What Happens When the Cloud Goes Down?

Information technology is in a constant state of flux that requires frequent upgrades and updates. A prime example is the shift from on premises to cloud-based solutions. Most organizations are planning or implementing a strategy to move their applications to the cloud. The potential advantages of cloud computing — such as high availability, faster scalability, enhanced reliability, improved security and reduced costs — make it an increasingly compelling choice for businesses.

As dependence on the cloud and its offerings increases, awareness needs to increase of the downsides and mitigations of implementing the cloud. A leading vulnerability is the risk of the cloud to go down, also known as cloud outages. Cloud outages are periods of time when cloud applications and services hosted in the cloud are unavailable to the Cloud Service Providers (CSP) or Cloud Service Consumers (CSC).

The July 2024 CrowdStrike faulty update rollout caused worldwide issues and force CSPs and CSCs to consider how the interconnected and always connected IT environments have an impact to ensure continuity and availability of data.

What Happens When the Cloud Crashes?

If the cloud goes down, CSPs or CSCs will not be able to access some applications and data, or in other instances, all cloud-based applications will experience downtime. Outages may affect full-service stack, a specific service, a region or a combination. This results in financial and reputational impacts to the organization. CSCs rely on the services provided by CSP. If the CSP experiences an outage, the services or applications hosted on that cloud provider’s infrastructure might become inaccessible.

Why Do Cloud Outages Happen?

There are multiple external and internal causes of cloud outage for a cloud customer. An external trigger would be an outage at the CSP. In this case, there is not much that a cloud consumer can do when there is dependency on the service provider to address the outage and restore the service. An internal trigger could be a misconfiguration within its systems, with a few outlined below:

• Software or configuration errors mostly cause by human error
• Networking or connectivity issues
• Cyber threats (DDoS, hacking, harmful viruses, etc.)
• Application defects or vulnerabilities
• Poorly designed architecture

What Can CSCs Do To Prevent or Mitigate the Impact of Cloud Outages?

Planning 

• Multi-cloud strategy: Using multiple cloud providers distributes workloads across different platforms, reduces dependence on a single provider and can minimize the impact of outages.
• Cloud architecture design: Designing cloud architectures with fault tolerance, leveraging distributed systems and auto-scaling capabilities lessen the influence of outages on overall service availability.
• Disaster recovery plan: Defining a data recovery plan with a recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) to determine the acceptable downtime and data loss tolerances for various applications and services. Tailor recovery strategies accordingly to meet these objectives.
• Resource allocation: Allocating appropriate resources, including budget, manpower and technology investments, in an effort to support the cloud resilience initiatives will ensure the infrastructure remains robust and capable of handling disruptions.
• Service level agreements (SLAs): Ensuring clear SLAs defined with the CSP regarding uptime, response times and compensation will help organizations plan better in case of outages.

• Impact analysis and contingency plan: Evaluating the potential impact of cloud outages on business operations, including financial losses, productivity, reputation and compliance requirements will inform the development of strategies to mitigate risks and maintain business continuity.

Execution

• Patch management: Regularly patching applications and systems by the CSP minimizes vulnerabilities, enhances security and reduces the risk of exploitation by cybercriminals, thereby maintaining the overall integrity and resilience of the organization’s IT infrastructure.
• Fall back mechanism: Implementing redundancy and failover mechanisms across different regions or availability zones within the same or multiple cloud providers can ensure high availability and continuity of service.

Monitoring

• Monitoring and alerting: Implementation of comprehensive monitoring and alerting systems to continuously track performance of cloud services helps detect potential issues early and allows for timely intervention to prevent or mitigate outages.
• Regular testing and simulation: Conducting tests, such as simulated outage scenarios and disaster recovery drills on a regular basis, is crucial for evaluating the effectiveness of mitigation strategies and enhancing response procedures.

Cloud outages are inevitable in today’s digital landscape, but they are a manageable trade-off when weighed against the significant benefits of cloud computing. By proactively implementing robust strategies and resilience measures, organizations can minimize the impact of these disruptions and continue to harness the full potential of the cloud with confidence.

Contact us to learn how our team can help safeguard your business against outages and maximize the benefits of cloud-based solutions.

Authored by Mudra Mohanty

©2024