Cloud automation covers the company's processes and tools to reduce manual tasks related to the provisioning and management of cloud computing workloads. Read More
Applied to the cloud, the term cloud automation covers the company's processes and tools to reduce manual tasks related to the provisioning and management of cloud computing workloads. IT teams can implement automation in private, public and hybrid cloud environments.
In the past, deploying and operating enterprise workloads was a tedious manual process. It often involved repetitive tasks:
- Sizing
- Provisioning and configuration of resources such as virtual machines ( VMs)
- Setting up VM clusters and load balancing
- Creation of logical units storage
- Building virtual networks
- Implementing the deployment
- Monitoring and managing availability and performance Although significant individually, these manual and repetitive processes are generally unproductive and often contain errors. These errors may require troubleshooting, delaying the availability of the workload. They also risk revealing security vulnerabilities that pose a risk to the business.
Cloud automation helps eliminate these manual and repetitive processes for deployment and workload management. To implement this automation, the IT team must use orchestration and automation tools that run on their virtualized environment. Orchestration allows an administrator to codify the various steps and processes involved in deploying and managing workload, while automation enforces these steps without any human intervention.
Cloud automation, done right, saves IT staff time and money. As organizations can build more predictable and reliable workflows, it also helps reduce the risk of errors, which directly translates into improved governance at the IT and enterprise levels.
Cloud Automation Practices
While cloud automation tools or infrastructure all have the same overall goal, the use cases vary widely, depending on the business and its goals.
Cloud automation is commonly used for implementing infrastructure as a code (IAC). It aids cloud platforms to typically discover and organize compute resources in the form of pools. This allows users to add and deploy more resources without worrying about their physical location in the data center.
Cloud automation tools and processes can tap into these resource pools to determine common configuration objects, such as VMs, containers, storage LUNs, and virtual private networks. They can then load application components and services, such as load balancers, onto these configuration items, or create instances using templates or cloning VMs or containers. Finally, all of these pieces collectively build a complete operating environment for deploying a workload.
