Hybrid cloud is not a new name in cloud technology. Interestingly, the adoption of this cloud strategy is in the rage among the enterprises. It is estimated at 74%, According to Forrester Research.  

In simple terms, a hybrid cloud is mixed of two different cloud infrastructures. However, there are a lot of questions revolves around it. The purpose of this blog is to discuss some of those common FAQs related to Hybrid cloud technology.

What is Hybrid cloud computing definition?

As the name suggests, it is the combination of two different cloud infrastructures. It could combine public and private clouds, two or more public clouds with a private cloud platform, or on-premises resources. The infrastructures operate independently of each other.

The hybrid cloud architecture typically includes an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform. Here the main IaaS platforms could be Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud. A private cloud holds the resources, and it could be on-premises or off-premises. Lastly, this architecture management needs a wide area network (WAN) that connects the public and private clouds.

What are the different models of Hybrid cloud infrastructure?

In a hybrid cloud architecture there are two types of infrastructures-

Heterogeneous

In this model the infrastructure is made of public and private cloud which belong to two different vendors.

Homogeneous

This infrastructure is made of public cloud and on-premises infrastructure. In this case, the operational model is quite straightforward. However, the major problem that enterprises face in this infrastructure is vendor-lock in.

What are the different types of Hybrid cloud deployment models?

Based on the integration option adapted there are mainly three types of deployment models available:

Data model

It directly relates to the on-premises data volume. In this model, on-premises data that is not used daily is moved to the public cloud. This reduces data storage space on-premises. Whenever that data is required is accessed through apps.

Infrastructure model

This deployment model relies on virtual machines. In this case, virtual machines are shared and extended by the public and private cloud. Additionally, this infrastructure needs extra support for VM images’ movement, which ultimately facilitates the portability.

This model is good for the companies which have increased traffic and need an extension to support this load. However, this deployment model needs optimal security options, network connectivity, and robust firewall rules.

Application and services model

In the hybrid application model, the integration system depends on the middleware integration services layer. Both public and private cloud services are used here. The on-premises applications data and services can be accessed from public cloud services.

Is Hybrid Cloud same as Multi-Cloud?

Though both the terms sound synonymous but they are not the same considering infrastructure. In both cases, multiple cloud infrastructures are involved. However, the Hybrid cloud orchestrates between the private cloud and third party public cloud. On the contrary, there is no choice of orchestration between the public cloud services in the multi-cloud case.

Furthermore, it is more about choosing the necessary best services among cloud service providers. In a multi cloud, no single vendor is chosen. On the contrary, in a hybrid cloud, we can have a single vendor choice for different cloud solutions.

Related post – Is Multi Cloud computing the future in cloud computing?

What are the benefits?

Using Hybrid cloud an organization can get all the benefits of cloud computing—

Flexibility

The hybrid cloud offers the flexibility of computing basic tasks in the public cloud. Along with that, it can keep sensitive applications and data on-premises and behind the firewall.

Scalability

Using a hybrid cloud, businesses can seamlessly scale up on-premises infrastructure to the public cloud based on the processing demand. This helps them to restrain from giving access to third-party data centers and maintain data integrity.

Cost efficiencies

As the scalability increases, it brings cost-effectiveness for the companies. For example, if a company needs to handle sudden scaling up, hybrid infrastructure supports that without huge expenditures.

Infrastructure

A hybrid infrastructure allows a company to maintain its legacy on-premise servers while integrating with a public cloud. This does not disrupt their daily operations. Hence, an organization can progressively integrate with a public cloud while running the most critical operations from the private cloud.

Limitations of hybrid cloud computing

More expensive—From cost considerations, a hybrid cloud may be a cheaper solution than depending solely on a private cloud; however, it is more expensive than a public cloud. Building a hybrid cloud architecture can a costlier affair for companies with limited IT resources.

Less control— When you are using a hybrid cloud, you have to sacrifice some control. Furthermore, to run the operations smoothly, it needs strong integration between the public and private environments. This needs private infrastructure to be adapted to possible changes in the public cloud. And when it is a public cloud, you do not have any control over it.

Where does Hybrid cloud is right fit?

– In highly regulated bodies, like banking and healthcare, portioning off the workloads may be a strategic requirement. Thus public cloud may not be an option for all data-related operations.

– In huge companies moving every operation into the cloud is not realistic. Because large organizations often involve legacy systems and moving those into the cloud is not always feasible.

– It can be a good solution for companies that work with the public sector. They store data in a more geography-specific way.

This architecture is a good solution for companies who do not want to compromise on public and private clouds’ advantages. Moreover, a hybrid cloud is a strategic approach that prevents you from the disadvantages of vendor-lock in a single cloud vendor. Simultaneously, as the infrastructure becomes split between two systems, future migration to the public cloud becomes easier.

How safe is the Hybrid-Cloud technology?

Despite many advantages, the Hybrid cloud also suffers from some issues that make it a misfit in some cases.

– This infrastructure is no exception from privacy and security issues that plague most public cloud platforms. Third-party interference can bring unnecessary security risk due to data transport across a network.

-When latency and data transport are mission-critical factors. 

-If an organization has a limited budget, then implementing a hybrid cloud solution could not be a good option. 

Should companies evaluate a hybrid cloud strategy?

No doubt, moving to a hybrid cloud is beneficial for companies from operational and financial perspectives. However, changing the existing infrastructure to a hybrid can turn into a complex and sometimes an expensive task.

So, before changing into hybrid options, companies must evaluate other suitable options. They should analyze possible complexities related to implementation and other points, which include:

– Do they really need hybrid infrastructure? Just because competitors are implementing a cloud solution, not necessarily a company is supposed to adapt it. Maybe on-premises data storage and applications are enough. Hence, setting up a hybrid cloud infrastructure, including data transfer, could incur an unnecessary cost for the company. 

– Integration complexities: The existing infrastructure can consists of web services. While setting up for hybrid infrastructure, it needs to ensure that the web services are working properly. Hence, proper testing and customization could be time-consuming work.

– Hardware Management: Pre-assessing hardware requirements like how the resources could consume much CPU, hard disk, memory, etc., is necessary. This will reduce the possibility of future hardware-workload related issue.

– Analysing Workloads: The setup of a hybrid cloud in many ways depends on the workload it will handle. It could be a batch workload that will be running at a particular time of the day. Otherwise, it may be for real-time analysis, which needs more computing power. So, depending on the requirement, the hybrid cloud needs to be set up.

Which companies are providing hybrid cloud solutions?

Various cloud solution providers are offering Hybrid cloud computing solutions. Furthermore, that caters to different service model categories such as SaaS (Software as a Service), IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), and PaaS (Platform as a Service). Selecting the right hybrid cloud provider for business is critical, on which scalability and flexibility depend a lot. Furthermore, it involves considerable investment for the company.

The major five cloud vendors in this field are as follows:

1.Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Among the most renowned hybrid cloud solution providers, AWS comes as the first name. AWS provides both IaaS and PaaS cloud service models. 

2. Microsoft Azure

Microsoft offers both IaaS and PaaS solutions. Along with that, its Cloud Platform System (CPS) handles legacy infrastructure.

3. VMWare

VMWare’s vCloud Hybrid Service (vCHS) establishes a secured hybrid cloud service over the business cloud environment using vSphere.

4. EMC Corp

This cloud service provider offers Federation Enterprise Hybrid Cloud which is considered as the highly agile hybrid cloud solutions.

5. Hewlett-Packard

Hewlett-Packard offers completely open platform based hybrid cloud computing solutions which are based on OpenStack architecture.

Apart from the above mentioned vendors there are other vendors like

Dell

Cisco systems

IBM

Google

Rackspace

Final words:

For a Hybrid cloud architecture to run successfully, an organization needs to buy additional resources and equipment. Moreover, Hybrid Cloud Computing can deliver benefits like cloud bursting capabilities of cloud computing in all the ways possible. Besides, it also eliminates the risk of data loss while keeping the budget low.

We can tap the advantages of both public and private cloud using a hybrid cloud solution. However, it is not a need. Proper evaluation and implementation could only meet the goal of the organization.

Please share your valuable inputs in comment area to make the article more informative.