Many IT people don’t know that, when we are talking about the cloud, there are different types of cloud options. You need to become familiar with the various types of cloud environments so that you can choose the best option for your organization.
Public Cloud
Microsoft describes the public cloud as
. . . computing services offered by third- party providers over the public Internet, making them available to anyone who wants to use or purchase them. They may be free or sold on- demand, allowing customers to pay only per usage for the CPU cycles, storage, or bandwidth they consume.
Source: https://azure.microsoft.com/en- us/resources/ cloud- computing- dictionary/what- is- a- public- cloud
Public clouds are the most common way to deploy cloud resources. An example of a public cloud is Microsoft Azure. Public clouds can save you from the costs associated with having to buy, manage, and maintain onsite hardware and application resources. Public clouds have the following advantages:
High Reliability To ensure against failures, a wide array of servers is available.
Lower Costs There is no need to purchase any hardware or software. You have to pay only for the services you use.
Near- Unlimited Scalability To meet your corporate needs, on- demand resources are available.
No Maintenance You will have no associated maintenance costs. Your service provider handles all the maintenance needed.
Private Cloud
Microsoft describes the private cloud as “computing services offered either over the Internet or a private internal network and only to select users instead of the general
public” (https://azure.microsoft.com/en- gb/resources/cloud- computing- dictionary/what- is- a- private- cloud). A private cloud can also be called an internal or corporate cloud. A private cloud can be located physically at your company’s onsite datacenter, or it can be hosted by a third- party service provider.
Cloud services can be delivered in a private cloud in two models. One of these models is known as infrastructure- as- a- service (IaaS). IaaS allows you to use infrastructure resources such as compute, network, and storage as a service. The other model is platform-a s- a- service (PaaS), which lets you deliver a wide range of applications. Private clouds can also be merged with public clouds to create what is known as a hybrid cloud (see the following section). Private clouds have the following advantages:
Flexibility You can customize the cloud environment to meet your corporate requirements.
High Scalability Private clouds offer scalability and efficiency.
Improved Security Since resources are not shared with others, private clouds provide a higher level of control and security.
Hybrid- Based Networks
A hybrid cloud combines both a private cloud and a public cloud and allows data and applications to be shared between them. This ability provides additional deployment options and more flexibility. Hybrid clouds have the following advantages:
Cost Effective Hybrid clouds are on a pay- as- you- go model. You are renting the hardware and paying for the resources that you’ve used.
Current The cloud providers maintain all the computer hardware and software.
Elasticity Depending on demand or workload, you can add or remove resources automatically to meet your needs. You may notice that there are times when you use more resources; this option will allow you to shift those resources depending on the demand.
Global The cloud providers have datacenters located all over the world to implement performance, redundancy, and compliance requirements.
Low Latency Low latency is the capability of a computing system or network to provide responses with the least delay. A cloud service that helps users quickly access an Internet Azure resource provides for faster and more reliable access.
Reliable The cloud providers provide the backup, disaster recovery, and replication services. The service level agreement (SLA) that you chose for your Azure subscription will determine the amount of acceptable downtime from Microsoft.
Scalable Depending on demand or workload, you can increase or decrease the resources and services used.
Secure The cloud providers provide better security by implementing a broad set of policies, technologies, controls, and expert technical skills.