After years of experience, at DFX5 we understand the difficulties of managing cloud resources. While there are countless advantages for going to the cloud, the ease of deployment can lead to an abundance of resources (networks, databases, servers, security groups, VPC’s, VPN’s, users, groups, roles, functions, scheduling maintenance, et. al.). To ease the effort of managing all these provisioned cloud resources we provide a set of inventory management solutions.

The first step in managing resources is to have a comprehensive inventory list and an agreed upon tagging framework. After the identification and tagging is completed, then a central repository location is built to track and monitor all resources in real-time. These crucial steps provide the necessary oversight of all provisioned cloud resources and enable the use of inventory management services. At DFX5, we integrate the AWS Well Architected Framework which promotes the constant analysis of provisioned resources to identify cost-saving opportunities and alternative security protections that utilize low cost services based on the demand of the actual workload. Remember, idle time of provisioned cloud resources can lead to a substantial waste of money by underutilizing paid services. A key aspect of any management tool is to quickly identify under-utilized resources and take corrective actions. The resource can be shut-off if unnecessary or scaled-down in size to match workload. Do not fear turning off or scaling down resources, the great advantage of the cloud is the ease of deployment without upfront costs. You pay for what you provision, but remember to not over-provision, because you will over-pay.

At DFX5, we take care of configuring resources, managing inventory, and setting up a scaling methodology that will handle any traffic load with the appropriate provisioned resources. Tagging, which is the process of pairing a resource with a category, product type, or other business category, enables easier compartmentalization of usage and costs. We have seen from direct client experience the importance of tagging and how it quickly uncovers pain-points of over-provisioning, over-spending, and improper user roles and permissions.

DFX5 provides a team of certified experts who are responsible for managing all provisioned resources and who will proactively solve any unexpected situation. With the support of the client, our experts create a location to supervise and control the whole cloud environment. The central location, akin to a control room, contains multiple dashboards that showcase key performance indicators. The cloud-based control room is accessible from any authorized device and can be shared with others for immediate corrective actions or reporting purposes.

All provisioned resources are configured to be monitored by the AWS CloudWatch service, which provides a 24/7 (365) overview of all events. These observations are saved into an easy to query database that is then analyzed by subject matter experts. The harvested metrics can identify patterns and other pertinent business intelligence that can lead to actionable insights. Additional services, like AWS Config, offer a comprehensive observation and pre-configuration set of rules that must be followed by all provisioned resources. Take control of which resources are provisioned and the way in which they are provisioned. Eliminate the possibility for deploying resources in undesired states and quickly identify over-provisioned scenarios.