To most of us, cloud computing is this calm place where our data stays secure and unbothered. However, the reality is that it’s way beyond peaceful and is pretty much more difficult for an organization that provides or depends on it, let alone its expenses.

The customer demand for infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is rapidly stepping up, since maintaining an on-premises IT infrastructure can be overwhelmingly costive and labor-inclusive. Not to mention how hard it is to find the top talent and experience it requires.

All that aside, you will first need to be knowledgeable enough about the cloud service solutions’ analyzing, evaluating, and designing. Therefore, you need to understand at least how the common types of cloud computing services work.

You can find below our beginner guides for the most 3 common types of cloud computing services.

• Software as a service (SaaS)
• Platform as a service (PaaS)
• Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

IaaS definition

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is one of the cloud computing services where users rent IT infrastructure through the internet.

The IaaS Infrastructure is hosted on the public cloud and private cloud instead of an on-premises data center.

The service provider is the one responsible for fully managing that infrastructure and delivering it to the customers.

IaaS Advantages

IaaS has many advantages that include but are not limited to:

Improved security:

The cloud service provider of your IaaS can grant you better applications and data security than your in-house one.

Swift apps delivery:

Get the new applications to your users faster with IaaS, as you can focus on the delivery of the app and let the provider set up and infrastructure and development for you.

Target the essence of your business:

Allow your team to prosper freely by focusing on the main thing, instead of the IT infrastructure.

Overall increase:

With the right agreement, your IaaS provider can troubleshoot any potential software/hardware problems for you, moving with what’s best to increase both your stability and reliability.

Best cost-effective improvements:

Get the required product’s infrastructure in no time with scaling up ability, disaster recovery, and high availability. All at the level of start-up expenses.

IaaS challenges

Even though Popular IaaS providers include Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Compute Engine. Nothing’s perfect without its drawbacks. That include:

Compromisable security:

While it’s true that the IaaS providers will provide the infrastructure, there’s no decisive telling for what comes next, since it becomes the responsibility of the business itself.

Merged vendors:

Your IaaS provider might go out of business at any moment, giving you hard time and current system interaction challenges.

Surprising costs:

whether it’s a piled-up fee or a sudden peak, the overall cost can be unexpected at times.

IaaS vs VPC

Companies with strict or sensitive data require additional protection and privacy within a public cloud, that’s where the virtual private cloud (VPC) comes into play.

VPC is the best way of isolating your data without sacrificing speed or functionality, as VPCs create you a private network for a single tenant inside the public cloud, which allows you to control the virtual firewalls, subnets, and security groups among other network privacy aspects.

IaaS glorified

IaaS providers offer gigantic services that manage to capture the interest of most business owners. However, always prioritize and check thoroughly your IT department’s capabilities to determine whether you’re ready to deal with the demands of IaaS implementation.

After accurate evaluation and analysis, you are ready to take the next step, which’s to start looking for your next IaaS provider, who will be able to meet your current and upcoming needs.

A cloud computing tech-savvy, or just a thirsty learner? Make sure to check the rest of our top-notch blogs or our high-value articles for more to come.

It gets easier every day to get confused between the cloud deployment models. One hour you have a public cloud, the next is a private cloud, and then you end up with a hybrid cloud?

Whether it’s the public cloud’s expectations vs. reality and why it’s probably your best cloud deployment, up to the easiest-explanation for the complicated/mixed hybrid cloud deployment. We have taken it upon our shoulders to dissect every single model for you.

A private cloud is a cloud architecture that is dedicated to a single organization. It allows organizations to use their own infrastructure that can be hosted within or outside them.

The private cloud shares some essential appearances with the public cloud. For instance, it has virtualization capabilities with computing resources, and it is scalable.

Now that you know that a private cloud is one of the leading cloud deployments, here are the top 5 reasons why it became one and why it can be your most suitable cloud deployment option.

1-Choose your desired machine

Private clouds allow you to choose the most suitable hardware/software for your needs, unbound to a limited stock that a cloud provider has to offer.

No matter what you end up with, a private cloud can run virtual machines, promoting itself as a number one option for maximizing hardware usage.

2-More cost-effective than ever

A private cloud does scale indeed automatically, but unlike a public cloud, the cost of the private cloud doesn’t grow as the service scales up.

Introducing at the same time the self-service system: granting users the ability to access the private cloud without IT complexities.

That is one of the most significant reasons for a business to consider a private cloud, as it’s easier to scale up and provide extra services, even without additional configuration required by the IT team.

3-Absolute security & privacy control

The improved security level of private clouds is more significant compared to the public cloud, as all your files and data are saved/managed on servers accessible only to your company (single-tenant environment).

Apart from increasing the data privacy levels, your organization doesn’t need to worry about the physical security of the infrastructure if your server is on-site.

Also, suppose your servers are located in a data center. In that case, they will be accessible by your same internal IT team through a highly secure network instead of the unsecured regular internet connection.

Beware, it is your IT department that will be held accountable at the end of the day for any potential wrongdoings or, for example, sensitive data leaks to third-party providers.

4-Transformation to a hybrid cloud

It’s no secret that private cloud users will at some point need to migrate to a hybrid environment to meet all their needs and get the best of both worlds (public and private clouds).

Enjoying all the private cloud benefits in addition to the public cloud features indeed is tempting, and guess what?

Going from a private to a hybrid cloud is way easier than going from a public one, as choosing the public cloud first may highly limit your infrastructure choices.

5-Efficiency & availability

Private clouds are not-only pretty much available everywhere across the world, which is more than what can be said for a public cloud. But also, they can be hosted on privately hosted environments, giving you:

• more control over your data and infrastructure
• prompt interference for any critical changes needed
• accurate application monitoring and analytics to both predict and prevent any downtime.

Final thoughts

That concludes our top 5 reasons why you have to deploy a private cloud, but in a world with ever-changing technology, your journey is just getting started!

In the meantime, if you find this list helpful, take a look at our other 5 reasons lists!

• top 5 reasons why you must have a good API.

• 5 Reasons to consider a dedicated server for gaming

• 5 Reasons why a Bare Metal Dedicated Server is the Right Choice

Otherwise, stay tuned for other interesting lists and top reasons on our ServerHub blog, or read some of our top-visited articles below to satisfy your patience, because one can never wait too long.

• VPC explained in less than 500 words

• VPN Protocols and VPN Protocol Types

• Beginner’s Guide: What Is Ubuntu Linux And How To Install It

• What’s the difference between a VPC and a VPN? The definitive answer

Public cloud’s often on top of the list of cloud deployments, but is it really worth it?
Today, you and I aren’t just gonna shed some light on the basic needs but also take a behind-the-scenes look at the public cloud overall.

Public cloud explained

Simple enough, offering scalability/resource sharing that’s beyond a single organization’s ability, and making resources available online to the public, are a public cloud’s job.

Whether free or costly, these public resources vary from one provider to another, including applications, virtual machines, etc.

Obviously, the more resources you require, the higher the price gets. That’s why it’s advised to develop a wise strategy for vast amounts of data before choosing your cloud vendor.

Public cloud competitors

Unlike the private cloud that offers higher security due to earmarking specific users’ resources, or the hybrid cloud environment extends a private cloud to the public cloud to get the best of both worlds.

Public clouds don’t offer the same level of security or the same resources’ optimization enhancements, but cloud computing in general indeed has its benefits!

Public cloud distinguishments

Allowing you to scale at a near infinite rate without committing to expanding your physical IT infrastructure, public clouds will enable you to purchase a virtual desktop license and instantly locate it anywhere!

Also, public cloud data is backed up safely and is accessible from the same “anywhere” we mentioned earlier. Additionally, using the public cloud saves businesses money through lower costs for their purchase and maintenance equipment.

If you still need more, just wait till you know that the most significant -and most popular- providers like Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform offer per-per-usage deals!

Per-per-usage deals grant organizations the ability to pay only for the resources they use, helping them to maintain and protect their budget.

Public cloud structure

As u must have guessed by now, public cloud architecture is completely virtualized.

Besides protecting your data, you can access a service or application on any internet-connected device.

Designed with built-in redundancies to prevent data loss, public clouds may be structured differently according to the type of service provided.

Here’re the most common 3 cloud service models in the market today.

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): where a third-party provider hosts/makes the applications public and available over the internet. More like renting a house. It’s not yours, but you use it as it’s yours anyway. “Gmail”

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS): where a third-party provider application development platform exposes them to customers over the internet. More like buying the tools needed to build your house yourself. “Microsoft Azure”

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS): where a third-party provider hosts servers and other virtualized resources online to customers. More like renting land that you can build your own house on, but you still need to have your own building equipment. “Google Compute Engine”

Bonus: everyhing-as-a-Service (XaaS): generally stands for services related to the cloud computing/remote access world. It represents the tools and technologies available to be delivered to users, paid or unpaid, over the internet.

Editor's choice: SaaS vs PaaS vs IaaS: The comprehensive guide

Public cloud beyond

Now that you’re perfectly aware of all the public cloud potential capabilities, it’s time you ready that updated deployment-goals sheet of yours, share it with any concerned party, and start the real brainstorming! On whether or not the public cloud is your best cloud deployment.

Hybrid cloud, cloud hybrid, or multi-cloud. No matter which definition of hybrid cloud you use, the great benefits are the same!

With superior security, automated data redundancy, high availability, and disaster recovery. Hybrid cloud is the ultimate choice for small and big businesses alike.

Imagine a hybrid train feeding on solar and electric power, 2 distinguished technologies functioning differently.

When both are combined appropriately, it results in a more powerful train than a solar or electric-only train, enhancing advantages and overcoming disadvantages of each power.

Hybrid clouds maintain the same approach, unifying public and private cloud services to create a single and cost-optimal IT infrastructure.

Hybrid cloud: what connects the separate clouds

Public clouds, private clouds, and on-premises infrastructure can connect through:

• Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)
• Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)
• Wide Area Networks (WANs)
• Local area networks (LANs)

Hybrid cloud: types of environments

• Public cloud: shared by multiple organizations, it runs by an external vendor that may include servers in one or more data centers

• Private cloud: wholly dedicated to one company, all the files are not shared, maintained, and secured by the organizations-themselves

• On-premises (legacy): where deployments don’t use cloud technology. Instead, organizations use the traditional practice of purchasing software licenses.

Any combination of the above cloud types can be considered “hybrid cloud”

Hybrid cloud: How does it work?

Hybrid clouds focus on transforming portions of a company’s on-premises data center into private cloud infrastructure, then connecting that infrastructure to public cloud environments hosted off-premises by a public cloud provider.

This happens using unified management tools or advanced enterprise middleware to combine cloud resources across the environments.

Hybrid cloud: the advantages within

Offering many competitive edges, the benefits of a hybrid cloud include:

• Improved productivity: agility is on top when it comes to hybrid clouds, helping you expand effortlessly and deploy to all clouds.

• Exceptional security: keep sensitive data on-premises in a secure private cloud while running the rest of your applications using a public cloud.

• Potential acceleration: avoid service interruptions due to cloud crashes by relying on the other cloud. Also, gain faster integration and combination with partners or third parties to deliver new products and services.

• Cost control: run every application as efficiently as possible by adding cloud resources -only when- needed to accommodate the peak periods.

Read VPC vs private cloud: differences and definations

Hybrid cloud: the evil drawbacks

Because nothing’s perfect without the imperfections, some of the top hybrid cloud disadvantages are:

• Complexity all over: setting up a hybrid cloud takes more steps than deploying a single cloud, as hybrid clouds consist of at least 1 private cloud and 1 public cloud, or 2 and more clouds from each.

• Tough to secure: requiring multiple security products at times for the company’s public cloud, as it’s only the private cloud that runs behind its firewall.

• Barbed mixture: not all private and public clouds are fully compatible, resulting in slow responses for hybrid cloud applications. Additionally, the cost may significantly increase in data misplacement, inevitably calling for a unique set of outstanding technical skills.

Hybrid cloud: use cases and scenarios

• Disaster recovery: by backing up data in the cloud carefully to avoid bandwidth consumption.

• Cloud provider adventure: where a group of skilled people explore the cloud tools and learn how to deal with them before adopting a public cloud approach.

• Future flexibility: hybrid clouds match your exact data requirements to the public/private cloud resources that are guaranteed to handle them the best.

Hybrid cloud: best of both worlds

The presence of multiple environments can be a powerful defense against security risks and maintain the tools freely for complete scaling, saving, and maximum efficiency.

If the road is clear, then why limit your options? Go on and consider all the way hybrid cloud now! Get all the agility you need for the next level, and grasp the best of both worlds.

Next: Everything as a service: Beginner's guide to XaaS