In the old days, you will need to setup a web server in a physics server to host a static web site. You will also need an domain name or public IP for your website to be accessible via the public internet. Do you know that you can quickly setup a simple static web page using bucket storage in Cloud?

How to Setup Your Simple Web Page in Bucket

This architecture setup is common to most cloud platforms. Usually, we called the object storage buckets.

1. You can upload your static web pages into the buckets.
2. If you have css or JavaScript folders, you can create them under the folders in the same buckets.
3. Remember to grant private access for all objects within the buckets.
4. Get the private url link for your web page and your static website is ready for viewing.

If you face errors in this setup, you can check for these common mistakes below:

• Missing or incorrect grants to object access within the same bucket.
• JavaScript or css errors in the files. You can use console log to check the errors.
• CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) if you are embedding your static web pages in another website.
• Wrong relative linkage of css and JavaScript folders.

You can easily setup static website without having to go through domain or server setup. This is useful for quick deployment of web page or static website. End users without in depth technical knowledge can also set this up as well.

Cloud agnostic is one approach adopted for multicloud strategy. You will need to utilise open source technology and not dependent on cloud providers. This allows your technology stack to easily switch or migrate to other cloud providers. In a way, this means you are cloud independent and not locked to a particular cloud providers.

Journey to Cloud Agnostic

The ability to be cloud agnostic is a long journey. There are growing number products that allows you to deploy in different cloud platforms e.g. WordPress. These products have leverage on open source and they are interoperability for different cloud platforms. On the other hand, your proprietary applications will be challenged to be cloud agnostic.

A View To Be

If you are at opting for multicloud managment, it is time to factor your applications for cloud agnostic. Allowing your services to be cloud agnostic will take a lot of efforts. You will need to consider on the extend of conversion required before you can embark on this journey. However, you need to bear in mind that not all applications can be cloud agnostics.

Cloud agnostic is a challenging vision if you have different technology stack. You will realise that some applications cannot be cloud agnostic.

Freemarker syntax has some reserved characters like other programming languages. This will cause unnecessary debugging when you find errors happening without reasons. So, one of the checks you need to do is to check for reserved characters in your variable naming.

Reserved Characters to Note

These are the reserved characters you must take note in your naming of variables.

How can I use variable names (macro name, parameter name) that contain minus sign (-), colon (:), dot (.), or or other special characters?

Source: Freemarker FAQ

Freemarker will not read the variable correctly if there is a special characters like “events-id”. You will be getting errors for Freemarker even if your syntax is correct.

How to Fix

These are some recommended solutions to fix them.

• Remove the special characters.
• Escape the characters with slash. “events\-id”.
• Enclosed the variables with square brackets [“events-id”]
• Assign the variables to your local variable name.

Freemarker is fussy with some of the reserved characters in variables naming. You need to take care not to include this when you name your variables. The easiest solution is to change the variable name. If the variable name cannot be changed, it is recommended to try other solutions to fix the name. My preferred solution will be assignment of the variable to my local variable name is the next best choice.

The high customisation cost in turnkey project is driving many organisations to look to Cloud product. Another major factor is initial sunk cost for customised application. On the contrary, cloud costing model is “pay as you use”. Thus, there is little incentives to look for turnkey application.

Time to Change

In the past, applications are designed to conform to internal business processes. It is common to find different SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) within a business unit. Fast forward to present, best practices are built into product. Existing SOP will need to change to adapt the best practices.

Exponential Cost of Customisation

Customisation cost will grow exponentially because SOP have become unique and non-standardised. Software and skillset have become locked in and face the possibility of being outdated. You will either need a refresh of technology stack or removal of customisation to stay relevant.

It is time to consider a standard product stack on a cloud platform. You will need to house your customisations in a separate logical compartment. That way, you can minimise your customisation costs and leverage on the advantages of Cloud.

If you are dabbling in cloud, you will find that there are a few key cloud design model. I find that these standard design cloud architecture are useful templates. These templates can help developers to set up this quickly without the help of infrastructure or security experts. One key cloud template is a pair of public and private subnet in a virtual network with a gateway.

Security Model

Developers want to deploy the infrastructure quickly without worry of security. The design model of private and public subnet protects the access of sensitive data and components. This model is now easily template like AWS Cloudformation. If you are reviewing cloud template, do look out template like this to address security requirements.

Standard is Good Maintenance

Standard design model makes good maintenance for all support. Thus, the template makes developers to conform design pattern. This makes it suited for support like DevOps or Agile approach. Therefore, creation of common template leads to a standardisation of application infrastructure.

One of the most useful cloud templates is the deployment of private and public subnet with a gateway. This simple model can cater to many applications and and conform to security concerns. It also helps in the standardisation of your application architecture and enable your DevOps capabilities.