Enterprise Cloud Services (ECS) is Emory University’s preferred and recommended cloud service for enterprise applications. The service provides application owners a cloud platform within Amazon Web Services (AWS) to build and run their applications with central IT support.

Two years ago, we started a project called the Cloud Infrastructure Migration Planning (CIMP) Project. It was created to design a process for migrating IT services to AWS. The resulting services from that project are now called Enterprise Cloud Services.

Comparing Emory’s AWS Offerings

Currently, Emory has a trio of AWS service suites: Emory Cloud Services, AWS at Emory, and the LITS Sandbox. Let’s look at the differences between them.

Enterprise Cloud Services and AWS at Emory are both approved for sensitive data, however ECS accesses Emory through 10G network connections, while AWS at Emory uses VPN. ECS provides LITS-managed/architected services such as logging, monitoring, backups, patching, instance scheduling and more. The target use cases are enterprise applications and LITS-managed applications.

AWS at Emory is targeted to researchers and self-sufficient IT departments, such as Emory Libraries’ digital library program.

The LITS Sandbox accounts allow teams to perform experimenting and learning while setting up their services to be in the cloud. This also offers the experience of managing cost for a service.

All of these services require a speedtype.

You can learn more about these services at these websites:

• Enterprise Cloud Services – http://enterprisecloudservices.emory.edu
• AWS at Emory – http://aws.emory.edu
• LITS Sandbox – https://wiki.service.emory.edu/x/TENICg

What is the Landing Zone?

The Landing Zone

The Landing Zone is a collection of accounts that reside in AWS that have been architected to support LITS applications, especially enterprise applications. Emory has three account series: HIPAA, Shared, and Standard. Shared accounts are those that share services with other applications in the zone.

The region is where AWS physically houses the equipment used for our account. Our main region is in Virginia, while our backup region is in Ohio.

While we share our region with other accounts, virtual private clouds (VPC) are the cloud spaces specifically for Emory. Within them are availability zones and subnets within which we manage our services.

How can I learn more?

Cloud computing is a complex yet fascinating field. If you have any interest in learning more, now is the time to join the ECS User Community. Simply go to our community website (community.enterprisecloudservices.emory.edu) and take a look at the free training options.

We offer classes for every level of interest, from beginner (series 100) to more advanced users (series 200 and 300). There are classes starting next week. Here’s the schedule:

• Monday, Sep 14, 1:00-3:00 pm: ECS 201 – Landing Zone Overview
• Wednesday, Sep 16, 1:00 – 3:00 pm: ECS 202 – IAM Roles & Policies
• Monday, Sep 21, 1:00 – 3:00 pm: ECS 203 – Traffic Flows, Security Groups, & Firewalls
• Wednesday, Sep 23, 1:00 – 3:00 pm: ECS 204 – Data Encryption
• Monday, Sep 28, 1:00-3:00 pm: ECS 205 – High Availability & Data Protection
• Wednesday, Sep 30, 1:00-3:00pm: ECS 206 – Logging & Monitoring
• Monday, Oct 5, 1:00-3:00pm: ECS 207 – Cost Management

If you have questions, feel free to reach out to me at paul [dot] petersen [at] emory [dot] edu.