InterCloud Autonomi's DevOps-centric approach
It's 3 AM, and you're frantically switching between three different cloud consoles, trying to resolve a critical connectivity issue before the morning standup. Sound familiar? For many DevOps professionals, this scenario is all too common in the world of multicloud management. But what if there was a better way?
The multicloud management conundrum
Traditional multicloud management often resembles a complex juggling act. DevOps teams frequently find themselves:
- Switching between AWS, Azure, and GCP consoles, each with its unique quirks
- Writing provider-specific scripts for each cloud connection
- Struggling to maintain a holistic view of their entire multicloud network
- Manually updating configurations as infrastructure grows
Consider setting up a secure, low-latency connection between an AWS-hosted application in North America and a GCP-hosted database in Europe. Traditionally, this involves:
1. Configuring AWS Direct Connect and GCP Cloud Interconnect separately
2. Setting up BGP routing on both ends
3. Manually configuring VPN tunnels for encrypted traffic
4. Ensuring consistent firewall rules across both clouds
5. Setting up separate monitoring for each connection
This process not only takes significant time but also introduces numerous opportunities for configuration errors and security vulnerabilities.
Enter InterCloud Autonomi: A DevOps-driven solution
InterCloud Autonomi revolutionizes this process with a unified platform approach, focusing on streamlining L2 connectivity across different underlays. Here's how InterCloud Autonomi handles the same scenario:
- Log into the InterCloud Autonomi platform
- Create cloud nodes for AWS and GCP
- Set up a transport between the nodes using your chosen underlay provider
- Configure the L2 connectivity through InterCloud Autonomi's unified interface
Behind the scenes, InterCloud Autonomi handles complex tasks such as:
- Providing a unified configuration interface for different underlay providers like Megaport and Equinix
- Ensuring a consistent network provisioning process regardless of the chosen underlay
- Offering a centralized view of your L2 connectivity across multiple cloud environments
While you'll still need to configure routing and security in your cloud provider consoles, InterCloud Autonomi significantly reduces the complexity of managing your multicloud network infrastructure.
Simplifying configuration and deployment
With InterCloud Autonomi's intuitive interface, DevOps professionals can:
- Select "Create Cloud Node" for each provider
- Choose locations and bandwidth
- Let InterCloud Autonomi automatically configure the backend connections
The simplicity comes from the intuitive way the connection is created:
- Connect city first
- See available transport offers
- Make your selection
No need to apply multiple filters or set multiple requirements. This streamlined process not only reduces configuration time and complexity but also minimizes the potential for human error, allowing DevOps teams to focus on higher-value tasks.
Figure 1: Autonomi's unified interface simplifies multicloud management with an intuitive selection process.
Real-world applications and benefits
Let's explore how InterCloud Autonomi revolutionizes common DevOps challenges:
1.Rapid post-acquisition integration
Scenario: A fintech company acquires a startup using a different cloud provider.
With InterCloud Autonomi, DevOps teams can slash integration time from hours to minutes, accelerating the realization of acquisition value.
2. Disaster recovery in action
Scenario: On release day, a critical connection between AWS and Azure degrades.
When InterCloud Autonomi creates a new cloud node and establishes new transport, it's also:
- Rapidly reconfiguring L2 connectivity across underlays
- Providing a consistent interface for managing connections
- Updating monitoring systems to include the new connection
All of this happens automatically, in minutes, without manual intervention across multiple cloud platforms.
3. Multicloud CI/CD pipeline optimization
Scenario: A DevOps team needs to set up and maintain a CI/CD pipeline that deploys to multiple clouds via multiple underlays for redundancy and global distribution.
With InterCloud Autonomi, the process becomes significantly streamlined:
- Define network configurations once in InterCloud Autonomi
- Use InterCloud Autonomi's API to integrate with your CI/CD tools (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI)
- InterCloud Autonomi automatically handles cloud-specific network configurations
- Deploy to any connected cloud without changing your pipeline code
This approach not only simplifies the initial setup but also makes ongoing maintenance and scaling much easier. When you need to add a new cloud provider or region to your pipeline, it's a matter of adding a new node in InterCloud Autonomi rather than rewriting complex networking scripts.
Moreover, InterCloud Autonomi's consistent networking layer means that your applications can be truly cloud-agnostic. You can easily shift workloads between clouds based on cost, performance, or compliance requirements, without needing to reconfigure your entire CI/CD pipeline.
Security, compliance, and futureproofing
InterCloud Autonomi enhances your ability to create geo-resilient setups across your multicloud environment:
- Simplified setup of redundant connections across multiple underlays
- Rapid reconfiguration options in case of regional outages
- Unified monitoring of connection status across different regions and underlays
In the event of a regional outage, InterCloud Autonomi provides:
- Clear visibility of operational status for all connections
- Quick identification of affected and healthy links
- Streamlined interface for redirecting traffic to operational paths
While InterCloud Autonomi doesn't automatically handle traffic redirection or database replication, it significantly simplifies the process of managing and reconfiguring your L2 connectivity. This allows your team to respond swiftly to outages and maintain business continuity.
Figure 2: Geo-resilient L2 connectivity with InterCloud Autonomi
This diagram illustrates how InterCloud Autonomi enables the deployment of two independent paths between your premises and your cloud service provider (CSP). By ensuring these paths do not intersect, InterCloud Autonomi helps you create a highly available and resilient architecture. The 'locations' represent InterCloud Autonomi's points of presence, while 'CSP cities' indicate where the underlying infrastructure provider connects with the CSP. This setup allows for seamless connectivity to the same AWS region through diverse routes, enhancing your network's resilience and performance
The InterCloud Autonomi advantage
InterCloud Autonomi transforms key DevOps challenges into opportunities for efficiency and innovation:
- Time savings: Tasks that once took weeks now take hours, and those that took hours are reduced to minutes.
- Reduced complexity: A single, unified interface replaces multiple underlay-specific tools and scripts.
- Enhanced reliability: Standardized configurations and automated processes minimize human error and improve system stability.
- Increased agility: Rapid deployment and easy reconfiguration enable quick responses to changing business needs.
- Focus on innovation: By simplifying cloud connectivity management, InterCloud Autonomi frees DevOps professionals to concentrate on developing and improving applications.
As InterCloud Autonomi continues to evolve, the latest example being InterCloud Autonomi as a Terraform provider, it's poised to become an indispensable tool in the DevOps professional's toolkit.
Your Clouds. Your Connectivity. Your Rules. Ready to take control?
Get started today and see the platform for yourself with easy to setup and comprehensive read-only access, enabling you to make a full evaluation of the platform. Discover how InterCloud Autonomi empowers you to deploy multicloud connections in minutes, not days. Experience the future of DevOps-centric cloud management!