Hybrid Cloud Design and Implementation: The Ideal Alternative to Public and Private Cloud

Over the last decade, many businesses and organizations have implemented cloud-based network computing into their operations. Cloud networks are designed to help reduce overhead costs, improve scalability, and increase efficiency when processing increasing workloads of both sensitive and non-sensitive data.

Traditionally, enterprises have chosen to use either a public cloud platform, such as AWS and Azure, or a private cloud network with dedicated infrastructure hosted on-premises. While each option has its own set of benefits, it also has its own set of problems, or cloud traps, that can reduce productivity and profitability for the organization. 

Organizations can no longer solely depend on public or private clouds to handle their expanding workloads. For this reason, a hybrid cloud is the next best option for cloud computing. A hybrid cloud is more cost-effective, efficient, and scalable because it leverages the benefits of both public and private clouds while mitigating the traps associated with them. 

The Common Traps of Public and Private Clouds

Modern organizations will continue to fall into several common cloud traps if they continue to rely solely on public or private clouds. These cloud traps include the following:

1) Higher Costs and Expenses

Public clouds typically employ a pay-as-you-go model, which often lacks the necessary automation and management to control costs effectively. If you don’t have an automated strategy for efficiently and responsibly consuming resources on the cloud, you could end up with unused resources, resulting in higher monthly operating expenses. 

Private clouds are no better. They require a significant initial investment in the on-site hardware needed to run the private cloud. Additionally, you will incur ongoing costs associated with deploying and managing the private cloud. 

2) Limited Flexibility

Most organizations run applications designed for one public or private cloud, giving you limited flexibility to move your applications to a different cloud. You may encounter difficulties if you need to switch providers due to a business merger, realignment, or failed negotiations with your current provider.

3) Higher Level of Data Security Threats

Public clouds often provide easier access to their data containers, which can result in a higher risk of data exposure and theft. It is also more difficult for management to observe and govern their cloud operations unless the provider supplies the proper monitoring tools.  

As for private clouds, they are vulnerable to internal threats from contractors and employees who may inadvertently or maliciously access sensitive data. If an organization lacks talented staff to oversee the security of its private cloud, it may result in internal data security breaches. 

Why a Hybrid Cloud Model Deployment is the Solution

Giridhar Ravi Kumar Amarapini, an expert cloud architect and engineer, designed hybrid cloud automation infrastructure initiatives to help existing telecom enterprises integrate with the cloud. Hybrid cloud combines the best elements of public and private clouds to help organizations achieve better cloud flexibility, affordability, security, and management. 

One of his most impactful automated hybrid cloud model deployments involved combining VMware Aria Automation with ServiceNow ITSM workflows to utilize and manage resources across multiple public cloud platforms, including AWS, Azure, and the Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Amarapini oversaw the implementation of a self-service cloud account provision platform, which allowed organizational teams to use ServiceNow to request AWS and GCP accounts automatically. 

As a result, the automated workflows in VMware Aria prompted Terraform-based provisioning pipelines, which generated fully managed cloud accounts that adhered to strict compliance, naming, and tagging guidelines. By doing this, the automation eliminated the traditional manual provisioning delays and enhanced the security at a much wider scale. 

Here is a more concise example of how on-premises VM workload migration would play out for a business:

1) The enterprise team requests a familiar ITSM portal via ServiceNow.

2) ServiceNow workflows route the approval requests and enforce organizational policies and rules.

3) Once the approvals are granted, VMware Aria automatically triggers the Terraform pipelines to create a fully governed AWS account with the specific naming standards, security baselines, and tagging policies. 

4) The configuration management database receives automated updates for full transparency.

Here are the benefits for organizations of implementing a VM workload migration on-premises to a public cloud like AWS:

• Zero Downtime – You don’t need to worry about any downtime for your business when using VMware Hybrid Cloud Extension (HCX) to execute workload migrations. All applications and services will remain available during the entire migration process. 

• Save Money on Expenses – Consolidating infrastructure into a hybrid cloud will result in substantial cost savings. Not only do you save time and avoid wasting resources across environments, but you can also eliminate your costly legacy hardware.

• Automation Efficiency – The operational automation of VMware HCX simplifies migration tasks by eliminating costly manual provisioning and processes. 

• Scalable Workload Mobility – Your business can achieve faster and more scalable and secure workload mobility between your on-site data centers and AWS to boost your cloud transformation objectives without needing to realign applications. 

Meet Giridhar Ravi Kumar Amarapini – Chief Hybrid Cloud Architect

Giridhar Ravi Kumar Amarapini is an expert cloud architect and engineer with over 18 years of experience in designing and implementing multi-cloud and hybrid cloud solutions for international enterprises. He previously graduated from Andhra University in India with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science.

He is best known for revolutionizing Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) and possesses advanced skills in automation tools such as Chef, Terraform, and Ansible. One of his most significant accomplishments was leading infrastructure automation initiatives and multimillion-dollar cloud projects, valued at over $20 million. 

Amarapini’s latest successful project is the VMware Aria Automation and ServiceNow integration that brings hybrid cloud transformation to global enterprises. The result of such powerful digital transformation is more agility, compliance, innovation, and cost savings for these organizations.

Learn More

Would you like to know more information about this hybrid cloud model? Contact Amarapini at +1-978-614-5961 or agravi0011@gmail.com to learn more about this hybrid cloud design and the best automation and migration strategies to improve the efficiency and profitability of your organization.