Quality framework for Stepping into the Cloud Vinod Sundararaju Antony, Director Cognizant Technology Solutions Ltd.

Abstract Enterprises are increasingly looking at migrating to the cloud. While the benefits of cloud migration have been established, what still concerns CIOs are the costs and risks involved. The cost concerns are negated by return on investment, but risks involved with migration remain a huge concern that needs to be addressed. Cloud migrations that follow traditional Quality Assurance (QA) processes either tend to overdo and overspend or underspend leaving some risks unaddressed. The success is to adopt a Quality framework developed with Cloud in mind; a framework that is proven in eliminating risks and delivering conscious quality at the right cost. The end-to-end QA framework presented in this paper, takes into consideration: Key issues anticipated in cloud migration and the quality aspects to be addressed at each step of migration Critical migration factors including type of cloud, types of migrations etc., addressing the aspect of quality at optimal cost.

Introduction – Cloud is the Digital buzzword! The benefits are exciting - Cost saving, Optimum resource utilization, Scalability of resources, Less maintainability 71% of businesses expect to have external facing production applications in the cloud by 2017 Cloud is mainstream Cloud flavors Deployment models Service models

Cloud modernization / Re-engineering Cloud migration & key issues Migration methodologies Lift-and-Shift Lift-and-refit Cloud modernization / Re-engineering Cloud migration Key issues Security Network Host Architecture Identity & Access Mgmt. Application security & Log Mgmt. Data Security Interoperability, Fail over and DR Performance Availability Scalability Capacity Infrastructure performance

QA framework for cloud migration – balancing risk & cost An end-to-end QA framework developed with ‘Cloud’ in mind is critical to a successful migration. Cloud-Centric QA approach Best practices and checkpoints to ensure smooth and successful migration Early identification of migration issues Quality at optimal cost

Cloud Centric QA Framework Post migration Testing QA framework for cloud migration Cloud-Centric QA strategy / plan Pre-migration and Post-migration test design QA Strategy NFR base-lining Infrastructure validation tests Static Pre-migration tests Cloud Type Application categories Technology categories Migration methodology Non-Functional requirements (NFR) and baselines Data workload migration methodologies Cloud Centric QA Framework Pre migration Testing Discovery & Analysis Post migration Testing Application /functional validation Interoperability Data Validation Performance Scalability & Availability Security Failover & Disaster Recovery

Test Approach – What to test? Characteristics Risks Test Strategy Rapid Elasticity Are my applications on Cloud scalable on-demand Load Testing Ubiquitous Access of the Application’s Functionality Are my applications fast & functionally accessible worldwide Functional Testing Multi Tenancy Is my data and network secure Security Testing Measured Service Do the services meet the SLA and defined QoS QoS Testing Availability Is there backup and recovery Recovery Testing 3rd Party Integrations Confidentiality and compatibility with other services Compatibility and Integration Testing

Other influencing criteria Test Approach aligned to Migration Methodology Testing types Lift-and-Shift Lift-and- Refit Cloud Modernisation Other influencing criteria Static Testing Medium High Application validation Low   Data validation Interoperability testing Non-functional testing (performance, availability) Medium to high depending on level of changes Business criticality of applications plays a key role in the level of non-functional tests to be performed Security testing Cloud type & application characteristics play a key role in the level of tests to be performed Failover and DR testing Determined based on criticality of applications etc. Multi tenancy Testing (SaaS applications)

Key Recommendations – Security Testing Analyse the network isolation levels Perform external penetration testing Employ multiple virtual data centres, each on its own virtual LAN, to maintain customer data Ensure proper server hardening & server configuration management Perform Application Scan to detect vulnerabilities Maintain Audit logs securely in separate networks Network Host architecture Identity and access management Application security and log management

Recommendations – Performance Testing Discovery & Analysis Test Planning Pre migration Post migration Gather NFRs Gather existing performance Baselines Mandate Review Architecture Define performance QA strategy Record benchmarks where baselines do not exist Repeat the load tests and compare the results Post production monitoring & analysis

Recommendations – Data Validation Data Model Validation Data Validity Test Logical data model Physical data model Data on the Application UI vs Data on the DB Validation of data transformation business logic Data Integrity Testing Data Consistency Check Data referential integrity Constraint Rules Validation of data volume consistency

Conclusion Adopting a proven QA framework for Cloud migration testing can help in: Implementing the end-to-end QA strategy for cloud testing Gaining benefits of tried-and-tested tools and techniques Early identification and resolution for cloud migration issues Showed effort savings of about 30% and defects reduction of 12% - 15%when adopted this framework in a recent cloud migration project

ROI – Return on Investment NFR – Non Functional Requirement References & Appendix Verizon Enterprise Cloud report - State of the Market: Enterprise Cloud 2014 http://cloud.verizon.com/enterprise-cloud-report Casualties of Cloud Wars: Customers Are Paying the Price http://info.iland.com/ema-survey QA – Quality Assurance ROI – Return on Investment NFR – Non Functional Requirement VM – Virtual Machine DR – Disaster Recovery RPO – Recovery Point Objective RTO – Recovery Time Objective

Author Biography Vinod Sundararaju Antony - Vinod has 16 years of experience in Software Testing and Quality Assurance. Over the years he has taken up a variety of roles such as Global Test Delivery Manager, Quality Consultant and Transformation Consultant. Vinod has extensive experience in Test Delivery, Test Process Maturity consulting, establishing Test Centers of Excellence, defining and delivering Quality Transformation programs and enabling enterprises to improve quality, optimize cost and time to market. Vinod has developed Quality strategy for large Business Transformation programs and has set up Enterprise wide Quality Strategy and processes. Vinod holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree and is PMP & ACP certified.

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