Cloud Hosting Dependency Risks: Understanding Dependency Problems

[johny899]

Do you ever feel as though you have become overdependent upon your cloud service provider? I certainly have; once I put an entire project on a single cloud vendor without considering how potentially catastrophic it might become. Now, I rely solely on a single cloud provider and didn't consider the cloud hosting dependency risks of using only one provider.

The entire application went down together with the cloud service, and at that time, I learned how important it is to consider how much you depend on the service and risking down time.

How Could Cloud Service Providers Impact Dependence?​

The concept of cloud service hosting is simple. Everything is set up for simple use, and you will know for almost sure that you have everything under control.

So, as you are reading this and thinking to yourself about your next task that involves using one or more cloud hosting services, take a moment to consider what happens if your provider or server goes down?

The Risk of Cloud Services​

The risk is that every cloud service provider has the risk of failure and usually at the worst time (when you need it most). When you depend on a cloud host and your provider goes down, your application will cease to function.

I remember being in the middle of an outage when I was constantly refreshing the cloud status page to see if the service had come back up, and it didn't help. All I could do was wait.

Vendor Lock-In Makes You Stuck​

Vendor lock-in occurs when an organization finds itself too reliant on a single vendor for cloud computing resources.

Examples of vendor lock-in include:

• Where all tools/services are provided by only a single vendor.
• An application has an architecture that restricts it to being used with only a single vendor's infrastructure.
• Moving the application(s) from one vendor to another results in extensive code rewriting, which can be difficult or costly.

Hidden Costs Associated With Cloud Hosting​

Cloud hosting may appear inexpensive at first glance due to the low initial investment required; however, hidden costs can accumulate quickly, including:

• Costs associated with data transfers (i.e. the price for "moving" data from one cloud vendor to another).
• Costs associated with using data storage services within the cloud vendor's infrastructure (i.e. renting space to store large volumes of files).
• Costs for additional software/tools that may be required by your application(s).

I have personally experienced paying unexpected costs when transferring large backup files. This taught me to always verify pricing before proceeding with the transfer of any large datasets.

Your Security is Not Just Taken Care Of?​

The way cloud service providers protect their servers is not enough to protect your company's applications. You are responsible for securing your applications with:

• Assigning Users to Roles
• Setting Data Security
• Managing Application Security Rules

Most issues with cloud applications arise because of improper configuration of permissions or data settings by the user and not because of an error or failure of the cloud provider.

What Are Ways to Minimise Risk in Using Cloud Services?​

Minimising risk to your business from cloud services is possible by implementing the following strategies:

• Utilising multiple cloud services
• Maintaining your own backup service
• Not using tools that force you to use one provider
• Monitoring your monthly bills

These options provide for greater control and decreased risk.

Conclusion​

While cloud services can provide many benefits, reliance on them creates additional risks for businesses. I think about this very often when I consider: "What happens if the cloud goes down this second and prevents access to everything associated with my projects?"