Organizations are finding that the most effective way to use public cloud resources is by employing a hybrid cloud model. Team productivity and efficiency can be impacted by the challenges of supporting systems in multiple locations. Many of IDERA’s database and IT management tools are designed to alleviate these challenges by providing support for cloud and on-premises systems from a unified interface.
Problems with the Public Cloud
Moving applications and systems to the cloud is a complicated task that demands more forethought than that expended by some organizations. In the rush to take advantage of the flexibility, scalability, and economic savings promised by public cloud providers, certain enterprises made bad choices regarding which systems to migrate.
- The same complexity involved in moving to the cloud is faced when repatriating systems back to on-premises data centers. Yet many organizations are finding the need to take back systems that have been migrated to public cloud providers. They are discovering that the public cloud does not serve their needs for a variety of reasons.
- Reevaluating bad migration choices is a big factor in why systems are being repatriated from the public cloud. Not all computing workloads make sense for cloud implementation and unfortunately, this fact may have come apparent after the initial move was made.
- Technical provisioning problems plague many organizations and influence their decision to bring systems back to on-premises facilities. It can be difficult to define the correct cloud configuration options to provide optimal performance.
- Choosing the wrong public cloud provider is another factor driving system repatriation. Not all providers offer the same services and the chosen vendor may not be able to adequately meet evolving business requirements.
- Application degradation is responsible for a large percentage of migrations away from the public cloud. If performance expectations are not met, any other benefits accrued from moving to the cloud can be irrelevant, forcing a move back to the data center.
- Unexpected and fluctuating cloud provider costs can also contribute to the decision to return to an on-premises solution. Shifting usage patterns can result in much larger bills than originally anticipated.
Hybrid Cloud Usage Scenarios
A hybrid cloud can be defined as an IT infrastructure that combines at least one public cloud and at least one private cloud. Combining the aspects and qualities of both can provide organizations with a better computing environment than one that focuses on a single type of solution. An on-premises data center qualifies as a private cloud in a hybrid cloud solution.
The hybrid cloud model can address multiple different situations that affect the type of IT infrastructure that best meets enterprise requirements. Following are some business scenarios that can benefit from a hybrid cloud implementation.
- Dynamic workloads with frequently changing capacity requirements can benefit from a hybrid cloud solution. More stable components can live on-premises with the public cloud providing the flexibility to address fluctuating capacity needs.
- The challenges of processing big data can be addressed using a hybrid cloud strategy. Enterprises can perform big data analytics with scalable cloud resources and store sensitive information on-premises where they have more control over its security.
- Businesses that need to separate the processing of personal information from less sensitive data can make use of a hybrid approach. They can opt for the security of on-premises infrastructure for sensitive data while using the public cloud for more routine computing needs.
- A hybrid cloud mindset enables organizations to enjoy the best features of on-premises data centers and public cloud providers. This type of approach offers the flexibility to more easily address the ever-changing computing needs of data-driven businesses.
Database Tools for Hybrid Cloud Environments
Hybrid cloud environments help address business requirements at the cost of additional IT management complexity. Database teams now have multiple environments that need to be monitored to assure they are meeting availability and performance expectations. The systems also need to be kept secure, especially when mission-critical applications or sensitive data assets are involved.
IDERA offers multiple software solutions that support both on-premises and cloud environments. The following three tools specifically address the challenges faced by database administrators (DBAs) tasked with managing hybrid SQL Server implementations.
SQL Diagnostic Manager for SQL Server
This comprehensive SQL Server monitoring application supports physical and virtual instances of the database platform whether in the cloud or an on-premises data center. The tool is also compatible with the managed SQL Server cloud database Azure SQL Database.
SQL Secure
Implementing strong security across the SQL Server environment is vitally important for all members of an IT organization. SQL Secure enables DBAs to report on and tighten the security of the SQL Server landscape both on-premises and in the cloud — including Azure SQL Database and Amazon RDS for SQL Server.
SQL Inventory Manager
Keeping track of enterprise SQL Server instances is important for several reasons including passing compliance and licensing audits. It’s a task that is complicated by the multiple server locations found in a hybrid solution. SQL Inventory Manager simplifies and automates the process of inventorying SQL Servers no matter where they are located — including Azure SQL Database and Amazon RDS for SQL Server.
Database teams using IDERA’s tools in hybrid environments will experience productivity gains by consolidating support tools and gaining familiarity with a consistent interface. A free 14-day trial is available for each of these valuable software tools.