Cloud

Cloud environments for business applications, designed as simply as the requirements allow, with named access, backups, monitoring and a repeatable deployment process.

Many cloud setups grew one server at a time. Everything runs in one account under a shared login, test and production share a machine, and nobody has tried restoring a backup.

An infrastructure choice, not a destination

Cloud is treated as an infrastructure option. The design should be as simple as practical while meeting the required reliability, security, deployment and recovery needs. An existing environment may remain appropriate. Migration is not recommended merely because cloud infrastructure is available.

Separate test and production environments, tested recovery, cost attribution and particular deployment patterns are used where the application and the risk require them. They are not automatic features of every cloud project.

Typical situations

  • No safe place to try a change

    Changes go straight to production because test and live share the same server.

  • The account belongs to someone who left

    The person who set up the cloud account has gone, and the bill keeps arriving.

  • Recovery has never been exercised

    Backups are scheduled, but nobody knows whether a restore works or how long it takes.

  • Costs nobody can explain

    The monthly bill includes resources no one can identify.

What we do

Ryoss can work with existing cloud environments as well as create new ones.

  • Design the environment

    Account and environment boundaries, compute, storage, databases and networking sized to the application.

  • Set up access and deployment

    Named administrative access, DNS, TLS and a repeatable deployment process.

  • Add monitoring and recovery

    Monitoring, logging, backups and a recovery procedure that has been tested.

  • Migrate and document

    Applications and data are moved where required, with operating notes for whoever runs the environment.

Describe the problem to us

Book a free 15 minute call and tell us what is going wrong and which systems are involved.

What you end up with

  • An environment built for the application

    Sized and structured for what the software needs, and no more complex than that requires.

  • Named access and tested recovery

    Each person and service has its own account, and a restore has been exercised.

  • Operating notes

    How the environment is built, where credentials are kept and how to recover it, written down.

How a typical engagement works

  1. 01Stocktake
  2. 02Design
  3. 03Build
  4. 04Handover
  5. 05Review

01Stocktake

Take stock

We list what is running, who has access, how deployments happen and what the application needs in reliability and recovery.

02Design

Design as simply as the requirements allow

The environment is designed around the application, with separate test and production only where the risk justifies it.

03Build

Build or migrate in stages

Changes are made in steps and tried outside production first, with a way back if something fails.

04Handover

Hand over

Monitoring, backups and operating notes are put in place, and the environment is handed to the organisation's team or run under Managed Hosting.

05Review

Review as the application changes

Costs, capacity and recovery are reviewed as the application changes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which cloud provider do you use?

Whichever suits the applications, existing agreements and the people who will operate the environment.

What is the difference between Cloud and Architecture?

Cloud work designs and builds the environment itself. Architecture decides how applications, data and identity fit together, wherever they run.

What does a cloud engagement involve?

Designing and building the environment an application runs in: account and environment boundaries, compute, storage, databases, networking, DNS, TLS, deployment, monitoring, backups and recovery.

Do we have to move to the cloud?

Not necessarily. Migration is recommended only where it solves an identifiable problem, and an existing environment may remain appropriate.

Can you work with our existing cloud account?

Yes. Ryoss works with existing cloud environments as well as creating new ones, and we start by listing what is already there.

How do you keep cloud costs under control?

By making ownership and design clear: every resource has a reason to exist, costs can be attributed and the environment is kept as simple as the requirements allow. Costs nobody can explain are often found in the inventory.

How is access managed?

With named administrative accounts and only the permissions each person or service needs, instead of shared logins.

What about backups and recovery?

Backups are set up with a recovery procedure, and a restore is tested, because a backup that has never been restored is an assumption.

How is an application migrated?

In stages, tried outside production first, with a way back if something fails. How much disruption is acceptable is agreed for each application.

How do we get started?

Book a free 15 minute discovery call and describe the application and where it runs today. A sensible first step is often an inventory of the environment.

Start with a conversation

Book a free 15 minute call. Describe the problem, the systems involved and what you already know, and we will tell you plainly whether we can help and what a sensible next step looks like. There is no obligation.