Cloud Integration Solutions

Progent has helped organizations of all sizes to design, deploy, and manage networks based on a variety of hybrid models that combine Microsoft Azure cloud resources with local facilities, private clouds, and other public clouds. Progent is unique in the ability to provide rapid and economical online access to Technology experts to help you to evaluate the possible advantages of various Azure products and services for your particular organization. Progent's virtualization consultants can assist you to configure virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines. Progent's certified data security consultants can help you centralize identity management using Azure Active Directory. Progent's data protection experts can help you to configure backup and restore solutions based on Azure Backup. Also, Progent's VPN and firewall experts can help you create secure and reliable connections to Microsoft Azure.

About Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure, previously called Windows Azure, is a leading cloud platform that allows you to utilize IT infrastructure, virtual servers, and business-critical application software hosted on Microsoft's vast cloud. Microsoft Azure supports over 100 cloud-based services such as hosting Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines, on-demand storage, messaging, development, and data backup. Azure services are offered by subscription and provided dynamically, so you can instantly ramp up or reduce compute and storage capacity. Because you pay just for the computer resources you need, utilization is high, which is one of the major attractions of cloud computing.

Popular Azure Cloud Services
Azure offers more than 60 infrastructure and platform options and hundreds of services. This expanding family of integrated cloud services covers practically all areas of IT such as processing, data and storage, network infrastructure, administration, security, web hosting, mobility, applications, and software development. Other Microsoft products such as Office 365 Exchange Online rely on Azure cloud infrastructure. (Visit Office 365 Exchange Online consulting and troubleshooting consulting services.)

Major Azure offerings for which Progent provides advanced expertise and troubleshooting include:

Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines makes it easy for organizations to configure, expand and manage virtual machines (VMs) on Azure. An Azure Storage account provides storage for the operating system disk and any data disks. Azure Virtual Machines supports Microsoft Windows Server, Linux, SAP, Oracle Database and Oracle WebLogic Server, and additional popular platforms. Various categories of VMs are available and priced according to CPU performance, memory size, and I/O latency. You can access Azure Virtual Machines via Remote Desktop Connection (RDP). The Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) functionality of Azure Virtual Machines allows you to run Windows applications such as SQL Server, Exchange, and Microsoft Dynamics as well as mainstream Linux distributions like Red Hat, CentOS, CoreOS, and RancherOS.

The current deployment model for Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines, branded Azure Resource Manager and introduced in 2014, supersedes what is now known as Azure Classic and offers more efficient VM management by supporting VM groups with a shared lifecycle. Previously, Microsoft Azure cloud services for deploying, scaling, and managing VMs had to be handled individually. Resource Manager provisioning features include Azure Portal, Azure Resource Manager template, Azure PowerShell, and Visual Studio support. Progent's consultants can show you how to create and administer Microsoft Azure environments quickly and economically by providing expertise with all these technologies for supporting Azure Virtual Machines.

Microsoft Azure Storage offers dynamic scale and load balancing for primary storage hosted on the Azure cloud. An Azure General Purpose Storage account gives Azure subscribers the use of storage services for Blobs, Tables, Files, Queues, and VM disks. Every account has a 500 TB capacity limit. To get faster performance, you can upgrade to a Premium storage class and operate virtual machine applications on solid state disks.

Azure Blob storage for General Purpose Storage accounts is designed for large volumes of unstructured object data like documents, social media, archives, web content, and system logs. Azure Blobs are managed as containers, which makes it easy to assign security policies to groups of objects. To transfer blobs that are too massive to move over the Internet, you can mail physical media to Microsoft.

A separate class of Blob Storage is available for apps that only require block or append blob storage. You can specify Hot or Cool access characteristics for block and append blobs (but not for page blobs). Being able to specify access patterns in Azure Storage allows you to establish an appropriate balance between price and performance.

Table storage is affordably-priced cloud storage for developers using schemaless metadata such as address lists, device information, or web applications. Azure Table Storage works with the OData protocol for querying and supports JSON and XMLd AtomPub formats. Queue storage helps in the creation of messaging apps by handling asynchronous exchanges between application components across cloud-based and physical systems. Microsoft Azure File storage accommodates SMB file shares, which simplifies moving older applications to Azure.

Azure Active Directory is a cloud directory and authentication control service that enables password synchronization and single sign-on (SSO) across local and cloud infrastructure. Azure AD is incorporated in Office 365, Salesforce.com, Concur, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, and many other cloud applications. Capabilities include multi-factor identification, endpoint registration, self-service password synchronization across cloud and on-premises environments, privileged account management, granular role-based access control (RBAC), auditing, security monitoring and reporting, and automatic alerts. Azure AD integrates transparently with your Windows Server AD to make it easy to combine local and cloud identities. Azure offers advanced reliability by storing your directories on at least three geo-dispersed datacenters.

The Microsoft Azure AD Connect utility has superseded Windows Azure DirSync, Azure AD Sync and Forefront Identity Manager as the preferred means to connect on-premises directories and synchronize identity information with Active Directory, Office 365 and SaaS cloud-hosted apps.

Azure Backup is an automated backup service that simplifies offsite backup of on-premises, cloud, and hybrid environments. Three copies of protected data are kept in the same Azure facility, and three additional backups can be stored at a geographically separate Azure site. Microsoft offers Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for 99.9% availability, and archiving in the Azure cloud is available for as long as 99 years. Backups can be scheduled for daily, monthly, weekly, and yearly cycles, and restoration is quicker and less expensive than old-style tape-based solutions. Backups are encrypted before to being sent across a protected link to the Azure cloud, and backups are retained in their encrypted state. The encryption key is stored and managed locally for enhanced security compliance. Other features include throttling to take advantage of off-peak periods, data compression to improve throughput and reduced storage requirements, and incremental backups to save bandwidth. Azure Import/Export allows you to perform your initial backup locally and deliver a physical drive to the closest Azure datacenter.

Azure Backup integrates closely with System Center Data Protection Manager to provide targeted support for Microsoft's key workloads like Exchange, SQL Server, SharePoint Server, and Windows Hyper-V. System Center Data Protection Manager works seamlessly with Hyper-V Volume Shadow Copy Services to backup virtual machines without interrupting their operation. DPM also offers product-specific granular restore features such as mailbox recovery for Exchange, database-level restore for SQL Server, and Item Level Recovery for SharePoint Server. Azure Backup solutions integrated with Data Protection Manager can be tracked with System Center Operations Manager to watch over system health, performance, and utilization.

How Progent Can Help You with Microsoft Azure Solutions
If you want to move your organization's network to the Microsoft Azure cloud or create a hybrid ecosystem that integrates on-premises and Azure resources, Progent's consultants can help you evaluate the advantages of the Microsoft Azure family of products and services vs. other public clouds or different architectural models like using colo centers. Progent can help you with any and every phase of Azure migration including ROI assessment, system design, pilot testing, deployment, unified management and monitoring, performance optimization, software license management, disaster recovery strategies, security planning, and regulatory compliance validation.

Progent can help you to determine which of your mission-critical applications are a good fit for Microsoft Azure and help ensure your older apps are cloud ready. Progent offers cost-effective on-demand expertise to help you immediately get past occasional technical roadblocks or Progent can provide comprehensive project management consulting expertise to ensure your Azure integration initiative is completed on time and within your budget.

For setting up centralized management of a hybrid network that includes Microsoft Azure services, Progent offers Microsoft System Center support including System Center Data Protection Manager (SCDPM) consulting, System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) support services, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) expertise, SCVMM hybrid cloud management consulting, and Microsoft Intune mobility management consulting.

Cloud-integrated networks must provide a secure, manageable, transparent, and reliable environment for user to connect to both on-premises cloud applications and services. Progent has a wealth of experience deploying IPsec VPN tunnels and implementing or debugging firewalls to link to Azure services. Progent can provide rapid online access to Cisco-certified CCIE network experts and to firewall experts certified by top suppliers such as Symantec, Barracuda, and SonicWall to assist you to configure or debug firewalls for connecting your on-premises network with Microsoft Azure. Progent also provides mobility support by offering the skills of Apple iPhone and iPad technology experts as well as Google Android connectivity experts to help you to configure and manage smartphones and tablets connected to your Azure ecosystem. If you encounter glitches with your Azure solution, Progent has extensive experience teaming with Microsoft's support personnel to resolve issues with Azure.

Some samples of remote expertise Progent has provided to businesses to create and manage their Azure-connected networks include:

• Set up and debug IPsec VPN connections forsecure connectivity to Azure
• Design or analyze the architecture of hybrid Azure/on-premises environments
• Assemble VM images for Windows or Linux technology to be hosted on Azure
• Implement Azure Active Directory, Azure AD Connect, and Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS)
• Plan and test backup vaults that utilize Azure Backup services
• Prep and debug VHDs for Microsoft Azure
• Define and implement security rules
• Fix problems with IP addresses
• Resolve synchronization issues associated with Office 365
• Set up, update, and troubleshoot firewalls from Cisco, Barracuda, SonicWall and other security appliance providers
• Set up Cisco AnyConnect for accessing Microsoft Azure resources
• Streamline software license administration
• Resolve problems with certificates
• Identify and configure centralized management, monitoring and reporting tools that span hybrid cloud/on-premises networks
• Implement System Center Configuration Manager to deploy apps
• Configure System Center Virtual Machine Manager locally and on Microsoft Azure
• Design and implement hybrid Exchange solutions
• Tune query performance on SQL Server hosted by Azure
• Move Citrix XenDesktop to Azure
• Resolve PowerShell problems for loading modules to Azure

Other Public Cloud Services Supported by Progent's Cloud Integration Experts
Services available on leading public clouds like Azure are expanding rapidly in volume and sophistication. Choosing the right options is a challenge. The majority of enterprises maintain hybrid networks that utilize multiple public cloud and at the same time manage on-premises datacenters. Office 365 line of applications, including Exchange Online, rely on Azure infrastructure and provide alternatives to Azure's IaaS products. Progent's cloud experts can provide guidance for you to evaluate the business advantages of the services offered by. many options available from the leading public clouds and help you design, integrate, and administer IT environments that incorporate a mix of public and private clouds plus on-premises facilities.

Additional public cloud platforms supported by Progent include:

Microsoft supports transparent hybrid ecosystems that integrate Microsoft 365 and on-premises installations of Exchange. This permits you to have specific Exchange mailboxes located on your physical datacenter and other mailboxes hosted by Microsoft 365. Progent's Microsoft-certified Exchange consulting team can assist you with any facet of designing, implementing and debugging your hybrid Exchange solution. Progent's Exchange specialists can deliver occasional support to help you resolve challenging technical bottlenecks and also offer extensive project management outsourcing to make sure your hybrid Exchange solution is completed on schedule and on budget. For details about Progent's consulting support for hybrid Microsoft 365 Exchange and on-premises Exchange systems, visit Microsoft 365 Exchange Online integration with on-prem Exchange.

Progent's certified Office and Microsoft 365 experts can help companies of any size to incorporate Microsoft Office desktop and Microsoft 365 apps including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Microsoft Access, Project and Publisher into a cohesive solution that provides quick return on investment and enables improved business outcomes. Progent can assist you to integrate Microsoft Office or Microsoft 365 apps with each other and with other key Microsoft platforms such as SharePoint, Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft SQL Server deployed on-premises or hosted in the cloud. Progent can also help you to fix compatibility problems between different versions of Office desktop and offers customized online Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 training to individuals or groups.

Progent's Amazon AWS cloud planning and integration consultants can provide cost-effective online consulting to assist businesses to integrate Amazon AWS cloud services such as Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) for virtual machine hosting, Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) for expandable low-latency storage, and Glacier for low-cost archival storage. Progent can help you with every phase of Amazon AWS integration including requirements analysis, preparedness assessment, system design and review, pilot testing, deployment, administration, performance optimization, licensing management, disaster recovery solutions, and security. Progent can provide advanced expertise with firewalls and VPN technology and can help you deploy cloud-based or hybrid ecosystems that seamlessly integrate Amazon AWS services. Progent can provide occasional support or Progent can deliver comprehensive project management outsourcing services to help you migrate smoothly to the Amazon AWS cloud.

Amazon Marketplace Web Service is an integrated collection of APIs that allows Amazon sellers to streamline their operations by automating key sales activities such as listings, orders, shipments, fulfillment, and reports. By leveraging Amazon's vast online ecosystem and automating their sales processes, merchants can expand their reach, lower their operating costs, accelerate reaction time to customers, and add to their profits. Progent's Amazon Marketplace Web Service (Amazon MWS) consultants can collaborate with your development team and provide programming, workflow integration, project management support, and mentoring so you can cut development time and speed up your return on investment.

Progent's Google Cloud Platform planning and integration consultants offer cost-effective online and on-premises support to help organizations of any size to migrate all or part of their critical network resources to Google Cloud Platform (GCP). This can save management hassle and equipment expense and enable access to Google's cutting edge machine learning tools. Progent can help you with every aspect of Google Cloud Platform integration including requirements analysis, preparedness evaluation, system design and review, pilot testing, deployment, centralized administration, performance optimization, software license management, backup/restore mechanisms, and security strategies.