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FREQENTLY ASED QUESTIONS
General FAQ
Q: What services does MiCloud offer?
A: MiCloud helps districts get an offsite, immutable copy of their backups into the cloud to improve ransomware and disaster recovery capabilities. We also help districts migrate aging onsite infrastructure into the AWS public cloud and provide cloud technology training and skill-building opportunities to staff around the state. Finally, we offer various managed services to districts to help augment their staff and take certain tasks off of their overloaded plates.
Q: I have an aging on-premises virtual infrastructure, how can MiCloud help me move to the cloud?
A: MiCloud will work closely with you to create customized migration and implementation strategy. We can do as little or as much of the work as desired, from doing a basic environment setup and walking you through the migration process to do yourself to full-service migration engagement - and anywhere in between.
Q: What if I want to move to Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud Platform (GCP)?
A: Right now, MiCloud is only offering AWS-based infrastructure solutions and support, but we may include Azure or GCP in the future.
Q: Why partner with MiCloud instead of doing it ourselves?
A: The MiCloud team has the most experience of any district or ISD in the state when it comes to deploying, securing, and managing the AWS platform. We have been working within AWS for 7 years and have built an extensive knowledge baseline, and developed a variety of best practices for implementing, securing, and cost-optimizing the AWS cloud. Want to do it right and only do it once? You’ve come to the right place.
In addition to engineers that can help you do it in the most secure, cost-effective manner possible, MiCloud has created a variety of partnerships that also add value to the relationship you would have with us. Each MiCloud customer will also get access to CloudCheckr, a leading Security- and Cost-Optimization platform for cloud. Normally, this service would cost 3-5% of your monthly AWS spend, but this is a tool available at no cost through MiCloud. And our partnership with Veeam allows us to provide great pricing on Veeam licenses and allows us to offer a managed Backups as a Service solution.
Q: How do I get started with MiCloud?
A: Email info@micloud.org. We can discuss your unique needs and how we can help you achieve your goals.
Q: What about our district’s existing technology staff – will MiCloud be replacing them?
A: Not at all. Think of us as “extending your bench” by offering expertise where your current staff may not have it yet. We can help with project work, train your existing staff, and offer them support on issues after the project. In addition, we can take some of the burden off of your staff with various managed services so they can regain some time back into their days to focus on other tasks.
Costs & Funding FAQ
Q: How does the MiCloud grant funding work?
A: MiCloud’s grant funding will cover a couple different costs for you – backups, server infrastructure hosting, professional services, and training. Let’s break those down:
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Professional Services:
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MiCloud’s team will create the AWS accounts and infrastructure needed for your backup or migration/hosting projects - S3 and Glacier storage buckets for backup projects, and the Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) infrastructure, security groups, load balancers for infrastructure hosting. In addition, we will help configure AWS Application Migration Service and assist migrating your on premises infrastructure to your new cloud environment.
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Training:
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During each migration project, we will provide a Cloud Administration Bootcamp training to go over the basics of cloud administration and support.
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We will also provide each ISD with a license for Pluralsight’s A Cloud Guru AWS certification training at no charge.
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Backups:
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Veeam backup licensing: MiCloud will provide Veeam Enterprise Plus licensing at no cost to the district through the duration of the grant (through June 30, 2028). **
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Storage for backups: MiCloud will cover 100% of the AWS S3 and Glacier storage costs through the duration of the grant (through June 30, 2028).**
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Infrastructure migration & hosting:
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MiCloud will cover 100% of the cost of AWS Infrastructure Services for the first year after project completion.**
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MiCloud will cover 75% of the cost of AWS Infrastructure Services for the second year after project completion. The district will be responsible for paying the remaining 25% of the monthly AWS consumption costs during this time.**
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MiCloud will cover 50% of the cost of AWS Infrastructure Services for the third year after project completion, through June 30, 2028. The district will be responsible for paying the remaining 50% of the monthly AWS consumption costs during this time.**
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**Starting July 1, 2028, the district will be responsible for 100% of the monthly AWS consumption costs, regardless of when their project is, so if a district didn’t get started until sometime in the 27-28 school year, they will not get the full benefit of the coverage. The earlier you start, the more value you get from MiCloud’s grant funding!
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Q: I don’t use Veeam for my backups. Will MiCloud reimburse me for my backup solution licenses?
A: Unfortunately, since this is a Consolidation Grant, we needed to pick one solution to officially cover, which is Veeam, so MiCloud will not be able to pay or reimburse for another backup solution.
Backups FAQ
Q: We already use Veeam for our backups. How does licensing work?
A: If you currently have Enterprise Plus licensing, you can continue to use that license until it expires. At that point, we can switch over the MiCloud’s Enterprise Plus licensing. MiCloud will provide the license at no cost through the duration of the grant (through June 30, 2028).
Q: Does the Veeam licensing only cover Cloud workloads or On-Premises, too?
A: Both! The Veeam licenses cover both on-premises infrastructure AND cloud infrastructure.
Q: I don’t use Veeam for my backups. Can I use my existing product?
A: Absolutely – as long as your solution can use AWS S3 (Simple Storage Service) or Glacier as a storage target.
Security FAQ
Q: How will access to our AWS accounts be accessed and secured?
A: MiCloud will create an account for any of a district’s staff members in our Identity Center Portal, as well as a customized Permission Set based on the rights they want to provide to their team members.
Q: Will the portal user accounts support Multi-Factor Authentication?
A: Yes. Your Identity Center Portal user account can register one or more MFA methods, such as hardware keys like Yubikey, Authenticator apps such as Microsoft Authenticator and even Windows Hello. The MFA is context-aware so it will only prompt you for a second factor if something changes, such as a different browser, different location/IP, etc.
Q: Who will own the data in our AWS account?
A: Each district will own all the resources and data in their AWS account. MiCloud can help you maintain and secure your data and resources if you wish, but the district owns it all.
Q: Is the AWS Platform HIPAA and FERPA Compliant?
A: Yes. AWS complies with a large list of regulations, including HIPAA and FERPA regulations.
Q: Who is responsible for securing our cloud infrastructure?
A: Security and Compliance is a shared responsibility between AWS and their customers. AWS has the responsibility for “Security of the cloud”, while the customer has the responsibility for “Security in the cloud”.
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AWS responsibility - “Security of the Cloud”: AWS is responsible for protecting the infrastructure that runs all of the services offered in the AWS Cloud. This infrastructure is composed of the hardware, software, networking, and facilities that run AWS Cloud services.
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Customer responsibility - “Security in the Cloud”: The customer is responsible for securing the resources and services used by the customer. The customer assumes responsibility for and management of the guest operating system (including configuration, updates, and security patches), other associated application software as well as the configuration of the AWS features and services, such as security group firewalls for EC2 instances and S3 storage buckets.
MiCloud can help our customers manage and secure their environment and data, if requested.
Q: How can moving to AWS help protect our district against Ransomware?
A: Ransomware can affect servers both in the cloud and in our datacenters. AWS has a built-in feature called snapshots that cannot be corrupted by ransomware. In addition, MiCloud’s managed backup service will provide additional protections against ransomware.