Migrating a SaaS Platform to AWS

Validus Cloud Computing Strategy

Ben Taylor - Technology DirectorValidus-IVC Ltd.

● Household name insurers

● Household name insurers● Established in 2007● Around 150 employees● Credit hire claims analysis● £700 million claims analysed to date

Civil Wrong(Tort)

Credit Hire Operator

Third-Party Insurer

No Legal Relationship

Contract Contract

Claimant Defendant

Why move to cloud hosting?

● Current hardware reaching end of life1. Carry on as we were2. Invest in new hardware3. Outsource hosting completely4. Host in the cloud

Three Phase Plan

● Phase 1○ Move existing architecture to AWS

● Phase 2○ Make most of AWS technologies, elastic beanstalk

● Phase 3○ Extend product

First Steps

● Start by configuring a VPC● Separating concerns via security groups

Web Layer

App Support Layer

Application Layer

Database Layer

it didn't work...

● No Multicast● NAT Instance● SMTP Throttled● Documents in Database● DR position no better● Couldn't Pen Test● Couldn't use RDS

Client Objections

"I like to know that my data is in that box over there with the flashing lights on."

Information Security Officer at a client insurer

USPA

Phase 2

What's Next - Phase 3

● Elastic MapReduce○ Log file analysis○ Fraud detection

● Cloud Formation○ DR○ Rapid deployment for developers

www.validus-ivc.co.ukb.taylor@validus-ivc.co.uk