AWS re:Invent 2017

VMware Cloud on AWS brings VMware's enterprise class Software-Defined Data Center software to the AWS Cloud, and enables customers to run production applications across vSphere-based private, public, and hybrid cloud environments. Delivered, sold, and supported by VMware as an on-demand service, customers can also leverage AWS services including storage, databases, analytics, and more. With the same architecture and operational experience on-premises and in the cloud, IT teams can now quickly derive value instant business value from use of the AWS and VMware hybrid cloud experience. Session sponsored by VMware

When migrating lots of applications to the AWS Cloud, it's important to architect cloud environments that are efficient, secure, and compliant.  Landing zones are a prescriptive set of instructions for deploying an AWS-recommended foundation of interrelated AWS accounts, networks, and core services for your initial AWS application environments.  In this session, we will review the benefits and best practices for developing landing zones as well as how to incorporate them into your migration process.

With cloud maturity comes operational efficiencies and endless potential for innovation and business growth. It is critical to have a well-thought-out strategy for governing your cloud infrastructure. Visibility, accountability, and actionable insights are some of the invaluable considerations. The AWS Cloud enables convenience and cost savings for organizations that know how to leverage its potential. Amazon EC2 Reserved Instances, in particular, present a tremendous opportunity when scaling to save significantly on capacity. But there are many considerations to fully reap the benefits. CloudCheckr CTO Patrick Gartlan presents issues that every organization runs into when scaling, provides best practices for how to combat them, and helps you show your boss how Reserved Instances can help your organization save money and move faster. Session sponsored by CloudCheckr

This session is aimed at those who want to learn how a large enterprise organization adapted their teams, tooling, and methodology to successfully migrate and operate business critical functions in the cloud. You also learn how the organization used migration as a launchpad for additional innovation. Session Sponsored by Cloudreach

Governing cloud infrastructure at scale requires software that enables you to capture and drive management from internal policies, best practices, and reference architectures. A policy-driven management and governance strategy is critical to successfully operate in cloud and hybrid environments. As infrastructure grows, you might leverage knowledge that extends beyond the organization. An open-source “cloud policy framework” enables users to leverage a community that can help define and tune best practice policies, and help SaaS vendors and ISVs capture the best way to manage an application and share it with customers. A well-defined management and governance strategy enables you to put automation in place that keeps your cloud running securely and efficiently without having to take it on as a full-time job. This session discusses the development of a “cloud policy framework” that enables users to leverage open source rule definition organizations can use to govern their cloud. Learn best practice policies for managing all aspects of services, applications, and infrastructure across cost, availability, performance, security and usage. Session sponsored by CloudHealth Technologies

The science of saving on AWS has undergone some major revolutions in the past year. New services, Reserved Instance options, increased flexibility, and discount programs have all created 100's of new opportunities to optimize your usage and spending. We've also seen a significant uplift in operational maturity that is increasing the overall savings to be had while limiting operational risk. The most mature organizations are now using a particular set of metrics to drive their cost optimization activities as part of a repeatable feedback loop. Join Cloudability's J.R. Storment and Atlassian's Mike Fuller as they walk you through this changing landscape and how it impacts the decisions your team makes every day. Topics include: cost avoidance and savings metrics to drive your optimization initiatives; data points and techniques for making effective rightsizing decisions; maximizing coverage and flexibility with ISF and convertible Reserved Instances; and lessons from the front lines with Atlassian's Mike Fuller. Session Sponsored by: Cloudability, Inc.

Setting a goal for your teams to move a large number of workloads to AWS in a short period of time can be a great way to motivate teams to migrate quickly. Cardinal Health created a migration factory composed of teams, tools, and processes that streamlined the movement of workloads from on-premises to AWS. In this session, hear from Cardinal Health about how they used a migration factory to successfully move thousands of applications to the AWS Cloud.  In addition, learn best practices for creating an effective migration platform and process in your organization.

When migrating a large number of workloads to AWS, tracking progress across the various applications and services involved can distract your team from core migration activities.  In this session, learn how AWS Migration Hub provides a single place to discover your existing servers and track the status of each application migration. It provides you with better visibility into your application portfolio and streamlines migration tracking, at no additional cost beyond the services you use.

Learn how to take advantage of AWS for disaster recovery. In this session, we examine how traditional disaster recovery concepts can be adapted to the cloud. We also explore ways to cost-effectively reinvent disaster recovery, so it can extend to applications and workloads that have never had it before. This session walks you through tiered technology approaches to apply as part of a disaster recovery strategy that aligns costs to intended business outcomes.

In this session, learn how you can enable governance, compliance, and operational and risk auditing of your AWS account through a combination of continuous monitoring, auditing, and evaluation of your AWS resources. With AWS management tools, you can see a history of AWS API calls for your account, review changes in configurations and relationships among AWS resources, and dive into detailed resource configuration histories. You can determine your overall compliance with the configurations specified in your internal guidelines, and you can give developers and systems administrators a secure and compliant means to create and manage AWS resources.