Week 10 - Wrapping Up My Journey Through the Cloud

When I started this blog, I shared how my background as a Satellite Communications Technician in the Air Force helped grow my interest in understanding how technology works under the hood. Throughout this course, I’ve been able to carry that same curiosity into learning about cloud computing.

Over the 9 weeks, I’ve gained a better understanding of how cloud environments operate, including virtualization, networking, security, automation, and orchestration. I’ve also learned how these technologies work together to provide flexible and scalable services.

Overall, this course helped me see how many of the IT fundamentals I’ve learned and worked with connect to the cloud. While there is still plenty for me to learn, I feel like I’m leaving this course with a stronger foundation and a better understanding of where cloud technology fits into the bigger picture.

Week 9 - RTO vs. RPO: Why Both Matter

Before learning about disaster recovery, I honestly thought Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) were basically the same thing. It turns out they each answer a different question. RTO is all about how quickly a business needs to get its systems back online after an outage, while RPO focuses on how much data the business can afford to lose. I found it helpful to think of RTO as the "time" goal and RPO as the "data" goal. Both are important because recovering quickly doesn't help much if you've lost critical information, and protecting all your data doesn't mean much if your systems stay offline for too long. Understanding both helps organizations build a disaster recovery plan that keeps downtime and data loss to a minimum.

Week 8 - Back it Up

We’ve all heard that backing up our data is important, but not every backup works the same way. The three common types are full, incremental, and differential backups, and each has its own advantages.

A full backup copies everything. It gives you a complete copy of your data, which makes restoring files easier, but it also takes the most time and storage space. An incremental backup only saves data that has changed since the last backup. This makes backups faster and saves space, but restoring everything can take longer because several backups may be needed. A differential backup is somewhere in between. It saves everything that has changed since the last full backup, so each backup gets larger until another full backup is completed.

There really isn’t one backup type that works best for every situation. Choosing the right one comes down to balancing storage space, backup speed, and how quickly you need to recover your data.

Week 7 - Finding the Right Balance Between Security and Access

Not every organization protects its data the same way, which is why different access control methods exist.

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) gives people access based on their job. If you're in HR, you get HR resources. If you're in accounting, you get accounting systems. It's simple to manage and works well for most businesses.

Discretionary Access Control (DAC) lets the owner of a file or resource decide who can access it. This makes sharing easy, but it can also increases the chance of someone accidentally giving the wrong person access.

Mandatory Access Control (MAC) is the strictest option. Access is based on security clearances instead of user decisions, making it ideal for government or military environments where sensitive information must stay protected.

Each method has its strengths, so the best choice depends on the organization's security needs. Finding the right balance between security, flexibility, and ease of management is the key to protecting valuable information.

Week 6 - Why One Layer of Security Isn't Enough

If you've ever locked your front door, set your home alarm, and checked your security cameras before leaving, you've already used the idea behind defense in depth. Instead of relying on just one layer of protection, defense in depth uses multiple security measures to make it much harder for attackers to succeed. If one layer fails, another is there to help stop the threat. In cybersecurity, those layers can include firewalls, multi-factor authentication, antivirus software, encryption, and employee security training. No single tool can stop every attack, but combining several defenses makes a huge difference. I think that's what makes this strategy so effective. It assumes that something might eventually go wrong since no security measure is bullet proof and instead plans for it rather than hoping one security tool can handle everything. 

Week 5 - What's the Deal with VXLAN?

When I first heard about VLANs and VXLANs, I thought they were basically the same thing. It turns out they're pretty similar, but VXLAN is built for much bigger networks.

A VLAN is a way to separate devices on the same network. For example, a company can keep the HR and IT departments on different virtual networks, even if they're using the same physical equipment. It helps keep things organized and a little more secure.

VXLAN does the same basic job, but it works across different locations and cloud environments. It also supports way more virtual networks, which makes it a better fit for large companies using cloud services.

So, if you think of a VLAN as working well for a single office, VXLAN is like taking that idea and making it work on a much bigger scale. As more businesses move to the cloud, that's exactly why VXLAN has become so important.

Week 4 - The Cloud's Private Side

One cloud networking concept that really stood out to me is the Virtual Private Cloud or VPC. Before learning about it, I assumed everything in the cloud was just shared by everyone. After reading more about VPCs, I realized they're more like having your own private section inside a public cloud. You get to decide how your network is set up, including IP address ranges, subnets, routing, and security rules. That gives businesses more control while still taking advantage of the flexibility and scalability of cloud services.

What I like most about VPCs is that they help make cloud environments feel more secure. Companies can separate different applications or departments into their own networks while controlling who has access to what. It also makes it easier to connect cloud resources with on-premises networks when and where needed. Overall, I think VPCs are one of the most important parts of cloud networking because they combine the convenience of the cloud with the control of a traditional private network and it makes sense why a business might opt in to this service.