1. Overview
Multicloud deployment is a strategy gaining significant traction in today’s cloud-first world. It involves using multiple cloud services from different providers (both public and private), within a single architecture.
This approach offers organizations greater flexibility, resilience, and control over their IT infrastructure.
In this tutorial, we’ll explore the core concepts of multicloud deployment. We’ll also learn how it differs from hybrid cloud and the key strategies for making it work.
2. What Is Multicloud?
Multicloud is a strategy that uses multiple cloud services from different providers. These providers can be public clouds like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud or private clouds we manage ourselves.
Instead of putting all our eggs in one basket with a single cloud vendor, we spread our workloads and applications across different providers. This enables us to tailor our cloud services to our specific needs and ensures the best fit for each task.
Think of it like choosing the best tools for a job. We wouldn’t use a hammer for everything, right? We’d pick a screwdriver when we needed it, a wrench when appropriate, and so on.
Similarly, with multicloud, we can select the best cloud services for each workload. The workload could be high-performance computing, massive storage, or specialized AI capabilities.
This approach offers a lot of flexibility and helps us avoid vendor lock-in. We’re not stuck with one provider’s limitations or pricing. By spreading our services across multiple clouds, we also enhance reliability.
Additionally, if one provider has an outage, our applications can keep running on another cloud. Moreover, it helps us better manage regional compliance requirements and data governance policies.
3. Multicloud vs. Hybrid Cloud
At first glance, multicloud and hybrid cloud might seem similar, but they cater to different needs. In a multicloud setup, we use multiple cloud providers, but we don’t necessarily connect them directly.
Each cloud operates independently, like separate departments within a company, each specializing in a particular task. This gives us the freedom to choose the best cloud for each workload.
On the other hand, the hybrid cloud is all about integration. We connect our private and public cloud, creating a unified environment. This allows workloads to move between the two, like employees transferring between departments within the same company.
A hybrid cloud excels when we need the control and security of a private cloud combined with the scalability and cost-effectiveness of a public cloud:
In essence, multicloud emphasizes diversity, while hybrid cloud emphasizes connectivity. Multicloud gives us the freedom to work with different providers and pick the best services from each.
Hybrid cloud, on the other hand, focuses on creating a smooth and integrated environment between our private and public clouds.
Both strategies play a crucial role in modern cloud architectures. Understanding their distinct characteristics helps us design the most effective cloud strategy for our specific needs and goals.
4. Key Multicloud Deployment Strategies
Now that we understand what multicloud is and how it differs from hybrid cloud, let’s explore some of the most common and effective multicloud deployment strategies.
These strategies help organizations leverage the strengths of different cloud providers to achieve specific goals such as improved performance, increased resilience, or enhanced cost-efficiency.
4.1. Workload Distribution Across Clouds
One of the perks of multicloud is that we can spread our applications and services across different cloud environments. It’s like having different specialists on a team, each handling the tasks they’re best at.
We can assign each workload to the cloud provider that best fits its needs, whether it’s about performance, cost, or even compliance.
For example, imagine we have a data-heavy application. We might choose one cloud provider with super-fast computing power to handle the processing, while another provider with massive storage capacity takes care of the data itself. This way, we get the best of both worlds.
By distributing workloads like this, we also make our system more reliable. If one cloud provider has a hiccup, our entire application doesn’t come crashing down. Moreover, we can save money by picking the most cost-effective environment for each workload.
Ultimately, workload distribution gives us more flexibility and resilience in our multicloud architecture. It’s a key strategy for building a robust and adaptable cloud infrastructure.
4.2. Redundancy and Failover Across Clouds
Redundancy and failover are essential for any reliable system, and multicloud gives us a powerful way to achieve this. It’s like having a backup generator for our house—if the power goes out, we can simply switch over and keep the light on.
In a multicloud setup, we can deploy the same workloads on different cloud providers. This creates backup systems that are ready to take over if one cloud has problems.
This strategy minimizes downtime and makes our system more reliable. We can even set things up so that traffic automatically switches to a secondary cloud if the primary one has an outage.
Moreover, we can use different geographic regions for our redundant systems. This protects us against regional failures like a natural disaster or a power outage in a specific area.
With proper failover mechanisms in place, we ensure continuous availability and robust disaster recovery. This gives us greater confidence in our infrastructure’s stability, knowing that we can handle unexpected disruptions without breaking a sweat.
4.3. Cloud Bursting
Cloud bursting is a clever way to handle those sudden spikes in demand that can catch us off guard. Instead of always paying for a ton of extra capacity that we might rarely use, we can dynamically extend our resources to the public cloud when needed.
For example, let’s say we keep our primary workloads running in our private cloud or data center, humming along smoothly during normal operations.
But when demand suddenly shoots up—maybe a big sale hits our website, or a viral marketing campaign takes off—we can temporarily “burst” into a public cloud to handle the extra load.
This strategy is great for saving money. We don’t over-provision resources for those rare peak times, but we still maintain top performance when demand surges.
Cloud bursting gives us flexibility and scalability. This makes it ideal for unpredictable workloads or those seasonal traffic spikes that can make or break our business.
4.4. Data Governance-Based Distribution
Data governance is a big deal these days, especially with all the rules and regulations around privacy. Thankfully, multicloud gives us more control over where we keep our data. This helps us follow the rules and protect sensitive information.
This strategy is all about choosing the right cloud for the right data. We might keep highly confidential information in a private cloud with strict access controls.
Meanwhile, we can store less sensitive data in a public cloud for easier sharing and collaboration.
By distributing our data based on these rules, we minimize risks and stay in control of our important assets. At the same time, we still enjoy the flexibility of multicloud, using different providers for different purposes.
4.5. Best-Of-Breed Services
Multicloud enables us to take a “best-of-breed” approach to our cloud services. It’s like building a dream team, picking the best players for each position. Instead of relying on one provider for everything, we can handpick the best services from different clouds.
This gives us the freedom to choose specialized tools and platforms that perfectly match our needs.
For example, maybe one cloud provider has good machine learning tools, while another excels at data storage. With multicloud, we can use both. We get the best machine-learning capabilities from one provider and combine them with top-notch storage from another.
Additionally, this flexibility helps us optimize performance and cost. We can choose the most efficient and cost-effective services for each task, without being limited to a single provider’s offerings.
5. Benefits of a Multicloud Strategy
Multicloud offers real advantages that can make a big difference for our organization. Let’s take a look at some key benefits:
- Increased resilience: multicloud environments ensure that workloads remain operational even if one cloud provider experiences downtime
- Cost optimization: we can optimize costs by selecting the most cost-effective services from various providers
- Improved performance: distributing workloads across different clouds enables us to choose the best infrastructure for each task, which improves performance
- Compliance and governance: multicloud strategies help manage data storage and processing in compliance with local regulations by keeping sensitive data in specific geographical locations
- Prevents vendor lock-in: using multiple cloud providers prevents dependence on a specific vendor and gives us flexibility
These benefits make multicloud an increasingly attractive strategy for organizations of all sizes.
6. Conclusion
In this article, we discussed how to maximize flexibility and resilience by adopting a multicloud deployment strategy.
This approach enables us to leverage the strengths of multiple cloud providers while avoiding vendor lock-in.