EC2 Automation is a software solution designed by Cloud Elemental that minimises the downtime and risk associated with the patching process. 

Most hyperscalers adhere to a shared responsibility model, and as part of that, it is the customer who is responsible for managing OS and security patching for virtual machines.  The patching process in the Cloud is still as laborious and time-consuming for organisations as it has been in the past; however, our EC2 Automation innovation allows our customers to take advantage of the inherent flexibility of the Cloud.

Alongside being practically laborious for the user, the patching process often results in large windows of downtime which can potentially have a financial impact and lead to customer dissatisfaction.

As with all changes to a production system, patching in most organisations follows a process that requires multiple test-runs on a separate test environment to ensure the stability of the patch before a production outage can be scheduled and the systems updated.  In many cases the test systems are out of alignment with production and even after the testing issues can occur.

Our EC2 Automation solution provides a way to automate the test environment creation and patch testing. So, just how does EC2 Automation manage to achieve this?When a patch is ready to be tested, EC2 automation will automatically create copies of the required productions servers and clone them to an isolated network.  If the virtual machines are windows servers then EC2 will take care of the Active Directory management and clean up/make any changes that are required. 

By creating a copy in an isolated network the test servers can be started up without risk to the production application.  Once the test servers are started by EC2 automation there are now two identical environments running in parallel, production and test.

The required patches are applied to the copies, as opposed to halting the live servers and applying them there.

By creating a separate environment and testing in isolation, the process can be repeated and debugged as necessary without impacting application users. For example, if an error were to occur, then it can be fixed and the environment recreated and tested.

The patched servers can also be security scanned to provide confidence that they are free from vulnerabilities.

Once tested and ready for use the patch can be applied to production with the knowledge that it will work and any issue have already been remediated or a manual blue/green process can be run.  The test servers can then be removed to remove the expense of having a second environment.

If used in conjunction with our other automated solutions, such as Blue/Green Automation and Autosnoozer, further scheduling and reductions in downtime can be achieved. 

So, to recap, why should your organisation be utilising EC2 Automation? 

Mitigate the costs of running a permanent environment for patch testing

Know that the test environment is exactly the same as production and thereby ensure that the environment will behave the same 

Save costs by automating the process 

Reduce the risk of human error extending downtime

Cloud Elemental want to simplify your Cloud journey. For more information on how we can apply EC2 Automation to your unique organisation, get in touch via email, LinkedIn, X, or Instagram, linked below.