The cloud can make it challenging to ensure you get the application performance your users demand. There are many components residing in different locations that need to communicate, which can introduce latency and other performance problems. Resources are shared with other entities, which can lead to unpredictable performance on the shared devices. Monitoring is limited, so it’s difficult to figure out where problems are coming from and to address them.

Despite the challenges, it’s very possible to achieve high performance from your cloud environment. Take these steps:

1. Use the right instances. Every cloud provider offers multiple instance types designed to support different types of workloads. Be sure you choose an instance that matches the demands of your workload, whether it’s compute intensive, memory intensive, or requires high-speed graphics calculations.
2. Put data in the right place. If you have a hybrid cloud, moving data between the public cloud and your premises can cause performance bottlenecks. Make sure you carefully think out your decisions about where data should reside to minimize the need to move it between environments.
3. Don’t overdo microservices. Cloud-based applications are typically designed around microservices, with applications making large numbers of API calls to process transactions. The overhead of all these calls can accumulate and create a measurable performance impact.
4. Use a load balancer. Make sure not to overload instances by using a load balancer to direct traffic. Using a load balancer also allows you to collect metrics on your instance performance, which you can then use to identify and correct any issues.
5. Monitor performance. A load balancer is one way to collect statistics, but not the only way. Use the cloud provider’s tools, database monitoring tools, and other products to ensure you know what’s going on in all your cloud components. Invest the time to analyze all these data sources to get a comprehensive picture.
6. Use caches. Caches improve the speed of accessing files, so consider using a content delivery network for files which don’t change often or files that are accessed often. You can use multiple caches so users access files from the location nearest to them, further improving performance.
7. Connect directly to the cloud. If you have a hybrid cloud, direct connections can improve network performance as well as increase security when data transits between your data center and the cloud.
8. Automate everything. Anytime you need manual intervention to complete a task, you introduce the risk of errors as well as slow things down. Use automation and orchestration tools to automate as much of your maintenance and support operations as you can.

Prescient Solutions provides comprehensive IT consulting and managed services to help you get the most out of your cloud environment. Our expert team works with businesses in Chicago and Schaumburg to understand and resolve the IT challenges that get in the way of getting business done. Contact us to learn how our cloud services can help improve your cloud performance.