In the battle of “software methodologies”, the modern “nice belle” (aka Agile development approach), is seen as the preferred method versus the old “evil witch” waterfall approach! That is the typical stereotype among Agile fans. And frankly, that was also what I thought at the beginning.

Humans usually do not develop methods intending for them to be bad, but, instead, to be better than the previous methods, or to suit the circumstances of a specific period of time. Based on that, the venerable waterfall methodology was not developed by the “devil”, but rather as a means to get rid of chaos and disorganization that occurred in software development that did not rely on a specific methodology.

The waterfall software approach was very much a great invention that suited construction projects and also many early development software projects. In fact, we are indebted to the waterfall method for most early software applications. Waterfall has its own advantages that Agile lacks. With that in mind, let‘s take a look at what the waterfall software development methodology is and how it differs from other software approaches, such as Agile and DevOps.

Read: What is the Agile Development Methodology?

What Is the Waterfall Methodology?

The Waterfall methodology is well-known as the most strict and straightforward approach for project management. In the past, that was not considered a fault. On the contrary, it was considered the best positive aspect of Waterfall. However, in most modern software projects, what is required is flexibility, not rigidity.

Waterfall is used to map out sequential, rigorous phases for a project. The development team can not start working on the next development phase without completely finishing the previous one. Despite it being the most traditional approach, it can be useful from time to time for some projects – particularly when the project is a long-term one and if it needs the team to work linearly towards a naturally determined goal, or when there is no need for changes.

The Waterfall model has these features in contrast with Agile:

• Each stage depends on the previous stage’s deliverables.
• Operates in a “downwards” direction.
• It is hard and expensive to change the design after mapping it.
• Gantt charts are the favorite tool to allow map subtasks.

What are the Stages of the Waterfall Methodology?

Like any other software project management approach, there are stages of work. Waterfall, by design, must follow a strict, linear order. Winston W. Royce’s original Waterfall has five to seven phases, as follows:

• Requirements: Analysing and collecting all the project requirements and documents in order to plan the next stages without the need for more correspondence later.
• System design: Designing and planning the project’s workflow. which is branched into logical designs for theorizing and physical designs for applying.
• Implementation: Putting the workflow into actual practice. The team starts working and producing the code.
• Testing or Verification: Testing the project’s different items to ensure that quality and workability are like the expectations and requirements in the first determination of the first phase.
• Deployment: Launching the product or the service.
• Operations and Maintenance: Performing necessary upkeep and support while the customer is using the product regularly and reporting bugs and errors.

Read: Best Project Management Tools for Software Developers

What Are the Pros and Cons of the Waterfall Methodology?

There are some benefits of using Waterfall software methodology that make development teams select it, including:

• Having simple and clear planning and implementation stages; the customer agrees on the project requirements during the first stage.
• The ability to accurately predict the project costs and estimate resources, deadlines, and work progress or timelines. as the project is laid out on a schedule.
• Customers can not constantly disturb the team by editing or adding new requirements to the project. This also prevents delaying production.
• Easy to replicate and copy similar projects for the future.

In relation to downsides, Waterfall has some obstacles if it is applied for modern microservices development, for instance. These disadvantages include:

• It can be difficult to collect and predict every need of the customer in the first iteration of the product.
• It is common for customers to change their minds and be dissatisfied at the testing stage.
• It is very expensive to edit or add any new requirements, even if the market has changed. This can decrease the value of the final product.
• Lack of flexibility for evolving the product with new unexpected events.
• Hard to reverse progress or change gears for any reason at any stage; you may need to start from scratch again.
• Low efficiency for knowledge-based projects, which include most modern software development projects.

Read: What is Extreme Programming?

What Types of Software Projects are Suitable for Waterfall?

Below, we will discuss what sort of software development projects are perfect for the Waterfall development methodology.

• Most mission-critical projects, such as security software, payment gateways, banking applications, stock trading, examination portals, medical applications, manufacturing plants, and flight controls.
• Any product that has little tolerance for bugs and failure, since Agile accepts a relatively high rate of bugs in order to be flexible; Waterfall strengthens the product code in the design stage.
• Large systems, such as energy management systems, rail traffic control systems, and electrical utilities; these types of projects have a deployment of both big infrastructures of software and hardware and involve a lot of database design.

Conclusion of Waterfall Software Development Methodology

Many developers are not a fan of the Waterfall methodology, but, instead, prefer to combine new and old whenever methodologies whenever possible. The most important thing to remember is not to misunderstand the benefits of the Waterfall approach, despite its negative connotations to most modern developers.

Read more project management and software development methodology tutorials and reviews.

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Fortunately for development teams, there are many options to choose from when you eventually decide you want to move to the cloud. There are so many options, in fact, that developers and project managers can get overwhelmed when deciding who to use or even what type of cloud provider to go with.

Choosing a cloud provider is not about choosing the lowest price nor necessarily choosing the best quality. Instead, choosing a cloud provider is about what suits your business’s needs. The array of providers and the different options for each is met on the other side with the uniqueness of each customer’s needs. Every company requires different cloud solutions based on many variables, requirements, and expectations.

In light of that, there is no one cloud solution that is the best for everyone. What is best for you may be worse for other companies, and vice versa. For this reason, this article will discuss some critical points that can help you choose a cloud provider.

Read: Why Should I Move to the Cloud?

What is a Cloud Computing Provider?

Briefly, a cloud computing provider is a third-party IT solutions company that delivers various types of on-demand computing services over the Internet, from bare metal remote servers, data storage centers, ready-to-use software, and more. Most of these solutions have many benefits, such as avoiding up-front hardware and software systems costs. Not to mention the flexibility and elasticity of the pay-as-you-go model.

There are dozens of cloud computing providers around the world; some of them were big names in the world of web hosting in previous incarnations. Others were major providers of traditional database and server solutions. The first that comes to mind, of course, is the major global brands like AWS, Microsoft Azure, IBM Cloud, Google Cloud, and Oracle. In addition to those name stays, there are also some smaller niche cloud providers.

In such a competitive environment, it is worth it to bolster your knowledge and consult experts in cloud computing to help you make the best choice. In such a busy sphere, it is easy to over or underestimate your needs and therefore end up paying more than you should or sell your business short by not having all of the features your development team requires.

There are many types of cloud computing services available on the market, including:

• Data storage and data centers for big data processing
• Web hosting and networking, globally
• Processing power for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)
• Standard office applications and information management systems
• Containers, environments, and configurations for software development

How to Determine Cloud Requirements

In order to easily define your business needs, you should first take a look at the types of cloud services and model types, including deployment models.

Typical cloud service deployment models include:

• Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
• Platform as a service (PaaS)
• Software as service (SaaS)
• Other types: Storage, Database, Information, Process, Application, Integration, Security, Management, and Testing-as-a-service.

The cloud is also classified in the following models:

• Public cloud: The cheapest solution
• Private cloud: for sensitive software or data
• Hybrid cloud: a mix of public and private clouds
• Community cloud: using cloud services from more than one provider

In terms of what your business requires, the following are some common concerns you can discuss when choosing which type of cloud provider you need:

• For what purpose do you need cloud services? Is it for software, hosting, data center, storage, etc?
• What amount of security do you need and what type of access and roles will users require? Other possible problems include downtime, connection issues, and so on.
• What certifications, reputation, and user ratings do the cloud services have?
• What skills and job roles are needed for accessing and using the cloud services.
• Determine if some of the legacy resources are still useful.
• Perform feasibility studies and calculate the expected cost saving for each possible option.
• Research customer support options and how quickly they respond/communication options.

Read: Best Practices in Cloud Security

What Should I Look for in a Cloud Provider?

When looking for a cloud provider, there are some common, essential features you should look for. The following are some key areas to consider during your research when selecting a cloud provider to ensure you pick the right cloud solution. These include:

• Certifications and Standards: make sure the cloud architecture meets industry standards.
  
• Technologies and Service Roadmap: What is the service focus and does it meet your needs?
  
• Data Security and Privacy: Does the security and privacy compliance meet your organization’s needs?
  
• Service Dependencies and Partnerships: What third-party services and dependencies does the provider rely on?
  
• Contracts, Commercials, and SLAs: Check general compliance and other legal concerns, such as the contract model.
  
• Reliability and Performance: Check the downtime history and general capabilities, especially for artificial intelligence, big data processing, and machine learning.
  
• Migration Support, Vendor Lock-in, and Exit Planning: Check the support channel and availability, in addition to migration (in and out) support.
  
• Price: Make sure pricing, billing levels, and scalability fit your needs and are clearly defined.
  
• Business Health and Company Profile: What are the provider’s business history and size in the market.
  
• Manageability: What is the ease of management and use, in addition to automation, and the ability for integration with your services.
  
• Backup and Disaster Recovery Planning: What are the options for backups and disaster recovery.
  

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Cloud Migration is similar to any other traditional migration process, including data center migration, web host migration, CMS migration, and so forth. It needs good planning and strategies if you want to be successful. In fact, it needs more orientation and understanding of the internal infrastructure, since the operations tend to be bigger and more critical in nature.

On the planning or implementation level, migration can be a headache. At the same time, migration can also be one of the most interesting “one-off” works that a development team can undertake, with plenty of benefits that help the software development team focus on what they do best: write code and create software.

What is Cloud Migration?

Defining cloud migration is fairly simple – it is just the procedure of moving your IT business software, data, operations, and so on from your on-premise infrastructure to a cloud computing model.

Read: Why Should I Move to the Cloud

Cloud migration is very similar to moving to other data centers, but the cloud needs more work and adoption. The process includes (as mentioned above) the moving of all, or part, of your company’s IT assets. This requires plenty of planning and preparation before starting the actual migration work. Despite the effort involved, after achieving the migration goals you will feel it was worth the costs and resources, especially if you choose a high reputation cloud service providers such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud who also provide guided migration plans.

Benefits of Cloud Migration

Before we delve in-depth into the issues of cloud migration, let’s take a quick look at some of the benefits of migrating to the cloud, especially for software development teams.

The main benefits of cloud migration benefits include:

Scalability: Scalability is perhaps the number one benefit people speak about when they discuss cloud migration. You can increase or decrease your cloud infrastructure usage as your needs dictate, at any time, to save money.
No Starting Cost: You do not need to pay up-front to buy servers or pay later for maintaining them; there is only a monthly or yearly subscription.
More Business Focus: Instead of distributing concerns for both infrastructure and production, development teams can focus on the business at hand and leave the maintenance of the server to the cloud provider.
Flexibility: Let both your teams and your clients access your jobs and services from anywhere around the world.

Cloud Migration Strategies

In 2011, the 5 Rs of cloud migration were established, which were essentially different strategies for organizations that wanted to migrate to the cloud. In some instances, they become the six Rs. In fact, there are even cases where the Rs can include 13 total steps. Choosing the best one to suit your needs is a critical decision. Some experts suggest focusing on the least complex of them, as they are usually enough for a company’s needs. These six Rs include:

• Rehosting: This is also known as “lift-and-shift”. It is a good option for huge legacy migration scenarios. The scaling features are good, but it does not include typical cloud-native features. It is easy to automate migration with many available cloud migration tools.
• Replatforming : This is also known as “lift-tinker-and-shift”. In addition to the above work, here you add some “cloud services”. However, it does not include comprehensive architecture redesigning.
• Repurchasing: This option refers to moving to another software product, mostly the SaaS platform model. It’s similar to using online applications such as Google Docs.
• Refactoring: This option requires the most work. The application will be rearchitected with cloud-native features.
• Retire: Naturally, thanks to the advancement of technology, many functions become outdated or deprecated and you do not need them anymore. In this option, there is a chance for reducing some of the inherited “weight” and adopting a more agile environment.
• Retain: After intensive studying of cloud options and migration, you may decide not to proceed with the migration process. Perhaps it is too costly or does not make sense for your business. This option is also called “revisit” or “doing nothing right now” while you further weigh your options.

Read: Cloud Computing Types Overview

Cloud Migration Planning

Below is a list of procedures you will need to consider when migrating to the cloud:

• Establish the migration-architect role.
• Choose your level of cloud integration.
• Choose a single cloud or go multi-cloud.
• Establish cloud KPIs.
• Establish performance baselines.
• Prioritize migration components.
• Perform any necessary code refactoring.
• Create a data-migration plan.

Then, at the planning phase, you will define your needs in the shape of answering the “Wh” questions: What, Who, Where, and How:

• What: Decide exactly what software you are migrating. Despite it seeming obvious, the process can be tougher than you might imagine. Many “hidden” applications will appear as you go through this process. In order to get used to the cloud, it is recommended that your organization starts with simple apps and then move into more complex ones.
• Who: In this step, you define who will manage your applications scheduled for migration. Also, the permission roles for these applications. You should not postpone this step for after migration; it is very critical for the success of your migration to the cloud.
• Where: Many priorities can be considered, such as choosing the applications that are outdated in the infrastructure to move first. In addition, you can also start moving applications or data that eat up resources on servers in an effort to scale the infrastructure and lower the cost and resources involved.
• How: Exploring how applications are linked and architected with their priorities and workload in order to minimize the odds of downtime. This requires a better understanding of your software and operational relationships.

Read: Best Practices in Cloud Security

The post How do I Create a Cloud Migration Plan? appeared first on CodeGuru.

Most businesses are making the move towards one form of cloud service or another. If you have a new startup project, you may or may not have experienced by yourself the operating costs of having on-premises systems. These can include everything from building special server rooms to securing all kinds of warranties and safety environments.

If you are a veteran system admin, perhaps you have grown tired of concerns involving adjusting temperature and humidity, cyber and physical security threats, fire precautions, power issues, downtime, and connection issues – just to name a few of the issues that revolve around working with your own physical database servers.

Cloud Databases Definition

Cloud databases are databases that are similar to on-premise databases, but they are built and accessed “as-a-service” from a remote cloud computing platform, which can be private, public, or hybrid. Cloud databases can typically be divided into two main deployment models:

• Virtual machine-based independent databases: This option is more similar to on-premise, except it uses a cloud-based infrastructure. You can hire a DevOps or a traditional IT team to control and maintain the database. You can also migrate your existing database, but it is still your responsibility to oversee and manage the database.
• Full cloud database or database as a service (DBaaS): This option provides the user full maintenance of the database needs in real-time, such as scalability, management, security, and availability. It is based on the fees subscription contract. It usually includes automation, backup, scaling, and health monitoring.

Cloud Database vs On-premises Database

This comparison needs an article on its own. However, it is useful to cover some of the basic differences between cloud and on-premise databases and the main differences between both deployment models.

The main differences between cloud databases and on-premise databases include the following:

• Structure and design: The main difference with concerns to structure and design is the physical location of the database servers; on-premise database servers are located within your own company; cloud databases reside with the company deploying them and throughout their geographic zones.
  
• Network: On-premise databases use a local area network (LAN), while the cloud model requires a high-speed Internet connection.
  
• Performance: Sometimes cloud databases can be slower in response time, because it requires a round-trip with every interaction, while on-premise databases have an immediate response.
  
• Cost: In the cloud model, there is no need for any upfront costs for buying servers, just monthly subscription fees.
  
• Customization and control: The on-premise option allows for more customization and control. However, cloud options offer plenty of control and customization configurations that are enough for most needs and requirements.

The Cloud Databases Model

As is the case with the on-premise database model, the cloud databases model is also classified into relational and non-relational:

• Relational cloud database: Usually programmed in structured query language (SQL). They consist of organized linked fields of rows and columns. It is used for highly consistent needs, such as banking transactions since they rely on a specific database schema.
• Non-Relational cloud databases: Also called NoSQL databases, since they do not follow the typical table model associated with SQL databases. They save data as one document regardless of the original structure. They are more suitable for naturally unstructured information like written Internet content, audio, photos, and so forth.

Cloud Database Migration Advantages

Migration to cloud databases can bring you many benefits, regardless of your deployment model. You can try it by migrating your existing data, then by adding new data into the DBaaS.

The advantages of migrating to a cloud database include:

• Fill any IT and security knowledge or skillset gaps in your current team.
• Access databases from anywhere your team exists and at any time.
• Enhanced data processing quality when all apps and systems are in the cloud.
• Reducing costs by eliminating servers and paying only for what resources were used.
• Enabling better business application performance by taking advantage of SaaS deployment.
• Simplifying data management by combining every data source in one place.
• Lower investment barrier for startups and lower financial risk involved.
• Faster deployment than setting up and configuring an on-premise database solution.
• More reliable security.
• Increasing innovation and agility possibilities due to its ease of use and speed.
• Deliver your products or software to market faster.
• Reduction of energy costs; greener and environmentally friendly.

Cloud Databases Vendors

Major cloud computing providers are mainly also the dominant in the cloud database sector. Each one has its own features that differentiate it from others. Below is a list of some of the most well-known cloud database services and providers

• Amazon Web Service (AWS): Amazon is number one in the cloud computing field and the first one to enter this industry. It is also the leader in the market of DBaaS. Its service databases are Redshift, a data warehouse, and Data Pipeline.
• Oracle Database: Oracle was well known for servers and hosting before any other company, including Amazon. It offers enterprise-scale cloud databases with many technical facilities and solutions for data migration.
• Microsoft Azure Database: A cloud computing platform to create and deploy virtual machines and offers various software applications, alongside worldwide infrastructure and comprehensive solutions, security, and ecosystems.
• Google Cloud Platform: It has a no-nonsense solution approach that businesses of all sizes have adopted. Its documentation is comprehensive, which makes it easier for IT professionals to successfully deploy it. It also supports widespread open-source software compatibility.
• IBM DB2: IBM has an amazing relational database solution and migration process. It can provide advanced management, analytics, high performance, actionable insights, data availability and reliability, and other features for any transactional or warehousing workloads. All that is supported for Linux, Unix, and Windows platforms.
• MongoDB Atlas: One of the most well-known open-source NoSQL databases with unique features like powerful scaling, sharding, and automation capabilities. It also has strengths such as a strong support community, quick Installation, flexibility, and delivering models without the need of a database administrator.
• OpenStack Database: One of the important rivals for big players. It’s a database for both on-premise or cloud models. Users talk about its highly customizable and easy-to-understand (and implement) architecture. Moreover, for high-end scaling capabilities it is a great solution.

The post What Are Cloud Databases appeared first on CodeGuru.

Data vs Big Data

The goal here is not necessarily to define what data is in general, but what exactly is “Big” Data and why is it so different and important? Of course, as you may know, data is simply defined as items of information, facts, or statistics that are gathered on a set of values. It can consist of qualitative or quantitative variables. However, It was agreed upon (by and large) in the technology community that it includes any amount of small or reasonably big sets of data that any usual professional with common tools and computers can analyze.

Now, when it comes to the newly emerging amount of increasing data – such as data gleaned from the Internet, networks, written content on websites, search engine indexing, the global social media network, and so forth, we are in front of blobulous monster that can overwhelm not only personal capabilities but even any business IT server’s database infrastructure. The amount of data is so huge that it can not truly be measured except in terms of terabytes or petabytes.

Big Data, in fact, is a huge collection of very massive and extremely complex data sets and volumes produced from many sources. The phenomenon started with Google spiders and did not end in Twitter and Facebook personal users’ data. With the emergence of smartphones and the Internet of things (IoT), it is exploding more and more. It has become the pinnacle of what lovers of great records and giant archives dream of. Big Data is also like the superstitious blob monster referenced above in that, the more data you covet, the bigger and greedier it gets!

Big Data Challenges and Promises

Now that we have discussed what Big Data is, let’s discuss some of the challenges Big Data and data scientists face:

• Capturing
• Storing
• Accuracy
• Curating
• Analysis
• Searching
• Visualization
• Transferring
• Privacy securing

It is obvious that dealing with enormous sets of data can be impossible via traditional software such as Excel and even Access, not to mention SQL queries or other relational database management systems (RDBMS). Therefore, various scalable and cloud database tools and approaches have been established. They are continuously evolving to keep track of the avalanche that is big data.

Read: Best Database Software for Developers.

For instance, Hadoop as a big data processing software and batches of NoSQL databases were enough at first for big data releases, but now you need to at least run frameworks of an additional combination of technologies, such as Apache Spark.

You can ask, then, if Big Data is challenging to this degree, why should we take care of it? What are the benefits? Yes, that is also a great question. Let’s now see some of the big data benefits and promises:

• Used by companies systems to enhance operations and decision-making.
• Enhance provision of customer service based on more data feedback.
• Empower creating more targeting marketing campaigns to increase income.
• Gaining possible competitive points over other competitors in the market.
• Improving differentiation in marketing and being more conscious of customer needs.
• Increase health care organizations’ ability to identify the disease and medicines better.

Big Data Characteristics

Most references talk a lot about 3-6 “Vs characteristics of big data”. They were first introduced as “three Vs” by Gartner’s Doug Laney in 2001. But it seems also these Vs are stretching, from just Volume, Velocity, and Variety to also include Veracity, Value, and Variability. They could also technically reach up to ten Vs, to further include Validity, Vulnerability, Volatility, and Visualization. In extreme case, you may even hear of 17 Vs, but that is beyond the scope of this article.

For now, let’s focus on six of the Big Data Vs:

Volume: Big volume differentiates big data from usual data, it’s a critical character.
Velocity: The speed of data through the system, especially processed in real-time.
Variety: Diversity and uniqueness are some of big data nurture due to diverse sources.
Veracity: The accuracy of big data is a real challenge since its Magnitude and complexity.
Variability: The Variety of data makes diversity of its quality which needs filtration.
Value: This is the main goal and purpose of how to provide value from the data.

How Does Big Data Work?

Now you may be wondering, how exactly does Big Data work? There are a lot of approaches to take advantage of big data (such as the above mentioned), but today we will focus on just three main options:

• Integration: The usual data methods of extraction, transforming, and loading (ETL) can’t be done for Big Data. Instead, you need more powerful technologies to integrate data to be useful.
  
• Management: Between cloud and on-premises solutions, you can store and manage the data as suitable for your project needs.
  
• Analysis: This is known as “the picking fruits” phase of the whole process. Get smarter actions and decisions based on the outcome of petabytes of Big Data and explore future possible data sets.

The post Introduction to Big Data appeared first on CodeGuru.

There is a lot of talk about moving to the cloud among IT business leaders. However, despite the fact that cloud technology has existed since 2006 (and was invented in 1960), not everyone can say they have a clear idea of what the cloud is, what the cloud types are, the applications of the cloud, and so on. Further, many developers may feel they have their own on-premise servers and infrastructures, so why on earth would they want to suffer the pain of migration into the cloud? What are the benefits of moving to the cloud? How do security and privacy work in the cloud?

All of these questions are legitimate; businesses should not change their technology model just to embrace the latest tech. Migrating to the cloud, in fact, has many benefits for developers, which we will be discussing in today’s article, as well as answer some of the legitimate concerns of migration.

Cloud Compute versus Classic Compute

In this section we will cover some of the differences between classic computing and cloud computing and discuss software as a service (SaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS).

In the past, we used to download applications from the Internet and run programs on our physical computers and servers. Using cloud computing software as a service, there is no longer the headache of searching to download files, install them, and update the application when new features of bug fixes come out. Instead, users can just go ahead and enjoy using software online in a ready-to-use situation without ever needing to worry about application maintenance. That’s just one side of the cloud, however – there are many more elements to it.

When it comes to comparing platform as a service (PaaS), there are also many benefits over traditional computing. For example, with a cloud-based development platform, you can easily run and manage your applications and not have to be bothered with maintaining and updating all the hardware and software, including operating systems, storage, networking, databases, middleware, runtimes, frameworks, development tools, security, upgrades, backups, and more.

With regards to teams and user management in the cloud, cloud not only allows for multiple hierarchical organizations of team users (similar to classic computing architecture), but also enables developers to work in real-time, synchronized from anywhere in the world, which is certainly a benefit for the current and post-pandemic world.

In truth, we are already using many cloud services, even if we do not realize it explicitly. Posting on social media, checking online bank balances, writing in online document editor software, receiving and sending email, and so on.

Advantages of Cloud Computing

There are many businesses that have taken the leap to the cloud and are taking advantage of the benefits of cloud computing, which include reducing costs and increasing efficiency and income. Other benefits of migrating to the cloud include:

• Reducing infrastructure costs: Instead of purchasing your own expensive infrastructure, just pay for your actual use. It is usually expressed as capital expenditure vs operating expenses expenditure.
• Pay-as-you-go model: You can scale your usage up and down as you want without purchasing more hardware or leaving it unused.
• Migrate your database and even get your preferred legacy software to the cloud.
• Make your choice between private, public, hybrid, and multi-cloud as your needs dictate.
• Increasing business agility and letting your remote team work in real-time with the office team.
• Increase security: All cloud-based solutions have their security responsibility and all-in-one security solutions, such as the Zero-trust model, are standard in most offerings.
  Facilitates digital and cloud transformation; they have their own plans to make migration easier.
• Leveraging new technologies: The cloud environment capabilities enable more powerful, new-generation software and technologies such as AI and IoT.
• Keep your resources (hardware and software) up to date automatically with no downtime. Get constant, fast, and reliable performance.
• Access your resources from anywhere, whether your team needs to work from home or remotely.
• Keep your data safe in case of disaster; cloud has built-in backup and recovery plans and solutions thanks to its multi-zone servers.

How to Get Started with the Cloud

The first step to getting started in the cloud is to migrate your existing work from an on-premise based infrastructure to the cloud. But what is cloud migration? It is the moving process of your digital operations and assets, including any other legacy infrastructure, data, and software, to the cloud.

Here are some key features to look for when choosing a cloud provider:

• Productivity: search for the efficiency level that meets your business’s requirements.
• Security: make sure the cloud provider has a suitable security type for your data and overall requirements.
• Accessibility: ensure you can access your software from anywhere you want and from any device properly.
• Support: get a sense of their technical support team and its experiences; read plenty of reviews and testimonials.
• Conduct a careful cost-benefit study, especially if your sector still has not migrated.
• Get details of their cloud service and get to know the specifications of their infrastructure hardware and virtual machine technology.
• Take a free demo to make sure the solution works for your needs.
• Get help from other honest and proven cloud IT services experts and don’t try to migrate alone.

Read: Successful Cloud Migration with Automated Discovery Tools.

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Cloud computing is a hot topic among developers, filling the conversation in every field of information technology and business. There is a lot of misunderstanding when it comes to the types of cloud computing and the cloud in general between non-specialists and even among some veteran technology specialists. In today’s cloud computing tutorial, we seek to clear up some of the confusion by defining the different types of cloud computing services.

Despite the fact that cloud computing has become an established technology over the past few years, it is still not easily available or free to the public in the same way that web hosting is. This may explain some of the reason why it is still misunderstood and most often confined to the role of cloud backup storage.

Up to this point in time, there are many businesses and companies that have not moved to the cloud, especially in developing countries and sensitive sectors such as financial, medical, government, and the military branches.

Despite the expectations, there are, in reality, some situations where the user still prefers on-premise solutions such as personal desktop computers versus cloud computer desktop services. There are also some states that put restrictions on companies, preventing them from moving to cloud servers outside the state for sovereign reasons.

With all of that in mind, let’s begin our journey to better understand what cloud computing is and how it applies to developers, programmers, and those in the information technology (IT) realm. We will also look at some of the more popular cloud services for developers.

What is Cloud Computing?

To begin, it is worth quickly offering a definition for cloud computing, if nothing else to make sure we eliminate some widespread stereotypes associated with the term. The most common thought about cloud computing is that it is just some kind of backup storage application. While that is technically correct – backup storage is one use of cloud computing – it is just one in a million of the different and wide variety of modern ways cloud computing is used.

Cloud tech technology is a versatile concept for a variety of terms like cloud computing, cloud infrastructure, cloud database, cloud storage, cloud-based, cloud server, and so forth. Simply put, it begins by using online remote resources (hardware and software functions) as a service in the sky (metaphorically). Although it is supposed to use the same computing physical hardware and software as regular servers, it has a different modern architecture to better suit servers’ availability and distribution over the Internet around the world.

Advantages of Cloud Computing

From securing cloud backup storage to enjoying sync apps across different devices, cloud computing is not confined only to such individual usage. At the business level, the advantages and use cases are more clear and numerous, especially in terms of reducing cost and minimizing capital expenditure.

Some examples of the benefits of cloud computing include:

• Cut part of the operational costs for hardware, databases, servers, and software.
• Get 24/7 uptime support and turn-to-zero probability of downtime.
• Ability to scale resources up and down as needed all at once.
• Stop worrying about any maintainability and updates; these are handled by the provider.
• Getting data centers in any location as the business needs to increase speed and reliability.

Cloud Computing Types and Models

Cloud types are typically categorized into two kinds of classification: Cloud Delivery Model and Cloud Deployment Model. In the Deployment Model, the resources are the same but the difference is in location and ownership. While in the Delivery Model there are different levels for distribution of responsibility between the provider and the user.

Deployment Model

There are four main types of cloud computing based on the Deployment Model:

• Private clouds: Cloud environments solely dedicated to a single end-user or company. It is used for private and sensitive sectors.
  
• Public clouds: Pooled cloud environments shared for many users or companies. It keeps a good amount of privacy and independence and is less expensive.
  
• Hybrid clouds: Contains both private cloud and public clouds models connected through local area networks. It is for users who have some usual and special needs.
  
• Multiclouds: It is made from more than one cloud service and provider. Multiclouds are not hybrid clouds because they are separated. It is used for sensitive data and information.

Delivery Model

There are also four main types of cloud computing services based on the Delivery Model:

Infrastructure as Service (IaaS): Provides cloud computing at the level of fundamental infrastructure either as a real bare metal server or dedicated virtual server, in addition to the network and data storage. The user can install any operating system and application of their choice. The infrastructure update and maintenance are the provider’s responsibility, but the user is responsible for updating his OS and applications.

Platforms as a Service (PaaS): Here, the provider is responsible for infrastructure, operating system, and software framework. The user can install or develop their own applications. It is an ideal choice for developing web applications, where many developers can work together.

Software as a Service (SaaS): In this solution, the provider is responsible for nearly everything down to the software. The user has only the end service via paid subscription. It’s a great choice for CRM and mobile applications sales software. No need for worrying about anything which makes it also suitable for short-term projects.

Function as a Service (FaaS) or serverless computing: For providing solutions that run code separately. It’s a great choice to make essential application tasks that run with no need for coding them in the user applications, which makes it easier to maintain and develop them with lower cost and cloud usage.

In all of these options flexibility, reliability, and scalability are considered main features. That also helps to reduce the burden of office hardware and even the software in the (SaaS) option. Also, with pay-for-use features, it has become an ideal cost-effective IT solution for business growth – especially for startups.

Many sectors can get great benefits from cloud computing. The sectors that can benefit the most from the cloud IT revolution include:

• Banking & Finance
• Government
• Search engines
• Manufacturing
• Robots and IoT
• Artificial intelligence
• Healthcare
• Education
• Software development
• Web hosting
• Pharmaceutical
• Transport
• Tourism
• Real estate
• IT/ITES

Cloud Service Providers for Developers

There are a lot of cloud service providers, but the top ten of are:

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• Microsoft Azure
• Google Cloud
• Alibaba Cloud
• IBM Cloud
• Oracle
• Salesforce
• SAP
• Rackspace Cloud
• VMWare

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You may be a run of the mill software developer or maybe you were laid off due to the pandemic, or are a victim of an outdated career path. Perhaps you want to branch out and gain some new experience in a different field of software development. Whatever the case may be, if you are wondering if you can become a Cloud Developer – and what it takes to become one – you have come to the right place.

Surely, you have heard about cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and databases. Or, at the very least, you have watched some movies about futuristic robots and upcoming computing technology that possess super capabilities. The new career world of many emerging technologies, including cloud development, has reached its dawn and there will not be a better time to break into some of these realms than now.

With that thought firmly in mind, let us start our amazing career dive into what it takes to be a cloud developer.

What is a Cloud Developer?

To become a cloud developer, you should know the following and perform the following tasks:

• Definition of Cloud Computing: Cloud computing is a new model of online services including computing, networking, web hosting, data storage, and more.
• Basic details about various types of cloud classifications and cloud fundamentals.
  
• Job Description of a Cloud Developer: A professional role for building cloud software and architecture. This is similar to classic software and web developers, but on virtual systems.
• Make sure that a career as a cloud developer is for you. Examine your previous skills and background. If you are already a developer of software, you have a great opportunity. But even without any technical experience, if you have the passion and the drive, you can still pursue this career path.
• Develop some awareness of technical microservices. Microservices is the development software model that software architects follow. It is the backbone behind the progression of cloud computing.
• Be ready for a continuously changing environment; in this fourth industrial revolution, every technology can become old fashion at any time. So, you need a strong ability to adopt new skills and technologies.
  
• Love to be a life-long learner: As a normal result of continuous change, there is no time for final graduation as is the case in classic disciplines. Every day there are new sciences and new technologies. If you are afraid of that, do not proceed!

Read: Cloud Computing Types Overview.

Cloud Developer: Education and Skills Required

Typically, the simplest way to become a cloud developer is by studying for a Bachelor’s in Computer Science or something similar, in addition to taking a special focus and training on the cloud, Linux, and new technologies. If your university studying track allows you to choose some additional courses or subdiscipline, you should take advantage of this to get more cloud courses and practice.

If you have an old Bachelor’s of Computer Science degree or your university courses are mostly outdated, do not worry; all you need to have is a solid technology background in order to build more modern computer science skills. If you have access to some new educational curricula, you will easily notice the importance of many older technologies, of which emerging technologies are based off of.

Also, if you have advanced programming skills without a degree, you are also a candidate. You will still need to pass the correct required exams and certifications, however. Additionally, you can build your new career from scratch if you want to transfer from another, completely different, discipline; this way will take longer depending on your general IT skills and ability to self-educate.

Most references indicate the following skills as the main cloud developer career requirements:

• Proficiency in at least one programming language.
• Having over two years of working experience in an IT field.
• Good understanding of software development and deployment.
• Networking skills and cloud infrastructure.
• Basic knowledge of hypervisor and data visualization technologies.
• Basics knowledge of database and software development concepts.
• Setting up and configuration for a cloud environment and solutions.
• General skills in the configuration of access and security.
• Good understanding of the integration of cloud vendor-specific services.
• Good knowledge of the configuration of command-line toolkit and SDK.

If you’re interested in improving your skills or preparing for certification we have great courses to recommend from Udemy, Coursera and TechRepublic Academy!

Cloud Developer Certifications

Since these dynamic new technologies are emerging and developing quickly, even more than usual, academic institutions can hardly keep pace with this rate of development. Due to some bureaucratic restrictions, it has become the norm for major global IT companies to be the first to establish many certification programs for cloud (and every other new technology aspect).

There are hundreds of certification programs – you will need professional advice to dive into what is most suitable for you. Some major certification providers include:

• Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers AWS Certified DevOps Engineer.
• Microsoft Azure provides Microsoft Azure DevOps Solutions.
• Google Cloud provides Associate Cloud Engineer for individuals at the associate level.
• Cisco offers cloud CCNA and CCNP.

Cloud Developer Career Paths

The new era of cloud career choices are endless. Just a smattering that you can choose from include:

• Cloud Engineer
• Cloud Administrator
• Cloud Architect
• Cloud Consultant

Every career path is different and has its own features, despite many sharing skills and knowledge. Make sure to perform your due diligence before making any decisions with regards to your future career or educational paths.

The post How to Build Your Career as a Cloud Developer appeared first on CodeGuru.

But Microsoft is not immune to defeat, as it lost the battle in the mobile operating system war against Android. Facing down that defeat, it seems like Microsoft decided to step up its game and take on the next upcoming technology wave – cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT).

To enter that arena, Microsoft brought us its cloud solution, Microsoft Azure. In this article, we will briefly talk only about the main essential cloud concepts behind Azure, including some of its AI and IoT features.

What is Azure Cloud?

Microsoft Azure is one of the biggest worldwide cloud computing platforms. It has the prestige and majesty that Microsoft products deserve. Azure, with a countless number of services, is really a great cloud platform that should be explored by any developer entering the cloud arena.

From basic mobile app hosting to full virtualized networks and AI databases, Azure has a wide breadth of uses for development teams. It empowers organizations to meet current and future business challenges. For many, it bridges the gaps between what is possible in science fiction to the real world, bringing “smart” technology to businesses and software development firms.

Microsoft Azure has so many features and use cases, that it can be difficult to fully discuss them in such a small forum, such as this article. However, this will not stop us from going ahead and trying to take a deep dive into Azure’s countless technology oceans.

Azure Cloud currently includes more than 100 services, most of which mainly fall in these services categories:

• Compute Services: Cloud computing with a special focus on Virtual Machines, Containers, and Serverless Computing that you can scale on-demand and on a pay-as-you-go basis
• Networking: Private and public networks; connect on-prime networks with Azure. VPNs and load balance features.
• Storage: Either by disks, file, Blob, or archive. Attach to VM and database. Also, expand and shrink per needs.
• Mobile Apps: Create and deploy native mobile apps across Azure platforms with the help of cognitive and AI services.
• Databases: Choice of various types of databases, including MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, and CosmosDB. Developers can build a new database or migrate existing databases.
• Cloud Web Hosting: Create and deploy websites and web applications with additional special features.
• Big Data: If your enterprise has a huge amount of data, Azure helps you store and analyze that data for better decision-making.
• App Hosting and DevOps: Develop, run, and deploy applications on a managed platform including SAP and SQL.
• AI and Machine Learning: Throw prebuilt cognitive services and models and deploy distinct AI applications.
• IoT: Integrate sensors and smart devices and manage them with IoT Azure hubs to monitor all firm assets.
• Integration: Deploy logic apps and services, and connect with applications to orchestrate workflows for business. Also, try new software paradigms like Mixed Reality.
• Security: Included in the Azure infrastructure and services. Alongside Azure identity management for better control, including centralized account management.

Read more Microsoft Azure articles and tutorials.

What is the Azure Portal?

One of the most important elements of the Azure graphical interface is the Azure Portal. It is a unified, web-based console to empower users who are not familiar with command-line shells. The Azure portal enables you to completely control your Azure subscription.

Using Azure Portal, developers can:

• Create, manage, monitor, and control all your resources at Azure, from basic web apps to advanced cloud and database processes.
• Build and customize multiple sub dashboards to increase the organizing management of your apps.
• Configure user permissions and accessibility to make for a better administration experience.
• Designed especially for the user to have flexibility and continuous availability in all Azure apps and datacenters.
• Enjoy the possibility for tolerance of user mistakes and debugging any network slowdowns.
• Continuous updates that require downtime in the event of any maintenance activities.

What is Azure Marketplace?

As with all major cloud platforms, Azure also has a huge marketplace of third-party digital products and services. The goal is to help Azure users get optimized software from Microsoft partners and startup vendors and to purchase from their offered solutions.

As a customer in Azure Marketplace, you will have various opportunities and abilities to search, try for free, and provision from hundreds of diverse applications and services. The solutions list covers countless digital IT industry categories. These include virtual machine clouds, open-source container images, APIs, and DevOps tools. Major security and threat detection, blockchain, and advanced AI technologies are also popular categories.

Briefly, with the availability of quick and reliable end-to-end solutions, Azure Marketplace is a nice place to peruse for future technology lovers, IT pros, developers, and enlightened business entrepreneurs who are interested in commercial and IT software. Currently, there are more than 8,000 listings of these third-party vendor technologies.

Azure User Account

All cloud platforms have User Accounts management, but Azure User Accounts are known for being user-friendly, having a better user experience, and an organized hierarchy optimization for various needs and situations.

Once you create an Azure account, you can use Azure services, and it will create a subscription for you. You can add more subscriptions under the same Azure account. This will facilitate your company to separate between subscriptions for development and sales department subscriptions under one account under the company name.

You can also sign up for a free account on the Azure platform if you want to gain some experience before you spend any money. If you like it, you can upgrade the free account into a premium one after you trial it.

Many enterprises also try an experimental tour by migrating some of their existing applications to Azure cloud virtual machines and operating systems. It is, of course, a great starting idea to open more horizontal cloud magic capabilities. Always remember, you will only pay just for the resources you use.

The post Azure Cloud Fundamentals and Core Concepts appeared first on CodeGuru.