In the past, a common practice was to manage all cloud operations within a single cloud account, including various stages such as development, testing, staging, and production. This approach posed several challenges, particularly regarding security management. The absence of proper security measures raised concerns about the integrity of sensitive data and resources across different environments within the same account. Additionally, this setup hindered scalability, making it difficult to accommodate new teams and applications seamlessly. Moreover, the lack of centralized control and monitoring prevented efficient oversight of cloud resources.
To overcome these limitations and enhance the cloud adoption process, the concept of a “landing zone” emerged.
A landing zone refers to a well-architected, standardized, and secure foundation that organizations establish to facilitate the migration of workloads to the cloud or to enable the deployment of new workloads in the cloud. It serves as the starting point for cloud adoption and provides the necessary building blocks to ensure a smooth and controlled transition to the cloud. CAF and the landing zone are closely related and complement each other in the process of migrating to the cloud.
CAF versus the landing zone
CAF and the landing zone are interrelated components of a comprehensive cloud migration strategy. Here is how they relate to each other:
- Planning phase: In the planning phase of CAF, organizations evaluate their current IT landscape, business goals, and technical requirements. As part of this planning, they also define the landing zone architecture that aligns with their cloud strategy. The landing zone becomes the technical foundation based on the strategic decisions made in CAF.
- Design and architecture: CAF addresses high-level architectural considerations, while the landing zone is more specific to the technical design and implementation. CAF sets the direction and objectives, and the landing zone translates those objectives into tangible technical solutions.
- Governance and security: Both CAF and the landing zone emphasize governance and security. CAF establishes the policies and controls that govern cloud adoption, while the landing zone enforces these policies at the technical level, ensuring consistent security measures, compliance, and best practices.
- Execution and deployment: Once CAF’s planning phase is complete, the organization can use the defined landing zone architecture as the blueprint for implementing the initial cloud deployment. The landing zone serves as a ready-to-use template, accelerating the migration process while maintaining a standardized and secure environment.