Seven QoS best practices for monitoring cloud traffic

The recent maturation of technologies such as high-performance multi-core CPUs, virtualization, and fast, ubiquitous internet access have accelerated the adoption of cloud computing services. In fact, according to the latest research, 50% of software applications being developed today are cloud-based. This ongoing shift to cloud computing is impacting the network infrastructure of enterprises as they rely more on cloud computing systems for critical applications. Specifically, the characteristics of network traffic change as it transitions to a cloud consumption model. And how these changes affect the quality of the user experience (or quality of service) should be a top priority for network teams. In this article, I want to take a quick look at the different types of cloud services being adopted and provide some Quality of Service (QoS) best practices that network operations teams should consider.

The industry focuses on three main cloud service models: Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). SaaS eliminates the need for end users to purchase and manage computing infrastructure and software. PaaS eliminates the need to purchase and manage computing infrastructure and licenses. It also manages additional platform services such as databases and billing. In addition, PaaS can lock end users into a specific platform environment. IaaS eliminates the need to purchase and manage computing infrastructure and provides the flexibility to move to other platforms.

Most cloud services are delivered over the Internet using standard Internet client applications, and Internet access gives users the flexibility to use these services from virtually anywhere. Without adjusting QoS policies, standard Internet protocols, such as HTTP and HTTPS, are treated the same as normal web browsing. Whether the expected load on the network will have an impact on end users is best determined based on the current network design and the services running on the network. However, any standard QoS policy developed by NetOps will treat these applications as casual network traffic and assign them to the best effort class. To ensure you have appropriate QoS policies in place, here are seven key steps to consider.

1) Communicate with other IT teams. In a large enterprise, there may be multiple teams involved in rolling out a cloud service. For example, if the NetOps team is putting unified communications in the cloud, they may need to work with a different group than if they were implementing Google Apps for Business. The best approach is to involve teams early in discussions about the release, rather than troubleshooting issues after the release. It’s helpful to ask questions like how to best identify traffic for prioritization and whether there are any known issues with applications being susceptible to loss, latency, or jitter.

2) Understand traffic. Network operations teams should have a good understanding of their current situation by performing a baseline analysis of network traffic. This is because cloud services will cause a shift in traffic and usage patterns by increasing traffic to and from the cloud service provider. For example, what used to be strictly internal office and backup traffic may now significantly increase bandwidth demands on the network perimeter, requiring circuit upgrades. Teams can determine network traffic utilization by evaluating specific application consumption using a Netflow reporting solution.

3) Develop an initial design. It is important to design how cloud services fit into the current architecture and the corresponding QoS considerations (and policies). As with traditional WAN environments, cloud service traffic is best suited to a QoS model with four or more classes. At a minimum, real-time voice/video, transactional data, bulk data, and best-effort data traffic should be separated into unique classes for bandwidth management purposes. In some networks, more further segmentation may be required. If the baseline analysis indicates a need for more bandwidth or a change in the network structure model, this should be factored into the plan.

4) Review the plan. The QoS strategy should be presented to other IT teams and key stakeholders within the organization. They will want to understand the changes involved and the impact these changes may have on current services. If the existing network architecture needs to be updated (upgraded WAN services, new routers, or even a different network design), this also needs to be reviewed.

5) Design details. Most cloud service traffic will use existing Internet protocols. Be sure to know the IP addresses of the services you are connecting to so that you can distinguish them from random Internet traffic. Leveraging a NetFlow reporting solution can greatly aid this process. Some NetFlow solutions can also help identify traffic beyond a basic list of IP addresses.