IT Info Magazine » management consoles

Amazon’s AWS Console Update

George — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 10:10:56 +0000

Amazon’s Cloud computing management console now includes complete support for Amazon DNS service, Route 53. Route 53 is a highly available and scalable Domain Name System (DNS) web service. The DNS service allows you to create your hosted zones and set up the appropriate records in a similar manner that you may be accustomed with traditional DNS service providers.

To register a domain and set it up from the AWS Management Console you need to buy a domain name from a registrar, create a hosted zone, update the NS (Name Server) records at the registrar, set up hosting and create an A record or other records as required.

Amazon has provided a How To procedure that will help you set up Weighted Round Robin (WRR) DNS. To implement WRR with Route 53, you will need multiple servers (and the corresponding IP addresses). WRR allows you to send a certain proportion of your inbound traffic to a test server for A/B testing. Route 53 also supports Weighted Round Robin (WRR) record sets.

To see how to set up Weighted Round Robin (WRR) DNS go here:
http://aws.typepad.com/aws/2011/11/aws-management-console-now-supports-amazon-route-53.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AmazonWebServicesBlog+%28Amazon+Web+Services+Blog%29

Access Control features for AWS Management Console

George — Sat, 21 May 2011 15:13:17 +0000

In my opinion, one of the main operational weaknesses in Public Cloud setups is the access management of the administrative consoles. I am not referring to the actual technical platform where most cloud providers provide a very secure connection using strong encryption and authentication but I see the lack of access management features as the major operational weakness. In practical environments it is very difficult to keep one set of logon credentials assigned to one individual. These are used for both technical and financial activities that necessitate the access to account details through management consoles and what happens is that you end up with the logon details being shared among a handful of IT and finance staff! Good IT governance mandates user accountability with segregation of roles, adequate password restrictions, access control lists, etc. One of the major headaches of shared logon details is when one member of staff with access to the management console leaves the organization.

Amazon’s AWS management console now includes support for Identity and Access Management (IAM). You can harden your Cloud setup access control with different users and groups, and policies. To read more about Amazon’s IAM go here.

Remote backup management consoles

George — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 07:33:44 +0000

A remote or online backup solution is the way forward for off-site data protection. Due to regulatory compliance some corporations are holding back from going to this direction, however, much work is being made in this area and soon we have providers that will provide such conformity. On the other hand, the majority of SMBs that have no specific regulatory requirements and certainly most households should consider this platform as their main off-site backup solution.

Nevertheless, SMBs and households should not forget to backup their data locally first and then use a remote storage location as a second means of protection - my advice is:

To perform regular Data backups locally, on some reliable and inexpensive media but most importantly is to use a different storage media other than the local drive.
Then move/archive this data off-site – again using a reliable, secure and economical solution

I have come across a couple of online backup providers that lack comprehensive management tools. When I say comprehensive I mean ample features that allow end users to monitor the backup/restore process and check for errors, costs and edit account details.

Such as, a user-friendly Web-based GUI (graphical user interface) that provides the following information:

That shows and logs the successful completion of backup and restore jobs
For failed jobs one should be able to view a brief but complete explanation of what went wrong in plain English and not a series of error codes
That shows the storage space consumed and the remaining space if the account is limited by space quota. Graphical statistics would give a good overview such as, usage per day, month, etc
Timestamps for the backed up data that will help the end user identify the right data in case a data recovery is needed
A section (tab) with all the billing and payment details without disclosing any critical information
A personal account section where one can change passwords, email address, quota settings if any and other account related settings.