Cloud computing has changed the way businesses are conducted. The scenario of becoming aware and identifying bugs in the in-house server is long gone, thanks to cloud computing. Cloud is a powerhouse that not only runs efficiently but is also cost-effective, both in the short and long term.
With passing years, cloud computing has diversified into different types, each with its set of pros and challenges. In this article, we will talk about the different types of cloud computing in detail.
Cloud Computing Characteristics
Resource pooling
The ability to share the resources of a cloud server with other parties is called resource pooling. It allows for affordable rental of the servers for the startups.
Easy Maintenance
Compared to the in-premises servers, maintenance of the cloud is easier, has lower downtime and is cost-effective in both short and long term.
Dynamic Scalability
Adding and eliminating resources such as Ram, HDD and other features such as CDN are easier to scale up and down depending on the requirement.
Rapid Elasticity
Some businesses have major fluctuating demand at certain times of the year. For e.g. a popular website dealing majorly with Christmas gifts and wishes will experience an enormous traffic compared to the rest of months. Due to Rapid Elasticity, significant resources can be added on the cloud server in order to handle the peak traffic.
Economical
Cloud Computing is very much economical as they eliminate the need of a dedicated IT department. The administration and monitoring fees for the cloud is affordable in most cases.
Types of Cloud Computing
Private clouds
Both on-site and off-site, private clouds provide enhanced control of the server’s environment. Often used by the corporates, they guarantee a stringent set of security measures that are tightened along with the organization’s own firewall set up.
Since a single business entity controls the resources, therefore extensive configuration can be done as per the needs of the businesses which can be a lot of hassle if done with public cloud.
Advantages and challenges of private Cloud Computing
One of the major advantages of the private cloud is elasticity, and ease of service delivery. More often than not, private clouds are the only way of achieving regulatory compliance. Businesses and governments often choose private clouds if they deal with confidential data such as intellectual property, upcoming enterprise updates, codes, financial data, medical records, etc.
Private clouds are often embedded with automation which allows it to upgrade to more processing and power in order to handle the sudden spike in traffic and other resource intensive activities.
Top-notch performance is the hallmark of a private cloud as the resources are not shared with any other user.
The disadvantage of private cloud is the higher cost as it works on a single-tenant environment model. The isolated-access does ensure security but requires heavy upfront cost in the form of hardware, software and the security management team.
Public clouds
Public cloud is a multi-tenant environment where the resources are compartmentalized for various tenants. The on-demand computing services are provided to multiple entities by the off-site provider through the internet. The service provider predefined configuration environment on its behalf and provides access on a subscription basis or pay-per-use pricing.
Advantages and challenges of Public Cloud Computing
The ease of adding resources to match up the expected and unexpected surge of traffic is more than in the private cloud server.
Their low-cost entry barrier makes them the perfect solution for starters or for beta testing the services.
Another major advantage of the Public cloud is the ease in resolving technical glitches as the service provider is well-versed with the operations, configurations, technical pitfalls and other nitty-gritty stuff and therefore can effectively resolve the unexpected down time.
Public cloud providers often keep up with the latest hardware and softwares which would otherwise be expensive and tiresome for the end-user to set up on their own.
When it comes to disadvantages, the concerning issue is the security of data. In order to provide economical services, public clouds provide a one-size-fits-all standard solution. If a business entity has a unique need, it may not be implemented on a public cloud. Plus too much extensive usage of the resources can hamper the performance of the other parties.
Hybrid Clouds
The merger of private and public clouds allows for hybrid cloud which combines the best and minimizes the challenges of both thereby allowing business to obtain a balanced route of cost-effectiveness, computational power, scalability and security for their data and operations.
Advantages and challenges of Hybrid Cloud Computing
Hybrid clouds are less expensive than the traditional private clouds and offer a greater deal of control of resources than the public clouds.
Plus, the hybrid clouds are designed to match up the unexpected load spike without requiring any manual intervention in most cases. The cost of those resources is counted on a pro-rata basis.
The major challenge with Hybrid cloud is the cost of hardware and softwares to implement a customized configuration and operations. Another challenging aspect is the lack of holistic view of the overall cloud management and to keep track of multiple vendors and manage them between the computing environments.
Multi Clouds
When a single or multiple business entity uses two or more types of clouds for accomplishing an outcome, then multiple clouds are used. Multi-cloud arrangement can be of private, public and hybrid clouds with heterogeneous environment as per need.
Advantages and challenges of Multi Cloud Computing
Mult-clouds allows for a smarter investment strategy for mid-market and enterprise-level organizations. Having the operations spread apart in multiple clouds gives the flexibility to avoid vendor lock-in.
Rarely though, but if a cloud faces irreparable damage or a significant downtime from a failed disk, power outage or natural disaster, then business continuity is assured from the other cloud server. Needless to say, Multi-cloud computing offers a greater level of reliability.
Orchestrating the multi-cloud operations requires significant expertise. Data encryption and decryption in a consistent way is a challenging aspect in a multi-cloud environment. Therefore, clear accountability is crucial for problem resolving.
Conclusion
Cloud computing facilitates more collaboration and faster results as compared to traditional methods. The reduction in IT expenditure and effectiveness in handling the downtime makes it imperative for a business to conduct business through cloud computing. They clearly are the future of connectivity.
