Migrating MassGIS to the Cloud.
In this Q+A, we sit down with Aleda Freeman, Web Mapping Services Manager, whose team has been instrumental in helping to migrate MassGIS to the Amazon Web Services Cloud.
Q: In broad terms, can you describe the rationale for migrating the on-premise technology that MassGIS uses to the AWS Cloud? What benefits does this have for MassGIS?
A: MassGIS is the Commonwealth’s Bureau of Geographic Information. Through MassGIS, the Commonwealth has created a comprehensive, statewide database of geospatial information which is quite large. MassGIS serves the public and private sectors, supporting emergency response, real-estate research, environmental planning and management, transportation planners, economic development, engineering services, and transparency in state and municipal government operations. MassGIS provides data for download and geographic data and mapping services that can be embedded into state agency applications.
As part of the EOTSS-wide initiative, MassGIS has been moving its servers, and the services and applications they support, to AWS. We have completed this process for about one-half of our servers and as a result we have already been able to better meet the needs of our customers. One of our primary services, the downloading of map data, has been consolidated and streamlined, resulting in much faster downloads. Prior to using Amazon, MassGIS needed store data to be downloaded in four different places due to the large volume. In AWS there is just one location for storage. This simplifies data maintenance and makes the data more secure.
Q: Can you describe the migration process and your work on the migration?
A: Each of the 21 MassGIS servers in MITC is evaluated to determine its role in various geographic data processing or serving workflows. Inventories are made of services and applications to avoid the need to migrate and test obsolete systems. Servers are migrated in logical groups, with testing first in a Non-Production (i.e. testing) environment before recreating in a Production (i.e. operational) environment. AWS patching and monitoring are set up via tags and those processes are validated to be working correctly.
Q: Can you give one or two examples of how you’ve been able to leverage AWS’ service offerings to improve the technology underlying MassGIS operations and services?
A: MassGIS has been able to use AWS’ ability to quickly create and resize servers to experiment with alternative database types to fit our varied workflows. One of those is Postgres Relational Database Server (RDS) which is a Database-as-a-Service offering from AWS. Our GeoServer map serving subsystem will achieve performance benefits using this database type.
Q: Do you have any other goals related to the migration or improvements you plan to implement?
A: As we migrate services we are also focusing on upgrading operating system and software versions, both of which increase performance and security.
Q: Anything else to add?
A: MassGIS plans to continue to learn about AWS options for improving our services to customers. That might include trying new ways to leverage the emergent AWS technology such as workspaces (a secure cloud desktop service which allows users to quickly load a desktop of their choice that they can access from any supported device) and auto scale groups (which monitors your applications and automatically adjusts capacity to maintain steady, predictable performance while reducing costs).
