Both AWS and Azure container services give clients the
freedom to either manage their own container deploy-
ments, or use cloud provided services. For example, both
CSPs allow the deployment of Docker containers in either
an IaaS model or their managed services. They each also
offer a managed service for Kubernetes container
orchestration.
The dilemma, though, is choosing between the ease of use
and integration of cloud provided managed containers and
their supported services, and the operational overhead
needed to deploy and manage your own containers. You
must also consider the initial cost to build and establish the
required platform and infrastructure, and the sophisticated
skill sets required.
Overall – strategically, tactically
and operationally – it is clear
that the container model can
offer less vendor lock-in risk
than serverless, if clients man-
age their own infrastructures
and platforms. However, stra-
tegically, there is a high risk of
vendor lock-in when using CSP
container managed services.
structure as code (IaC), automated provisioning of IT frame-
works, security automation, automated secured DevOps
and auto recovery and remediation, among other principles
and features.
Most leading CSPs provide different capabilities for auto-
mation, such as runbooks, CI/CD pipelines, serverless capa-
bilities, managed services, etc. Unfortunately, most of these
capabilities are specific to the CSP’s platform – e.g., Azure
Automation and AWS Automation.
The added value from automation includes: cost reduction,
enhanced productivity, greater availability, more reliability,
optimized performance, improved tracking and monitoring,
reduced human errors and increased business growth.
Meeting business needs
by using highly avail-
able, scalable and
well-maintained data-
bases with reduced
operational overhead
might come with a high
risk of vendor lock-in.
Container technology has great
added business value, includ-
ing: high ROI, standardized
environments, CI/CD efficiency
and consistency, immutable
infrastructure support, simplicity, faster configuration, rapid
deployment, compatibility, maintainability, and, more
importantly, it supports a multicloud platform.
For that, containers have less CSP vendor lock-in risk than
serverless application architectures, as long as you do not
use specific CSP container managed services.
Automation
Not just applications development automation, but also
infrastructure and security configuration and remediation
automation, are becoming go-to strategies.
Automation and self-healing are at the top of the cloud
maturity pyramid. This maturity framework covers: infra-
Utilizing CSP-specific automa-
tion may constitute a very high
vendor lock-in risk, although
this might be reduced by utiliz-
ing platform agnostic tools
where possible.
Emerging Database
Solutions
A great deal of momentum is
building for a managed data-
base services first strategy.
This is being driven by the need
for reliable, scalable, highly
available and continually com-
pliant database solutions, as enterprises have more and
more data to maintain.
AWS, Azure and Google offer a very long list of managed
databases, including both general and purpose-oriented
solutions. These suit many different business use cases,
including shopping carts, customer behavior analysis,
tracking user posts, the list goes on.
Meeting business needs by using highly available, scalable
and well-maintained databases with reduced operational
overhead, might come with a high risk of vendor lock-in. But
it may not be feasible to try and reinvent a database to per-
form a task, when there is already a battle-tested database
provided by the CSP.
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