How to manage challenges with IaaS

Advantages and challenges of IaaS

IaaS, Infrastructure as a Service, is an excellent option for companies that need cost-effective and flexible IT to enable seamless growth. By renting access to virtual computers along with memory, storage, and networking, companies can get exactly the capacity they need without having to make any major IT investments. It's easier to get started and much easier to scale up your business with IaaS.

While IaaS offers many advantages, it can also present certain challenges. For example, when it comes to resource management, cost control and security. In this article, you will learn how to overcome these challenges and create a strategy that helps your business avoid pitfalls while taking advantage of all the benefits of IaaS.

Security, data integrity, and compliance with IaaS

The flexibility of IaaS comes from the fact that you, as a customer, rent the provider's infrastructure and choose the capacity that suits you best. However, this also means that you share space with several other customers of the provider. This can lead to security risks such as inadequate data control or insufficient separation of different customers' data. Regulations such as GDPR also require strict handling of personal data, and a shared data space can compromise this security requirement if not implemented correctly.

Strategies for these security challenges:

Select an IaaS provider that has strong security measures and complies with relevant regulations and industry standards such as GDPR and ISO 27001. Review the provider's security practices.
Has strong encryption of your data that protects against unauthorised access. Both at rest and when it is being transferred.
Use IAM (Identity and Access Management) to control who has access to which resources and to what extent. User roles, authorisation and authentication minimise the risk of data leaks and unauthorised access.

Control over costs

IaaS is a cost-effective solution because it gives your business the IT it needs without you having to make any heavy local IT investments. However, renting the Infrastructure as a Service can become unnecessarily expensive if you don't keep track of what you actually use or don't shut down the resources you don't use.

Strategies for this challenge:

Use tools that monitor both your usage and your costs so that you can get a clear overview of the resources you are actually using.
Set up automatic shutdown of resources you are not using.
Review which contract model suits you best to optimise your costs. For example, Pay-as-you-go (PAYG), where you only pay for the resources you use, subscriptions where you pay a fixed monthly amount for a certain amount of resources, or a hybrid model with certain resources for a fixed cost with the option of PAYG if needed.

Shared infrastructure with IaaS can lead to performance issues

Since IaaS is based on sharing infrastructure with others, performance issues may sometimes occur. For example, if other customers are using a lot of resources, the intensive use may affect speeds or latency. This can happen especially if the provider does not have sufficiently dimensioned resources.

Strategies for these performance challenges:

Select a provider with a strong network, good resources and high availability.
Create a service level agreement (SLA) with the provider that guarantees you will always receive a certain agreed level of performance.
Run performance tests when you start using IaaS services and monitor performance on an ongoing basis so that you can scale resources as needed.
Optimise your applications for efficient resource use that reduces load.

Operator dependency (Vendor lock-in)

Infrastructure as a Service is intended to give you more flexibility and freedom compared to having your own equipment. However, this can backfire, as there are IaaS providers that offer specific solutions and tools that may seem practical at first but make it difficult to switch to another provider in the long run.

Strategies for this challenge:

Select a provider with an open platform and review how locked in you will be to the services offered.
Build an agnostic infrastructure that is not overly dependent on vendor-specific technology.
Use standardised and open interfaces, tools, APIs and other elements that can be used on multiple platforms.
Design a container-based architecture that can be easily migrated to other platforms. Also create a data migration plan to make the transition less complex and time-consuming. Consider using automated migration tools.

Complexity of use

IaaS offers great flexibility, but it can become complex when your existing systems and processes need to be connected to the IaaS solution. This is especially true if you have an organisation with many different workloads.

Here's how you can reduce complexity:

Standardise and document your processes. This ensures smoother use and integration between your existing systems and IaaS services. As a bonus, you lay the foundation for more efficient management in the long run.
Train your IT staff in cloud management, which contributes to better understanding and easier management.
Use automation tools that help you manage your infrastructure and minimise manual processes and repetitive tasks. You can also simplify usage with configuration management tools.
Choose a provider that offers managed services. That is, one that can manage your virtual machines, storage, networks and security tasks, for example. This gives you less to think about and allows you to focus more on your core business.

Advice on how to better manage the challenges of IaaS

Train your staff so that they have the skills to take full advantage of IaaS with as little hassle and complexity as possible.
Think carefully about how you want to use IaaS before choosing a provider. Create a strategy for your use and for how you will integrate IaaS with your existing architecture. Then choose a provider that fits your strategy and your needs.
Ask questions as soon as anything seems unclear.
Request references from other customers so you can gain insight into how operations work on a daily basis. For example, how uptime, availability, security and support work.
Use monitoring tools that allow you to track and optimise your resource usage and identify any issues.

How Binero works with Infrastructure as a Service

Binero offers high-performance Swedish cloud services for sustainable digitalisation and smoother IT for companies seeking greater flexibility. Our modern infrastructure service is based on the market-leading OpenStack platform. Our proven, EU-compliant and modern cloud solutions are easy to scale and develop further. This gives you the flexibility you need to tailor services to your specific needs. Our IaaS is also GDPR-compliant, so your data is always protected by Swedish law and the GDPR.

Our services have no vendor lock-in. You get a high-capacity network (10 Gbps) and low latency. We offer instance types for all needs, allowing you to provision the instances you need to meet your requirements, so you always get the capacity and performance you need. You can also choose the storage type that suits your application, for example if you want to use NVMe, SSD, mechanical disks, etc. We also offer backup services for instance storage. With a complete stack of network services, you can create your own data centre network in just a few minutes and scale it out however you want. At the same time, you get a secure network solution without having to worry about firewalls or routing. We also offer other value-added services such as load balancing, Client VPN and DNS.