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NTC 300 Assignment Week 1 Class Discussion Questions
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NTC 300 Discussion Week 1 Class Discussion Questions
Discussion Question: Cloud Model System Requirements
You are working for a company initiating a cloud environment, and you
are presenting cloud deployment options to the non-IT executives in
your organization.
Describe the different system requirements for public, private, hybrid,
and community cloud deployment models.
Include network components and segmentation, DMZ, and storage in
your descriptions.
Post your descriptions to the discussion area.
Respond to at least one of your peers. In your response, consider sharing
insights about the differences between the system requirements. If you
have experience with the deployment models, you might want to share
an experience that applies to working with that model. Alternatively,
you may comment on something you learned from another peer's post.

Discussion Question: Cloud-Based Solution Transition Process
You are working for an organization that is planning to migrate from an
internal private network to a private cloud environment.
Describe the high-level steps that will be needed to complete the
migration successfully, including change management and testing steps.
Post your response to the discussion area.
Respond to at least one of your peers. In your response, consider
commending your peers for noting steps that would be especially critical
to the success of the migration or for providing an answer that helped
you learn or understand something. Alternatively, consider sharing
experiences (as an IT professional or end-user) with migration
difficulties and how they could have been avoided.
Discussion Question: Workload and Environmental Constraints
Define cloud computing workload and environmental constraints.
Discuss how these concepts affect the performance and the capability of
the cloud instance. Consider the effects of each individually as well as
combined.
Offer a solution to reduce cloud constraints on cloud performance.

Post your responses to the discussion area.
suggesting additional solutions of elasticity, shared resources, or
infrastructure consolidation to reduce the constraints while highlighting
the benefits of the selected solution.
===============================================
NTC 300 Assignment Week 1 Drotos Engineering Cloud
Solution Proposal
Drotos Engineering Cloud Solution Proposal
Includes: Current Network Evironment Visio Diagram
Includes: Proposed Cloud-based Network Environment
Includes: 4-page Summary
Read the Drotos Engineering Cloud Migration Project Overview.

Imagine you are the only IT employee at Drotos Engineering. After
discussing the company needs with the company owner, referred to as
Senior, you recommended the company transition to a cloud-based IT
management solution. Senior directed you to create a high-level
overview of what it would take to migrate the company's internal,
private network to a cloud-based solution.
Create the following materials to review with Senior:
• A diagram of the current network environment
• A diagram of the proposed cloud-based network environment with
annotations of
what is new or changed from the current environment
• A 3- to 4-page summary that includes:
• A rationale for transitioning from the traditional network environment
to a cloud-based
environment (i.e., how the cloud-based solution is better than trying to
modify and
adapt the current network to meet the business needs)
• The identification of new or different hardware requirements to support
the cloud-

based environment
• A listing of the high-level steps to implement the recommended cloud-
based solution
• A listing of additional considerations or information needed to create a
more thorough
listing
• A final opinion as to whether the proposal will address all of the
business's needs or whether additional modifications or solutions will
eventually be needed
Create your diagrams in Microsoft® Visio® and write your summary in
Microsoft® Word.
Note: You will use the proposed cloud-based network diagram in the
Week 2 individual assignment, Drotos Engineering: Security
Considerations.
Compress your files into a ZIP file.
Submit your assignment.
Scenario
You are the sole IT employee for Drotos Engineering, a 20-person,
privately owned engineering consulting company. The company has a
single location. It is growing and is expecting to hire 8 to 10 employees
in the next year and use additional engineering consultants on an as-
needed basis. The company owner, Drotos Sr. (referred to as Senior) is

planning to allow employees to work remotely rather than expand office
space.
Senior wants you to review the company’s IT network, hardware, and
software capabilities and determine what is needed to meet the following
organization goals:
· Employees can access files and software locally and remotely.
· Employee and workload growth is supported by IT systems.
· The software applications and storage are scalable as employee
numbers increase.
· Employee growth does not negatively affect response time of software
applications.
· Maximize IT operational efficiency (IT isn’t getting one of the new
hires).
· Systems and client information are secure.
· Business can continue even if the office or network is compromised.

· Network design and processes are documented to enable maintenance
and troubleshooting, even in the IT manager’s absence.
Current Network and Software Description
Network Design
The company currently has a private non-cloud IT network.
The application is housed on a single server, with no redundancy and
limited network attached storage. The system is behind dual firewalls
and does not have remote access or backup functionality.
Software Considerations
The company employees use enterprise-wide versions of Microsoft®
Office® applications and desktop versions of engineering specialty
applications. Many of the specialty licenses are about to expire and the
Microsoft® Office® package is several versions old.
===============================================
NTC 300 Assignment Week 2 Drotos Engineering
Security Considerations

Drotos Engineering Security Considerations
Includes: Microsoft Visio Diagram of Proposed Cloud-Based Network
Environment
Includes: 2-page Microsoft Word Recommendation
Resource: Drotos Engineering Cloud Migration Project Overview
Continuing with the Drotos Engineering cloud migration project, Senior
has agreed to proceed with a cloud-based solution for the organization's
applications.
You are now working on establishing the security configurations and
technologies for your solution.
Part 1
Revise the Microsoft® Visio® diagram of the proposed cloud-based
network environment you created in the Week 1 assignment Drotos
Engineering: Cloud Solution Proposal. Your revision should include:
• An explanation of the appropriate security configurations and
compliance controls

needed to meet the basics of the cloud infrastructure design
• An explanation of the appropriate access control list (ACL) to the
target objects to
meet access requirements according to a security template
Part 2
Create a 1- to 2-page Microsoft® Word document that recommends:
• Security technologies to use to meet your security requirements and
design
• Automated scanning and monitoring techniques or tools
• High-level steps to implement the tools you recommend; identify the
more critical steps
Compress your files into a ZIP file.
===============================================

NTC 300 WEEK 3 Class Discussion Questions
Discussion Question: Patch Management
Patch management is critical to ensuring system security and
functionality. Non-IT professionals, however, may question the
resources dedicated to ensuring proper patch management.
Prepare to justify patch management and to explain how patch
management works by answering the following questions:
• What is the purpose of patch management?
• What is the order of operations for patching?
• Are patches cumulative? Why or why not?
Research instances of security breaches that could have been avoided
with sound patch management.
Describe one example that could help persuade your non-IT colleagues
of the importance and value of patch management.
Post your answers to the discussion area.
your ideas about what elements should be considered in an overall patch
management strategy.

Discussion Question: Cloud Automation Tools and Techniques
You are working on an IT team designing a cloud solution for a new
company. You are responsible for presenting options for automation
tools and techniques.
Research currently available automation tools and techniques.
Describe two automation tools and techniques that can be used to assure
efficiency in cloud solution operations.
Include the circumstances that would indicate the use of one tool over
another or what tools could be used in conjunction with another.
Post your descriptions to the discussion area.
additional insights about the pros or limitations of the tools and
techniques described by your peers.
Discussion Question: Ensuring IT Accessibility and Functionality
You are an IT manager in a small company. The company executives are
leading a two-day disaster planning retreat to review and revise the
company's disaster and recovery plans.

You are to present the IT department's plans and processes.
Backup, restore, disaster recovery, and business continuity are all terms
near and dear to IT professionals. However, because there will be
presentations from many different disciplines (e.g., finance, HR, and
production), you decide to start by defining terms from an IT
perspective.
Define each of the following terms:
• Backup
• Restore
• Disaster recovery
• Business continuity
Explain how each term relates to the others and work together to ensure
an organization's IT system remains accessible and functional.
Post your responses to the discussion area.
Respond to at least one of your peers. In your response, consider adding
insights to improve your peer's answer clarity or completeness.
Alternatively, note something you learned from your peer.
===============================================
Disaster Recovery And Business Continuity

The Drotos Engineering cloud migration project is proceeding. Your
applications require a 99.9% uptime. You are now working on the
disaster recovery and business continuity plan to ensure that occurs.
Senior wants to be assured Drotos Engineering is prepared to handle any
disaster or business interruptions. Therefore, you decide to prepare a
summary of your plan and a sample procedure from your disaster
recovery and business continuity (DR/BC) plan to review together.
Part 1
Write a 3-page summary in Microsoft® Word of your DR/BC plan that
includes:
 An overview of your patch management strategy to ensure your
systems and applications are up-to-date
 An overview of your backup strategy to ensure applications and all
company data is available, including:
o A schedule or plan for full and incremental backups
o The planned use of automated tools
 The types of disasters and potential causes of business interruption
covered by your plan
Part 2
Select an event covered by your DR/BC plan.
Write a high-level DR/BC plan process that would be included in your
DR/BC playbook for this event.
 Use the DR/BC Playbook Procedure Template to document your
processes.

 Each process should be no longer than one page. Outline the DR
approach on one page and the BC approach on the second.
Refer to the Sample DR/BC Playbook Procedure as needed.
Drotos Engineering Cloud Migration Project Overview
Scenario
You are the sole IT employee for Drotos Engineering, a 20-person,
privately owned engineering consulting company. The company has
a single location. It is growing and is expecting to hire 8 to 10
employees in the next year and use additional engineering
consultants on an as-needed basis. The company owner, Drotos Sr.
(referred to as Senior) is planning to allow employees to work
remotely rather than expand office space.
Senior wants you to review the company’s IT network, hardware,
and software capabilities and determine what is needed to meet the
following organization goals:
• Employees can access files and software locally and remotely.
• Employee and workload growth is supported by IT systems.
o The software applications and storage are scalable as
employee numbers increase.
o Employee growth does not negatively affect response time of
software applications.
• Maximize IT operational efficiency (IT isn’t getting one of
the new hires).

• Systems and client information are secure.
• Business can continue even if the office or network is
compromised.
• Network design and processes are documented to enable
maintenance and troubleshooting, even in the IT manager’s
absence.
Current Network and Software Description
Network Design
The company currently has a private non-cloud IT network.
The application is housed on a single server, with no redundancy
and limited network attached storage. The system is behind dual
firewalls and does not have remote access or backup functionality.
Software Considerations
The company employees use enterprise-wide versions of Microsoft®
Office® applications and desktop versions of engineering specialty
applications. Many of the specialty licenses are about to expire and
the Microsoft® Office® package is several versions old.

Drotos Engineering DR/BC Playbook Procedure Template
Event
[Enter the name and description of the event.]
For example: Hacking: A specific application has been hacked.
Disaster Recovery
Responsibilities
[Identify who is involved in diagnosing and resolving the issues.]
Name Title/Role Emergency Number Email Responsibilities
Initial Plan of Action
[Describe what needs to be done to stop the damage, prevent further
damage, and provide a current workaround or work process for
employees to follow.]
For example: If the event is that an application has been hacked, the
initial plan of action could be:
• Implement manual downtime protocol.
• Shut down all internet access.
• Shut down internal and external email.
Troubleshooting and Resolution

[Identify the troubleshooting steps along with referencing or naming
potential procedures.]
For example: Using the example above, define the technical
approach to bringing the application back online.
• Segment the applications.
• Scrub the application while off the internet, and refer to the
antivirus/malware policy.
• Check the open firewall ports, and refer to the firewall
configuration documentation.
• Ensure secure user access.
Business Continuity
Define your approach to ensure the business teams within the
organization have a plan to conduct business while the disaster
recovery process is in progress.
Responsibilities
[Identify who is involved in managing the business effects of the
event while disaster recovery is in progress.]
Name Title/Role Emergency Number Email Responsibilities
Initial Plan of Action
[Describe what needs to be done to enable business to continue.]

For example, if the event is that an application has been hacked, the
initial plan of action could be:
• Use manual downtime protocol.
• Access internet and email via smartphones or alternate
business locations.
• Determine and execute internal and external
communications regarding service limitations.
Troubleshooting and Resolution
[Identify the troubleshooting and resolution steps the internal
business partners execute to support the technical resolution to the
problem and the interim emergency protocols.]
For example:
Test access to the application (local and remote and with different
devices)
• User test
• Administrator test
===============================================
NTC 300 Assignment Week 4 Class Discussion Question

NTC/300 WEEK 4 Class Discussion Question
Discussion Question: Performance Tuning Best Practice
Select a performance tuning best practice you learned about this week
and answer the following questions:
• How does this best practice contribute to an optimized
implementation of a cloud
system?
• How does changing data or changes within a cloud environment
alter how this best
practice can be used for tuning?
• How can this best practice be used to ensure alignment with a service
level
agreement?
Post your answers to the discussion area.

how a change to data or the environment could affect the value of the
best practice.
Discussion Question: Service Level Agreement Components
You have been asked by your manager to draft a service level agreement
(SLA) with your new third-party cloud service provider.
Identify three components (e.g., uptime or storage availability) you
believe are critical to include in the SLA.
Describe the component and why the component is critical to include.
Post your explanations to the discussion area.
commenting on the value of the component your peer shared and related
considerations that should be noted in the SLA. Where appropriate,
include the monetary compensation importance.
Discussion Question: New Tools
Research news releases touting new cloud resource monitoring and
management tools and services.

Identify a company with which you are familiar that uses a cloud-based
solution of any kind.
Write a brief description of the company and the cloud solution it uses.
Select one of the tools you found and explain how the tool could be used
by the company you identified to maintain its optimum security or
performance.
additional insights about how the tool could help the company you
identified or noting something you learned from your peer.
===============================================
NTC 300 Assignment Week 4 Drotos Engineering Cloud
Management
Drotos Engineering Cloud Management
Includes: SLA Content Summary

Includes: Issue 1 Provisioning Description
Includes: Issue 2 Provisioning Description
Resource: Drotos Engineering Cloud Migration Project Overview
As you are the only IT employee in Drotos Engineering, you persuaded
Senior that you need outsourcing support to design, deploy, and
maintain the cloud-based solution for your applications.
Note: You must include an introduction and conclusion for each of the
following documents. The introduction provides context for what the
reader will read and the conclusion is a summary statement of what was
presented.
Part 1
As the IT liaison, Senior tasked you with defining the technical
components of the SLA with the consultants.
Write a 2-page summary that includes:
• A listing of the Drotos Engineering IT manager and vendor roles and
responsibilities
• A summary (in narrative or table format) with the acceptable metrics
and
measurements ranges, with definitions and rationale that will ensure
optimum

performance. Include minimum and maximum information for:
• Disk space use (e.g., for each system, the minimum amount of disk
space required by
the application/person/system to run efficiently)
• Response time
• Uptime
• Vendor to Drotos Engineering reporting requirements
Part 2
During the first few weeks your SLA is in place, you work with the
consultant to resolve performance and optimization issues that arise.
Your decisions will help create a template for the vendor to follow with
later issues. Two issues arose that required documentation.
Issue 1
The baseline performance for your system is 35% below what was
projected to access data and store data. Monitoring indicates that the
source of the poor performance could be the network, disk, or CPU.
Write a 1- to 2-page description of how the vendor should address the
issue using the following resource provisioning/deprovisioning options:
• Usage patterns
• Cloud bursting
• Extending cloud scope, storage, and virtual machines
• Application life cycle

• Business need changes
Issue 2
Your engineering applications are subject to many regulations. You
learn that a new security regulation requires the assurance of a 3- second
response time to ensure the user's flow of thought remains uninterrupted
because of the sensitive nature of the data on the system.
Write a 1- to 2-page description that defines and describes the
appropriate provisioning techniques the vendor is to follow to address
the new regulation and to ensure your customers' and internal data
remain protected.
Compress the following files into a ZIP file:
• SLA Content Summary
• Issue 1 Provisioning Description
• Issue 2 Provisioning Description
===============================================

NTC 300 WEEK 5 Class Discussion Questions
Discussion Question: Troubleshooting Overview
You are part of a small IT service and support team. Your manager asks
you to mentor a new person being
transferred onto the team. You are advised to begin your task with an
overview of the six steps of cloud
troubleshooting methodology.
Write a short overview of the six steps, including an example of how
they are implemented.
Post your explanation to the discussion area.
your thoughts on how you may alter the use
of the methodology when troubleshooting different scenarios or issues
(e.g., an issue related to a network, versus a
server, versus general access to an application).
Discussion Question: Troubleshooting in the Real World
You lead an IT team assigned to support users of cloud-based
applications. You are concerned the team members do

not appreciate the importance of identifying and resolving issues
affecting the security or performance of the
applications as quickly as possible. You decide to address this at the next
team meeting.
Research recent security events of cloud-based systems.
Explain the event and its negative effects.
Describe how a thorough troubleshooting process could have reduced
the negative effects of the event.
offering additional troubleshooting options, tools, or
other options you believe would have reduced the length or negative
effects of the event.
===============================================
Troubleshooting

Drotos Engineering: Troubleshooting
Includes: All Flowcharts and Overview
• Drotos Engineering Cloud Migration Project Overview
• Section 16, "Flowcharts," of "Visio® 2007 Essential Training" with
David Rivers from Lynda.com®
The Drotos Engineering cloud migration project went well. The
company is also doing well, and Senior decided to purchase another
engineering application to enable the company to pursue another line of
business.
Looking back at the initial cloud migration project, you realize that
having some troubleshooting documentation and guidance would have
been helpful. You decide to create a troubleshooting flow chart, or
decision tree, to help with the deployment and implementation of the
new software.
Part 1
Use Microsoft® Visio® to create a flow chart that will help identify and
resolve issues related to:
• Deploying a new cloud-based application
• Access and performance issues related to a cloud-based application
Incorporate the standard cloud troubleshooting methodology and sound
logic in your flow charts.
Part 2
Annotate the flow chart to show paths to follow for troubleshooting:
• An issue related to the deployment of an application on a server
• An employee not being able to access an application

Note: You may review Section 16, "Flowcharts," of "Visio® 2007
Essential Training" with David Rivers from Lynda.com® if you are
unfamiliar with creating flow charts in Microsoft® Visio®.
Part 3
Provide a 1-page overview in Microsoft® Word of the flow chart.
Include the following in your overview:
• The purpose of the flow chart
• High-level instructions of how to use the flow chart
Compress your diagram and summary into a ZIP file.
===============================================
NTC 300 Entire Course
NTC 300 Assignment Week 1 Drotos Engineering Cloud Solution
Proposal

NTC 300 Assignment Week 2 Drotos Engineering Security
Considerations
NTC 300 Assignment Week 3 Drotos Engineering Disaster Recovery
And Business Continuity
NTC 300 Assignment Week 4 Drotos Engineering Cloud Management
HRM 300 Assignment Week 4 Class Discussion Question
NTC 300 Assignment Week 5 Drotos Engineering Troubleshooting

===============================================
NTC300 Assignment Week 2 Class Discussion Questions
NTC/300 WEEK 2 Class Discussion Questions
Discussion Question: Types of Cloud Security Solutions
You work for an IT department that has weekly IT roundtables. This
week the topic is cloud security and you will lead
one of the conversations.
Select one of the following types of security that can be included in the
cloud:
• Layering
• Least privilege
• Separation of duty

Research whether the security type you identified is frequently used by
businesses and why or why not.
Post your responses to the following prompts to the discussion area:
• Provide a short summary about what you found to be the usage of the
security type
in business.
• Describe the circumstances in which the security type would be
appropriate.
• Describe the circumstances that would indicate the security type
would not be
appropriate.
• What are some high-level steps to implement the security type?
additional information or insights about how technologies may affect the
use of security solution. Alternatively, consider sharing an experience or
something you read to further the solution described.
Discussion Question: Mandatory and Discretionary Access Control Lists

Explain the difference between mandatory and discretionary access
control lists.
Post your explanation to the discussion area.
ideas about when to implement these types of access control lists or why
these types of lists are used during an implementation of cloud
technology. As appropriate, include pros or cons of each type.
Discussion Question: Security Automation
You are part of a team initiating a new cloud environment. Your team is
presenting an overview of the security plans.
You are to give an overview of single sign-on.
Define single sign-on.
Provide an example that explains how single sign-on is used and its
benefits.
Research an article describing an implementation of single sign-on that
demonstrates the benefit of the example you identified.
Cite your article according to APA guidelines.
Post your answer to the discussion area.
offering your opinion regarding the potential security risk the
automation of access through single sign-on provides and alternative
automation ideas.

===============================================

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