Cloud Integration Services

Progent has helped organizations of all sizes to plan, configure, and manage networks that use a variety of hybrid models that mix Azure cloud resources with physical datacenters, private clouds, and other public clouds like Amazon AWS or Google Cloud Platform. Progent is unmatched in the ability to offer fast and affordable online help from IT experts to assist you to evaluate the possible benefits of various Azure services for your specific organization. Progent's virtualization consultants can assist you to plan and configure virtual machines on Azure Virtual Machines. Progent's certified data security experts can help you centralize identity management using Azure Active Directory. Progent's data protection consultants can help you to deploy backup/recovery systems with Azure Backup. In addition, Progent's VPN and firewall experts can show you how to set up safe and dependable connections to Azure.

About Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure, formerly called Windows Azure, is a leading cloud platform that lets you utilize network infrastructure, servers, and business-critical application software residing on Microsoft's vast cloud. Microsoft Azure supports dozens of cloud-centric services including hosting Windows and Linux-powered virtual machines (VMs), on-demand storage, unified messaging, application development with Visual Studio, and backup/recovery. Microsoft Azure services are available by subscription and provided as-needed, so organizations can immediately expand or reduce processing and storage resources. Because you are billed just for the capacity you consume, efficiency is high, which is the key of public clouds.

Popular Azure Cloud Services
Azure provides dozens of infrastructure and platform options and hundreds of cloud services. This growing line of integrated cloud services covers practically all areas of information technology such as compute, data and storage, networking, administration, cybersecurity, web hosting, mobile, business applications, and development. Additional popular products like Office 365 Exchange rely on Microsoft Azure network infrastructure. (See Office 365 Exchange Online integration and technical support consulting services.)

Major Azure offerings for which Progent provides high-level consulting expertise and troubleshooting include:

Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines allows organizations to configure, expand and administer virtual machines (VMs) on Azure. An Azure Storage subscription takes care of storage for the operating system disk and associated data disks. Azure Virtual Machines works with Windows Server, Linux, SAP, Oracle Database and Oracle WebLogic Server, and additional platforms. Various categories of virtual machines are offered and priced according to CPU power, memory and disk capacity, and I/O throughput. You can access Azure Virtual Machines through Remote Desktop Connection (RDP). The Platform-as-a-Service features of Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines allows you to run Windows applications like SQL Server, Exchange Server, and Microsoft Dynamics plus major Linux distributions such as Red Hat, Debian, CoreOS, and RancherOS.

The enhanced deployment model for Azure Virtual Machines, referred to as Azure Resource Manager and introduced in 2014, replaces what is now known as Azure Classic and offers streamlined virtual machine management by allowing VM groups with a common lifecycle. Before, Microsoft Azure cloud services for deploying, sizing, and administering virtual machines had to be handled one VM at a time. Resource Manager deployment options include Azure Portal, Azure Resource Manager template, Azure PowerShell, and Azure Tools for Visual Studio. Progent's Azure specialists can show you how to create and administer Microsoft Azure solutions efficiently and economically by delivering expertise with all these technologies for managing Azure Virtual Machines.

Azure Storage delivers dynamic scale and automatic load balancing for primary storage hosted on Azure. An Azure General Purpose Storage account provides Azure clients the use of storage services for Blobs, Tables, Files, Queues, and virtual machine drives. Every storage account has a 500 terabyte capacity limit. To get higher performance, you can subscribe to Azure's Premium storage class and run virtual machine workloads on solid state disks (SSDs).

Azure Blob storage for General Purpose Storage accounts is intended for massive amounts of unstructured object data such as documents, social media, backups, web pages, and logs. Blobs are managed as containers, which makes it simpler to designate policies to groups of objects. To send blobs that are too massive to move over the Internet, you can mail media to Microsoft.

A separate class of Blob Storage is designed for applications that use only block or append blob storage. You can designate Hot or Cool access patterns for block and append blobs (not page blobs). Being able to specify access characteristics in Microsoft Azure storage accounts enables you to achieve an optimal balance between price and throughput.

Table storage is economical cloud storage for developers creating non-relational metadata like contact lists, device information, or web applications. Azure Table Storage supports the OData protocol for querying and supports JSON and XML-based AtomPub formats. Queue storage simplifies the creation of messaging solutions by supporting asynchronous communication between application components that span cloud and physical environments. Azure File storage supports SMB shares, which simplifies moving older applications to the Azure cloud.

Microsoft Azure Active Directory is a cloud-based directory and identity management service that enables password synchronization and single sign-on (SSO) across on-premises and cloud environments. Microsoft Azure Active Directory is incorporated in Office 365, Salesforce.com, DropBox, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, and thousands of other cloud applications. Features include multi-factor authentication, endpoint registration, password management across cloud-hosted and local systems, group management, role-based access control (RBAC), auditing, security monitoring and reporting, and alerts. Azure AD works transparently with Windows Server Active Directory to make it easy to combine local and cloud-based identities. Azure provides advanced reliability by storing your directories on at least three geo-dispersed facilities.

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

Azure Backup is a managed cloud-based backup service that simplifies offsite backup of local, cloud, and hybrid environments. Three copies of protected data are kept in one Azure datacenter, and three more copies can optionally be stored at a geographically separate Azure site. Microsoft offers SLAs for 99.9% availability, and retention in the Azure cloud is available for as long as 99 years. You can schedule backups for daily, monthly, weekly, and yearly periods, and restoration is quicker and more affordable than traditional tape-based technology. Azure encrypts backups before to being sent over a secure link to Azure, and backups are retained encrypted. The encryption key is stored and managed locally for better security compliance. Other features include throttling to take advantage of low-traffic hours, data compression to improve performance and lower storage requirements, and incremental backups to save bandwidth. Azure Import/Export allows you to perform your initial backup locally and deliver a physical storage device to the closest Azure facility.

Azure Backup can be integrated seamlessly with System Center Data Protection Manager to provide targeted support for Microsoft's key workloads including Exchange, SQL Server, SharePoint, and Hyper-V. Data Protection Manager works seamlessly with Windows Hyper-V Volume Shadow Copy Services to backup VMs without disrupting their accessibility. DPM also offers platform-specific granular restore features like mailbox restoration for Exchange, database-level recovery for Microsoft SQL Server, and Item Level Recovery for SharePoint Server. Azure Backup environments integrated with Data Protection Manager can be tracked with System Center Operations Manager to watch over system health, performance, and efficiency.

How Progent's Experts Can Assist You with Microsoft Azure Integration
If you want to migrate your organization's network to the Microsoft Azure cloud or build a hybrid ecosystem that integrates on-premises and Azure components, Progent's consultants can help you assess the advantages of the Azure family of services compared to competing public cloud platforms or alternative architectural strategies like colocation. Progent can assist you with any and every phase of Microsoft Azure migration such as benefits analysis, solution design, pilot testing, implementation, centralized administration, performance optimization, software license management, disaster recovery planning, cybersecurity planning, and regulatory compliance validation.

Progent can help you to decide which of your mission-critical applications are a good fit for Microsoft Azure and help ensure your older apps are cloud ready. Progent offers affordable as-needed expertise to help you quickly deal with occasional technical hurdles or Progent can deliver comprehensive project management consulting expertise to make sure your Microsoft Azure integration initiative is successfully completed on time and within your budget.

To help you implement unified administration of a hybrid cloud environment that incorporates Microsoft Azure services, Progent can provide Microsoft System Center support including SCDPM consulting, System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) support, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) consulting, System Center Virtual Machine Manager hybrid cloud management expertise, and Microsoft Intune mobility management consulting.

Hybrid cloud solutions need to provide a safe, easy-to-manage, user-friendly, and resilient way for user to access both local cloud-based applications and services. Progent has extensive experience configuring IPsec VPN connections and setting up or debugging firewalls to connect to Azure services. Progent offers rapid online access to Cisco-certified CCIE network experts and to firewall experts certified by top suppliers such as Symantec, Barracuda, and Check Point to help you to configure or troubleshoot firewalls for integrating your local network with Microsoft Azure. Progent also provides mobility support by offering the help of Apple iPhone and iPad technology experts as well as Google Android connectivity experts to show you how to configure and manage handheld devices connected to your Microsoft Azure environment. When you encounter glitches with your Azure solution, Progent has extensive experience working with Microsoft's Azure support engineers to resolve problems with Azure.

Common samples of online expertise Progent has delivered to businesses to integrate and manage their Azure-connected networks are:

• Configure and debug IPsec VPN connections forsecure connectivity to Microsoft Azure
• Design or review the system architecture of hybrid Azure/local environments
• Build Virtual Machine images for Windows or Linux systems to be located on Azure
• Configure Azure AD, AD Connect, and AD Federation Services
• Plan and validate backup vaults based on Azure Backup services
• Prep and troubleshoot VHDs for Microsoft Azure
• Define and deploy security rules
• Identify and resolve issues with IP addresses
• Fix synchronization problems with Office 365
• Set up, update, and troubleshoot firewalls from Cisco, Barracuda, Symantec and other leading vendors
• Configure Cisco AnyConnect technology for accessing Microsoft Azure products and services
• Streamline license management
• Resolve problems with certificate management
• Identify and set up unified management, monitoring and reporting tools across hybrid environments
• Set up System Center Configuration Manager to deploy apps
• Install System Center Virtual Machine Manager locally and on Microsoft Azure
• Design and implement hybrid Exchange solutions
• Tune query speed on SQL Server running on Azure
• Move Citrix XenDesktop to the Azure cloud
• Resolve PowerShell issues for uploading modules to Azure

Additional Cloud Platforms Supported by Progent's Cloud Integration Experts
Services available on public clouds are expanding quickly in number and sophistication. Selecting the right options is a challenge. The majority of enterprises have hybrid IT networks that utilize more than one public cloud and at the same time manage corporate facilities. Microsoft's Office 365 family of apps, including Exchange Online, rely on the Azure cloud and offer alternatives to Azure's IaaS products. Progent can assist your organization to evaluate the business benefits of the services offered by. many options available from the major public clouds and help you plan, configure, and maintain network environments that incorporate a mix of public and private clouds plus on-premises datacenters.

Additional public clouds supported by Progent include:

Microsoft allows you to create seamless hybrid environments that combine Microsoft 365 and on-premises Exchange deployments. This permits you to have certain mailboxes hosted on your on-premises datacenter and other mailboxes resident on Microsoft 365. Progent's certified Exchange consulting team can help your organization with any phase of designing, implementing and debugging your hybrid Exchange network. Progent's Exchange specialists can provide occasional expertise to help you through challenging technical issues and also can provide comprehensive project management outsourcing to make sure your hybrid Microsoft 365/Exchange solution is completed on time and within budget. For details about Progent's online consulting support for integrating Microsoft 365 Exchange and on-premises Exchange environments, refer to Exchange Online integration with on-premises Exchange.

Progent's certified Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 experts can assist companies of any size to incorporate Office desktop and Microsoft 365 applications including Excel, Office Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Microsoft Access, Visio and Publisher into a seamless productivity solution that offers fast ROI and enables improved business results. Progent can help your company to interface Office or Microsoft 365 applications with each other and with additional key Microsoft technologies such as SharePoint Server, Exchange Server and Microsoft SQL Server running on-premises or in the cloud. Progent's consultants can also assist you to fix compatibility problems with various versions of Office desktop and offers live online Office and Microsoft 365 training to individual users or groups.

Progent's Amazon AWS cloud integration consultants offer affordable online support to help companies of any size to access Amazon AWS cloud services such as Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) for virtual server hosting, Amazon S3 for scalable high-performance storage, and Glacier for low-cost archival storage. Progent can assist you with every aspect of Amazon AWS migration and troubleshooting including needs analysis, preparedness evaluation, system design, pilot testing, configuration, administration, performance tuning, licensing management, backup/restore mechanisms, and security and compliance. Progent can provide advanced expertise with firewall configuration and VPN connections and can show you how to deploy cloud-based or hybrid ecosystems that efficiently integrate Amazon AWS cloud services. Progent offers occasional expertise or Progent can provide comprehensive project management outsourcing or co-sourcing to help you move smoothly to the Amazon AWS cloud platform.

Amazon Marketplace Web Service (Amazon MWS) is a library of APIs that allows Amazon sellers to improve the efficiency of their business processes by automating key sales functions such as listings, orders, shipments, fulfillment, and finances. By leveraging Amazon's vast online ecosystem and automating their sales processes, vendors can expand their reach, reduce their operating costs, accelerate response time to customers, and increase their bottom line. Progent's Amazon Marketplace Web Service developers can collaborate with your development staff and provide application programming, workflow integration, project management support, and training to help you shorten development time and expedite your ROI.

Progent's Google Cloud Platform (GCP) integration consultants offer cost-effective remote and onsite consulting to assist organizations of any size to move all or part of their critical network resources to Google Cloud Platform services. This can save management hassle and hardware expense and allow access to Google's cutting edge AI and machine learning technology. Progent can assist your IT team with every aspect of Google Cloud Platform integration including needs analysis, preparedness evaluation, system design, pilot testing, deployment, centralized administration, performance optimization, software license management, backup/restore mechanisms, and security strategies.