The cloud has changed the way IT and its tools are used by both businesses and individuals. In my book, Private, Hybrid and Public Cloud, we look at the implementation of a hybrid cloud. The last few months this trend has been proven right by for multiple cloud vendors. The consolidation of the sector and the technical and commercial war between the major players only accelerated the movement.
Many companies just don’t want to put their eggs in one basket, for strategy, security or just competition issues. Choosing a single provider is taking the risk of exposing yourself to its choices and putting an albatross around your neck will sometimes be difficult, if not impossible, to abandon.
The choice of a computer tool, like any other tool, in my opinion, should be made only according to criteria specific to each organization. The mistake not to make is the one, unfortunately I often hear, of the ease of integration with the same vendor/provider’s tools. This is the argument used by software vendors, such as Microsoft, to justify “bundles,” and lock the customer in a solution that is not always optimal and often suboptimal. What are the reasons you should consider multicloud? Here are four aspects that you can consider.
Security
Security itself is a vast and complex subject: access security, communications security, data storage security and so on. I invite you to go through the chapter 2 from my book, Private, Hybrid and Public Cloud, for an update on security and what needs to be considered.
As long as your hybrid cloud was just connecting your private cloud to a public cloud, the equation was relatively simple. Multicloud is no more complex in terms of technicalities, it becomes so in terms of systems and communication links to manage.
Security begins with consideration of implementing a cloud-based WAN, linking private and public clouds. It continues with the implementation of a single directory and a strategy of SSO (single sign-on). Then access strategies are put in place. Finally, audit and monitoring tools provide a comprehensive overview of all access and communications.
Data management
The GDPR has stepped in and the issues of access, storage and data security have become central. Sovereignty is also paramount, as the number of services tend to increase, without being fully aware of where the data is stored and processed.
Establishing a data life cycle and setting up a strategy are therefore crucial if you want to keep control of your own data and its flow in the cloud, especially when it comes to data privacy.
Location, latency and bandwidth
Storage in Dublin, processing in Charlotte, rendering in Singapore, with stops in London, Marseille, New York and Durban. Does that sound outlandish to you? Not if you don’t pay attention to the locations of the data centers and the communications between them. If, in principle, the solution works, the ramp-up can quickly become problematic and debugging a real headache.
Storage in Dublin, processing in Charlotte, rendering in Singapore, with stops in London, Marseille, New York and Durban. Does that sound outlandish to you? Not if you don’t pay attention to the locations of the data centers and the communications between them. If, in principle, the solution works, the ramp-up can quickly become problematic and debugging a real headache.
Beyond the pure data sovereignty, which is partially abandoned by going in the cloud, what matters is the speed of processing, seen by the user, and the simplicity of operation, seen by the administrator. The two rules that prevail are that of proximity (to the user) and that of simplicity (to the admin). Use clusters of data centers located in the same geographical area of the users you serve. Not that you can use services far away from time to time, but by keeping simplicity and proximity in mind, you avoid future migraines.
Current and Hidden Costs
With one cloud provider, the bill can become humongous, with several, a cost accelerator awaits you. Quite the opposite of what publishers and providers promises. Flexibility, elasticity and resilience have a cost. The legibility of these costs is not always guaranteed, and each provider establishes its own rules.
Even at the most granular level of the IaaS, the machine offerings differ, in PaaS and SaaS, serverless services are different and the management of DevOps becomes a puzzle from a billing point of view. Once again, simplicity and manageability are the key words. The advantage of virtually all providers is their ability to provide near-real-time resources and associated costs. This makes it possible to make a conscious decision on whether the solution deployed is economical or not.
It will therefore be necessary to put in place from the outset a cost monitoring solution by provider, in particular around data exchanges and communication channels. While it is difficult to estimate the volume of data that will flow between providers, it is simple to monitor it and be able to extrapolate its value. This will save you the nasty surprise of exponential costs. Out of small acorns large oak trees grow. Prices in cents quickly translate into thousands of dollars per week.
Conclusion
Multicloud is a fundamental trend in the IT of this early century. However, you should not succumb to the spoiled child’s symptoms in the toy store. These temples of consumer goods that have become public cloud marketplaces have become IT supermarkets. You shop easily and quickly, then you come out with a shopping cart whose amount quickly becomes uncontrollable.
If these clouds are essential, will continue to facilitate the life of IT services, while accelerating development and deployment, they must be put under a tidy scrutiny. Shopping, yes, reasonably! Without haste and by assessing connections, security, integration and future usages. So is the hybrid multicloud as a private cloud, add the distance!
Photo by Jelleke Vanooteghem, John Salvino, Mike Enerio, and Fabian Blank on Unsplash
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