As businesses evolve in today’s digital landscape, the need for efficient and scalable computing resources has become paramount. In the early days of the Internet, large corporations would build or rent out large data centers to run their applications and serve customers. This was great as they could use dedicated hardware and expand as they pleased. On the flip side, the high cost of hardware and co-location meant startups and indie makers were unable to compete when trying to scale a growing product or gain access to better infrastructure.
Enter cloud computing, also referred to as “the cloud,”, a transformative model that enables organizations to rent computing resources flexibly, paying only for what they use. With options for both Public and Private cloud environments, businesses can now access scalable infrastructure tailored to their unique needs. At Civo, we specialize in providing innovative cloud solutions that empower organizations to harness the full potential of cloud technology.
In this blog, we will explore the unique advantages and drawbacks of public and private cloud options, and guide you in determining which solution best suits your needs.
What is public cloud?
The public cloud is a type of cloud computing service offered and managed by third parties. These services are designed to provide scalable resources to businesses of all sizes, enabling them to leverage the power of cloud technology without the need for substantial upfront investment.
Public clouds lower the barrier to entry with their pay-as-you-go pricing models. This flexibility is particularly beneficial for startups and smaller organizations, allowing them to scale their operations without the burdens of managing physical hardware. However, it’s important to understand that using a public cloud often involves sharing resources with other customers, a concept known as multi-tenancy.
When you provision a virtual machine (VM) on a public cloud, you typically receive an allocation of a vCPU (virtual CPU), which is a slice of a physical CPU core shared among multiple customers’ VMs. This resource-sharing approach allows cloud providers, including Civo, to maximize hardware utilization and keep costs down.
The advantages of public cloud
| Advantages of Public Cloud | Description |
|---|---|
| Cost-effectiveness | The public cloud's cost-effectiveness stems from its shared resource model. By dividing physical hardware among multiple customers, cloud providers can offer computing power at a fraction of the cost of dedicated hardware. This means you're only paying for the slice of resources you actually use, rather than footing the bill for an entire server that might sit idle much of the time. Platforms such as Civo are designed from the ground up to help optimize cloud spend. |
| High scalability and flexibility | Scalability and flexibility in public cloud refer to the ability to adjust computing resources based on demand—both up and down. Need more power to handle a sudden traffic spike to your website? You can instantly scale up your resources. Once the rush is over, you can scale back down just as quickly. |
| No need for dedicated hardware | Instead of purchasing a new or used server, the public cloud offloads the hardware burden of maintaining reliable infrastructure. You don't have to worry about server room cooling, hardware failures, or upgrading physical components. You can offload all this to a provider such as Civo to handle all of this behind the scenes, allowing you to focus on your applications and business logic rather than the underlying hardware. |
The disadvantages of public cloud
| Disadvantages of Public Cloud | Description |
|---|---|
| Security concerns | While public cloud providers invest heavily in security, the shared nature of their infrastructure can introduce unique risks. CPU-level vulnerabilities like Spectre or Meltdown have shown that one compromised tenant could potentially affect others sharing the same hardware. Additionally, managed services in public clouds might not always be patched as quickly as required, which could leave systems exposed to known vulnerabilities for longer than desired, especially for organizations with stringent security needs. |
| Limited control over infrastructure | The major culprit here is usually managed services. While offloading operational tasks to the cloud provider can reduce your workload, it also means surrendering some control. This trade-off between convenience and control can be frustrating for organizations with highly specialized needs. |
| Compliance issues | Organizations dealing with sensitive data need to be extra cautious when considering public cloud options. For instance, organizations aiming for HIPAA compliance (which governs the protection of healthcare data in the US) face unique challenges. They must ensure that their cloud provider offers HIPAA-compliant services and is willing to sign a Business Associate Agreement. Even then, the company remains responsible for configuring their cloud resources correctly to maintain compliance. This extra layer of complexity can make public cloud a less attractive option for some highly regulated industries. Civo is committed to helping businesses navigate these compliance challenges with tailored solutions. |
What is private cloud?
A private cloud is a type of cloud computing environment dedicated to a single organization. While the terms "private cloud" and "on-premises" are sometimes used interchangeably, they are not synonymous. On-premises refers specifically to hardware that is located and managed within the company's own facilities. In contrast, a private cloud can also include hardware managed by a third party in an external data center, as long as it is exclusively used by the organization.
Unlike public clouds, private clouds offer single-tenancy. This means all the resources - from servers to storage - are used exclusively by one organization. This dedicated setup allows for enhanced control over security, compliance, and resource allocation.
Recently, "cloud repatriation" - the process of shifting workloads from public cloud back to on-premises or private cloud environments - has become a hot topic. Companies like Basecamp have made headlines by exiting public cloud services, citing cost savings and performance improvements. While this approach may suit some organizations, it highlights that private cloud continues to be a valuable option alongside public cloud, depending on an organization's unique requirements.
At Civo, we offer flexible private cloud solutions designed to help businesses maintain control over their infrastructure while enjoying the benefits of cloud technology.
👉 Find out more about our CivoStack Enterprise product hereThe advantages of private cloud
| Advantages of Private Cloud | Description |
|---|---|
| Greater control over data and infrastructure | Private clouds offer organizations complete control over their infrastructure, which can be particularly beneficial for compliance. For example, with a private cloud, you can implement specific security measures and data handling processes to ensure compliance with regulations like HIPAA. This level of control enables organizations to tailor their cloud environment to meet their unique security and regulatory requirements. |
| Enhanced security and privacy | One of the significant benefits of a private cloud is the enhanced security and privacy it provides. Since resources are dedicated to a single organization, you don’t have to worry about vulnerabilities affecting neighboring tenants. However, this means the responsibility for patching and hardening your infrastructure falls entirely on your organization. While this can be an advantage, it requires a skilled team to manage security effectively, presenting both challenges and opportunities depending on your organization’s resources and expertise. |
| Customizable to specific business needs | The ability to customize your infrastructure can lead to significant benefits, but it's a double-edged sword. On one hand, having the flexibility to configure your environment can help you avoid unexpected costs and better align resources with user demands. On the other hand, this level of customization requires careful planning and management to ensure you're not over-provisioning and wasting resources. |
The disadvantages of private cloud
| Disadvantages of Private Cloud | Description |
|---|---|
| Higher costs due to dedicated hardware | Private clouds often require significant upfront investment in hardware and infrastructure. Unlike public clouds, you can't simply pay for what you use – you need to provision for peak capacity, which can lead to underutilized resources and higher overall costs. Civo provides transparent pricing models to help organizations effectively manage costs associated with dedicated infrastructure. |
| In-house IT management | Managing a private cloud demands a skilled IT team. You'll need experts to handle everything from hardware maintenance to software updates and security patches. This ongoing operational expense can be substantial, especially for smaller organizations. |
| Less scalable compared to public cloud | While private clouds can be scaled, they lack the near-infinite scalability of public clouds. Scaling up often means purchasing and deploying new hardware, which takes time and planning. While scaling your applications can be mimicked through software, i.e., spinning up more instances of an application, beyond a certain point, you will require more hardware to match your demands. |
Key differences between public and private cloud
Infrastructure and Deployment
Public cloud definitely excels at simplicity. Need another VM? A few clicks in the dashboard and you're set. Private clouds require more steps to achieve the same ease. However, cloud-native technologies like Kubernetes can level the playing field somewhat, as deploying on bare metal is largely similar across environments.
Virtualization technologies are key to achieving multi-tenancy and maximizing resource usage in both scenarios, but public clouds make it easier to avoid misconfigurations when provisioning infrastructure.
Security and Compliance
Security is a broad topic, and the cloud is an exception. While public clouds can introduce new risks through misconfigured Identity and Access Management roles, private clouds aren't immune to compromises reaching internal services. Organizations using a private cloud can benefit from enhanced control over their security measures, which is vital for compliance with regulations like HIPAA.
In industries where data sensitivity is paramount, both cloud options can be configured to meet specific compliance needs. Public clouds can offer robust security features, while private clouds provide tailored environments that can adapt to stringent regulatory requirements.
Cost and Pricing Models
Cost considerations are vital when choosing between public and private clouds. Public cloud pricing often appeals to growing startups with its pay-as-you-go model, allowing businesses to pay only for the resources they use. In contrast, private clouds may involve higher upfront investments due to dedicated infrastructure.
Civo’s flexible pricing models support both public and private cloud offerings, ensuring organizations can effectively manage costs whether they choose to scale in a public environment or invest in private resources.
Performance and Scalability
Performance is tricky to compare, as evenly matched hardware should run applications similarly. Public cloud scores major points for serving globally distributed users. However, there's a latency benefit to processing critical data on-site. Public clouds offer unmatched scalability, but private clouds can provide more consistent performance for specific workloads.
Both public and private cloud solutions from Civo are designed to meet diverse organizational needs, allowing businesses to choose the environment that best aligns with their operational demands and growth strategies.
Hybrid cloud - the best of both worlds?
A hybrid cloud is an infrastructure setup that combines both private and public cloud environments, allowing data and applications to be shared between them. It's important to note that hybrid cloud shouldn't be confused with multi-cloud strategies. While hybrid cloud integrates private and public cloud environments, multi-cloud refers to using multiple public cloud providers primarily for resiliency.
In a hybrid setup, an organization might keep sensitive data or critical applications on their private cloud while using public cloud services for less sensitive operations or to handle traffic spikes. This flexibility allows businesses to optimize their infrastructure based on specific needs, compliance requirements, and cost considerations.
Use case for hybrid cloud
Hybrid cloud solutions offer practical benefits for organizations with unique computing needs. Consider an oil company operating offshore drilling platforms that generate large amounts of seismic data that require immediate processing for real-time decision-making. A hybrid approach allows the company to process time-sensitive data on-site using private cloud infrastructure, reducing latency. It might also use public cloud resources for long-term storage and advanced analytics of historical data.
Organizations involved in quantum research often have unique hardware needs. A hybrid approach allows them to utilize existing specialized on-premises hardware for core research activities and leverage public cloud for data storage, or analytics.
How do you choose the right cloud solution?
When deciding on the right cloud solution for your organization, here are some things to consider:
- Organization Size and Resources: In general, smaller to medium organizations will largely benefit from the public cloud as long as capacity planning is properly done. Public cloud providers offer a range of services that can scale with your business without requiring significant upfront investment in infrastructure or personnel.
- Compliance Requirements: The type of data your organization handles is pertinent to your cloud choice. If you have specialized needs like those we've discussed in our use cases (e.g., healthcare data, financial information, or proprietary research data), a private or hybrid approach might be beneficial. These options provide greater control over sensitive data and can help meet strict compliance requirements.
- Budget and Long-term Financial Considerations: Budget plays a huge factor in cloud decisions. The cost of the cloud report by Civo, found that 32% of organizations with less than 50 employees find themselves with cloud bills of over $10,000. When planning for the long term, selecting a solution with transparent and predictable pricing is essential. Civo’s flexible pricing models can assist organizations in managing their cloud costs effectively.
- In-house Expertise and Talent: Consider the cost and existing experience of talent to maintain any setup. When selecting a cloud provider, consider selecting a cloud that doesn’t require you to hire x number of engineers to manage. While there’s a learning curve for any technology, a well-chosen cloud solution can support your organization’s operational needs without overwhelming your existing resources.
- Vendor Lock-in: Consider the implications of vendor lock-in. Over time, hyperscalers have become complex, and many users might be locking themselves into an offering without even knowing it, consider selecting a solution that won’t lock you in or at least give you the freedom to move your data without outlandish egress fees.
Choosing the right cloud solution involves evaluating your organization’s size, compliance needs, budget, and in-house expertise. Civo’s offerings are designed to help businesses navigate these decisions effectively, providing options that align with their goals.
Summary
The public cloud remains one of the most accessible ways for both individuals and organizations to engage with cloud computing, offering flexibility and scalability. However, potential vendor lock-in and high costs can arise if not managed carefully.
Private cloud solutions provide organizations with enhanced control over their infrastructure, allowing for customized configurations and improved security. While traditional private clouds can sometimes lead to higher costs and increased operational demands, Civo's CivoStack Enterprise (CSE) and the upcoming FlexCore offerings are specifically designed to minimize these challenges. By streamlining management processes and reducing overheads, these solutions make private cloud an efficient and cost-effective option for organizations of all sizes.
In this blog, we have highlighted the key differences between public and private clouds, as well as explored use cases for hybrid cloud deployments. Both options have unique advantages, and Civo offers tailored solutions to help organizations choose the right fit for their needs. If you’re looking to learn more about cloud deployments, check out this article on multi-cloud.
