06-28-21 | Blog Post
72 percent of enterprises described their cloud strategy as “hybrid first,” while the hybrid cloud infrastructure market is expected to reach $128 billion by 2025. However, successful hybrid cloud computing is all about optimization — for performance, security and cost. Below are five ways you can optimize your hybrid cloud environment for maximum benefits and minimal cost.
Tip 1: Implement strong cloud governance policies
Because hybrid cloud architecture involves a mixture of public cloud, private cloud servers and on-prem workloads, that comes with more complexity and consideration for who is accessing your data, how, why and when. Implementing a strong cloud governance policy that is the model of consistency and predictability can help you better optimize your workloads and minimize cost. For example, you may want to consider defining how permissions to a new resource are determined, so that admins know exactly how to configure a workload no matter its location.
Tip 2: Don’t run towards cloud-native tools
This might seem counter-intuitive since it seems like everyone is yapping on about adopting a cloud-native architecture, but the truth is, it’s not a good fit for a hybrid cloud model. Hyperscale vendors offer plenty of tools that can help you monitor and manage your hyperscale workloads, but they just don’t play well with other private clouds, and certainly not with on-prem systems. You’ll want to invest in tools that are broadly compatible with a variety of hosted environments instead to make the most of your hybrid cloud environment.
Tip 3: Watch your data ingress and egress transfers
Data moving in and out of environments can quickly rack up an expensive bill, especially if it’s moving in and out of the public cloud. If you’ve got a lot of data constantly moving between cloud (particularly public cloud) and on-prem, it’s time to rethink your configuration to keep movement within the same components (on-prem to on-prem, for example) as much as possible.
In addition, data that’s moving in and out of different environments via the internet can be cumbersome and slow, negatively impacting performance. The more you can do to keep workloads and data from wandering outside their respective boxes, the better optimized your hybrid cloud will be, and you’ll see a higher performance as a result.
Tip 4: Simplify management through abstraction
Sometimes, all those layers and complexity that comes with a hybrid cloud becomes a little overwhelming to manage. Investing in tools that can abstract (or unite) the underlying infrastructure into a single interface can make things much easier on you and your team. There are several tools currently on the market that can help simplify deployments across multiple cloud APIs or standardize deployment processes across workloads. Even a tool like Kubernetes can help unify disparate cloud components by creating a deployment that runs across the entire environment. That said, many of these tools are still in their infancy and setting them up correctly does require time and effort, so you’ll need to factor that in if you decide to adopt one.
Tip 5: Be flexible
Hybrid cloud is all about flexibility, so it logically follows that you shouldn’t treat your environment as if it’s the last one you’ll ever create. As your organization’s needs evolve and business grows, you may need to reconfigure your environment to make the most of these changes. Workloads that were once stored in a virtual private cloud may need to move to on-prem, or perhaps you’re ready to move those old legacy apps to the cloud for better performance. Whatever the case, you’ll want to stay nimble and flexible — just like your environment.
Hybrid cloud provides a great compromise for organizations looking to experiment with public cloud, or who need to keep certain legacy systems on-premise while adopting a cloud-first approach for new applications. By following the above best practices, you’ll be well on your way to successfully managing your hybrid cloud environment.
If you’re looking to experiment with hybrid cloud and are researching private cloud services, Otava can help. We offer a complete suite of private cloud solutions with flexible management options so you can fit the right workload to the right cloud. Contact us today to get started!
Additional Resources
Situations that Demand a Hybrid Cloud Architecture
