When Brandon Wagner joined The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) as a systems administrator in 2017, cloud technology was only beginning to be incorporated into their IT strategy. Two years later, the need to move more systems to the cloud became necessary. “Cloud migration began as one-off projects, but then the pandemic happened and our Basic Data Infrastructure (BDI) at the time was no longer sufficient for our engineering groups,” explains Wagner. “We needed an environment that could handle heavier processing, including graphical processing. As we explored our options, we decided on Amazon AppStream 2.0, and I was tasked with heading up this transition. I earned the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Certification and part of my current role as Cloud Operations Manager is managing the services we provide within AWS.”
Connectivity and Network Infrastructure
Cloud migration is an ever-evolving journey for many institutions and TCNJ continues to expand its strategies for leveraging the cloud for technology applications. “Originally, we were running all of our applications on-premises,” says Wagner. “Now we use Amazon Route 53 for our external Domain Name System (DNS) which responds to user requests for both AWS-hosted and local resources. When we expanded to AppStream for our engineers, it was to give them the necessary GPU availability to do modeling as well as other tasks that require a more powerful system. We expanded AppStream with additional fleets for special courses, and we also have a campus-wide deployment that has general applications available for students, faculty, and staff. Our team also deployed a storage gateway that we have linked to some of our Simple Storage Service (S3) buckets to conduct important backups. This high-speed, web-based service allows for online backup and archiving of our critical data and applications.”
Using S3 can offer a variety of benefits, including being highly scalable, highly available, secure, cost-effective, and provides unlimited storage capabilities. “Choosing to use S3 has provided cost optimization and many options for redundancy as well as storage object lock,” says Wagner. “In our Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) environment, we have additional domain controllers, so we’ve expanded our network and our Active Directory (AD) infrastructure out to Amazon. In the event campus is closed or in-person classes are suspended, we can maintain functionality within AppStream and offer single sign-on capabilities.”
“We’ve deployed our direct connects through EdgeNet, which has increased our speed substantially,” continues Wagner. “This is used for our workspaces, AppStream, and we’re currently working towards using this for S3 and other Amazon public services. Once we’ve established these routes, we’ll be able to access many Amazon services over the direct connect and can move even further with systems like Amazon FSx, which allow you to run high-performance file systems in the cloud and support a wide range of capabilities. Edge provides our internet connection, Dark Fiber, and direct connects. My networking team has been very happy with the internet service and support provided by Edge. Our questions are answered quickly and correctly, and the partnership has helped make our cloud transition very successful.”
Creating a Flexible and Focused Strategy
Migrating to the cloud is often a multi-layered process and can happen in phases, as the needs of an institution and its initiatives evolve. “Our goal was never to lift and shift our entire environment,” shares Wagner. “We do rely on systems and applications on-premises, and I don’t see that changing in the near future. Many organizations may look at cloud migration as an all-or-nothing process, but we’ve always tackled this transition with a piecemeal approach. If there is a need to fill, we analyze the costs and performance, and if it makes sense, we move that existing or new service to the cloud. By taking things one step at a time, approaching cloud migration slowly, deliberately, and exploring the costs closely, I think you can optimize costs and prevent runaway spending.”
AppStream allows secure access to applications and desktops from any location and allows an institution to deliver online learning. “Our AppStream deployments were very beneficial by providing the infinitely scalable resources of Amazon,” explains Wagner. “When the pandemic first hit, we couldn’t have predicted how many people would be needing to access applications. But by having the flexibility provided by AppStream, we could rapidly and dynamically scale higher. After extending our network to Amazon, applications that run in EC2 are essentially just virtual machines (VM) that act the same as they would on-premises.”
“Our scanning tools continue to scan and patch the systems that are running in EC2. Amazon has their best practices clearly defined and they consistently make improvements to these standards,” continues Wagner. “I’ve worked with many representatives from AWS to discuss best practices, ask them about the nuance in the networking, and receive recommendations for optimizing security. Combined with the expertise and experience of our own security team, we’re able to ensure a secure environment.”
“Migrating to the cloud is often a multi-layered process and can happen in phases, as the needs of an institution and its initiatives evolve. Our goal was never to lift and shift our entire environment. We do rely on systems and applications on-premises, and I don’t see that changing in the near future. Many organizations may look at cloud migration as an all-or-nothing process, but we’ve always tackled this transition with a piecemeal approach. If there is a need to fill, we analyze the costs and performance, and if it makes sense, we move that existing or new service to the cloud. By taking things one step at a time, approaching cloud migration slowly, deliberately, and exploring the costs closely, I think you can optimize costs and prevent runaway spending.”
– Brandon Wagner
Systems Administrator
College of New Jersey (TCNJ)
Overcoming Challenges of Cloud Migration
Shifting systems to the cloud can prove challenging, especially without a strong, well-planned migration strategy and the commitment of the entire organization. “Getting all necessary teams on the same page and distributing relevant information to everyone is essential,” says Wagner. “You must connect your enterprise infrastructure group, security and networking team, and enterprise app stakeholders to ensure your migration goes smoothly. Also, though Amazon support is very responsive, you do not have the same amount of visibility as you do when you’re dealing with on-premises networks or systems, so some of the challenges that can arise are not having hardware or software accessibility.”
Successful cloud adoption requires thorough planning and creating a roadmap to incrementally accomplish an organization’s goals. “Before you get started, it’s important to do the research and conduct detailed prep work,” says Wagner. “Talking to the teams at Edge and Amazon has been extremely helpful to gather information and provide insight into successful strategies. If you’re just starting out, instead of moving everything to the cloud at once, I think looking at it as a stepped process can be beneficial and more cost-effective. Concentrate on what you need in the cloud and what needs to be redundant. Taking on too much at once can easily lead to failure, so taking a step back and deciding where to focus can make your migration more successful and will allow you to stay aligned with your mission, budget, and future plans for expansion.”
