9 Common Causes of Cloud and Network Issues and How To Fix Them

Fast implementation lets you gather customer feedback and make necessary adjustments to the product. Or drop the idea altogether if you discover that your assumptions were wrong. Nobody likes to fail, but if necessary, it's better to fail quickly, take the product off the market, and avoid bleeding money. 

This approach makes much sense in 90% of startup ideas that fail. But what if your assumptions were actually right, your product gains traction and you need to find ways to scale it up fast without breaking the bank? This is particularly acute in the case of network issues. 

If you don't consider that in advance, you may end up having to hire a whole dev team to rewrite your cloud app from scratch. The price of success may be much higher than the cost of failure, so your future app infrastructure shouldn't be an afterthought. 

Supporting teams behind innovative ideas, we have often seen how cloud infrastructure and network issues can block app development and ultimately set back their business growth. 

Luckily, there are ways to mitigate such risks – read on to learn how. 

9 top causes of cloud and network issues and how to tackle them

Here are the nine most common causes of cloud and network issues that can wreak havoc on your app development efforts. 

#1: Having no cloud scalability plan in place

 

Problem: 
Your team needs a viable plan to ensure your cloud infrastructure is ready for traffic spikes and can handle growing demand.

If you are new to cloud computing, you probably feel intimidated by the number of solutions and the ease with which you can implement them. But, in the heat of the battle, you may forget that your project will probably grow over time. So, take that into account from the very beginning! 

One of the core questions to ask yourself fast is if you plan to scale the infrastructure vertically or horizontally. 

‘Vertical’ scaling means that you will need to change the type of virtual machines you use over time. For example, if you start with just 2 CPUs, 4 GB of RAM and one SSD, you will quickly notice how your resources become insufficient. 

You will then start adding machines, but then you may bump up against the operating system not being able to use new resources. Or you may need to scale all new components according to the proportion set by your cloud provider. 

Or, in the worst-case scenario, you have to switch off the machine entirely during scaling. 

Solution: 
That’s where ‘horizontal’ scaling should come to the rescue. Your initial instance remains the same, and you only add clones of it – and that usually happens automatically. The user doesn’t notice any changes if the process is well thought-out and executed. 

Another potential solution is abandoning instances and jumping directly at a serverless system. In such scenarios, scaling doesn’t affect you, as it occurs on the cloud side. Your team, on the other hand, can focus on the application and the service.

#2: Trying to save on cloud and network security measures 

 

Problem:
Not using advanced cloud security measures like firewalls (incl. Web Application Firewalls), anti-virus software, and encryption leaves you vulnerable to cyberattacks. 

Unlike in the case of repercussions of neglected security, the process of securing your applications isn’t something spectacular. Simply put, there are no anomalies or data leaks when everything works without malfunctions. 

You could be under the impression that this state is natural and that you don’t need to do much to keep it that way. Or maybe you could even stop spending so much on those security solutions?  

Solution:
Nothing could be further from the truth. According to IBM research, the global average total data breach cost reached $4.54 in 2022. This sum surely exceeds your business’s investment to protect your digital assets.  

Better safe than sorry. It’s essential to have professional security procedures in place to ensure that only authorised users have access to your valuable data. 

#3: Skimping on software documentation

 

Problem:
Regularly updated and refined software documentation saves time and effort in the long term. Yet instead of treating it as a must-have, many teams see it rather as a won’t-have, at least not right now.

Companies often try to economise their documentation writing. Their reasons vary from “product changing too fast” to “chronic staff shortages”. 

Understandably, this approach quickly does more harm than good. Even if one engineer is involved in designing, building, and maintaining an environment, they will likely promptly forget what and how they have done. 

Moreover, if they leave your company, all you will be left with will be reverse engineering and a trial-and-error way of discovering what’s made inside your environment. According to research, the average tenure of software engineers in small companies is only 1.5 years, so don’t leave documentation to chance. 

The situation becomes even more complicated when there is an incident, and your team needs to rectify the problem ASAP. 

Solution:
If this situation continues over time, it will add to your growing technological debt. While the initial resistance to taking the time to prepare the documentation may seem of minor importance, it can ultimately lead to much higher costs. 

Prioritise and allocate resources to create and regularly update your software documentation – it will pay off.  

#4: No monitoring of infrastructure and app performance

Problem:
Without monitoring the performance of your infrastructure, applications, and connections, you’re missing an opportunity to spot bottlenecks and solve issues before they snowball into crises. 

When developing your product, it’s easy to overlook a minor issue that, at some point, can get in the way of your organisation’s continued growth. 

Initially, a small database with a limited number of processors and memory will likely be enough. However, at some point, as you scale your application and infrastructure, you may encounter significant constraints on performance. 

You may encounter a similar situation when it comes to the application performance. Is it able to utilise available resources, or is something blocking it? Is your app not using resources, for example, on another continent?

Solution:
Your team needs to identify such bottlenecks as soon as possible. Once your infrastructure can’t handle the increased traffic generated, for instance, as a result of a campaign, you may face customer disappointment. That’s one step away from seeing them leave for your competitors. 

#5: Neglecting backups

Problem:
Regular backups and data recovery (DR) are necessary to ensure your business continuity and protect data from loss in a system failure. Yet not every team pays enough attention to these processes. 

A popular adage in tech says there are two groups of people: those who already do backups and those who will only learn to do them. Being in the first group is worth it because you never know what could happen. 

You may fall victim to an attack, experience a failure beyond your control, or a simple human error. 

Solution:
When it comes to backups and disaster recovery, you need to have a solid strategy. For example, do you need a full backup that can take up much space but is easy to restore? Or will an incremental or differential backup suffice? Additionally, do you need a single, cyclic or perhaps rotational backup? 

It’s best to consider these questions long before problems.

#6: Failing to update software and firmware regularly

 

Problem:
Updating software and firmware regularly is crucial to fixing security vulnerabilities and improving performance.

Many people and organisations fail to proceed with updates because “they don’t change much”. But only two attacks – WannaCry ransomware and Petya/NotPetya – show how attackers can take advantage of missing Windows OS updates to block access to drives by encrypting their files. 

On the third-party software side, you may recall system issues in users of SolarWinds software. In this case, hackers inserted malicious code into IT monitoring and management software that thousands of enterprises and government agencies use worldwide. 

Solution:
The more up-to-date your system is, the more challenging it becomes to attack. It is, therefore, advisable to set up automatic updates where possible. 

When it’s not feasible, you should take the time to perform the updates manually to ensure that you always use the latest software version. As the above examples demonstrate, this will save you time, money and nerves.

#7: Failing to test changes safely

Problem:
Before introducing any changes in your system, you should test them in previously prepared environments.

This fairly common approach, if not followed, can lead to severe consequences such as loss of availability, slowdowns, and system errors. An even more dangerous situation can happen with an oversight leading to cutting off the environment for everyone, including your network administrators.

Solution:
You can prevent such issues by setting up parallel environments where you can make your desired changes to verify if they work well. In general, you can use environments such as:

Development, i.e. a section of the entire environment where developers can test small pieces of their software.

Test, which combines several sections to create a larger, working entity.

Staging/pre-prod, which is a near-perfect replica of the production environment.

Production, i.e., the environment to which customers connect.

Testing changes in non-production environments let you spot and fix problems before moving them into the primary production environment. This approach minimises the risk of introducing errors and failures, which can be costly to remove once live and cause data loss and productivity. 

Where changes are critical to the network operation, the failure to test can have serious consequences, such as losing customers and damaging your company’s reputation. Therefore, it is essential always to test changes on environments invisible to the end-user.

#8: Having no disaster recovery plan 

 

Problem:
A solid disaster recovery plan minimises the risk of downtime. 

Every administrator dreams of systems running flawlessly and uninterrupted, but reality paints a very different picture. 

Breakdowns happen for multiple reasons, but the most common is a mistake. For example, someone forgets about doing something, adds too much code, or deletes too much of it. 

We are all human, so your team must be ready for such situations.

Solution:
Having a disaster recovery plan is essential to ensure business continuity and minimise downtime in case of unexpected failures. This guide on our blog is an excellent primer for creating a DR plan for your team. 

The plan should include steps to resume system operation after an incident, such as:

Identifying and diagnosing the issue: naming the cause of the failure and fixing it.

Preparing resources: identifying and preparing the resources that you will need to resume system operation.

Resuming operations: implementing the steps to start the system again, including replacing failed components and restoring data.

Monitoring and testing: monitoring your system’s performance after a disaster and running tests to ensure everything works correctly.

A well-thought-out DR plan lets you respond quickly and resolve the problem effectively, minimising the risk of downtime and potential damage. Moreover, regular drills and updates to the DR plan enhance your organisation’s ability to deal effectively with failures in the future. 

#9: Not enough staff training on cloud infrastructure and network issues

 

Problem:
The drills mentioned above are also vital, as even the best business continuity plan will not work if your team members don’t know how to use it. 

An additional downside of all training courses is that they cost time and money, and their result is not visible in your company’s yearly bottom line. Many IT specialists are overworked and overloaded, so they don’t have the time to train for fancy scenarios that “may happen one day”. 

Solution:
Unfortunately, neglecting training and improving competencies will sooner or later result in downtime, as virtually all systems have problems. As the old IT saying goes: “There is never time to test, but there is always time to fix”. 

It pays off to be wiser before any damage happens to provide the highest quality service possible.