What is a Hybrid Cloud?

In regards to cloud computing, the three main types of cloud are public, private, and hybrid cloud. You must be aware of public and private clouds, but do you know what a hybrid cloud is?

Don’t worry if you are unaware; you are at the right place. In this article, we will explore hybrid cloud in great depth. But, before we dive deeper into the topic, let’s go over the list of topics listed under the table of contents (TOC) that we will cover in this article. Here’s the table:

Table of Contents (TOC)

• What is a Hybrid Cloud?
• How does a Hybrid Cloud Work?
• Hybrid Cloud Example
• Advantages
• Disadvantages
• Conclusion

What is a Hybrid Cloud? 

Definition: A hybrid cloud is created by combining at least one private and public cloud. 

In layman’s terms, a hybrid cloud is a combination of public and private clouds. The main objective of hybrid clouds is to create a centralized, automated, and well-managed computing environment.

Organizations or businesses mostly prefer a hybrid cloud because they can use both types of clouds (private and public) while doing so. They can use a private cloud for storing and managing sensitive information, whereas they can store and manage non-sensitive information using a public cloud. Thus, because of this feature, organizations can be assured of getting a balance between security, control, and cost-effectiveness.

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How does a Hybrid Cloud Work? 

The working of hybrid clouds is not that complex to understand. The hybrid cloud allows an organization to divide its applications and data between public and private clouds. Most of the time, organizations use the private cloud to store sensitive data and applications on a private cloud, thus getting better security.

In contrast, the organization uses a public cloud in order to store less sensitive data and applications that need to be scalable and cost-effective. Thus, getting more features and performance while paying less price. Once the data is divided between public and private clouds, the components of both clouds are connected and integrated. Thus, granting access to the data and applications to move between two clouds as needed by the organization.

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Hybrid Cloud Example

Netflix, Uber, Airbnb, etc., are some of the most popular companies that rely on a hybrid cloud in order to meet business requirements. In order to understand the working of hybrid clouds, let’s take an example of a popular streaming service – Netflix.

Netflix uses a hybrid cloud. The company uses a private cloud for web hosting, whereas it uses a private cloud to store customers’ information, such as payment details, device information, etc.

In short, using a hybrid cloud allows Netflix and various other companies to take advantage of both types of clouds. Thus, providing better flexibility, control, cost-effectiveness, etc., as needed by the company.

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Advantages of Hybrid Cloud 

Some of the advantages of using this type of cloud are:

• Flexibility: By using this type of cloud, organizations can choose the right combination of cloud services which suits them and helps them to accomplish their goal.
• Cost-effectiveness: Hybrid clouds allow companies to store non-sensitive information/data in the public cloud. And, as the cost of accessing or using the public cloud is very low in comparison to a private cloud, it allows companies to save a ton of money.
• Scalability: The public component of hybrid clouds are easily scalable on demand, thus allowing the companies to scale as per their requirements.
• Increased Security: The private cloud provides robust security to all the data present within it. And because of this, companies can keep their sensitive data within the private cloud without having to worry about being hacked or occurring of a data breach.

Disadvantages of Hybrid Cloud 

As everything has two sides, there are also some disadvantages to using this type of cloud. Here are some of the disadvantages:

• Complexity: Managing private and public clouds at once can be quite complex in comparison to just using a single type of cloud, such as private or public.
• Integration Issues: Integrating data and applications from both the cloud may cause many integration issues and requires specialized skills to accomplish that.
• Increased Cost: Implementing a hybrid cost is quite costly. It’s true that you get benefits of both types of cloud, i.e., public and private, but the cost is also doubled because of this.

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Conclusion

Here’s the summarized information:

• A hybrid cloud is a combination of public and private clouds.
• Netflix, Uber, Airbnb, etc., are some of the most popular companies that rely on this cloud.
• Hybrid clouds allow an organization to divide its applications and data between public and private clouds.
• Hybrid clouds provide benefits of both types of clouds, thus providing better flexibility, control, cost-effectiveness, etc.
• Increased flexibility, scalability, security, cost-effectiveness, etc., are advantages of this cloud.
• Increased complexity, integration issues, cost, etc., are some disadvantages of this cloud.

In this article, we have explored what hybrid clouds are. We have also explored its working, advantages, disadvantages, and example in detail. If you have any queries related to the article, please feel free to send your queries to us in the form of a comment. We will be happy to help.

Happy Learning!!