What is
multi-cloud?
The multi cloud enables the parallel use of cloud services and platforms from multiple providers like AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform. From the user's point of view, it behaves like a single large cloud. Several cloud models such as the private (on-premise) or public cloud can be integrated in the multi cloud.
Different providers
for cloud services and cloud platforms
Like the hybrid cloud, the multi cloud can integrate multiple cloud models such as the private cloud or the public cloud. Possible services of the multi cloud are the usual cloud computing services such as IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and SaaS (Software as a Service). The aim of the multi cloud is to use the services, applications and infrastructures on the cloud structures of different providers in parallel and thus to act independently of a single provider. The services can be obtained from the most suitable provider depending on requirements, desired performance and price.
The multi cloud can be seen as an evolution of cloud computing and represents a kind of extension of the multi-datacenter cloud and hybrid cloud model.
Cloud-to-multi-cloud evolution
Multi cloud is the future of the cloud
Thanks to the Multi Cloud, companies have a wide range of options to choose the best option. Various public cloud solutions such as those from Amazon, Microsoft and Google or other providers can be used. The multi cloud can be managed via a central management console, which bundles the administration of all services. As a result, the company can quickly and flexibly implement the optimal variant for itself. Multi cloud is the future of the cloud.
Difference between cloud and hybrid model
Cloud is typically used to describe an organization's use of cloud-based application services or workload deployments in an off-premises public cloud infrastructure like AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud or any number of regional service providers.
Hybrid cloud is a type of cloud computing environment in which organizations deploy workloads on an on-premises cloud infrastructure while deploying SaaS or cloud application services running on the external infrastructure of a public cloud provider.
Benefits of
multi-cloud
The greatest benefit of multi-cloud in that the company isn’t dependent on a single cloud provider that can result in limited performance, limited capabilities, or unnecessary costs. A multi-cloud strategy provides companies with the following benefits:
- Flexibility to acquire cloud services from different cloud providers with the combination of performance, pricing, compliance, security and geographic location that best suits the business in question
- Ability to leverage industry-leading technologies from any vendor on-demand and immediately after market launch; the customer is no longer dependent on the offers or functions of a single provider at a certain point in time
- Less vulnerability to system failures and unforeseen downtime because an outage in one cloud does not necessarily have an impact on services in other clouds
- Flexibility to acquire cloud services from different cloud providers with the combination of performance, pricing, compliance, security and geographic location that best suits the business in question
- Lower latency of applications that can greatly improve the end user experience.
- An easier time for DevOps and IT teams because multi-cloud management brings together solutions for securing, monitoring, and controlling multiple clouds on a single, centralized platform. With all relevant data and controls in one place, IT teams can approach cloud management tasks more efficiently and stay on top of cloud performance when managing workloads across multiple clouds.
Microservice architecture advantages over monolithic applications in modern multi cloud environments
Microservice architecture has been on a steady rise in the last few years with more and more companies starting to adopt it. The two names that come up most frequently in relation to microservices are Docker and Kubernetes. Docker is a platform used for creating, sharing and running individual containers, while Kubernetes is a platform for managing containerized workloads and services. In comparison with the traditional monolithic structure, they offer following benefits in a multi-cloud environment:
- Increased Scalability: Microservices allow for applications to scale up or down quickly and easily as demand increases or decreases. This is especially helpful in a multi-cloud environment, as different parts of the application can be deployed on different clouds with different scalability needs.
- Improved Availability: With microservices, it’s easier to ensure that components are available even when one cloud or another is down or experiencing issues. This makes it easier to ensure that applications remain available even if one cloud is having issues.
- Enhanced Security: Applications can be split up into multiple components that can be secured individually, making it easier to secure the entire application. This is especially useful in a multi-cloud environment, where different components may be deployed on different clouds with different security protocols.
- Greater Flexibility: With microservices, applications can be quickly adapted to changing needs. This is especially useful in multi-cloud environments, where the same application may need to be deployed on different clouds for different purposes.
What is
multi-cloud management?
Managing a multi-cloud environment is an extremely demanding project: it involves integrating internal and external systems, monitoring all cloud services to ensure service levels, controlling the resources used and, of course, security the overall solution.
In order to optimally implement the use of different cloud providers, companies can also rely on the external support of providers who take over the management of the different public cloud platforms. In this way, the innovation potential of different public cloud providers can be exploited and at the same time the dependence on the platform providers can be significantly reduced.
Multi-cloud Load Balancing:
a key component for a successful multi-cloud model
Multi-cloud load balancing, a more advanced version of the standard Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) is an enhanced DNS-based solution for server load balancing and failover in globally distributed server environments. It helps distribute workloads across servers more efficiently, improve application performance, and reduce latency.
Multi-cloud GSLB is particularly important when talking about multi-cloud because it is of upmost importance to connect and provide failover between servers of different cloud providers.
Choosing a multi cloud load balancing solution is not an easy task in a competitive market, but DynConD has made it easier with their new client-side approach to global server load balancing.
What is client-side multi cloud load balancing (GSLB)?
Client-side multi cloud GSLB is an improved version of the traditional server-side GSLB. By using client-side GSLB, the client can select the optimal server independently, based on a measured network distance between client and servers (in contrast to commonly used imprecise geographic proximity) and the current server load or service response time.
The client-side GSLB can use a composite DNS metric that allows the client himself, rather than a remote GSLB server, to make the final decision on which server, represented by IP address in a DNS response, is best for him. The server parameters are supplied to the client via the standard DNS infrastructure, by using GSLB DNS servers and provide the client with information about the current status of the servers’ load and/or the service response time of a particular network service.
One of the greatest benefit of using client-side GSLB in multicloud environment is ability of central load management system to actively collect status information of each cloud/datacenter location by using active on-site measurements (by using load status agent) or by using completely remote measurements (by using proprietary Agentless technology). Information can also be collected from existing monitoring systems by using integrated API. This way multiple clouds can be easily and quickly integrated and scaled.
More info can be found on www.dyncond.com
