Customer Resources

Designing and deploying cloud environments can be a complex process. There are many questions and considerations that need to be taken into account. We have developed a number of resources that can help. These are based on our own experience, approaches we’ve seen deployed by our customers and the latest technological advances. Collectively, we aim to document the most common questions we are being asked.

We’re publishing this information in one place so you can quickly and easily benefit from all the information available. Additional information will be added on an ongoing basis, so please check back regularly for updates.

Blueprints

Blueprints are technical support documents which explain how to do something on our platform. They are written by our cloud architects and are based on use cases deployed on our platform. We then publish these use cases in a Blueprint so that all of our customer community can benefit from them; it is hoped that they can be used by you to solve a challenge you may be faced with or to improve your existing cloud solution.

Using storage gateways with UKCloud storage

Cloud storage works especially well with modern web applications, but many other applications can also benefit from it if they can access it through more traditional file or block protocols. Read more.

Using file browsers with UKCloud storage

Web applications can easily interact with the API, but the ability to browse the contents of the storage using a graphical client can be useful, as it provides a user-friendly interface to the storage. Read more.

Getting started with UKCloud storage APIs

This Blueprint looks at common use cases for API-based object storage within web applications, and provides more information about how to get started. Read more.

High Availability and Disaster Recovery Options

Ensuring critical IT systems can be quickly and easily recovered or continue to function after a disaster is a vital element of any organisation’s business continuity plans. Read more.

Elevated Connectivity From Secure End User Devices

UKCloud is one of very few cloud providers that has achieved Pan Government Accreditation (PGA) and PSN Accreditation for our IL3 Compute, Storage and Email cloud services. Read more.

UKCloud Building A Multi-tier Application

Government systems are increasingly digital, allowing for services to be shared across government organisations as well as enabling citizens to engage and transact with those systems online. Read more.

Programmatic Control of the UKCloud Platform

Compared to traditional hosting solutions, customers using UKCloud’s cloud services benefit from true utility pricing (per VM per hour) which means customers only pay for the resources that they are consuming. Before cloud, customers would have to size their solution for peak demand, and once the capex investment is made there is no benefit to dynamically rightsizing workloads. Read more.

Using the UKCloud Guard

Our customers have varying requirements ranging from relatively low security solutions which are natively accessible on the Internet to higher security solutions which must be more restricted and only accessible over government community networks such as PSN or N3. Read more.

Key characteristics of cloud applications

Although many legacy and enterprise applications can run in the cloud, only applications that are designed specifically for the cloud can truly capitalise on the benefits offered by cloud platforms. These include accelerated time-to-value, unparalleled elasticity and reduced costs. Read more.

Running legacy and enterprise applications in the cloud

The UKCloud Blueprint ‘Characteristics of cloud applications’ discusses the fact that, although many legacy and enterprise applications work in the cloud, only cloud applications are truly designed for the cloud. Read more.

Using OpenVPN for remote access to the UKCloud

UKCloud Compute-as-a- Service comes with a dedicated vShield Edge Gateway — a simple, easy-to-use solution that supports IPSEC site-to-site VPNs and a limited number of remote access client VPNs designed for occasional use. Read more.

Exporting and importing vApps and vApps templates

The UKCloud platform was designed and implemented so that it is identical in each data centre, with few differences between the Assured OFFICAL (PGA IL2) platform and the Elevated OFFICIAL (PGA IL3) platform. Read more.

The UKCloud Cross Domain Security Zone

We recognise that not all clouds are equal. Our customers’ requirements range from relatively low-security solutions which are natively accessible on the internet, to higher-security solutions which must be more restricted and accessible only over government community networks such as PSN or N3. Read more.

Alerting from the UKCloud Elevated OFFICIAL cloud platform

The UKCloud Assured OFFICIAL (formerly IL0-IL2) cloud platform is natively and directly connected to the internet and the PSN Assured network, which makes it easy for applications hosted on that platform to connect with external services. Read more.

Deploying Docker containers on UKCloud’s compute platform

The topic of ‘Containerisation’ has gained recent prominence with customers wanting to extend their reach beyond virtualising a full machine via the deployment of encapsulated application containers within their own operating environment. Read more.

Designing for N3 solutions

N3 is an IP Wide Area Network (WAN) which provides high availability, high speed network services to the NHS in England and Scotland. The N3 is essential for allowing hospitals and GP surgeries to connect and share data, as well as support programmes such as the NHS Care Records service. Read more.

Bringing your own firewall to UKCloud

Historically, UKCloud has required customers to utilise the vCNS edge device provided. This blueprint discusses how you can now install your own networking device in the cloud (effectively bringing your own firewall). Read more.

Manipulating Power States with PowerCLI

This blueprint describes the basics of how to use PowerCLI to power VMs and vApps on and off via a script, and then automate the script so that it can run unattended. Read more.

Configuring IPsec VPN in Cloud Native Infrastructure

This blueprint provides instructions for deploying an instance into your OpenStack project to function as a VPN endpoint, enabling secure connection to other projects, to vCloud Director VDCs and back to your own infrastructure inhouse. Read more.