Proposed Cloud Computing Approach
After learning more about her pain points with regards to running a dental clinic, it came to my mind that the benefits that Cloud Computing will bring, will be able to help her business immensely.
| Current Pain Points | Cloud Computing Benefit |
| A significant sum is spent on upgrading and replacing faulty hardware components | As an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform, the cloud computing vendor will manage the hardware for you |
| Owner is unable to access business data such as financials remotely | With an Internet connection, business critical data can be accessed from anywhere |
| In the event of a disaster, it is likely that data will be lost and impossible/time consuming to recover. | With Cloud Computing, it allows you to have your data stored in the cloud being backup-ed easily. In the event of a disaster, you can quickly return to business-as-usual, reducing downtime and loss of productivity. |
Therefore, I recommended migrating their existing infrastructure to the cloud, and more specifically, onto Azure. With the performance, scalability, and costs in mind, I recommended the following:
- For the OpenDental Server:
- A D4as_v4 sized VM, which comes with 4 vCPUs and 16GiBs of RAM
- Capable of 8000 IOPS
- Allows the clinic to expand when required and reuse the existing infrastructure
- For the MySQL Database:
- Recommended using an Azure Database for MySQL managed DB
- Managed Backups and Point-in-Time restores
- For the Network File Share:
- For the OpenDental clients to access files across machines, I recommended using Azure Files
- Locally Redundant Storage (LRS) for a cheaper form of data redundancy
Back at the clinic, the OpenDental clients can access the OpenDental server over the Internet. By adding a network drive linked to Azure Files, machines will be able to view X-Ray images and associated data saved on the Storage Account!