Question

Asheville is a steadily growing, prosperous city in Western North Carolina with a metropolitan area population of about 250,000 and an annual operating budget of more than $150 million. The city operates a Web site with information about the city and links to a variety of online services. Asheville also has a mobile app for citizen services requests that is very popular. When Jonathan Feldman became the city’s chief information officer, he conducted a review of its information infrastructure to establish priorities for his staff. One of the items on his list of concerns was the city’s disaster recovery infrastructure. Having had some involvement in the Hurricane Katrina recovery, Feldman was worried about what he found. Asheville did have a disaster recovery facility, but it was located just two blocks away from the city’s main data center. Further, the switchover from the main data center to the backup servers in an emergency would take more than a day to accomplish. As he considered the increased needs of citizens to gain information about city services should an emergency occur, Feldman was concerned that the city’s Web servers would be offline for such an extended period, especially those servers that supported the mobile app. Operating a disaster recovery facility can be expensive. In addition to replicating the regular data center’s servers, storage devices, and software, the facility needs to have reliable dual backup power supplies. In addition, the physical facility itself must be reinforced to withstand forces of nature threats such as hurricanes, high winds, and floods. And to be truly effective, the recovery facility should be located far enough from the main data center so that a threat that affects one will not threaten the other. Feldman knew from experience that convincing a city council to spend substantial funds on computer equipment that might never be used can be a challenge.

required:
Using your favorite search engine and the resources of your library, develop a set of recommendations regarding the possible use of cloud computing services to operate the City of Asheville mobile app server. In about 400 words, outline the pros and cons of this solution to Feldman’s concerns.

Answer 1

Cloud computing services can provide a solution to Jonathan Feldman's concerns about the disaster recovery infrastructure for the City of Asheville mobile app server. Here are the pros and cons of using cloud computing services.

Step-by-step explanation:

Cloud computing services can provide a solution to Jonathan Feldman's concerns about the disaster recovery infrastructure for the City of Asheville mobile app server. Here are the pros and cons of using cloud computing services:

Pros:

Reliable disaster recovery: Cloud computing services usually offer built-in disaster recovery features, ensuring that data and applications are backed up and can be quickly restored in the event of a disaster.

Scalability and flexibility: Cloud computing services allow for easy scalability, meaning that the city can easily handle increased traffic and demand during emergencies. It also provides flexibility to adjust the resources as needed.

Cost savings: Operating a disaster recovery facility can be expensive, but cloud computing services can be more cost-effective. The city will only pay for the resources used during emergencies, rather than maintaining and managing a dedicated facility.

Cons:

• Dependency on internet connectivity: Cloud computing services rely on internet connectivity. If there is an internet outage, accessing the mobile app server may become difficult or even impossible.
• Security concerns: Storing data and running applications on cloud servers may raise security concerns. The city would need to ensure that proper security measures are in place, such as strong authentication and encryption protocols.
• Vendor dependency: By using cloud computing services, the city becomes dependent on the cloud service provider. If the provider experiences issues or goes out of business, it could impact the city's ability to access and manage its data and applications.

In conclusion, cloud computing services offer several benefits for the City of Asheville mobile app server's disaster recovery infrastructure, including reliability, scalability, and cost savings. However, there are also potential drawbacks related to internet connectivity, security, and vendor dependency that need to be considered.