Basic Computing

Hybrid Cloud: Definition, Function, Benefits, and More

A hybrid cloud   is a computing environment that has the particularity that data, programs and applications can be shared in work environments where it is necessary, in addition to having a high level of security. In this article we present the definition, main characteristics, advantages and disadvantages, as well as hybrid clouds and examples . definition of hybrid cloud

What is a hybrid cloud?

hybrid cloud  , as its words say, is a kind of computing cloud, whose main characteristic is the conjunction of different environments, both public and private cloud.

The different virtual media provided by a cloud can be distributed among all the servers owned by a company that provides the service as such and the servers of the company that makes use of the hybrid cloud service.

The information and processes that will be shared in the private and public hybrid clouds are ordered through automation and administration software, where users can then enter the information highway from any device with availability.

The private and public cloud that make up a hybrid cloud are particular, however, information can be passed between these units, through application programming channels, better known as APIs.

This kind of information technology architecture allows companies to manage the load of data within the clouds, as well as to extract resources from them when required. Likewise, it is possible to generate a hybrid cloud   composed of several public clouds that can be managed by different providers.

The hybrid cloud offers companies the best quality of infrastructure and cloud computing facilities, being more secure, with a higher level of protection, saving costs and providing the company with greater control over data.

Key characteristics of a hybrid cloud

If you want to understand how a hybrid cloud works  , in this section we break down the key characteristics of the habitat of this cloud computing:

Interoperability

The main key feature is the interoperability, existing between the private cloud and the public cloud, which allows this configuration to be seen as a hybrid. So, in a company there can be a private and a public cloud, and not have a hybrid cloud.

For the cloud to be considered hybrid, there must be communication between them, for example software that is shared and the alternative of migrating between the two clouds.

API

definition of hybrid cloud
definition of hybrid cloud

The application programming interface enables the necessary communication points between the private and public cloud. These are made up of software that is responsible for managing and directing workloads within the clouds, resources, incorporation of platforms and how shared programs and applications are executed.

Scalability

Another feature is that hybrid cloud can easily scale vertically or horizontally, according to the requirements of the company. Clouds have originating programs and applications that is horizontally scaled and if it is scaled vertically it allows much more workload through virtualization

Protection and security

Hybrid cloud offers the company using it to select the storage cloud for their most critical and least critical workload. This is achieved through the establishment of security levels, giving better control and recording of information and data and their respective protection.

In this way, a hybrid cloud that is properly built, embedded and managed is a protected and secure cloud.

Role of hybrid clouds

The way private and public clouds do their work as part of a hybrid cloud is similar to how they do it individually:

  1. It has wide area network (WAN), local area network (LAN), virtual private network (VPN) in addition to the application programming interface (API), which are connected to different computers between them.

  2. Virtualization, repositories, or software-driven storage pull resources, pooling or associating them into seas of data or information.

  3. The software management system designates the resources stored in the different habitats where the applications or programs will be executed, which will be executed or used according to the requirement with the support of a certification service.

Individual clouds become hybrid clouds when those habitats communicate with each other. This connection is what makes a hybrid cloud work, so these clouds are the foundation of the computational edges.

It also defines the way in which workloads can be migrated, the management process is standardized and the processes are ordered as such. The quality of communications between the clouds affects the operation of the hybrid cloud as such.

How do you build a hybrid cloud?

Each hybrid cloud is one of a kind, private clouds are unique, and there are thousands of public cloud providers. All hybrid cloud instances are different, so that, as the hybrid cloud resources are ordered and the hybrid cloud is built, leaving its own footprint.

Hybrid cloud benefits

In this section, we present the advantages or benefits of working under a hybrid cloud:

  1. Hybrid cloud brings the best benefits of private and public cloud in one habitat. This type of cloud computing configuration that is connected to each other allows organizations to build an architecture of their IT resources according to their requirements.

  2. It gives the organization control over the most important or critical workloads within the private environment.

  3. Due to its scalability condition and the resources that the public environment has, it is more flexible.

  4. This archetype of computational cloud promotes the saving of the organization’s capital, because you only pay for the resources that are used.

  5. It is easily manageable and steerable, the transfer between private and public clouds is very simple to do and at any time.

definition of hybrid cloud
definition of hybrid cloud

Disadvantages or weaknesses of the hybrid cloud

The weaknesses or disadvantages of a hybrid cloud are described below:

  1. The security of the public cloud will depend entirely on the service provider.

  2. The movement of data through different environments risks information security.

  3. Cloud management depends on the services offered by the provider.

  4. Each infrastructure must be compliant, which can create additional expense to realign infrastructures and make them compliant.

  5. It is essential to guarantee connectivity in the private and public cloud, because otherwise, it does not ensure that the computational cloud model works properly.

Hybrid cloud architecture and examples

If your organization has multiple cloud habitats, then having a management platform that understands these can be very helpful. Thus, managing these environments individually creates duplication of efforts and puts information security at risk.

Multiple Perspectives for Hybrid Cloud Architecture

A large number of new organizations and infrastructure management providers created software that allows the user to centrally direct the infrastructure and programs or applications in the private and public cloud.

In a single space, storage, database and other different resources can be moved to various directions, regardless of whether they are on a company data site and within the public cloud.

Hybrid provider cloud

Another way of looking at the hybrid cloud architecture is to increase the brand or personal seal of the public cloud, and also join the resources of this cloud with the site or data center. All sample hybrid cloud infrastructure as a service providers have made this easier.

For on-premises public cloud expansion, it enables your buyers to manage and direct public cloud resources.

On the other hand, the suppliers of hybrid cloud IaaS, develop connections from the public cloud to the data centers of their buyers.

PaaS

Many companies employ service platforms, such as PaaS, which is a platform that creates applications for cloud developers to create individualized applications without having to provide the infrastructure they require to serve.

Some examples of this type of service platform are: Pivotal Cloud Foundry, IBM Bluemix, or Apprenda.

Core PaaS software can be running on buyers’ infrastructures, hosted in a private habitat, or in the public IaaS cloud.

For that, PaaS prepares infrastructure resources automatically in their habitats, transforming them into a suitable platform for the hybrid cloud.

AWS, Google and Microsoft: moving towards a hybrid cloud

The main suppliers of IaaS have migrated to the incorporation of public cloud infrastructure with own resources of the buyers.

Vendors are developing instruments that operate in these environments and are engaging with companies that have great data center relationships at the enterprise level.

  • AWS Web Services, this is the current leader in the public cloud type IaaS, creating application development tools and instruments such as CodeDeploy. In 2016, they teamed up with Vmware to push the hybrid cloud concept. This way, your buyers can run a full suite of Vmware software that is dedicated to working on the AWS public cloud.

  • Microsoft Azure is the most relevant in advertising and popular within hybrid cloud companies, this is to be expected within the field of computer stores. The hybrid cloud platform of this company is called Azure Stack, which is an infrastructure hardware that is sold by Dell EMC, Lenovo, Cisco and HPE. It was created to be the Azure public cloud, but it is available at the buyers’ premises.

Microsoft also allows the vast majority of software management and control tools to expand within the facilities, including the security and access management platform. In addition to other applications such as SaaS, Outlook and Office 365.

  • Google Cloud Platform: This company focused on advertising its public cloud, then focused its efforts on the hybrid cloud. The hybrid cloud is its partnership with Nutanix, which provides infrastructure, which gives its buyers and customers the opportunity to run applications and programs on Nutanix within their facilities and in the same public cloud if they wish.

Also, Google created a partnership with Vmware, so they have software that runs on the local and public cloud known as Kubernetes. Said application storage management platform that has open source and was created by Google runs on the client’s premises or in the Google public cloud through Google Storage Engineering.

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