SPS - Software Productivity Strategists

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What is Cloud Managed Services

Effective management continues to be the key priority for most organizations, as cloud adoption continues to rise. To address this challenge, organizations choose different ways to manage their cloud infrastructure. Some manage it themselves, while some choose to have a managed cloud service provider who can handle a broader mission with a clear vision of managing hybrid environments and resources.

Benefits

Round-the-clock management of IT Infrastructure
Remote support, increased productivity, effective resource utilization
Centralized Services and Applications
Ensure better control through Service Level Agreements
We are at the forefront when dealing with cloud vendors in case of any critical issues
Quick Response Time
Timely Updates

Our Approach and Methodology

Detailed As-Is Infrastructure Discovery that includes
- Users Repositories, Network, Applications, Servers, and Data
Create Architectures and documentation for better visibility
Identify use cases
Identify stakeholders for each component
Create Service Level Agreement
Apply monitoring for critical assets
Setup Helpdesk with three-level support model
Ensure support staff is available 24/7 for support

Functions and Activities

Function				Description


Virtual Server Management
Manage VMs – General				Manage Client VMs (Linux and Windows) and cloud resources (services consumed, VPC gateways, third party appliances procured as machine images from Cloud Service Provider, etc.) deployed on Cloud Service Provider’s platform
VM Operations				Perform all VM operations, including the operation of VM consoles and the creation, Configuration and management of startup and operational command procedures, including:
				I. allocate resources to Applications and Databases as required;
				II. create, customize and maintain startup and operational command procedures for all VMs;
				III. perform VM startups and shutdowns as required for Normal Operations, emergency situations, and recovery efforts;
				IV. ongoing performance and sizing optimization of workloads and storage within the cloud platform; and
				V. perform decommissioning of instances, storage, and AWS cloud platform services when they are no longer required.
Auto-scaling Enablement				Enable VM auto-scaling on cloud level which will expand the VMs based on the workload, with the help of the public cloud provider
Windows Server Management
Activities on Windows Servers				WINTEL user creation/deletion
				Windows patching activities
				Handling Incident Resolution and troubleshooting
				Executing Changes (planned/routine/emergency)
				Providing RCA for problem tickets
				Post provisioning activities in Windows
				Planned server restart
				Disk defragmentation
				Analyzing logs/events on servers
				Folder/file shares access request/issues
				Monthly file shares ACL report - on demand
				Monthly active/disabled AD users report - on demand
				Instance performance reports
				Disk expansion on demand
				Vulnerability fixes / security logs report
				Windows activation/RDP license
				Generic OS level troubleshooting
				Home drive creations
				Network route addition/deletion
				CPU/memory/disk space utilization analysis leveraging Provider’s monitoring and management platform and provide recommendations to perform adjustments to the required parameters on a monthly basis
				Perform adjustment of the required parameters as per the accepted recommendation on a monthly basis
				Perform Windows server analysis (constitutes consumption of resources and recommendations to optimize) – monthly
				Registry Changes with platform automation (excluding applications) based on the requirement
				Supporting the data movement within Instances based on the requirement.
				Server/Service start, stop, restart
				Installation, management and troubleshooting of OS configurations, monitoring agents
User Management				User account creation
				User account modification and ownership change
				User account deletion
				Group creation
				Group modification
				User account lock / unlock
				User account password reset
				Group deletion
				Granting/revoking sudo access
				Periodic review of user accounts and update them as per Client defined user Policies
Disk Management				Create partitions and attach disk
				Volume group management
				Create / extend disk drives
				Remove disk drives
				Configure shared network file system
				File system disk cleanup as per the alerts from the monitored pre-defined thresholds
Network Management				IP address Configuration
				Alias IP addition / modification / deletion
				Route add / modification/ deletion
				Install / upgrade / Configure modules
Monitoring				Monitoring CPU utilization
				Monitoring memory utilization
				Monitoring file system utilization
				Monitoring SWAP utilization
				Monitoring IO utilization
				Monitoring network utilization
				Server health check status - Availability
				Customized service / port monitoring
				Monitoring underlying Cloud environment
				System Instance health check, through the console.
System Security				Server and Services hardening to meet Client privacy and security compliance requirements
Patch Management				OS update
				Install software packages
				Remove software packages
				Update software packages
				Patch management using tools based on the requirements
				Perform emergency patching and updates on an expedited basis (per Service Level Agreement)
				Backups are taken as per the backup policy as it relates to patching process
Backup Management				Backups are taken as per the backup policy as it relates to overall backup policy
				Work with Client to set-up the required back-up policies based on application type.
				Backups are retained as per Client requirement with retention policy.
Automation				Deploying scripts for server health checks.
Automation				Deploying scripts for collecting system pre / post Configuration change.
Documentation				Evaluate design documents and validate the system requirements
Documentation				Standard SOP's or Client specific SOPS’s will be maintained for the operations.
AiX/ i / Linux Server Management
Server Management				Server start, stop, reboot
				Server utilization and event generation will be optimized
				Create server snapshot before a critical change activity
				OS log rotation
				Kernel parameter changes
				Capacity Management - Addition of CPU/memory/disk based on the requirements
				Capacity Management - Removal of CPU/memory/disk based on the requirements
				Configure DNS - OS settings
				Configure DHCP - OS Settings
				Setup and maintain ssh/remote access mechanism
				Cron Scheduling based on user requirement
				Creation of file and directories
				Modifying the file ownership and permission
				Managing High Availability OS clustering
				Server/service start, stop, restart
				Installation, management and troubleshooting of OS configurations, monitoring agents
User Management				User account creation
				User account modification and ownership change
				User account deletion
				Group creation
				Group modification
				User account lock / unlock
				User account password reset management for AD provisioned on Cloud Service Provider platform or other AD, as per Client’s defined guidelines and Policies
				Group deletion
				Granting / revoking sudo access
				Periodic review of user accounts and update them as per Client defined user Policies
Disk Management				Creating partitions and mounting the disk.
				Volume group management
				LV creation and file system
				Extending file system space
				Remove file system
				Configure shared network file system
				File system disk cleanup as per the alerts from the monitored pre-defined thresholds
Network Management				IP address Configuration
				Alias IP addition / modification / deletion
				Route add / modification / deletion
				Port opening in OS firewall (e.g. IPtables)
				Install / upgrade / configure modules
Monitoring				Monitoring CPU utilization
				Monitoring memory utilization
				Monitoring file system utilization
				Monitoring SWAP utilization
				Monitoring IO utilization
				Monitoring network utilization
				Server health check status - availability
				Customized service / port monitoring
				Monitoring underlying cloud environment
				System Instance health check, through the console
System Security				Server hardening as per Client’s security requirements
Patch Management & Package Installation				Kernel patching & OS update
				Install software packages
				Remove software packages
				Update software packages
				RPM install / update / removal based on the requirements
				Perform emergency patching and updates on an expedited basis (per Service Level Agreement)
Backup Management				Backups are taken as per the backup Policy (machine Images)
				Cloud Intermediary will work with Client to set-up the required back-up Policies based on application type. Any change in back-up Policy will be implemented through appropriate change control mechanism as defined by Client.
				Backups are retained as per Client’s requirement with retention Policy.
Automation				Deploying scripts for server health checks.
Automation				Deploying scripts for collecting system pre/post Configuration change.
Documentation				Review design documents and validate the system requirements
Documentation				Standard SOP's or Client specific SOPS’s will be maintained for business as usual operations.
Compute Services				Instance stop/start/reboot
				Instance creation, deletion
				Instance type modification
				Purchase reservation
				Enable Instance snapshot/backup
				Create/modify/attach/detach security groups
				Allocate/associate/disassociate elastic IP addresses
				Create/delete key-pairs
				Create/attach/detach/delete network interfaces
				Enable/disable Compute access logs
Block Storage Services				Volume create/delete/attach/modify
				Volume encryption
				Enable/disable Block Storage access logs
Load Balancer				Create/delete Load Balancing groups
				Attach/detach instances from Load Balancing groups
				Enable/edit Load Balancing groups health check
				Attach/detach instances to/from Load Balancing groups
				Edit/add/remove Load Balancing groups listeners
				Install/delete Load Balancing groups SSL certificate
				Enable/disable Load Balancing groups access logs
Auto Scaling				Create/delete/modify auto scaling configuration
Auto Scaling				Create/delete/modify auto scaling groups
Security/IAM (Identity and Access Management)				Create/delete/modify IAM account
				Create/delete/modify IAM groups
				Create/delete/modify IAM policies
				Create/delete/modify IAM roles
				Upload/delete/list certificates
				Enable/disable IAM access logs
Compliance and Risk Features				Enable/disable governance, compliance, operational auditing, and risk auditing features
Config Compliance				Enable/disable configuration assessment, audit, and evaluation features
Notification Services				Create/delete notification rules
Notification Services				Create/modify/delete pub/subs
Content Distribution Services				Create/modify/delete content distribution services (CDN)
Email Services				Create/delete SMTP
				Verify domains and email addresses
				Enable/disable logging
Monitoring				Create/delete/modify alarms
				Provide real-time monitoring event management across cloud CIs including escalation, alarm and automated ticketing capabilities
				Monitor the availability of each cloud CI in accordance with Client Policies and procedures and industry practices
				Monitor the utilization of each cloud CI in accordance with Client Policies and procedures and industry practices
				Ensure that Client cloud CI’s are never unmonitored and/or unmanaged for any reason without documented and approved exception per policy
Virtual Private Cloud Networking				Create/modify/delete VPC subnets
				Create/modify/delete subnets ACL's
				Create/modify/delete VPC VPN
				Create/modify/delete/attach Internet gateway
				Create/modify/delete/attach VPC route tables
				Create/modify/delete VPC peering
				Create/modify/delete/attach Client gateway
				Create/modify/delete/attach VPC static routes
				Enable/disable VPC flow logs
Dedicated Network Connections				Create/modify/delete dedicated network connections
Dedicated Network Connections				Create/modify/delete virtual interfaces
DNS				Create/modify/delete hosted zone
DNS				Create/modify/delete record sets
Object Storage Services				Create/modify/delete bucket
				Enable/disable bucket lifecycle
				Enable/disable bucket versioning
				Enable/disable bucket cross region replication
				Enable/disable archive through lifecycle Policies
				Enable/disable infrequent features access through lifecycle Policies
				Enable/disable logging
Services – General				Create/modify/delete/reboot services
				Enable/disable snapshot / backup
				Purchase reservation
				Create/Configure/attach/modify security groups
				Create/Configure/attach/modify parameter groups
				Enable/disable logging
Storage and Backup Services - General				Provide storage requirements (e.g., performance, backup, restore, archival, data retention).
				Recommend Cloud Intermediary storage and data management services solutions and procedures to meet Client’s storage and data management services requirements.
				Interface with end users and manage file share access and space requests.
				Create/modify/delete bucket
				Enable/disable bucket lifecycle, versioning and cross region replication
				Enable/disable archive through lifecycle Policies
				Enable/disable storage access through lifecycle Policies
				Initiate requests for additional storage resources as required.
				Review and approve requests for additional storage resources as required.
				Maintain and improve storage resource efficiency and space requirements.
				Provide storage space allocations (e.g., provisioning) within Client’s available resources.
				Perform data and file backups and restores per established procedures.
				Manage file transfers and other data movement activities.
				Decommission storage and backup environment in accordance with Client’s Policies and procedures.
				Develop and maintain backup schedule in accordance with Client’s requirements.
				Perform data backups as per established retention periods.
				Recover files, file system or other data required from backup vaults / storage
				Provide recovery and backup requirements and updates as they change.
				Enable/disable logging
Operations and Automation				Create/modify/delete Run books
Cloud Admin Access Management				Create/modify/delete Cloud admins
Financial Governance				Cloud Intermediary will perform cost analysis of the provisioned Cloud CIs including billing, utilization.
Client Access				Provide Client access to standard reports
				Provide Client access to standard consoles (e.g. CLIs, web consoles)
				Provide Client access to standard tools (e.g. portals, utilities)
Client Data				Client information (e.g. logs, performance data, email addresses, etc.) will be stored, managed and protected in compliance with Client Policies and procedures
Job Scheduling Tools – Configuration and Management				Configure and support job scheduling tool within Cloud Provider for the full suite of functions required to ensure the normal operations of CIs

Pricing

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