After observing incredible benefits like enhanced business efficiency, rapid deployment, scalability and low cost; business owners are showing interest to incorporate cloud computing into their business model. From choosing software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) to Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS); they don’t delay to adopt latest technologies to improve overall business efficiency.
When it comes to choose computing services, company owners can choose from private, public and hybrid strategies. Irrespective of the strategy, company owners are choosing, their primary concern is to track and understand how these resources are being utilized. Tracking is only possible with consistent tagging strategy.
What is tagging?
Process of tagging consists of a series of text fields with limited restrictions or editing options. Though labeling is not applicable to all resources and functionalities. This feature facilitates both customers and service providers after facilitating them to organize their systems and resources efficiently and confidently. It enables cloud users to designate environments, arrangement, technical infrastructure, cost and project
How it helps users?
Tagging helps to control function of cloud and allow users to add metadata for assets like Network, Domain, VLANs, Servers, Client Images and Public IP Blocks. Depending on their needs, customers can also assign labels for categories like department, product, environment, application and role of application. After marking resources, it becomes easier not only for vendors to share resource reports with customers, but also facilitate customers to associate cost with relevant business functions. This feature was first introduced in 2010 by Amazon and it allows customers to label AWS resources for organizational purposes.
How does it work?
Labeling or tagging is an old practice, which has been followed to make things identifiable. Naming files and documents along with cataloging cloud resources are performed to make these system components identifiable and manageable. When enterprises exactly know which department or business function is utilizing a resource, it becomes easier for them to estimate the cost and production expenses.
To maintain relevancy, tags are based on the name of department or function using a particular resource in the system. For example all the tags created for production department start with suffix “prod”.
In order to maintain the accuracy of tags for the cloud resources across the system, business owners have to use the same method for the whole system. Decide a single and unique tag for every function. For example, if tags are created for Customer Service department, decide anyone from “Customer Service”, “Cust Service” or “CS” and keep it same across the system. In contrast to that use of new tags will make reporting and billing difficult.
Why is it important for public cloud users?
Though cataloging or naming resources is important for all technological infrastructures, it becomes inevitable for organizations using the public cloud. Labeling allows them to optimize the usage while maintaining and managing cost and control. Awareness of how efficiently server space is used is necessary to control the cost.
Server tagging helps data owners to overcome this challenge. It generates specific name with value for server classification. After considering the system requirements, server tags are created for geographic region, department and application and server role (web server, database) or environment (production, QA).Multiple tags can also be assigned if further specification is required to mention who is using a specific server. Information obtained from these tags will further allow creating meaningful financial reports to monitor the cost of business processes.
Server naming is an important activity that allocates a good control to users over the environment. Appropriately performed cataloging will streamline the processes and facilitate cost management across the system, projects and departments. Development of strong tagging structure is mandatory as inaccurate tags can directly affect the reporting quality.
Endnote:
Tagging is a mandatory activity; business owners using public cloud should learn the basic of it if they want to maximize benefits of incorporating technology.
