Hybrid cloud infrastructure is a combination of at least two cloud infrastructures, such as private, public or community, that remain individual but are connected by standardized technologies that allow data portability.
On its most basic level, this means that hybrid cloud computing is managing a private cloud and public cloud as one, or holding the management tools in different environments. These are distinctive and independent elements, allowing organizations to store privileged or protected data on a private cloud while still maintaining the capability to leverage the computing resources from the public cloud. This helps minimize exposure because the sensitive data isn’t stored on the public cloud.
There are multiple kinds of hybrid cloud.
Hybrid Cloud Architecture
With two or more cloud environments, the management platform has to span those environments. Managing the environments independently can lead to duplicate work or security risks.
- Hybrid cloud management software: Vendors of infrastructure-management created software that allows users to manage public cloud and on-premises infrastructure and applications all in a centralized location. This allows all databases, storage and resources to work within the same space, regardless of their location.
- Vendor-native hybrid cloud: Some hybrid vendors architect a hybrid cloud that extends the on-premise infrastructure to the cloud, or connects public cloud resources to a data center. Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloud vendors allow this possibility.
- Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS): Many businesses us PaaS, an application development platform that enables developers to create applications without equipping the underlying infrastructure. Most PaaS software can be housed on the premises, either hosted on the IaaS public cloud or in a private environment. The service automatically configures the infrastructure across the environments for a hybrid cloud environment.
Hybrid Cloud for Business
Many industries are moving toward hybrid cloud solutions. These tend to be the businesses that are already inclined to cloud-native, such as finance and media.
Hybrid cloud can be an effective solution for a business that requires high levels of security or unique physical demands. Choosing a hybrid cloud solution also offers cost benefits in the long term, since the IT departments can assert control over hardware selection and system design for the private components to tailor the resources to their needs.
The hybrid cloud also lets organizations leverage public cloud capabilities without risking their sensitive or privileged data to a third-party data center. This not only provides flexibility in computing tasks, but also keeps the vital data within the business’s own security protocols.