Assessment Task 1: Plan new administrative

system
1. Meet with stakeholders.
This first activity requires you to meet with Anna Armstrong (your assessor) and at least two of the
consultants she employs.

The objective of this meeting is for you to find out all that you need to know about the company’s
administration needs.

Your assessor will give you the place, date and time of your meeting.

During the meeting, you will be required to do the following:

• Determine the company’s current administration resources
• Identify what the budget will be for the change over to the new system
• Identify and discuss the company’s future administration needs
• Determine what improvements need to be made to business operations
• Discuss implementation strategies with the other meeting attendees. It will be important that all
users of any new system are introduced to it in the most effective way, so discuss with them what
the most effective way to do this would be.

Discuss the company’s future needs with Anna, making suggestions and discussing the options. You will
be writing a report on this following the meeting, so review the next activity before attending the meeting
so you are aware of what your report will need to cover. This exchange gives you the opportunity to
discuss some of your ideas with your employer before you begin the report.

During the meeting, you are required to demonstrate effective communication skills including:
• Speaking clearly and concisely
• Using non-verbal communication to assist with understanding
• Asking questions to identify required information
• Responding to questions as required
• Using active listening techniques to confirm understanding

Minutes of meeting

20/01/2020

Attendees: Anna Armstrong; Ellen Hedden (Sr. Consultant); Michael Dough; Accountssupport;

Agenda: Review of Administrative Issues Company’s resources maintenance.

Accounts Support Manager: Meeting attendees where advised of the concern held by the executive
management team regarding current resources management policy and procedures. It was noted that
the group has decided to source and implement a new cloud based company’s resources
administration system.
Implementation: must be completed within a month’s time.

All clients resource backup and files must be saved on daily basis before implementation date.
All the consultants will need access to the new cloud-based storage system with their provided login id’s
and passwords.
The authority for usage of clients resources and documents will be strictly under Ms Anna Armstrong
only.
Each consultant must be able to save the task done on allocated client resource separately with their
initials.
System must operate in real time.
System must have adequate support, in particular an on call technical help desk.
The system must have a permission/user restrictions; and password protection.
Back up and redundancy functions are compulsory.
Implementation to be run parallel with current system for a maximum of two months.
Plans must be put into place in the event that the FY 2020 Client services delayed past planned
implementation date. Please note: the company has been experiencing many difficulties for maintaining
the data for the clients. This risk is considered high.
Training will need to be conducted during the normal course of business.
Project budget of $15,000 is not to be exceeded.

E-mail: *Cloud Based Storage system requirement

To:Assesor

Dear Sirs /Madams.

As you all aware, we are in the process implementing new cloud based storage system for smooth processing of clients data
and records.

I am E-mailing you the list of the requirement for 2020 Cloud Based Storage system, that was discussed at 20.01.20 minutes
meeting. You are welcome yet to add any requirement of your concerns to my list.

Any extra information will help us to determine the software specification and the end user needs. See file attached *

Regards.

Rimma Zipman,

Director of Finance, CA City Retail Group.

1 Corporate CA City Lane, Centro, 4001.

Accountants Support . (Summary from 20.01.20 minutes meeting)

Requirement for 2020 Cloud Based Storage System

Software’s Key requirements:

a) Give an access for multiple system users.

b) Release an authority to import Clients data reports to an consultant.
c) Support a permission/user restriction.
d) Restrict use of clients banking information without approval from the admin.
e) Provide two way password protection.

End User’s compulsory requirements:

a) Run in parallel with 2019 storage system for the following 2 months..
b) Support back up and redundancy functions.

Requirements for Vendor :

a) Provide adequate supports (on call technical help desk).

b) Provide training to all users during the normal course of business.
c) Cost must not exceed $15000.
Assessment Task 2: Cloud-based data storage system implementation

Enterprises are increasingly adopting cloud storage options because they need more capacity, elastic capacity and a better way
to manage storage costs over time. The growing amount of enterprise data and cloud data are proving too difficult for IT
departments to manage using their data center alone.

Not surprisingly, enterprises are supplementing what they have with cloud data storage in the form of private cloud, public
cloud or both. Among the benefits: the capability to leverage cloud storage pricing, which offers great budget flexibility.

What is Cloud Storage?

Cloud storage is a remote platform that uses a highly virtualized, multi-tenant infrastructure to provide enterprises with
scalable storage resources that can be provisioned dynamically as required by the organization. This service is offered by a wide
array of cloud storage providers.

Traditionally, IT departments managing capacity-strained data centers would "throw boxes at the problem" which meant

continuously adding physical storage devices, but that proved to be both expensive and difficult to manage as the amount of
data continued to grow exponentially. Unlike dedicated physical devices, clouds provide:

 Elasticity

 Scalability

 Multi-tenancy

 Metered resources

The provisioning of cloud storage resources is accomplished through a web-based interface.

Cloud based storage has several unique attributes that make it attractive for enterprises attempting to compete in today's data-
intensive business environment. For example:

 The resources are distributed to enable dynamic elasticity and availability

 The resources are replicated for disaster recovery and fault tolerance

 Data replication is eventually consistent to ensure availability

Cloud storage can be managed in-house, but it is remotely hosted, third party platforms that offer the most benefit to today's
businesses.

How Does Cloud Storage Work?

Cloud storage involves at least one data server that a user connects to via the internet. The user sends files manually or in an
automated fashion over the Internet to the data server which forwards the information to multiple servers. The stored data is
then accessible through a web-based interface.

Cloud storage systems involve vast numbers of data servers to ensure their availability. That way, if one server requires
maintenance or fails, the user can rest assured that the data has been replicated elsewhere to ensure availability. For example,
the Amazon AWS Cloud spans 55 availability zones in 18 geographic regions at the present time.

While the data in a public cloud is replicated in different physical locations for fault tolerance and disaster recovery purposes,
the primary or local location tends to be nearer physically to the company's facility using it so the data can be processed faster
and at lower costs then, say choosing a primary location halfway around the globe.

Cloud storage management trends continue to unfold with more companies extending out to the cloud. Public clouds are
managed by public cloud service providers. Their infrastructure and services include:

 Servers

 Storage

 Networking

 Data center operations

Cloud data storage resources can be provisioned in the following ways:

 By end users using a web interface that are paying for capacity on a per-transaction basis

 By users who specify pre-determined capacity which is prepared in advance of the service.  The customer then pays
for the service monthly or pays a flat fee.

 By the service provider which allocates resources dynamically as needed.  Payment is on a pay-per-use basis.

As noted above, pricing can vary, and it can depend on a number of factors including the service provider, capacity required,
length of time required, etc.

Types of Cloud Storage

There are four general types of cloud storage: personal cloud storage, private cloud storage, public cloud storage, and hybrid
cloud storage.

Personal cloud storage

Personal cloud storage is enabled by a network-attached device that allows users to store different types of personal data.
Examples of cloud storage include text, graphics, photos, video, and music.  The user owns and controls the device and can
access it from anywhere via the Internet.  The device is really a personal cloud drive.

Private cloud storage

Private cloud storage uses on-premises storage servers that are under the control of the company that owns them. Like public
cloud storage and data centers, private cloud storage takes advantage of virtual machines.

Private clouds tend to be used by organizations that want the flexibility and scalability of cloud storage, albeit under the direct
control and management of the company which owns it. Organizations concerned about security may prefer managing their
own cloud storage systems architecture as opposed to using a public cloud.

Public cloud storage

Public cloud storage is available from a third-party as a service.  Amazon AWS Cloud Storage, Microsoft Azure Cloud Storage,
and Google Cloud Storage tend to be popular among enterprises. These public cloud storage options are available as a service.
The infrastructure is built, owned, managed and maintained by the cloud storage providers.  Many cloud storage websites can
also be found online.
Hybrid cloud storage

Hybrid cloud storage is some combination of public cloud, private cloud and data center as an organization prefers. It typically
combines resources that are owned and managed by the enterprise with public cloud storage services that are managed by a
third party. Enterprises combine the two approaches to balance the need for securing mission-critical assets with the elasticity,
scalability and cost advantages public cloud storage provides.

Public vs. Private Cloud

Public and private clouds both take advantage of cloud computing and storage technologies. However, there are some
differences worth considering:

 Ownership and control – public cloud storage resources are owned and controlled by third-party service providers;
private cloud infrastructure is owned and controlled in-house

 Upgrades included or not – public cloud storage includes upgrades; private clouds do not

 Shared versus dedicated resources – public cloud storage infrastructure is shared by a population of users; private
cloud storage is dedicated to the company that owns it

 Degree of security – cloud security a debatable point. Some consider public clouds less secure than private clouds. 
However, organizations with limited IT resources may prefer to rely on the cloud storage service provider's security
expertise.

 Resiliency – public cloud storage replicates data; private clouds in a single location could be destroyed by a natural
disaster.

Cloud Storage vs Cloud Computing

The difference between cloud storage boils down to data storage versus application use and computation. The purpose of cloud
storage is to save copies of data and files as backup.  That way, if the original data or file is corrupted, compromised, or
destroyed, a backup is available on the cloud with which to recover.  In the event data is lost or destroyed, one must simply
access cloud storage to get access to the duplicate files.

Cloud computing makes computing power and cloud memory available as a service. Like cloud storage, users can get access to
as much or as little capacity as they need. Cloud computing may also provide access to applications via a virtual desktop or
cloud PC.

IT Should Educate End Users about Cloud Storage

IT departments sometimes have to explain the cloud the end users, including its risks and benefits because non-technical
personnel tend not to understand the potential impacts of cloud resources on the enterprise, such as the potential security
implications or costs. Educating end users through training and policies can help them understand the risk-benefit tradeoffs
better before they do something like procure their own cloud storage devices.  It isn't uncommon for end users to as basic
questions such as:

 Where is the cloud? The cloud most commonly refers to remotely hosted storage; it may be located anywhere.

 Where is the cloud located? Cloud platforms may be across town or across the country.

 What is the cloud and how does it work? It's a remote storage platform; it accepts data storage over the Internet.

 How big is cloud space? It's essentially unlimited.

 Does cloud save money? It may, depending on how it's managed.

The latter question is particularly important because cloud is touted as being a lower-cost alternative to data centers which
require IT staff to manage and maintain them. The reality is that cloud computing and cloud storage costs actually depend
on efficient use and management since unbridged use, poor oversight, and unnecessary instances can drive up costs.

While there's no one right way to implement data storage in an enterprise, cloud storage helps organizations keep pace with
the data-intensive nature of increasingly digital business.

Assessment Task 3: Monitor system usage

Computer system monitoring: advantages, procedures and use

Most company’s workforce is based on their computer systems; therefore, these must be capable of responding in any
situation, and sometimes at any given time of the day. Monitoring these systems has become a fundamental task to manage all
a company’s IT infrastructure, with the following main goals in mind:

 Taking maximum advantage over a company’s HW resources.

 Instance prevention and problem detection.
 Notifying possible issues

In general, these objectives can be summarized into one single, very quantifiable, objective:  Cutting down costs, less instances,
less time used and higher client satisfaction rate.

System monitoring tools must be centered on processes, memory, storage and net connections. In our article on  network
monitoring tools, you can see a comparative countdown of the best tools in 2016. All of them are also system monitoring tools.
Apart from relying on a good monitoring tool, we must establish a problem-solving protocol, which will a key to solve them in
the best way possible.

In this article we won’t only try to make you see the need for a monitoring, but also try to explain how to establish the action
protocol and monitor that as well, using the same tools.

Advantages of monitoring. Why should I monitor my computer systems?

We’re going to list the main reasons why you should think about applying monitoring to your computer systems.

 You’ll be able to configure events and alarms related with them. Some examples of alarms can be applied to warn
about full hard drives, RAM occupation at over 80%, excessive access to discs with writing permissions, too many threads
open on the same system, etc.
 Being able to access executive information on the status of our installations and checking up on our most critical
technological assets.
 Access to our computer system’s status in real time.
 Improve the efficiency and performance in maintenance tasks performed on the system.
 Detecting instance origins.
 Creating system inventories (maps, lists).
 Planning growth based on the real use of your systems. Through usage reports, you can detect tendencies and know
when you’ll need more storage space, a new server, or a memory upgrade. Under the same premises we can detect
systems that are underused.
 Cost reduction

Steps to create a good system monitoring scheme

Monitoring systems is not as complicated as it may seem. The priority is order and discipline. Up next, we’ll show the steps to
follow to perform system monitoring which is both efficient and complete.

1. Performing a complete system analysis over the devices we want to monitor. This is the most important and
complex part of the process. On many occasions we don’t have this inventory at hand and for this reason it’s
one of the most important characteristics that a monitoring tool should have. In the article on network
monitoring, we talk about the main characteristics to keep in mind when doing this. The inventory should be
classified as follows:

 Component type (server, router, switch, firewall, etc.)

 Elements within said component (Hard drives, RAM, applications, server, etc.)
 Component brand (Sparc, Intel, HP-UX, Windows, IIS, Apache, Oracle, etc.)
 Device IP
  Monitoring priority: how important is the monitoring on a scale of 1 to 10.

2. Once we’ve inventoried our systems, we must gather the different parts responsible in the main areas of an
installation. 

Security, systems, networks, servers and applications.

3. The main alarms have to be defined, for each type of component, element and brand defined in step one.

This’ll be very important to later deploy the configurations sorted by monitored element types. For example, some possible
alarms could be: full hard drives, oversaturated processors, limited bandwidth, etc.

4. Thresholds must be defined for every alarm with the corresponding parameters and levels to launch the alarm.

For hard drives and/or partitions, there’ll be a percentage of free disc space defined, otherwise an alarm should go off.

For RAM you’ll be able to establish an 80% threshold, so if that server occupied RAM goes over that threshold, an alarm will go
off.

We should continue to do this for all elements listed in previous steps.

5. Establishing the communication and action protocol

It’s quite to define communication channels (via SMS, email, WhatsApp, push, etc.) and how the alarm attention process will
be. First, second or third level support protocols can be established. In this section we’ll detail on action protocols when it
comes to handling instances.

6. Making a comparation between different monitoring tools and choosing which one adapts the best to your
budget and the requirements established in previous steps. It’s of prime importance that the tool chosen is
capable of monitoring the items with the most priority from our initial inventory.
7. Write an installation plan for the new monitoring system. For this we should follow a set of rules:
o Maintain existing security measures
o Minimize the number of middle-man systems standing between the monitoring system and critically
important systems
o Minimize impact on the system to study
8. Install and configure the chosen software package

 
Action protocol when facing instances on our systems

One of the previously steps we commented on and which has a lot of importance is defining the action protocol when we’re
performing a system monitoring.

1. First, we should identify the types of support that need to be given, and which will be the groups that will
attend to that support.

Normally, it’s recommendable to create groups according to levels. The first level will be those on the frontline and
the alerts will pass on through levels if they cannot be solved.

2. We should dwell on the duration of the support and if we want it to be available 24/7.

Once we define the hours and different support groups we must be able to establish a communications system that allows alert
transferring among groups. For this purpose, there are many open or paid licensing tools for instance management.

3. The next step would be to install and configure our Instance Management tools. This must be integrated with
our system monitoring scheme.
 4. We must establish the quality of the service we’re offering. Instance types, maximum timespan to solve said
instances, etc.
5. We must establish the KPIs we want to monitor to control our instance management system. It’ll be here
where, if we’ve chosen our system monitoring tool correctly, we can use it to monitor said KPIs.

The main KPIs we want to take into account are the amount of instances generated, classified by element type and
severances. This’ll be quite useful to measure our devices and to register each instance to its corresponding owner.
Solving times or the time that instances stay on each level will be very important data to detect improvements and
optimizations in our support.

6. One of the most important steps, finally, and that many times is forgotten or badly performed, is the capacity to
offer the instance management the knowledge to solve said issues.

Instances generated on our systems can sometimes be solved, and at other times (because of costs or complexity)
we’ll just have to accept them and move on. That’s why it’s very important to establish the way to feed the system so
that when the same problems arise, our system already has a solution to implement, therefore saving us time and
money.

As we have seen, monitoring our systems gives us many advantages for our company and the employees that are behind said
system. We also would like to insist on how our system monitoring tool is very important, but not more important than the
process to execute in order to monitor computer systems and the protocol for action when instances come along