Reach for the Cloud with Amazon Web Services (AWS) Automation - AutoMate 8 Tour -Part 1

Posted on February 8, 2015
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Amazon Web Services (AWS) Automation

The Cloud

We all have heard of the cloud and what it's going to enable us to do. We have even heard about certain tools that will enable effective management of cloud services in real-time. The question we at Fortra asked is: "What is the proper role of automation software with regard to the cloud?"  Ultimately, we came to the conclusion that the best way to approach the cloud would be to continue to operate on-premise, since most resources still exist there, but to extend into the cloud by enabling unattended management, integration and automation of cloud-based services.

A Little History

Automating Internet-connected services is nothing new to AutoMate. For many years we have supported the most popular standardized protocols to access services, including HTTP, SOAP Web Services, FTP, Exchange, IMAP, POP3, and even Twitter. But we know that the cloud is something different. The cloud involves enabling computing resources available on-demand, when you need it, exactly how you need it... And what could be more suited to this role than your automation platform?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

The Amazon Web Services (AWS) are a collection of remote computing services (also called web services) that together make up a cloud computing platform, offered over the Internet by Amazon.com. The most central and well-known of these services are Amazon EC2 and Amazon S3.

Until now, automating Amazon Web Services (AWS) required complicated programming using .NET, PHP or Java. For those of you that have chosen AWS as your cloud platform, we are pleased to announce that AWS will now be fully automate-able using AutoMate's famous "No Code, No Limits" approach, starting with Version 8.

 

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Amazon EC2 and Amazon S3 Automation

A comprehensive set of new actions will allow complete control of nearly everything that is currently only able to be accomplished manually using the available tools provided by Amazon. We can't begin to image how our innovative users will choose to use this functionality but here are a few automation possibilities:

  • Provisioning of new Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instances as needed
  • Automatic start/stop of failover instances

 

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"Launch Instance" in the EC2 action

"Launch Instance" is only one of many activities included in the EC2 action.

  • Transfer of files to and from to Simple Storage Service (S3)

 

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Manipulation of objects on a S3 instance

The new S3 action allows manipulation of objects on a S3 instance.

  • Simple Queue Service (SQS) updates for application data interchange

 

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Sending and receiving data to a SQS queue

The SQS action allows sending and receiving data to a SQS queue.

  • Database queries to and from Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) or SimpleDB.

 

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Management of RDS database instances

The RDS action allows management of RDS database instances. Queries are accomplished via the standard query action.

 

The bottom line: We believe cloud computing resources are as important to your organization as on-premise and this is the beginning of our expression of that commitment. As you move to cloud-based applications and infrastructure, AutoMate will move with you, allowing you to control, integrate and automate those resources just as though they were on-premise.

If you are new to AWS and are wondering what kind of benefits it could bring to your business, you can read about it at https://aws.amazon.com/

Our Commitment to You -- Complete Automation, Depth of Functionality

Many vendors implement only token features so that their marketing department can position a feature as "supported". We take a different approach by embracing technology thoughtfully and completely. Nearly the entire AWS feature-set has been encapsulated in a way that even many real-time management tools have not yet done, allowing complete automation of nearly all functionality currently found in AWS. For serious automation, AutoMate is the platform you can rely on for cloud-based, on-premise or a mix of the two -- with the depth of functionality that eliminates the need for code.

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