Software toolkit for cloud engineers

Introduction

If you are a Cloud engineer or possess a similar technical Cloud related role, you need to ensure that you can automate your daily tasks and better manage your workload. This post serves as a compilation of a software toolkit which I regard to include the most frequently used and most useful software applications in the day-to-day activities of a Cloud engineer.

Software toolkit for cloud engineers

Standard productivity tools

The following tools are standard productivity tools and can be used by any IT professional or more broadly by any professional who is spending a considerable amount of time in an office job. This includes cloud engineers and cloud training professionals.

  • Email client. Examples include Outlook 365 and other SMTP and IMAP-based clients, such as Protonmail and Tutanota. ProtonMail was founded in 2013 by scientists who met at CERN and were drawn together by a shared vision of a more secure and private Internet. Since then, ProtonMail has evolved into a global effort to protect civil liberties and build a more secure Internet, with team members also hailing from Caltech, Harvard, ETH Zurich and many other research institutions.
  • Unified communications (UC) client. Examples include Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Webex, Google Meet and Discord.
  • File sharing client. Examples include Microsoft 365 Sharepoint Online and Onedrive for Business, Citrix Files as well as Pcloud and Mega.
  • VoIP client (soft phone). Examples include Zoiper and 3CX. You can also utilize your favorite UC client for Enterprise Voice features, for example the Teams Microsoft Phone System.
  • Password manager. Examples include Lastpass, Nordpass, Teampass and Passbolt.
  • Authentication token manager. Examples include the Microsoft Authenticator, Google Authenticator and Twilio Authy.
  • Screenshot manager. Examples in Windows include the native Snipping tool and the steps recorder tool (C:\Windows\System32\psr.exe). Examples in Linux include ksnip.
  • Video recording software. Examples in Windows include OBS, Camtasia, Prezi, Techsmith Capture. Steps recorder in Windows. OBS is also available in Linux.
  • Hardware to be used for voice and video recording. This includes, but is not limited to, green screen, high fidelity microphone systems (both desktop and portable wireless microphone), lighting system, sound insulation system, web camera and high definition camera as well as a lightboard.

Cloud engineering tools

The following tools cover more specialized tasks which are usually undertaken by Coud engineers, Cloud architects and various other Cloud-related technical job roles.

  • Remote host connection manager. This application should act as remote connectivity manager and should support all mainstream remote connection protocols, including but not limited to, RDP, SSH and VNC. Examples in Windows include MRemoteNG, Microsoft Remote Desktop Manager and Devolution Remote Desktop Manager. Examples in Linux include Remmina and Thincast Remote.
  • Software development tools including Microsoft Visual Studio Code and Microsoft Visual Studio.
  • Diagramming software, including Microsoft Visio and Draw.io.
  • Command line interface tools (CLI). Examples in Windows include the Windows Terminal. Examples in Linux include various native shell (Bash) terminals. Powershell interface tools are also in this list. Examples in Windows are the Powershell core and the Powershell desktop versions. In Linux, only the Powershell core version is supported. For Azure management, the Azure CLI tool is highly recommended.
  • API management tools and SDKs. Examples in Windows include Postman, Windows SDKs and Azure SDKs. A list of available Windows SDKs can be found at: https://stefanos.cloud/windows-10-kits-and-tools/. Also cURL is an alternative to Postman in Linux.
  • Packet sniffing application. The leading tool here is Wireshark, which is available in both Windows and Linux.
  • Host monitoring manager. The best example in Windows is the Windows Admin Center. More details about the Windows Admin Center can be found at https://stefanos.cloud/windows-admin-center/. Examples in Linux include Canonical Landscape and Netplan (for network management automation). For more details on management tools and consoles available in Windows, you can refer to my Amazon book.
  • Infrastructure As Code (IaC) tools, such as Powershell DSC, Azure Powershell, Azure ARM templates, Azure Bicep templates, Terraform, Chef, Puppet and Ansible.
  • VPN connection manager. There can be multiple VPN connections, either Point to Site (P2S) or Site to Site (S2S). Each connection can utilize a different VPN protocol, including IPSec-based protocols as well as SSL VPN based architectures. Examples in Windows include OpenVPN, Cisco AnyConnect and any other VPN hardware or software appliance provided by the respective VPN vendor . Examples in Linux include OpenVPN.
  • Remote technical support tools. Examples of great software which offers support for Windows, Linux and mobile operating systems include Teamviewer, Anydesk and Rustdesk. Also available are the Microsoft Remote Desktop client and Microsoft quick assist for connecting to Windows systems. If you would rather use a Microsoft Intune-based solution (paid) you should try Microsoft Remote help. This requires server-side configuration via the Intune portal (https://endpoint.microsoft.com - Go to "Tenant Administration" section) as well as the installation of the MS Remote Help agent on each end-user's machine: Download remote help from https://aka.ms/downloadremotehelp.
  • Backup and recovery tools for files, databases, virtual machines and containers. Some good examples for Windows can be found in the following article: https://stefanos.cloud/kb/how-to-automate-azure-mysql-database-backups/ and in Azure Backup Server (former DPM). Also refer to following KB article on how to minimize your backup costs, for a list of free and open source backup tools.
  • Management tools and clients for connections to public clouds. Review my relevant article on Azure management tools and Microsoft 365, which presents all Azure specific management tools.
  • Hypervisor and container management tools. Examples in Windows include management tools for Hyper-V, VMWare VSphere, Citrix Hypervisor, Proxmox and Nutanix. Examples in Linux include Ubuntu LXC, KVM, Cloudstack, Docker, Kubernetes and OVirt.
  • Programming language frameworks, including the .NET framework, Python framework. It all depends on your programming language flavor. There are a few fairly new languages which have become very popular, such as AngularJS, NodeJS and Go.
  • Database management tools and SQL client tools, the most popular of which are the following: Dbeaver, Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, Microsoft Azure Data Studio.
  • Disassemblers, compilers and assembler tools for troubleshooting and reverse engineering. The most noteworthy example is that of IDA disassembler.
  • Security tools, penetration testing and forensics tools. Review my introductory post on computer security to gain a better understanding of the components involved.
  • Hardware monitoring and troubleshooting tools.
  • Source code version control and devops tools. Usually these tools are Web-based and are combined with public cloud services, so they are platform independent. Great examples are the Github, Gitlab and Gitbook tools.
  • Troubleshooting and tracing tools. Examples in Windows include the following:
    • SysInternals tools.
    • Nirsoft free system utilities for troubleshooting Windows systems.
    • Citrix Data Collection tool and Citrix Supportability Pack. The Citrix data collection tool incorporates the following tracing tools:
      • CDF
      • Wireshark ( Needs to be installed on the machine separately )
      • Process monitor
      • Netsh ( Built-in tool for collect network trace on Windows machines )
      • Workspace logs
      • Storefront logs
      • Process dump
      • Perfmon
      • WPR
      • WIndows Steps Recorder
      • Kerberos logging
  • Helge Klein tools for profile management and permissions management.
  • Canonical tools for monitoring and troubleshooting Linux.
  • Patch management tools, including PatchMyPC and Windows Update.

Recommended Web browser plugins

Regardless of the browser you choose for your day to day work, remember that there are still Web applications which are more compatible with specific browsers depending on their Javascript engine and their HTML5 rendering engine. Also there are cases such as the Microsoft click to run apps which can only be executed in Internet Explorer or Edge. In the case of Firefox, the following tools are relevant to the average power user and Cloud engineer:

  • Firefox developer tools by hitting the F12 key.
  • Firefox internal about: commands. Type about:about in the Firefox URL field and hit enter to get all the available options as shown below. The about:config command more specifically allows you to configure various hidden Firefox options.
  • Telerik Fiddler for Web debugging.
  • Firefox Sync
  • Save as HTML or PDF
  • RSS reader
  • Bookmarks manager such as a Pocket
  • Password manager
  • Script blocker
  • Ad blocker
  • VPN proxy client

The above list is not exhaustive and mainly reflects my personal view of what constitutes an essential software toolkit for cloud engineers and cloud training professionals.

Recommended AI aggregators

The following AI aggregators can equip you with any AI-powered tool to make your repetitive tasks quicker and to make your life more creative.

  1. Towards Data Science: A platform that aggregates articles, tutorials, and resources related to AI, machine learning, and data science. [URL: https://towardsdatascience.com/]
  2. KDnuggets: A leading data science and AI news portal that aggregates articles, tutorials, interviews, and datasets. [URL: https://www.kdnuggets.com/]
  3. AI News: An aggregator website that collects news articles, blog posts, and updates from various sources related to AI and machine learning. [URL: https://www.ainews.xyz/]
  4. AI Trends: A comprehensive resource for news, articles, and analysis on artificial intelligence, machine learning, and related technologies. [URL:
  5. Synced: An AI-focused media platform that aggregates news articles, research papers, and opinion pieces on artificial intelligence and robotics. [URL: https://syncedreview.com/]
  6. AI Weekly: A curated newsletter and aggregator that shares top AI-related articles, research papers, and industry news. [URL: https://aiweekly.co/]
  7. The Morning Paper: A website that aggregates and summarizes research papers from the field of computer science, including AI and machine learning. [URL: https://blog.acolyer.org/]
  8. Reddit /r/MachineLearning: Reddit's /r/MachineLearning community serves as an AI aggregator where members share and discuss recent research papers, industry news, and AI-related resources. [URL:
  9. ArXiv: A popular open-access repository for preprints of research papers across various disciplines, including AI and machine learning. [URL: https://arxiv.org/]
  10. AI Business: A news portal that aggregates articles, case studies, and industry insights related to AI adoption in business. [URL:
  11. AI Trends Insider: A subscription-based newsletter and aggregator providing in-depth analysis, expert perspectives, and market insights on AI and machine learning. [URL:
  12. TOPBOTS: An AI-focused publication and resource hub that aggregates articles, case studies, and tutorials on applied artificial intelligence. [URL: https://www.topbots.com/]
  13. OpenAI Blog: The official blog of OpenAI, an AI research organization, featuring articles, research updates, and announcements related to their AI models, projects, and advancements. [URL: https://openai.com/blog/]
  14. Google AI Blog: The official blog of Google AI, featuring articles, research highlights, and updates from Google's AI research teams. [URL: https://ai.googleblog.com/]
  15. Microsoft AI Blog: The official blog of Microsoft AI, sharing insights, research breakthroughs, and updates on their AI initiatives, products, and services. [URL: https://blogs.microsoft.com/ai/]