5 Types Of Cloud Deployment Models: Know Their Pros & Cons
The cloud computing revolution has taken the business world by storm. Cloud computing technology allows organizations to store and manage data over remote servers on the internet. Unlike limited local server storage with space constraints and maintenance requirements, cloud computing comes with numerous benefits, like increased reliability, flexibility, scalability, security, and more.
There are five different types of cloud deployment models: public cloud, community cloud, multi-cloud, hybrid cloud, and private cloud. Each one serves a different purpose from the other and comes with its own strengths and weaknesses.
Five Types Of Cloud Deployment Models
The type of cloud computing models you need will depend on your business’s needs.
Public Cloud
Public cloud computing infrastructure means that you don’t own computing resources, like storage and servers. Instead, a third-party cloud service provider owns these resources and lends them out via pay-as-you-go. Multiple organizations may share space in the public cloud.
The low cost and zero maintenance model of public clouds make them ideal for budget-minded organizations looking to avoid upkeep and high costs. There are no setup costs with public clouds nor any need for physical hardware. The service provider handles all maintenance, so this is a relatively hands-off cloud option.
Public clouds have less security and customizability compared to infrastructure like onsite service or private cloud computing. Organizations that value high security should not invest in public clouds.
Scalability is king for public cloud services, as users can scale their computing resources up or down based on their needs. This benefits businesses, as they can quickly reorganize their computing resources without any of the costly adjustments that come with physical hardware.
Private Cloud
Private cloud deployment is not freely available online to the public. Instead, only one organization owns and maintains a private cloud. Because of this, private cloud computing offers security and control well beyond public clouds.
Private cloud security works by only allowing authorized staff access to sensitive information. This allows organizations to compartmentalize their resources for better control.
Private clouds are great for organizations that need high levels of control over their service. Private clouds also offer support for legacy systems that normally would not be accessible through public clouds. Organizations also get unlimited customization with private clouds, making them ideal for specific needs and goals.
Most organizations host their private clouds onsite, usually within their own data center. In some cases, a third party hosts a private cloud, which is called a hosted private cloud.
Hybrid Cloud
A hybrid cloud deployment is a combination of two or more cloud services. The most common hybrid combination is public and private. This service offers some benefits of both private and public deployments while trying to minimize the disadvantages of either.
One benefit of hybrid clouds is having both the security of a private cloud and the low costs of a public one. Hybrid clouds tend to be more flexible than public and private, offering organizations control and personalization.
The downsides are that hybrid clouds are more difficult to manage than separate public and private clouds. Organizations looking to simplify and reduce management may want to avoid a hybrid deployment. Hybrid clouds have slow data transmission, as they get the latency of public clouds.
Hybrid models are best for organizations that can handle the increased management requirements and slower speeds and want to store both low-security data or apps in the public cloud and high-security data in the private cloud.
Multi-cloud
Multi-cloud is similar to hybrid cloud models but more complicated. Multi-clouds use several public clouds from more than one cloud service provider. This leads to better reliability over other services, though it’s not completely failsafe.
Multi-cloud setups are ideal for organizations looking for high flexibility, low latency, and high service availability. Multi-clouds allow you to pick and choose the features you like from individual service providers to create a tailor-made suite optimized for your workflow. They also offer more widespread cloud regions for faster data transmission to different regions.
The multi-cloud setup might not be a good match for organizations looking for simple, low-maintenance solutions. More infrastructure complexity also means a higher risk of security issues.
Community Cloud
Community clouds exist in between public and private clouds, with some key differences. These are cloud services run by a community of organizations working on the same infrastructure or workflow. Think of them like a gated neighborhood.
The advantages of a community cloud include easy collaboration and excellent security. Community clouds are best for organizations working together and sharing data with each other internally. Community clouds have low costs because several companies share them.
A few downsides of community cloud computing include very little customization and scalability. Because this model is communally shared, customization affects everyone, meaning you cannot personalize individually. Resources are shared communally as well, which means that you cannot scale resources as easily as you can in a public cloud deployment model.
Deciding What Type Of Cloud Deployment Model Is Right for You
To choose the right type of cloud for your business needs, follow these steps:
- Determine your goals. Personal and business goals will differ from each other and have different needs for data management.
- Consider your budget. Some services are more cost-effective than others, so weigh the benefits and drawbacks of each to determine which is worth the money.
- Decide the level of support from your cloud service provider you want. Some types of cloud deployment models and service providers offer more support than others.
- Catalog your existing infrastructure. Make sure that the type of cloud computing you choose integrates well into your pre-existing workflow and systems.
Contact Us For Your Cloud Computing Needs
The experts at Renascence IT Consulting offer a suite of cloud computing solutions for organizations and commercial enterprises looking to expand their data management needs.
In the modern era, the benefits of cloud computing are too hard to ignore. Successful businesses take advantage of types of cloud deployment models to maximize workflow and data management across infrastructures. If you want to migrate your IT infrastructure or data to the cloud, contact us today at (510) 552-6896 to schedule a consultation!