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Delft-FEWS components are being deployed on many different architectures and hardware. A considerable amount of Delft-FEWS users use an IT infrastructure with virtual machines. The usual goal of virtualization is to centralize administrative tasks while improving The three main deployment types are:
- physical servers - traditional server installation on top of OS.
- virtual machines - improved scalability and overall hardware-resource utilization and centralized administrative tasks.
- containers - cloud virtualization benefiting from a more efficient abstraction layer than virtual machines.
When organizations are in . When organizations are in the initial stage of (re-)defining their IT infrastructure, it is commonly recognized that after virtualization, containerization is the next logical step in the evolution of IT infrastructure. It will remain possible to install Delft-FEWS on on-premise hardware, or in virtual machines. Delft-FEWS system installation on regular hardware / VMS is A container is a "lightweight" abstraction layer on top of the host operating system. Multiple containers share the machine’s operating system kernel and do not require the overhead of associating an operating system within each application. While we simplify Delft-FEWS for use with containers, running Delft-FEWS on physical hardware / virtual machines remains fully supported.
Similar installation steps to regular installation
Delft-FEWS system installations on physical hardware / VMs are currently done by organizing a central database, installing RPMs / MSIs / unzipping the binaries, setting OS environment variables and starting a launcher service. For installation in Kubernetes this is not going to be Installations in the cloud are not much different. Usually this is A general difference is that cloud installations are controlled using data driven yaml / json configuration files to apply the needed actions.
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Master Controller
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Yes
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Admin Interface
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Yes
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Operator Client / SA
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Use Azure Virtual Desktop or Database proxy
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Config Manager
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Use Azure Virtual Desktop or Database proxy or API
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Forecasting Shell Server
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Yes
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WebServices
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Yes
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DatabaseProxy
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Yes
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OpenArchive
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Yes
Delft-FEWS in the cloud
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Delft-FEWS Hardware and software requirements
The Delft-FEWS Hardware and software requirements for on-premise hardware / VMs also apply to deployment in the cloud. We recommend all containers to be linux unless Windows containers are specifically required. For Windows containers HW virtualization is required.
Single MC / Dual MC
A dual Master Controller setup provides redundancy at the cost of additional compute resources. This concept is also recommended in the cloud when high availability is required.
Reference Architecture
The following diagram is a typical architecture that is used in the Azure cloud when deploying a Single MC system using traditional virtual machines.
Installation of Operator Clients
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In comparison with VMs, containers bring reduced start-up time, more compute capacity, more flexibility, fault isolation, ease of management, simplified security and reduced costs. The operational benefits for Delft-FEWS systems are also in line with the Roadmap plans for automation of installations with less needless customization, better auto-scaling and more flexible testing. We prefer using linux containers as much as possible. Whether linux containers can be used may depend on the requirements of the forecast model. Any Windows-based forecast models can be separately run on Windows hardware, Windows VMs (or in a Windows docker container).
component | cloud readiness status | Room for improvements |
---|---|---|
Database | Both db docker containers as well as managed instances are already possible. Managed instances require minor adjustments of the db scripts. | Support one set of database scripts for all db flavors managed and unmanaged. |
Master Controller | Yes | Enable service replication |
Admin Interface | Yes | |
Operator Client / SA | Use Database proxy (Azure: Azure Virtual Desktop) | |
ConfigManager | See Operator Client, in addition the AdminInterface API can be used. | |
Forecasting Shell Server | Yes | Facilitate auto scaling. |
WebServices | Yes | |
DatabaseProxy | Yes | |
OpenArchive | Yes |
Delft-FEWS Hardware and software requirements
The Delft-FEWS Hardware and software requirements for on-premise hardware / VMs also apply to deployment in the cloud. We recommend all containers to be linux unless Windows containers are specifically required. For Windows containers HW virtualization is required.
Single MC / Dual MC
A dual Master Controller setup provides redundancy at the cost of additional compute resources. This concept is also recommended in the cloud when high availability is required.
Installation of Operator Clients
non-exhaustive list of options | remarks |
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database http proxy using SSL | |
ssh + mobaxterm | |
Citrix | integrates with cloud providers |
Apache Guacamole |
Use of managed services
There is no actual requirement for the Delft-FEWS components to use managed services. Managed services can be used as long performance is not affected. As an example, customers that are using SQLServer database replication between different geographical locations reported database timeouts. In response, we've improved our software, removed database indexes and added reconnection strategy for these problems. Since we expect Delft-FEWS users add many more simultaneous running Forecasting Shell servers in the future, we expect / foresee more challenges in this area. It is much better not to use the automated placement of database indexes.
How to deal with (incoming, outgoing) data feeds
- for file-based imports, use
- for server imports serving public data, ftp / http can be used (encryption would provide unnecessary overhead), other services in need of passwords should should use a secure connection / https
Autoscaling with Kubernetes
Most container solutions have Kubernetes under the hood. For autoscaling we will use the Kubernetes API because in our view Kubernetes is the most commonly accepted and best supported cloud computing solution for this. Kubernetes uses Docker containers.
Important cost variables
An estimate for the cost for a basic/medium-sized Delft-FEWS system in the cloud would be around 12k€- 15k€. Many cloud providers offer a "cloud calculator" to calculate, upfront, the expected cost. The estimate differs per Delft-FEWS system.
Data size and egress
Egress, i.e. data traffic transferred from the cloud environment, is not free. The egress costs depend on the type of connection and on the amount of egress data. Ingress, e.g. data traffic into the cloud environment is often free of cost. Egress can be, partly, configured in the Delft-FEWS. Also the location of the Operator Client (in the cloud or on-premise) effects the egress.
Type and number of machines
The prices for for example a 32GB virtual machine and two 16GB virtual machines (VM) are quite similar. However, depending on your requirements, each separate VM requires additional and individual services like for example back-up and security.
Data storage
Data can be stored in different cloud solutions each with it's own price and functionalities. Depending on your requirements you can add managed disks to your machine or a dedicated storage solution.
Managed versus unmanaged
Cloud providers offer managed services like for example a managed database. The price for a managed solution is higher than an unmanaged solution. However, a managed solution requires a lot less of your own IT-staffing hours regarding managing the system.
High Availability and scaling
Introduction
When talking about high availability and scaling, the following concepts are important:
- Scale horizontally
- Scale out: add more virtual machines or containers of the same component
- Scale in: remove virtual machines or containers of the same component
- Scale vertically
- Scale up: increase the resources of a virtual machine or container like CPU or RAM
- Scale down: decrease the resources of a virtual machine or container like CPU or RAM
Master Controller
There can only be one Master Controller running at a time and is a single point of failure. This can only be avoided by deploying a dual MC system. Probably starting with Delft-FEWS 2022.02 multiple Master Controllers can be run on one database. As a result of this, the Master Controller cannot be scaled horizontally. Since the Master Controller is a single point of failure, it is important to monitor the health of the Master Controller. Scaling the Master Controller vertically can be done by redeploying the Master Controller.
Forecasting Shell Servers
Forecasting Shell Servers can be scaled up both horizontally and vertically. Deploying multiple Forecasting Shell Servers will avoid a single point of failure.
- Scale horizontally: deploying a new Forecasting Shell Server virtual machine for an FSS Group that needs more forecasting shells.
- Scale vertically: update an existing Forecasting Shell Server Virtual Machine with more resources. To allow a Forecasting Shell to use more memory, the Delft-FEWS FSS client config file can be customized. It is also possible to run multiple Forecasting Shells on the same Virtual machine.
Admin Interface
The Admin Interface can be scaled up both horizontally and vertically. Deploying multiple Admin Interfaces will avoid a single point of failure.
- Scale horizontally: deploying a new Admin Interface virtual machine. A load balancer or application gateway is used in front of the Admin Interface and new VMs must be registered with the loadbalancer.
- Scale vertically: update an existing Admin Interface Virtual Machine with more resources.
Web Services
The Web Services can be scaled up both horizontally and vertically. Deploying multiple Web Services will avoid a single point of failure.
- Scale horizontally: deploying a new Web Services ARM template. A load balancer or application gateway is used in front of the Web Services and new VMs must be registered with the loadbalancer.
- Scale vertically: Redeploy the Web Services Virtual Machine with more resources.
Archive Server
The Archive Server can be scaled up both horizontally and vertically, but more manual actions are required. Deploying multiple archive servers will avoid a single point of failure.
- Scale horizontally: Deploy a new Archive Server Virtual Machine. A load balancer or application gateway is used in front of the Archive and new VMs must be registered with the loadbalancer.
The scheduling of the harvester must be duplicated to the new VM. Since the harvester builds the index it takes some time before a new archive server is in sync. The load balancer should use sticky sessions to make sure consistent results are given all the time for the same user. - Scale vertically: Redeploy the Archive Server Virtual Machine with more resources.
Single VM recovery
In case a single VM needs to be recovered the VM image will be restored using the latest functional backup.
For each of the Delft-FEWS components, the following post recovery actions are required:
- Master Controller: no actions
- Admin Interface: no actions
- Forecasting Shell Server: no actions
- Web Services: no actions
- Archive Server:
- Archive Configuration files that were uploaded after the backup, need to be uploaded again.
- The archive harvester should be run to make sure the indexes are up-to-date. This is done in the Archive server web application.
VM recovery with new database
In case of a disaster where the database and VMs have to be moved to a new data center or region, the VMs can be recovered from backup. After the Virtual Machines have been restored to a new location, database specific configurations will have to be adjusted on the virtual machines. This is a manual process. The specific requirements can be found in the Delft-FEWS System Administration Guide. On a high level, the following changes need to be performed for the Delft-FEWS components:
Master Controller: update the ENV variables with the changed database connection.
Admin Interface: update the ENV variables with the changed database connection.
Forecasting Shell Server:
- Update the FSS ENV variables with the changed database connection, username and password.
- Update the global.properties of the FSS in the Delft-FEWS configuration and upload them with the Config Manager. Typical changes are: URL to the archive server, location of the storage.
Web Services: Update the ENV variables with the changed database connection.
Archive Server: update the storage location in the archive configuration file.
Operator Client Recovery
Operator Client with synchronization profile
It is possible to have a synchronizing operator client on-premise. In case the database is no longer available, the Operator Client can still be used with the synchronized data in the local datastore. In case a new database has been installed after a disaster recovery, the Operator Client has to be reconfigured to access the new database.
Direct Database Access Operator Client
In case a new database has been installed after a disaster recovery, the Operator Client has to be reconfigured to access the new database.
Monitoring and Alerting
Event Logs
Delft-FEWS logs all events from workflows in the central database.
Operator Client
The Operator Client provides some access to information on the status of the system components, file imports and workflows.
Admin Interface
The Web Based Delft-FEWS Admin Interface provides a dashboard for the FEWS Administrators to view the status of the Delft-FEWS components and workflows. Errors and events are logged within the central database and log extracts can be downloaded via the browser to provide to Deltares in the event of issues which can't be resolved internally. The Admin Interface also provides a series of APIs to enable access to the events and status information and the audit logs. Audit Logs of user actions are also stored in the central database and the Admin Interface API can be used to access these events
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Use of managed services
There is no actual requirement for the Delft-FEWS components to use managed services. Managed services can be used as long performance is not affected. As an example, customers that are using SQLServer database replication between different geographical locations reported database timeouts. In response, we've improved our software, removed database indexes and added reconnection strategy for these problems. Since we expect Delft-FEWS users add many more simultaneous running Forecasting Shell servers in the future, we expect / foresee more challenges in this area. It is much better not to use the automated placement of database indexes.
How to deal with (incoming, outgoing) data feeds
- for file-based imports, use
- for server imports serving public data, ftp / http can be used (encryption would provide unnecessary overhead), other services in need of passwords should should use a secure connection / https
Kubernetes
Kubernetes uses Docker containers. A container is a "lightweight" abstraction layer on top of the host operating system. Multiple containers share the machine’s operating system kernel and do not require the overhead of associating an operating system within each application. In comparison with VMs, containers bring reduced start-up time, more compute capacity, more flexibility, fault isolation, ease of management, simplified security and reduced costs. The operational benefits for Delft-FEWS systems are also in line with the Roadmap plans for automation of installations with less needless customization, better auto-scaling and more flexible testing. We prefer using linux containers as much as possible. Whether linux containers can be used may depend on the requirements of the forecast model. Any Windows-based forecast models can be separately run on Windows hardware, Windows VMs (or in a Windows docker container).
Important cost variables
An estimate for the cost for a basic/medium-sized Delft-FEWS system in the cloud would be around 12k€- 15k€. Many cloud providers offer a "cloud calculator" to calculate, upfront, the expected cost, e.g. Azure calculator. The estimate differs per Delft-FEWS system.
Data size and egress
Egress, i.e. data traffic transferred from the cloud environment, is not free. The egress costs depend on the type of connection and on the amount of egress data. Ingress, e.g. data traffic into the cloud environment is often free of cost. Egress can be, partly, configured in the Delft-FEWS. Also the location of the Operator Client (in the cloud or on-premise) effects the egress. See How to calculate the right Azure outbound capacity and choose the best egress option.
Type and number of machines
The price difference between for example a 32GB virtual machine and two 16GB virtual machines (VM) is quite the same. However, depending on your requirements, each separate VM requires additional and individual services like for example back-up and security.
Data storage
Data can be stored in different cloud solutions each with it's own price and functionalities. Depending on your requirements you can add managed disks to your machine or a dedicated storage solution like Azure files or Blob storage solutions.
Managed versus unmanaged
Cloud providers offer managed services like for example a managed database. The price for a managed solution is higher than an unmanaged solution. However, a managed solution requires a lot less of your own IT-staffing hours regarding managing the system.
High Availability and scaling
Introduction
When talking about high availability and scaling, the following concepts are important:
- Scale horizontally
- Scale out: add more virtual machines or containers of the same component
- Scale in: remove virtual machines or containers of the same component
- Scale vertically
- Scale up: increase the resources of a virtual machine or container like CPU or RAM
- Scale down: decrease the resources of a virtual machine or container like CPU or RAM
Scaling up of Azure components can be done manually. Some possibilities are:
- Create a new Virtual machine by restoring an existing backup.
- Use a Azure Automation Runbook in combination with DSC to install the Deflt-FEWS software
- Use a devops solution tor creating a new virtual machine by deploying ARM templates of the components.
For each Delft-FEWS component the scaling capabilities are discussed. Delft-FEWS does not auto scale components itself. If required, auto scaling must be managed by the Azure environment. Azure has autoscaling features like VM Scale sets (which require a custom VM image), App Services and Kubernetes to support autoscaling.
Availability Set
In Azure all Virtual machines can be deployed as part of an Availability Set. This will assure that VMs that are part of the same Availability Set won’t be affected at the same time by Azure maintenance, windows updates etc.
Availability and scaling the Master Controller
There can only be one Master Controller running at a time and is a single point of failure. This can only be avoided by deploying a dual MC system. Probably starting with Delft-FEWS 2022.02 multiple Master Controllers can be run on one database.
As a result of this, the Master Controller cannot be scaled horizontally. Since the Master Controller is a single point of failure, it is important to monitor the health of the Master Controller.
Scaling the Master Controller vertically can be done by redeploying the Master Controller.
Availability and scaling the Forecasting Shell Servers
Forecasting Shell Servers can be scaled up both horizontally and vertically.
Scale horizontally: deploying a new Forecasting Shell Server virtual machine for an FSS Group that needs more forecasting shells.
Scale vertically: update an existing Forecasting Shell Server Virtual Machine with more resources. To allow a Forecasting Shell to use more memory, the Delft-FEWS FSS client config file can be customized. It is also possible to run multiple Forecasting Shells on the same Virtual machine.
Deploying multiple Forecasting Shell Servers will avoid a single point of failure.
Availability and scaling the Admin Interface
The Admin Interface can be scaled up both horizontally and vertically.
Scale horizontally: deploying a new Admin Interface virtual machine. A load balancer or application gateway is used in front of the Admin Interface and new VMs must be registered with the loadbalancer.
Scale vertically: update an existing Admin Interface Virtual Machine with more resources.
Deploying multiple Admin Interfaces will avoid a single point of failure.
Availability and scaling the Web Services
The Web Services can be scaled up both horizontally and vertically.
Scale horizontally: deploying a new Web Services ARM template. A load balancer or application gateway is used in front of the Web Services and new VMs must be registered with the loadbalancer.
Scale vertically: Redeploy the Web Services Virtual Machine with more resources.
Deploying multiple Web Services will avoid a single point of failure.
Availability and scaling the Archive Server
The Archive Server can be scaled up both horizontally and vertically, but more manual actions are required.
Scale horizontally: Deploy a new Archive Server Virtual Machine. A load balancer or application gateway is used in front of the Archive and new VMs must be registered with the loadbalancer.
The scheduling of the harvester must be duplicated to the new VM. Since the harvester builds the index it takes some time before a new archive server is in sync. The load balancer should use sticky sessions to make sure consistent results are given all the time for the same user.
Scale vertically: Redeploy the Archive Server Virtual Machine with more resources.
Deploying multiple archive servers will avoid a single point of failure.
High available scenarios
On a high level the different scenarios for running Delft-FEWS in a highly available manner when the primary Azure region fails, from most high available to least available
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Scenario
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Description
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Disaster recovery if primary regions fails
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Manual interventions
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Recover Time/Data Loss for Delft-FEWS components
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Dual MC in 2 Azure regions
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2 different databases in two regions, databases will be synchronized by Delft-FEWS. Use Geo redundant storage for file shares.
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Automatically by Delft-FEWS.
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Operator clients need to reconnect to secondary MC. This has been pre-configured.
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No Recovery Time. (Hot Stand By)
Data loss is minimal and can be restored by rerunning workflows.
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Single MC with Database in 2 Azure regions
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Azure auto failover group Managed Instance Database with Azure Site Recovery for VMS. Use Geo redundant storage for file shares.
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Use Azure Site Recovery to restore VMS in secondary region.
Synchronized database will be made primary by Azure.
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Azure Site Recovery has to be enabled.
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Recovery Time depends on the time it takes for Microsoft to enable ASR.
Data loss is minimal and can be restored by rerunning workflows.
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Single MC with locally redundant Database
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Single database with Delft-FEWS components
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Database backups have to be restored to a new database in a secondary region. VM backups have to be restored to a secondary region
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Database configurations on restored VMs have to be adjusted to new DB.
Delft-FEWS configuration has to be adjusted to use new Database.
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Recovery time is a few days.
Data loss depends on the backup schedules.
Disaster Recovery
This section will describe possible Disaster Recovery solutions for the different parts of a Virtual Machine based Azure system:
• Azure Managed Database
• Virtual machines
• Azure Storage Accounts
It is also possible to use Azure Site Recovery. This is the disaster recovery solution offered by Azure. Depending on the database solution chosen, it may still be required to do post recovery configurations.
Azure Managed Database Disaster Recovery
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Virtual machines disaster recovery
Azure backup can be used to restore a Virtual Machines that are backed up using a storage account that support geo-redundant storage (GRS).
Single VM recovery
In case a single VM needs to be recovered the VM image will be restored using the latest functional backup.
For each of the Delft-FEWS components, the following post recovery actions are required:
- Master Controller: no actions
- Admin Interface: no actions
- Forecasting Shell Server: no actions
- Web Services: no actions
- Archive Server:
- Archive Configuration files that were uploaded after the backup, need to be uploaded again.
- The archive harvester should be run to make sure the indexes are up-to-date. This is done in the Archive server web application.
VM recovery with new database
In case of a disaster where the database and VMs have to be moved to a new data center or region, the VMs can be recovered from backup.
After the Virtual Machines have been restored to a new location, database specific configurations will have to be adjusted on the virtual machines. This is a manual process. The specific requirements can be found in the Delft-FEWS System Administration Guide.
On a high level, the following changes need to be performed for the Delft-FEWS components:
Master Controller: update the ENV variables with the changed database connection.
Admin Interface: update the ENV variables with the changed database connection.
Forecasting Shell Server:
- Update the FSS ENV variables with the changed database connection, username and password.
- Update the global.properties of the FSS in the Delft-FEWS configuration and upload them with the Config Manager. Typical changes are: URL to the archive server, location of the Azure File Shares for imports and the archive.
Web Services: Update the EVN variables with the changed database connection.
Archive Server: update the location of the Azure File Share in the archive configuration file.
Operator Client Recovery
Operator Client with synchronization profile
It is possible to have a synchonizing operator client on premise. In case the Azure Database is no longer available, the Operator Client can still be used with the synchronized data in the local datastore.
In case a new database has been installed after a disaster recovery, the Operator Client has to be reconfigured to access the new database.
Direct Database Access Operator Client
In case a new database has been installed after a disaster recovery, the Operator Client has to be reconfigured to access the new database.
Azure File Shares Archive recovery
In case of a disaster or a human error with the archived data on an Azure Files Share, Azure backup can be used to restore the archived files. It is recommended to use a geo redundant backup for archived data.
Monitoring and Alerting
Event Logs
Delft-FEWS logs all events from workflows in the central database.
Operator Client
The Operator Client provides some access to information on the status of the system components, file imports and workflows.
Admin Interface
The Web Based Delft-FEWS Admin Interface provides a dashboard for the FEWS Administrators to view the status of the Delft-FEWS components and workflows. Errors and events are logged within the central database and log extracts can be downloaded via the browser to provide to Deltares in the event of issues which can't be resolved internally.
The Admin Interface also provides a series of APIs to enable access to the events and status information and the audit logs.
Audit Logs of user actions are also stored in the central database and the Admin Interface API can be used to access these events.
Log Analytics
Using the Log Analytics service (part of Azure Monitoring) of Azure allows collecting log events from the different Delft-FEWS components.
The Master Controller, Forecasting Shell Server and Admin Interface support sending error log events to the Windows Event Logger or Linux syslog. Log Analytics can be connected to the Windows Event Logger and syslog. This requires installing the MicrosoftMonitoringAgent extension on the virtual machine.
To connect other Delft-FEWS component to Log Analytics a custom connector can be defined. All Delft-FEWS components log files to the local file system.
Malware protection
To protect the VMs from malware, it is possible to install the IaaSAntimalware extension on the Virtual Macghine. Enabling malware protection may have a negative impact on the performance of the Delft-FEWS components. It may be required to add some of the Delft-FEWS directories to the exclusion list.
Azure Infrastructure Monitoring
Infrastructure monitoring of the Delft-FEWS Virtual Machines is done with Azure Monitoring Services. This requires installing the IaaSDiagnostics extension on the virtual machine.
Security
For Delft-FEWS in the cloud the same principles apply for security as on premise: Security - Shared responsibility model for Delft-FEWS system installations. Securing your cloud assets requires continuous investment in keeping your containers safe. An infamous example of malconfigured Kubernetes cloud environment has been Tesla's unsecured admin console for a Kubernetes cluster. This led to malicious actors getting hold of credentials for Tesla's wider AWS environment who used it for cryptomining. Tesla highlighted that it was a test instance "only", but this incident shows why it's really important to secure both production and pre-production resources as far as possible.
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Bottom line is to ensure / check any Kubernetes cloud instances you manage are appropriately secured. Use of cloud managed Kubernetes platforms (AKS, EKS, GKE) will generally make this easier and give you more confidence compared to situations where you have to run your own cluster, as the cloud provider will take care of many aspects of configuration. But regardless, be aware that running a Kubernetes cluster cloud instance well and securely is a big undertaking that requires serious, proactive and ongoing effort to keep things secure and maintained.
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https://cheatsheetseries.owasp.org/cheatsheets/Kubernetes_Security_Cheat_Sheet.html
https://cloudsecdocs.com/container_security/defensive/kubernetes/k8s_production_checklist/
https://media.defense.gov/2021/Aug/03/2002820425/-1/-1/1/CTR_KUBERNETES%20HARDENING%20GUIDANCE.PDF
Examples
Deltares has successfully completed Delft-FEWS projects in the cloud with virtual machines using standard installation scripts, using virtual machines with Azure ARM templates and AWS Elastic Beanstalk. For practical reasons, will keep our requirements / installation instructions as cloud neutral as possible.
Example ARM templates have been provided by MDBA and can be found here: MDBA ARM templates download
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https://cloudsecdocs.com/container_security/defensive/kubernetes/k8s_production_checklist/
https://media.defense.gov/2021/Aug/03/2002820425/-1/-1/1/CTR_KUBERNETES%20HARDENING%20GUIDANCE.PDF
Examples
Deltares has done several migrations and implementations of Delft-FEWS in the cloud. Microsoft Azure is the most a popular provider among the community but , see also Delft-FEWS and Azure. Delft-FEWS will run in any cloud-environment.
Based on our experience with successful migration and implementations like MDBA (link) we drafted a "how to get started" bullet list.can be run in almost any cloud-environment.
AWS Elastic Beanstalk
Deltares has successfully completed Delft-FEWS projects in the cloud with virtual machines using standard installation scripts, using virtual machines with AWS Elastic Beanstalk.
ARM templates
Deltares has successfully completed Delft-FEWS projects in the cloud with virtual machines using standard installation scripts, using virtual machines with Azure ARM templates. A good example is MDBA, they have a high level of knowledge of both the Delft-FEWS systems as well as the new technologies offered by cloud solutions. Example ARM templates have been provided by MDBA and can be found here: MDBA ARM templates download. NB. These scripts are provided as-is but are not supported by Delft-FEWS support.
Getting started with the Cloud
- Involve your IT solution provider from the beginning of the project.
- Train staff / organisation in the cloud solution.
- Define functional and technical requirements: scalability,
- Make sure your IT solution provider is involved from the beginning of the project.
- Train / recruite staff / organisation so that there is a good understanding and knowledge of the specific cloud you want to host your system in. Mapping the functional requirements of the possible cloud solutions can be done much faster with people skilled in the cloud domain. A good example is MDBA, they have a high level of knowledge of both the Delft-FEWS systems as well as the new technologies offered by cloud solutions.
- Create a list of requirements. Both functional and technical. Also incorporate requirements like performance, uptime, disaster recovery, high availability etc. Make sure that you also are aware of your company rules regarding using and migrating to the cloud.
- Check which forecast models need to be run and if these can be run in the cloud (and, if applicable, under which licences)Verify forecast model requirements / licences are suitable for containers.
- Organise a couple of workshops with Deltares (or another partner) to map the requirements of the cloud solutions.
- Create an implementation or migration plan.
- Implement a dry run phase. In this phase, the whole system is up and running but not for operational use. During this phase, the users can use the system like an operational system to test whether everything is functioning as expected.
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For more info contact Delft-FEWS product management.