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Support:Cloud Health Check Service

Last Updated:Jul 18, 2023

1. Service overview

1.1 Service description

Alibaba Cloud experts perform health checks on the architecture of your IT systems that are deployed in the cloud. Our experts analyze operation metrics, evaluate the efficiency, robustness, and security of your systems, and finally provide professional solutions to existing and potential problems. Cloud Health Check Service enables you to be fully aware of the status of your systems and make preventive measures and reinforcements to prevent architectural problems from affecting business continuity.

2. Service scope

2.1 Scope of Cloud Health Check Service

  • Cloud Health Check Service provides the following services:

    • Surveys on your business and technologies are conducted by expert teams from Alibaba Cloud. The surveys are conducted on the architecture of your business systems and data applications, and evaluated against your objectives. To evaluate the architecture of your systems that are under the scope of Cloud Health Check Service, the expert teams collect operational data and logs, and the information about your system architecture and relevant configurations. In addition, the expert teams provide solutions to the problems that may exist in your architecture and evaluate the effectiveness of the architecture based on your objectives.

    • The health check of your architecture focuses on the architecture of your business systems and data applications. The expert teams analyze the running parameters and metrics of various aspects in your business systems, such as the hosts, network, and storage, and provide comprehensive assessments based on the results of the health check.

  • Cloud Health Check Service does not provide the following services:

    • Technical support for architecture transformation

    • Development of business systems and data applications

    • Reconstruction and design of specific applications and databases

    • Reconstruction of application, design of application, and design of database logic

    • Migration of application systems that are not explicitly specified in the service scope of Cloud Health Check Service

    • Migration of data that is not explicitly specified in the service scope of Cloud Health Check Service

    • Design and construction of the architecture and environment of cloud platforms

    • Implementation of the required architecture of communication

    • Installation or configuration and support for the installation and configuration of the architecture and components of electrical equipment, electronic communication equipment, and cabling

    • Installation or configuration of non-IT equipment and office devices, such as office desks and chairs, printing devices, air conditioners, uninterruptible power supply (UPS), and tapes

    Note: For issues related to third-party software that are not included in the service scope of Health Service Check, you can log on to Alibaba Cloud Community to obtain free consultation or contact software vendors in Alibaba Cloud Marketplace for help.

3. Prerequisites

  • You must submit an application at least 10 business days before you can start to use the service. This way, Alibaba Cloud can evaluate your business objectives and the feasibility of your service schedule. This also allows Alibaba Cloud to determine whether to accept your service application.

  • After Alibaba Cloud accepts your service application, you must assist Alibaba Cloud in providing the services. For example, you must provide necessary items, such as sites, equipment, permissions, non-production environment, and channels for remote access. In addition, you must clarify your expectations such as peak traffic and concurrency requirements. The working environment that you provide must be free of airborne pollutants. You must also take protective measures to deal with severe weather conditions and ensure the safety of Alibaba Cloud personnel.

  • You must review the project implementation plan that is formulated by Alibaba Cloud and confirm the project implementation plan in writing. For example, you can send Alibaba Cloud an email that contains a written agreement. To ensure that the service can be implemented as scheduled, you must not deny technical proposals or solutions that are confirmed by you and Alibaba Cloud, without a justified technical reason.

  • You are responsible for the O&M that is related to your business.

  • In this project, all working records and documents are written in Chinese. Alibaba Cloud provides the working records and documents based on your needs. The electronic documents provided by Alibaba Cloud are in the Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel, or Microsoft Project format.

  • During the project, the communication methods that are adopted by both parties include DingTalk, Internet, fax, email, and print media.

3.1 Division of work

3.1.1 Customer and Alibaba Cloud

  1. You purchase Cloud Health Check Service.

  2. Both parties discuss and confirm specific objectives and scope of Cloud Health Check Service based on the business objectives of the service.

3.1.2 Customer

  1. Confirms business objectives such as instance information.

  2. Assists Alibaba Cloud in providing services by offering necessary items, such as sites, equipment, permissions, non-production environment, and channels for remote access.

  3. Cooperates with Alibaba Cloud engineers to conduct surveys to identify the problems that may exist in your business system. Participates in the plan implementation, such as checking whether the access permissions of your business systems are secure and whether the configurations of your cloud-based products are correct.

  4. Reviews the implementation plan that is formulated by Alibaba Cloud and confirms the implementation plan in writing. You must not deny technical proposals or solutions provided by Alibaba Cloud, without a justified technical reason.

  5. You are responsible for the O&M that is related to your business.

3.1.3 Alibaba Cloud

Organizes the project and establishes a team to perform health checks.

  • Understands the objectives and scope of your business, formulates an implementation plan, and receives your confirmation in writing.

  • Provides the services that are specified in Cloud Health Check Service, such as the evaluation of the scope of health checks on instances and the time range. Provides feasible suggestions to ensure that system metrics can guarantee the stability of your business.

3.1.4 Completion criteria

Alibaba Cloud delivers the Acceptance Report of Cloud Health Check Service. The report includes the check results of network architecture, elastic computing architecture, storage architecture, database architecture, middleware architecture, and security architecture.

3.2 Service

Based on your business objectives, Alibaba Cloud provides the following services:

3.2.1 Health check of network architecture

Alibaba Cloud expert team collects information about the network architecture of your cloud-based IT system by using software tools and surveys. The information includes the configuration parameters and operation metrics of your cloud-based network products, such as Server Load Balancer (SLB), NAT Gateway (NAT), Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Elastic IP Address (EIP), and VPN Gateway. Alibaba Cloud expert team also conducts surveys to understand the running status of your cloud-based IT system and to understand your objectives. Alibaba Cloud network expert team analyzes your network architecture based on years of cloud-based experience and best practices. The team analyzes the effectiveness of your network architecture, configuration parameters, and operation metrics, and evaluates the operating efficiency, robustness, and security of your cloud-based network products. The team also identifies the problems and risks associated with your network architecture and provides solutions to these problems and risks. This way, the team can provide a professional evaluation of your network architecture.

After the health check of your network architecture is complete, you can gain a comprehensive understanding about the condition and running status of the network architecture of your cloud-based IT system. You can also better understand the problems and risks associated with your network architecture. This way, you can take preventive measures and improve your network architecture to prevent business interruptions caused by issues in your network architecture.

3.2.2 Health check of elastic computing architecture

Alibaba Cloud expert team collects information about the elastic computing architecture of your cloud-based IT system by using surveys and software tools. The information collected includes the configuration parameters and operation metrics of cloud-based elastic computing products, such as Elastic Compute Service (ECS), Function Compute, Elastic High Performance Computing (E-HPC), and Container Service. The operation metrics include CPU, memory, and disks. Alibaba Cloud expert team also conducts surveys to understand the running status of your cloud-based IT system and to understand your objectives. Alibaba Cloud expert team for elastic computing analyzes your application architecture based on years of cloud-based experience and best practices. The team analyzes the effectiveness of your application architecture, configuration parameters, and operation metrics, and evaluates the operating efficiency, robustness, and security of your cloud-based elastic computing products. The team also identifies the problems and risks associated with your elastic computing architecture and provides solutions to these problems and risks. This way, the team can provide a professional evaluation of your elastic computing architecture.

After the health check of your elastic computing architecture is complete, you can gain a comprehensive understanding about the condition and running status of the elastic computing architecture of your cloud-based IT system. You can also better understand the problems and risks associated with your elastic computing architecture. This way, you can take preventive measures and improve your elastic computing architecture to prevent business interruptions caused by issues in your elastic computing architecture.

3.2.3 Health check of storage architecture

Alibaba Cloud expert team collects information about the storage architecture of your cloud-based IT system by using software tools and surveys. The information collected includes the configuration parameters and operation metrics of cloud-based storage products, such as Object Storage Service (OSS), Object Archive Storage (OAS), Network Attached Storage (NAS), and Elastic Block Storage (EBS). The operation metrics include usage, growth rate, and input/output operations per second (IOPS). Alibaba Cloud expert team also conducts surveys to understand the running status of your cloud-based IT system and to understand your objectives. Alibaba Cloud storage expert team analyzes your storage architecture based on years of cloud-based experience and best practices. The team analyzes the effectiveness of your storage architecture, configuration parameters, and operation metrics, and evaluates the operating efficiency, robustness, and security of your cloud-based storage products. The team also identifies the problems and risks associated with your storage architecture and provides solutions to these problems and risks. This way, the team can provide a professional evaluation of your cloud-based storage architecture.

After the health check of your cloud-based storage architecture is complete, you can gain a comprehensive understanding about the condition and running status of the storage architecture of your cloud-based IT system. You can also better understand the problems and risks associated with your storage architecture. This way, you can take preventive measures and improve your storage architecture to prevent business interruptions caused by issues in your storage architecture.

3.2.4 Health check of database architecture

Alibaba Cloud expert team collects information about the database architecture of your cloud-based IT system by using software tools and surveys. The information includes the configuration parameters and operation metrics of cloud-based database products, such as Relational Database Service (RDS), PolarDB for Xscale (PolarDB-X), ElasticSearch, and Data Transmission Service (DTS). The operation metrics include usage, growth rate, and input/output operations per second (IOPS). Alibaba Cloud expert team also conducts surveys to understand the running status of your cloud-based IT system and to understand your objectives. Alibaba Cloud database expert team analyzes your database architecture based on years of cloud-based experience and best practices. The team analyzes the effectiveness of your database architecture, configuration parameters, and operation metrics, and evaluates the operating efficiency, robustness, and security of your cloud-based database products. The team also identifies the problems and risks associated with your database architecture and provides solutions to these problems and risks. This way, the team can provide a professional evaluation of your database architecture.

After the health check of your database architecture is complete, you can gain a comprehensive understanding about the condition and running status of the database architecture of your cloud-based IT system. You can also better understand the problems and risks associated with your database architecture. This way, you can take preventive measures and improve your database architecture to prevent business interruptions caused by issues in your database architecture.

3.2.5 Health check of middleware architecture

Alibaba Cloud expert team collects information about the middleware architecture of your cloud-based IT system by using software tools and surveys. The information collected includes the configuration parameters and operation metrics of cloud-based middleware products, such as Enterprise Distributed Application Service (EDAS), Performance Testing Service (PTS), and Message Queue (MQ). Alibaba Cloud expert team also conducts surveys to understand the running status of your cloud-based IT system and to understand your objectives. Alibaba Cloud middleware expert team analyzes your middleware architecture based on years of cloud-based experience and best practices. The team analyzes the effectiveness of your middleware architecture, configuration parameters, and operation metrics, and evaluates the operating efficiency, robustness, and security of your cloud-based middleware products. The team also identifies the problems and risks associated with your middleware architecture and provides solutions to these problems and risks. This way, the team can provide a professional evaluation of your middleware architecture.

After the health check of your middleware architecture is complete, you can gain a comprehensive understanding about the condition and running status of the middleware architecture of your cloud-based IT system. You can also better understand the problems and risks associated with your middleware architecture. This way, you can take preventive measures and improve your middleware architecture to prevent business interruptions caused by issues in your middleware architecture.

3.2.6 Health check of security architecture

Alibaba Cloud expert team collects information about the security architecture of your cloud-based IT system by using software tools and surveys. The information collected includes the configuration parameters and operation metrics of cloud-based security products, such as Anti-DDoS Pro, Web Application Firewall (WAF), and Server Guard. Alibaba Cloud expert team also conducts surveys to understand the running status of your cloud-based IT system and to understand your objectives. Alibaba Cloud security expert team analyzes your security architecture based on years of cloud-based experience and best practices. The team analyzes the security policies and configuration of your cloud services that are related to network, storage, middleware, and databases. The team also evaluates the configuration and operating effect of your security architecture and security policies. In addition, the team identifies the problems and risks associated with your security architecture and provides solutions to these problems and risks. This way, the team can provide a professional evaluation of your security architecture.

After the health check of your security architecture is complete, you can gain a comprehensive understanding about the condition and running status of the security architecture of your cloud-based IT system. You can also better understand the problems and risks of your security architecture. This way, you can take preventive measures and improve your security architecture to prevent business interruptions caused by issues in your security architecture.

4. SLA

Alibaba Cloud provides Cloud Health Check Service. Alibaba Cloud also provides the Plan of Cloud Health Check Service and the Report of Cloud Health Check Service.

5. Service procedure

Time limit: You must submit an application at least 10 business days before you can start to use Cloud Health Check Service.

Procedure

Description

Completion criteria

Kick-off meeting

You and Alibaba Cloud agree on the stakeholders and contact persons of both parties. Both parties clarify the expectations of the project.

Both parties prepare and start the kick-off meeting and compile the Report of the Kick-off Meeting.

Alibaba Cloud delivers the Report of the Kick-off Meeting of the XXXX Project. You hold the kick-off meeting of the project and the two parties agree on project content.

Confirmation of the Plan of Cloud Health Check Service

Both parties prepare and confirm the Plan of Cloud Health Check Service.

Alibaba Cloud delivers the Health Check Plan of the XXXX Project, and both parties agree on the plan.

Survey on architecture

Alibaba Cloud collects the information about the cloud-based architecture of your business system by using surveys, tools, and interviews.

Alibaba Cloud initiates the collection of the information and delivers the Architecture Survey Report of the XXXX Project. The two parties agree on the status quo of the cloud-based architecture.

Health assessment of architecture

Alibaba Cloud organizes the information about your cloud-based architecture.

Based on the best practices of Alibaba Cloud, Alibaba Cloud gives the evaluation opinions and suggestions on your cloud-based architecture.

Alibaba Cloud delivers the Architecture Health Report of the XXXX Project, and both parties agree on the report.

Service acceptance

Alibaba Cloud completes and delivers project materials.

Alibaba Cloud also delivers the acceptance report of the project.

Alibaba Cloud delivers the Project Acceptance Report of the XXXX Project and you sign to confirm the project.

6. Acceptance criteria

Project acceptance begins after the following acceptance criteria are met.

  • The following table describes the project reports that Alibaba Cloud delivers to you.

No.

Deliverable

1

Kick-off Meeting Report of the Health Check of XXXX Architecture

2

Health Check Plan of XXXX Architecture

3

Health Check Report of XXXX Architecture

  • After the deliverables are submitted, you must confirm the deliverables within five business days. If no objection is raised, the Project Acceptance Report is to be signed by both parties.

  • After the Project Acceptance Report is signed, the project acceptance is completed.

7. Completion mark

After the project acceptance is completed and the Project Acceptance Report is signed, the project of Cloud Health Check Service is completed.