrating existing, often older, technology solutions into the
cloud environment.

Challenges:
Compatibility: Legacy systems may have compatibility issues with modern cloud
environments.
Data Migration:Transferring data from legacy systems to the cloud can be
complex and time-consuming.
Security Concerns: Older systems may have security vulnerabilities that need to
be addressed in the cloud.

Strategies:
Migration Planning: Develop a comprehensive plan for migrating or integrating
legacy systems into the cloud.
Incremental Approach: Consider a phased migration approach to minimize
disruption and manage risks.
Modernization:Explore opportunities to modernize or refactor legacy applications
for cloud compatibility.

Benefits:
Cost Savings: Transitioning from legacy infrastructure to the cloud can result in
cost savings and operational efficiency.
Scalability:Cloud environments offer scalability, allowing legacy applications to
adapt to changing workloads.
Innovation:Integration with cloud services can enable access to modern tools and
services, fostering innovation.

BENCHMARKING OF CLOUD SERVICES:

Benchmarking involves the process of comparing and evaluating the

performance, capabilities, and efficiency of cloud services against industry standards
or competitors.
This practice helps organizations make informed decisions about selecting,
optimizing, and managing cloud services based on their specific needs and
requirements.

2. Key Considerations:
Performance Metrics: Evaluate key performance indicators such as response time,
latency, throughput, and resource utilization.
Cost Efficiency: Assess the cost-effectiveness of cloud services based on pricing
models, resource usage, and overall expenditure.
Reliability and Availability:Examine the reliability and availability of services by
analyzing uptime, downtime, and adherence to service level agreements (SLAs).

3. Strategies:
Define Benchmark Criteria:Clearly define the criteria and parameters for
benchmarking to ensure relevant and meaningful comparisons.
Use Standard Benchmarks: Utilize industry-standard benchmarks or create custom
benchmarks tailored to specific requirements and use cases.
Continuous Monitoring:Implement continuous monitoring to track changes in
performance over time and identify trends or anomalies.

4. Benefits:
Informed Decision-Making: Benchmarking provides organizations with valuable
insights to make informed decisions about selecting or optimizing cloud services.
Optimization Opportunities: Identify areas for improvement and optimization in terms
of cost, performance, and reliability.
Competitive Advantage:Understanding how cloud services compare to competitors
can provide a competitive advantage in the market.

5. Tools and Services:

Third-Party Benchmarking Tools: Utilize tools and services provided by third-party
organizations that specialize in benchmarking cloud services.
Cloud Provider Metrics: Leverage performance metrics and monitoring tools offered
by cloud service providers to assess the performance of their services.
Real-world Testing: Consider conducting real-world testing to simulate actual usage
scenarios and gather realistic performance data.

6. Consideration of Workloads:
Tailored Benchmarking:Consider the specific workloads and applications that are
critical to your organization when benchmarking cloud services.
Scalability: Assess how well cloud services scale to accommodate varying
workloads, ensuring they meet the demands of your applications.

Benchmarking of cloud services is a strategic activity that empowers organizations to

make data-driven decisions, optimize their cloud environment, and ensure that the
selected services align with business objectives. It is a valuable practice within cloud
service management for maintaining a high level of performance, cost-effectiveness,
and reliability in the cloud infrastructure.

CLOUD SERVICE CAPACITY PLANNING:

Cloud capacity planning aims to match demand with available resources.

It analyzes what systems are already in place, measuring their performance and
predicting demand.
Your organization can then provision and allocate cloud resources based on that
demand.

WHY CLOUD CAPACITY PLANNING NEEDED:

Dynamic needs: Organizations can experience rapid growth, making it essential to be
prepared for sudden increases in user bases and data volumes to avoid system outages
or performance issues.
Cost efficiency: With often limited budgets, your organization needs to avoid over-
provisioning and under-provisioning, which can lead to missed opportunities.
Optimal performance: Capacity planning helps manage loads for consistent
performance even during traffic spikes.
Investor confidence: Showing a clear understanding of cloud infrastructure needs and
scalability attracts and retains investors, highlighting operational maturity.
Future-proofing: Capacity planning prepares organisations for technological shifts,
promising long-term agility and competitiveness.

Key components of cloud capacity planning

Demand forecasting: Analyze historical data and current trends to anticipate future
cloud resource needs.
Performance analysis: Use tools to track resource performance, guiding decisions on
scaling needs.
Cost management: Understand both direct and indirect costs of cloud resources to
optimize spending without compromising performance.
Contingency planning: Prepare for unexpected events (from traffic spikes to system
failures) by having backup resources or strategies in place.
Integration considerations: Create seamless integrations of multiple cloud services or
transitions between on-premises and cloud solutions without resource conflicts.
Feedback loops: Continuously revisit and adjust capacity plans based on real-world
performance and evolving business needs.

CLOUD SERVICE MIGRATION:

Re-host or lift-and-shift model:

you lift applications, virtual machines, and server operating systems from the current
hosting environment to public cloud infrastructure without any changes.
It is a low resistance migration methodology that prescribes picking up an application
as an image that could be exported via migration tools like VM Import or Cloud
Endure to a container run on the public cloud.
Re-platform, or lift-and-optimize
Re-platforming involves certain optimizations to the operating system, changes in the
API of the applications, and middleware upgrade as you do standard lift-and-shift.
As a result, you can leverage more cloud benefits, reshape the sourcing environment
and make it compatible with the cloud, fine-tune the application functionality, and
avoid post-migration work.
Repurchase, or drop-and-shop
In this strategy, you change the proprietary application in use for the new cloud-based
platform or service.
Often, that means that you drop the existing license agreement (or it expires) and go
for a new platform or service in its place.
For example, you may choose to switch from your legacy CRM system to a new
SaaS CRM that meets your organization’s requirements better.
Refactor, or re-architect
This approach is driven by a strong desire to improve your product and represents the
opposite of lift-and-shift migration.
It is assumed that a specific business target will be set from the beginning, e.g. in
terms of availability or reliability of the application performance.
Sometimes, that means that you have to re-engineer your application logic
completely and develop the cloud-native version from scratch.
Retain, or hybrid model
Some components of your IT infrastructure may be retained on your legacy
infrastructure.
An organization may want to keep some stand-alone workloads and databases due to
security issues or other constraints.
For example, you may have to comply with regulatory requirements governing the
locations in which certain information is stored.
Retire
For many complex applications and environments, some infrastructure components
can be easily turned off without any decrease in productivity or value loss for the end
consumers.
This is achieved by decommissioning or archiving unneeded parts while replacing
their functionalities through other services and components.
As a result, you can substantially reduce the complexity of your computing,
architecture, storage, licensing, and backup, making your infrastructure leaner.

CLOUD MARKETPLACE:
A Cloud Marketplace, also known as a Cloud Service Marketplace or Cloud
Marketplace, is an online platform where users can discover, purchase, and manage
various cloud-based services, applications, and resources from different vendors. It
serves as a centralized hub for buyers (organizations or individuals) looking to access
a wide range of cloud offerings. Here's an overview of the key aspects of Cloud
Marketplaces within the context of cloud service management:

1. **Definition:**
- A Cloud Marketplace is an online marketplace that brings together cloud service
providers, software vendors, and consumers in a single platform.
- It offers a catalog of diverse cloud services, including infrastructure as a service
(IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), software as a service (SaaS), and other
specialized solutions.

2. **Key Components:**
- **Service Catalog:** A comprehensive listing of available cloud services,
applications, and resources, often categorized for easy navigation.
- **Vendor Profiles:** Information about different vendors, their offerings, pricing
models, and user reviews.
 - **Payment and Billing Integration:** Secure payment processing and integration
with billing systems for seamless transactions.
- **User Reviews and Ratings:** Feedback from users who have used the services,
helping others make informed decisions.
- **Integration with Cloud Providers:** Connectivity with major cloud service
providers to facilitate easy deployment and management.

3. **Benefits:**
- **Centralized Access:** Users can find, compare, and purchase various cloud
services from different providers in one centralized location.
- **Efficiency:** Simplifies the procurement process, reducing the time and effort
required to identify and acquire cloud resources.
- **Variety of Options:** Provides a diverse range of services, allowing users to
choose the best-fit solutions for their specific needs.
- **Cost Transparency:** Clear pricing information helps users understand the
costs associated with each service.

4. **Use Cases:**
- **Infrastructure Services:** Access to virtual machines, storage, and networking
resources.
- **Application Services:** Ready-to-use applications and software solutions.
- **Developer Tools:** Tools and services for software development, testing, and
deployment.
- **Security Services:** Services related to identity management, encryption, and
threat detection.
- **Data Services:** Databases, data analytics, and other data-related offerings.

5. **Vendor Management:**
- **Vendor Onboarding:** The process through which cloud service providers join
the marketplace and showcase their services.
- **Quality Assurance:** Evaluation of vendors to ensure the quality, reliability,
and security of their offerings.
- **Vendor Ratings:** Users can provide ratings and feedback based on their
experiences with specific vendors.

6. **Integration with Management Tools:**

- **API Integration:** Allows users to integrate the purchased services into their
existing workflows and management tools.
- **Single Sign-On (SSO):** Streamlines access by enabling users to log in once
and access multiple services seamlessly.

7. **Governance and Compliance:**

- **Policy Management:** Tools to enforce governance policies and compliance
standards across cloud services.
- **Security and Compliance Certifications:** Ensuring that vendors and their
services meet industry-specific security and compliance requirements.

8. **Continuous Improvement:**
- **Regular Updates:** The marketplace evolves with the addition of new services,
updates to existing ones, and improvements to the user interface.
 - **Feedback Mechanisms:** Platforms often include feedback mechanisms to
gather user input for continuous improvement.

In summary, a Cloud Marketplace simplifies the process of discovering, evaluating,

and procuring cloud services, fostering efficiency, variety, and transparency for users.
It plays a crucial role in the broader landscape of cloud service management by
providing a centralized platform for accessing a multitude of cloud-based solutions.

CLOUD SERVICE OPERATION MANAGEMENT:

The primary focus of the operations management process is to monitor and control the
IT services and IT infrastructure—in short, the day-to- day routine tasks related to the
operation of infrastructure components and applications.

To effectively manage cloud applications and consider the service management and
operational facets of their applications, your operations team can follow five
principles:
1. Operations: Services need management.
Operations activities typically include workload placement based on resource
requirements, rollouts and rollbacks, service discovery and load balancing, horizontal
scaling, and recovery.

2. Monitoring:
Services also need to be monitored. To ensure that you detect an issue before it causes
an outage, prioritise monitoring of the four golden signals: latency, traffic, error rate,
and saturation. Traditional metrics such as CPU, memory, and disk space are less
relevant in a cloud context.

3. Eventing and Alerting:

An alerting system must notify first responders if a problem is detected, either by
email, SMS text message, or an alert in an instant messaging system. A single
problem can cause a cascading failure across multiple systems, so the alert system
must be able to correlate related events from different sources.

4. Collaboration:
A first responder is the first person, but probably not the only person who helps
resolve an incident. In an architecture where many services depend on each other,
expertise across multiple areas or systems is likely needed. The term ChatOps
describes the process of using an instant messaging communication platform to
collaborate among SMEs and automated tools. Through the ChatOps platform
interaction is logged in a central place, and you can browse through the log to see
what actions were taken.

5. Root-cause Analysis:
To prevent an incident from reappearing, the root cause must be assessed. The
investigation must be operated in a blameless culture; only through that approach are
willing to share their insights and help others learn from the experience.