Public, Private, and Hybrid Cloud: Understanding the Key Differences

1. Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid Cloud: Which One is Right for Your Business?

2. Table of contents Public vs Private vs Hybrid Cloud: At a Glance What Is Public, Private, and Hybrid Cloud? What is Public Cloud? When to use Public Cloud? Advantages of Public Cloud Disadvantages of Public Cloud/Potential Challenges of Public Clouds What is Private Cloud? When to use Private Cloud? Advantages of Private Cloud Disadvantages of Private Cloud: What is a Hybrid Cloud? When to Use the Hybrid Cloud? Advantages of Hybrid Cloud Drawbacks of Hybrid Cloud Conclusion

3. As cloud computing becomes increasingly prevalent, understanding the various cloud deployment models—public, private, and hybrid—is crucial. Each model offers distinct advantages and challenges, making it essential to choose the one that best fits your specific needs. Additionally, familiarizing yourself with different service models like IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS can further aid in making an informed decision. Moreover, businesses leveraging cloud automation testing can ensure seamless performance, security, and scalability across different cloud environments. Automating tests in cloud-based infrastructures enhances efficiency and reduces operational overhead, making cloud adoption even more beneficial. This blog will explore the similarities and differences between public, private, and hybrid clouds, helping you determine which one is best suited for your organization. Public vs Private vs Hybrid Cloud: At a Glance Let’s take a quick look at the pros and cons of public, private, and hybrid clouds. Don’t fret if you’re still confused about cloud types, and any of the above made no sense to you.

4. What Is Public, Private, and Hybrid Cloud? Aspect Public Cloud Private Cloud Hybrid Cloud Third-party providers (e.g., Owned by a single Combination of both public Ownership AWS, Google Cloud and organization and private Azure) Resource Multi-tenant environment, Single-tenant, Mix of shared (public) and Sharing shared resources dedicated resources dedicated (private) resources Flexible scaling, leveraging Highly scalable, quick Limited by in-house Scalability both public and private adjustments infrastructure resources High control, Managed by provider, Sensitive data in private; Security customizable standardized public for scalability security Higher upfront and Cost optimization possible, Cost Pay-as-you-go, variable maintenance costs but complex management

5. Requires integration and Managed by the Management orchestration between Managed by provider organization environments Customizable to Balances control and Flexibility Wide range of services and specific needs flexibility global reach Ideal for standard, Best for sensitive, Suitable for diverse needs, Use Case non-sensitive workloads critical applications optimizing cost and security What is Public Cloud? The public cloud service is the most common cloud deployment model. A third-party service provider handles the entire infrastructure, i.e., hardware, software, security, resources, management, etc. Amazon Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2), Blue Cloud by IBM, Google App Engine, and Azure services by Windows are well-known examples of public cloud computing models. The public cloud works on PAY-AS-GO-MODEL. Users only pay for what they use, which helps scale up and down. The organization can be free of the worry of managing a hard-core data center. The resources like hardware, software, and network devices over the public cloud are shared with different

6. organizations. Each organization uses these services as a tenant using a web browser. When to use Public Cloud? The public cloud is used under the following circumstances: 1. Data security and management are not a significant concern for the enterprise – Some information is not essential to safeguard, and such data management can be accomplished using the public cloud. 2. For development and testing – Every IT and software industry develops or works on software, and organizations require cloud support during development and testing. 3. To save non-critical data from websites and applications – Data such as product photos, prices, information, services provided, and so on are not critical and can be made public; thus, public clouds may be used to save this type of data. 4. Operating CRM software for customer and prospect management – CRM organizations like Salesforce and Atlassian are already utilizing the public cloud to manage customers and prospects. 5. Organizational email archiving – Large corporations have used cloud-based email archival solutions to archive old emails for years. Because of the ease of usage, every other business will likely migrate to the public cloud for email archival.

7. Advantages of Public Cloud Exclusive environments: Users share the same hardware, storage, and network devices with other organizations called muti-tenancy. Service providers partition the environment and redistribute it to multiple tenants. All the users have the impression of having an exclusive environment to meet their requirements. Custom security: Third-party service providers provide and handle security in the public cloud. With technological advancement, public clouds have become more secure and widely used by users for storing non-critical data. Scalability without tradeoffs: Scalability is easily accomplished in the public cloud whenever the organization’s resource requirements change. Automatic scaling is also an option, so users don’t have to worry about it when they need it by setting threshold limits. Servers can be added as needed and removed when no longer required. Efficient performance: The team is no longer concerned with scaling and managing resources; more time and effort can be devoted to developing business and software. The emphasis shifts to innovation and research. The public cloud enables enterprises to perform more efficiently. Flexibility: In the public cloud, flexibility refers to the technical capability to dynamically adjust resources to meet varying workloads and performance requirements. This includes the ability to scale resources up or down rapidly based on demand without requiring physical changes to infrastructure. This

8. Disadvantages of Public Cloud/Potential Challenges of Public Clouds While the public cloud has many benefits, it also has some drawbacks. Take a look at these: A poor fit for sensitive and confidential workloads: Multiple tenants share the public cloud’s resources. Your data’s security is never guaranteed. You may be unaware that your information is stored on the same machine as someone else’s. As a result, public clouds are not yet considered secure for stashing and operating sensitive data such as government records, financial data, and so on. High expense: You should be aware that providers charge differently for each service they provide when using a public cloud. Although data storage facility fees are low, each transaction made to operate on your data is quite expensive. Furthermore, once a certain threshold is reached, the scaling charges become prohibitively costly. Limited infrastructure visibility and control: The cloud user has no control over the configuration of the cloud’s hardware, software, servers, and other resources. The only connection between the user and the cloud is via high bandwidth. Furthermore, because the service provider manages everything, the user has limited access to the infrastructure.

9. What is Private Cloud? A private cloud is exclusive to a single company. Only one organization or business uses private cloud resources. In contrast to public cloud resources, private cloud resources are not shared by multiple tenants. Every piece of hardware, infrastructure, and software is solely dedicated to one organization. For example, a private cloud can be physically located in your organization’s on-site data center or hosted by a third-party service provider. It is simple to tailor hardware and software to your organization’s specific needs. This is because your company owns everything, including the hardware and software. As a result, you have complete control and can change anything to your liking. Private clouds are commonly used for business-critical operations by government agencies, financial institutions, and other media to large-sized organizations that want complete control over their cloud environment. Furthermore, private clouds provide greater security and privacy by utilizing company firewalls and internal hosting. In addition, it ensures that operations and confidential data are not available to third-party providers. When to use Private Cloud? The private cloud can be used for the following requirements:

10. 1. Operating on highly critical data: Organizations that work with highly sensitive and confidential data should use a private cloud service because it is highly secure. 2. Strong control: A private cloud is a good option for users who want high security and complete control over their cloud resources. 3. Good finances: Enterprises with a massive budget who want to achieve high-performance goals should consider investing in a private cloud. 4. Government agencies and other regulated organizations: Government agencies typically prefer the private cloud because they deal with highly sensitive data. 5. Latency: To avoid connectivity issues with the vendor, users should choose a private cloud in locations where good network latency is a major issue. Advantages of Private Cloud Exclusive, dedicated environments: The hardware, software, networks, and other resources are solely dedicated to only one organization in a private cloud. Custom Security: A private cloud provides the most control over security parameters because security is handled on-premise or outsourced to a managed security provider. A private cloud’s security tools include API-enabled provisioning, additional layers of automation, higher levels of authentication, etc.

11. Scalability without tradeoffs: Scalability is straightforward in the private cloud. It is scalable without jeopardizing the cloud’s security or performance. Efficient performance: Private clouds are typically deployed within the firewall of an organization’s intranet, ensuring efficiency and high performance. Flexibility to respond to changing needs: Private cloud is very flexible in responding to evolving needs. It is adaptable as you modify the infrastructure to meet the organization’s changing business and IT requirements. More control: A private cloud is owned by a single organization with complete control over its components. Organizations can customize it as per business requirements. Disadvantages of Private Cloud Like a public cloud, private clouds have their drawbacks: Limited mobile access: Because of all the hardware components, it is difficult to move a private cloud once it has been established. As a result, mobile access to the cloud is restricted to ensure high security and avoid hardware failure outside of the corporate network. High CAPEX and overhead/More expensive than public clouds: In the case of on-premise infrastructure, the initial hardware capital investment is very high, which makes it costlier than public clouds. You will need to employ people to install and maintain the cloud.

12. Scalability limitations: On-premise cloud infrastructure has a hardware installation limit, and more scalability means more space and hardware investment. Scaling comes at a high cost. What is a Hybrid Cloud? A hybrid cloud is a combination of both public and private clouds. We can use a private cloud for sensitive and business-critical operations like financial reporting and a public cloud for high-volume, low-security needs like web-based email. Cloud bursting is a concept used in hybrid clouds. Assume you have a service or an application. To begin, it is hosted and operated in your private cloud. The application will continue to run in the cloud until there is an increase in demand. When demand spikes, burst through to the public cloud to take advantage of the additional computing resources provided by the public cloud, and when demand drops, scale down to your private cloud. At a reasonable cost, it provides both security and scalability. Advantages of Hybrid Cloud Let’s discuss some of the benefits of hybrid cloud- Policy-driven option: Hybrid cloud environments are flexible and policy-driven, allowing different workloads to be performed while ensuring security, performance, and scalability at an affordable price.

13. Scale with security: With public clouds, you get to scale with a few clicks, but it still carries the risk of security. With a private cloud, you can scale, but the CAPEX is very high. However, a hybrid cloud lets you scale with the public cloud at an affordable rate with the security of the private cloud. High Reliability: High reliability is enabled by distributing workloads across multiple cloud environments. Data is securely stored and geographically replicated in private and public clouds. Cost control: In a Hybrid environment, the private cloud is used for more sophisticated and sensitive workloads, while the public cloud is used for not-so-critical work. Because the public cloud is less expensive than the private cloud, it compensates for the higher cost. Flexibility (take advantage of additional resources in the public cloud): Because it allows users to choose which data, applications, or services are kept behind corporate firewalls, the hybrid cloud is far more flexible than other cloud models. Increased flexibility improves internal efficiency, lowers costs, and increases the agility required to build future digital evolution. Control on Sensitive Assets: Working on both clouds simultaneously is greatly simplified with a hybrid cloud. As a result, you can always keep your sensitive data on a private cloud network, which gives you more control over your critical workloads. Ease of Transition: Managing workload across multiple cloud platforms may appear to be a difficult task. However, in a hybrid cloud, switching from private to public or vice versa is simple. Over 83 percent of businesses chose the hybrid cloud as the best operating cloud model due to the ease of transition

14. from other cloud models, security, and flexibility. It is expected to grow at a tremendous rate in the coming years. Resource optimization: In a hybrid model, private and public cloud resources are optimally utilized. When compliance, workload performance, and cost are appropriately and consistently diversified against the best-fit infrastructure in real-time, efficiency is achieved. Drawbacks of Hybrid Cloud In this section, you will learn about some disadvantages of hybrid cloud computing. Elevated cost – Frequent transitions from private to public and vice versa, resulting in unnecessary expenditure and time and resource waste. Operating, sustaining, and optimizing a hybrid cloud’s on-premises segment is expensive, especially for smaller organizations. Infrastructure complexity – To maximize the benefits of a hybrid cloud, its public and private elements must be tightly linked and orchestrated. Management, incorporation, and security become more complicated as the number of clouds grows, mainly when they are sourced from different providers.

15. Conclusion Public, private, and hybrid clouds each offer unique benefits and challenges. The public cloud is widely adopted for its scalability and cost-effectiveness, making it ideal for handling general data and workloads. In contrast, the private cloud provides dedicated resources and enhanced security, suitable for managing sensitive and critical data. The hybrid cloud combines elements of both, offering flexibility, security, and scalability to meet diverse business needs. Choosing the right cloud model depends on your specific requirements, including security, scalability, and budget considerations. Understanding the shared responsibility model in cloud computing is crucial, as it clarifies the division of responsibilities between you and your cloud service provider (CSP), ensuring efficient and secure cloud operations. Source: For more details, readers may refer to TestGrid.