Cloud server hosting brings a lot to the table when you’re looking at how to optimise your network architecture–instant scale and flexibility being the most obvious benefits–but what are the key differences when considering private cloud vs. public cloud?
If you’re looking to migrate to cloud server hosting, but aren’t quite sure what to go for, then this blog will help you assess your options.
First, let’s look at what private cloud hosting and the public cloud is before jumping into the pros and cons of both.
A multi-tenant hosting environment, offering a range of computing resources (servers, storage, network etc.), operated by a third-party cloud server hosting provider. These resources are shared with other cloud tenants and they’re accessible over the public internet. If you want an internet bypass, you can also connect directly via dedicated layer 2/3 connections.
Instant access means you can scale quickly and you’ll only pay for what you reserve (compute, storage and bandwidth), as part of a cloud-based model.
Conversely, private cloud hosting is single tenancy and provides cloud-based services that are hosted on your own dedicated servers. This adds another layer of isolation as the servers are yours alone and no one else can access them.
To fully assess private cloud vs. public cloud however, we first need to understand server virtualization.
Within your computing ‘stack’ the hosting is made up of hardware resources (your server chassis, RAM, disks, CPU etc.), an operating system (OS) and applications.
Your stack has a virtualization layer called a hypervisor on top of the hardware layer. This enables you to divide a physical server into multiple unique and isolated virtual machines (VMs), which in turn have their own OSs and applications that run independently of each other.
VMs are no different from any other physical computer. They have a CPU, disk storage, memory and can connect to the internet.
The difference being, they exist only as code, not as tangible devices, and run programs and applications using software instead of a physical computer.
They’re software-defined computers that run as ‘guest’ machines on a physical ‘host’ machine; independent of other VMs and the physical host.
Using a hypervisor, you can run different OSs on different VMs at the same time. For example a virtual MacOS VM can run on a physical PC; A Linux VM, on a Windows OS; or an earlier version of Windows on a more current Windows OS.
VMs are extremely portable owing to their independence. You can easily move a VM to another hypervisor on another physical host, making VMs very fault tolerant during maintenance or unexpected downtime.
Servers.com offers two types of self-service private cloud hosting options.
Pros of public cloud:
Cloud-scalability: Public cloud server hosting allows for huge global scalability, with very few limitations.
Lower costs (for lower usage): Pay-as-you-go models, without needing to purchase hardware or software, make this a very cost effective cloud server hosting option.
Less maintenance: Cloud server hosting providers will take care of any maintenance. Since you won’t be investing in data centers and servers, you’ll have less to manage and maintain.
Faster, flexible resources: Purchase what you need, when you need it, and tear it down just as fast.
Reliability: A large network of servers provides more fault tolerance.
Cons of public cloud:
Shared resources: Since the underlying infrastructure isn’t yours, you’re at the mercy of what your neighbors are doing.
Not always cost effective: The overhead of running complex, underutilized environments comes at a cost, with public cloud offerings commonly two-to-five times the price of the same resources with bare-metal (albeit bare-metal usually comes with monthly minimum contracts).
Not for every business or workload: Given it’s a shared environment, with more expensive resource costs than bare-metal, it’s really only appropriate for smaller businesses, or for non-critical applications and workloads.
Pros of private cloud hosting:
Single tenancy: Your server resources are yours alone, so you won’t suffer from ‘noisy neighbors’.
Cost-efficient: For large companies, private cloud hosting is more cost-efficient than public cloud because the solution is designed specifically for their needs.
Less downtime: Because private cloud hosting is single-tenancy, your solution is tailored to your needs, so you can plan for fault tolerance within your infrastructure. And because VMs are so portable, they can be easily moved to another physical host in the event a server goes down unexpectedly.
Scalability: Scaling your apps is particularly easy with private cloud server hosting, as you can distribute your workload across multiple VMs by adding more physical or virtual servers to your infrastructure as you need to.
Control and security: Since VMs use a guest operating system, you can ‘sandbox’ suspicious apps, and safely study computer viruses by isolating them in a VM, to protect your physical host.
Cons of private cloud hosting:
Only makes sense at scale: Private cloud hosting is more expensive for businesses at a small size, since you have to buy or rent entire pieces of hardware. It will likely save you significantly over public cloud in the long term however, as you can size your solution to meet your needs.
Less ‘on-demand’ scale: While most private cloud hosting providers will build in instantaneous provisioning, it won’t be as elastic as public cloud.
The most important thing in the battle of public cloud vs. private cloud, is that with private cloud hosting the underlying server infrastructure is dedicated to you. This gives you better control over performance and security, and economies of scale past a certain point, but you’ll also sacrifice some ease of management.
It really comes down to what your business and network needs, for example:
What volume of data transfer and traffic do you experience?
What sort of scale will you see in the near-future?
Do you need instant global scalability, but infrequently?
Could you use public cloud for less critical data and apps?
Do you have the team to manage private cloud architecture?
What levels of control and security are non-negotiable?
This will help you assess private cloud vs. public cloud. In the end, many businesses decide that a hybrid of both can work brilliantly if used in the right ways and for the right workloads.
Alternatively, if you like the added security of a private cloud, but you’re happy to share infrastructure with other tenants, then a virtual private cloud could be another option for you.
Contact our team today to discuss our dedicated private cloud hosting options.
