Gone are the days when every enterprise would have its own dedicated data center or server room setup for the secure storage and controlled usage of data – including customer personal information, company asset details, and other sensitive information.
Today, with the workplace becoming more “remote” and evolving to include people and places around the world, the traditional data center model has been disrupted. With a greater need for application mobility, flexibility, and elasticity, the “hybrid data center” architecture has emerged.
Here, we answer a few FAQs about Hybrid data centers:
What is a hybrid data center?
A hybrid data center is a combination of physical, virtual, and cloud infrastructure. In other words, it may consist of a locally located server room, a data center or colocation space in a slightly far off location, as well as private and public clouds.
A hybrid data center, therefore, brings together multiple environments to leverage their flexibility, security, and other specialties. A hybrid data center is made possible through virtualization, cloud computing, and software-defined networking.
What are the main differences seen in hybrid data centers?
A hybrid data center is different from a traditional one in the following ways:
Software-enabled management
Because of the vastness and variety of the hybrid data center, data center monitoring and management software are utilized for better visibility.
Diversified workloads
In a hybrid data center, different workloads can be analyzed and managed differently, in an environment environments prove most efficient for the particular workload.
Location-agnostic applications
To experience the freedom and flexibility offered by the cloud, legacy applications are replaced with web applications and features that are are not restricted to on-premise.
What are the benefits of a hybrid data center?
The hybrid data center has a number of benefits, including:
> Turbulence-free traffic surge with on-demand compute and storage
> Easy provisioning and quick prototyping of applications and services
> Convenient management of workloads with limited staff
> Better IT efficiency through automation
> Lower costs and greater agility
How can a company choose its hybrid data center “flavor”?
The flavor of a hybrid data center is made up of a unique combination of on-premise, cloud, and other elements. This combination will need to be determined depending on the company’s specific needs.
For instance, some companies use a public cloud model for emails and storage of certain kinds of data while mission-critical ones are retained within a private cloud or one or more on-premise data centers. The key is to find the right balance between agility with security that works best for you.
Need help with your data center planning, setup, or maintenance needs? Get expert consultation and support from Hardy Racks!