Hybrid cloud is a cloud computing service model that provides cloud computing solutions by combining different cloud services. In simple terms, hybrid cloud is a combination of private cloud and public cloud. Although it may seem complex, many companies have already begun implementing hybrid cloud. Despite its complexity, hybrid cloud offers flexibility while maintaining full control and management of data and applications with the desired offerings. However, if you are considering implementing hybrid cloud, consider the following 5 factors before deciding to transition to hybrid cloud. The considerations below are quoted from an article written by Nick Ismail.

1. Master What You Are Managing

First, before deciding to switch to a hybrid cloud, you must first understand and master what you are managing, especially for your IT team. For example, your IT team must understand the workload profile that will run on the public and private clouds. Not only that, but you also need to understand what is happening with the applications, such as how they interact with users, handle the company network, manage data, and security and performance patterns. According to Nick, ask questions like the ones below for a good approach:

• Where are the workloads running? Are they on the public cloud, private cloud, or both?

• What does each workload do for your business, and how important is it to your business?

• Who owns the workloads in your organization, and who should be contacted first if there is an issue?

2. Understand Governance and Security

Second, it’s not enough to just understand what is being managed; you must also understand governance and security. This is because both of these are requirements that may be supported by service level agreements with customers or from the company’s senior management team. To meet these requirements, the IT team must proactively manage security. This is because the core of hybrid cloud management is how IT handles issues such as policy management, security, and performance.

3. Creating a “single pane of glass” view

Third, as explained in the opening paragraph, a hybrid cloud combines private and public clouds. Both have their own APIs and resources, so managing a hybrid cloud is akin to managing complexity. Therefore, it is crucial to build a “single pane of glass” view. What is a “single pane of glass”? According to an article written by Rouse, a “single pane of glass” is a management console that presents data from various sources in an integrated view. The “glass,” in this context, refers to a computer monitor or mobile device screen. This is highly useful for saving administrative resources and time.

4. Understand Your SLA

Fourth, the next thing you should consider is the SLA (Service Level Agreement). The purpose of an SLA is to establish a contract between the end user and the cloud provider to determine the minimum service level. It not only concerns the baseline performance for the end user but also about delivering performance that meets specific expectations.

5. Understand the Available Tools

Last but not least, your IT team must first understand the available tools. Don’t just focus on a small number of management tools, but your IT team must also ensure that the tools are sufficient to cover areas such as cloud management platforms, API management, performance, DevOps, security, networking, resources, platform management, and so on. To begin building the appropriate infrastructure, your IT team can comprehensively review how data is collected, analyzed, stored, and retrieved.

References:

https://aws.amazon.com/what-is/hybrid-cloud/

https://www.bmc.com/blogs/hybrid-it-vs-hybrid-cloud/

https://www.information-age.com/5-essentials-managing-hybrid-cloud-environment-123469354/

https://searchconvergedinfrastructure.techtarget.com/definition/single-pane-of-glass