Development and automation of SMEs' model for infrastructure service-migration to cloud.

Abstract

In this paper, we present the Infrastructure-as-a-service(IaaS) migration as a process that requires the collaboration of various technical skillsets in an organization. We present the IaaS migration as a process comprising of stages and subtasks that need specialized skills in Cloud Infrastructure Administration, Cybersecurity, Systems development, Network Administration and Business Development. We present deployment of applications to the IaaS cloud as a process consisting of 8 critical stages of 1) Gaining access to the IaaS cloud; 2) Installation of Operating system 3) Installation of App Server;4) Patching Operating system and App Server; 5) Uploading system files to the cloud; 6) Implementing cloud security policies; 7) Configuring DNS management and 8) Testing of system components functionalities. We proceeded to identify the roles of each of the skillsets and how they collaborated during the IaaS migration. This study then designed and developed an automation tool that supports the collaboration of the identified technical skillsets in organizations during an infrastructure-as-a-service(IaaS) migration. The developed automation tool in this paper enabled Systems developers, Cloud infrastructure administrators, Cybersecurity professionals, Network administrators and Business developers to collaborate in executing the various stages during services migration to the IaaS cloud. The automation tool in this study simplified the complexities of the IaaS cloud migration by providing needed information and fostering skills collaboration during an IaaS migration