Few enterprises make the jump to cloud completely. They migrate workloads over gradually, especially core applications that are complex and require planning and time to move to the cloud. Additionally, there will always be some workloads that will never move to the cloud – either because they are legacy systems that are cost prohibitive to move or just aren’t a good fit for cloud.
This means enterprises will always have a mix of physical and virtual assets – a “hybrid cloud” model – and will need to think about a number of things when they develop this hybrid cloud solution.
The cloud provider’s data center. If physical equipment is going to be deployed at/in the cloud provider’s data center it’s important to understand things like physical security, access rules, audit and certification capabilities, power and cooling capabilities, expandability and core networking operations.
Cloud application and network security. Understanding and having a clear plan for security between the different services (physical and virtual) is paramount. This includes examining things like how physical devices are protected and connected to the multi-tenant cloud platform. Additionally, it’s important to ensure that physical and virtual devices are connected in such a way that the customer’s traffic is secure and monitored for anomalies. Lastly the enterprise must know where the responsibilities of the customer stop and the provider start.
On-site support at the data center. If an enterprise implements a hybrid cloud solution within their cloud provider’s data center, they need to consider on-site management and support. Often, enterprises will manage assets (physical and virtual) themselves, but it’s helpful to know that the cloud provider can provide expert assistance should it be necessary.
As an increasing number of enterprises migrate workloads to the cloud – in essence building their own hybrid cloud solution – they need to consider things like the cloud provider’s data center, available support and application and network security. These are the keys to a seamless hybrid IT system that is flexible, scalable and secure.
