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INTRODUCTION
Cloud computing services are changing the way businesses think about software. This is something that business leaders, CIOs, and co-founders of startups are well aware of. Cloud spending is on the rise worldwide.
Different business priorities and needs have resulted in the creation of various types of cloud – or model. The two main models of cloud are public and private.
This post will compare public cloud resources with private cloud infrastructure. First, we’ll examine the technical characteristics and definitions of each. Next, we’ll look at the technical features of each one.
These are:
- Performance
- Cost
- Security
- Control
- Compliance issues
We will also discuss which model is most suitable for your business and why it is important to get started with the cloud. Let’s get to it!
CONTENTS
- What does it mean?
- Technical definitions
- Common examples
- Public Cloud vs Private Cloud – Head-to-head
- Future forecast
- What should you choose?
Firstly, what do they mean?
Quick Introduction to Public Cloud
This is the most well-known type of cloud. Public cloud services are any computing resources that are publicly accessible over the internet. Public clouds include services like Dropbox and Google Drive.
This was the first type of cloud service. However, the public Cloud was created to distinguish the private clouds.
Private Clouds – A Quick Introduction
Private clouds are computing resources that are only accessible to one organization. Let’s look at the differences between public and private cloud services.
TECHNICAL DEFINITIONS
This is how the National Institute of Standards and Technology, (NIST), defines private and public cloud technology.
Public Cloud Definition:
Cloud infrastructure is available for public use. It can be managed and owned by any business, government agency, or academic institution. It is located on the premises of the cloud provider.
Private Cloud Definition:
A single organization can only use the cloud infrastructure. This includes multiple consumers (e.g. business units). It can be owned, managed, and operated by the organization or a third party.
These are the key differences between these definitions:
- A public cloud can be used freely while a private cloud is only for specific use.
- A cloud provider runs a public cloud, while a private cloud can be owned by either a cloud provider or the individual organization that uses it.
SOME COMMON EXAMPLES
Examples of public clouds:
- Google Drive is a file storage and synchronization tool.
- Dropbox is a public cloud storage.
- Salesforce Cloud customer relationship management (CRM software)
- Microsoft 365 – Subscription service to get Microsoft Office apps over the Internet
- Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud- Scalable computing resources from Amazon’s Cloud
Any computing service that is delivered over the internet.
It can be a little more difficult to find private clouds in the real world. Because they are private, it is a bit more difficult to find them in the real world. These are often used by large companies, and they are also known as the ‘corporate cloud’.
Here are some examples:
- A bank that maintains a private cloud that each branch and employee can access whenever they need.
- An insurance company who wants to use the cloud but isn’t willing to risk their customers’ health records being made public.
PRIVATE VS PUBLIC CLOUD
We now have a better understanding of how each cloud deployment model works. Let’s dive into the details.
On this page, we’ll compare public and private clouds:
- Scalability
- Performance
- Customization
- Cloud Security and Privacy
- Legal compliance
- Price
- Ease-of-use
- Reliability
Scalability
WINNER: PUBLIC CLOUD
Cloud computing services offer the advantage of scaling applications and storage as needed. You don’t want your application to crash if it experiences a sudden surge in users.
You don’t want your computing power to drop if that happens.
Public cloud deployment offers many advantages, including high scalability. You have virtually unlimited computing resources when you use a service such as Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud.
Cloud capacity can be scaled from a few users up to millions in minutes, and then back down without any issues.
Private cloud, however, is not scalable well, particularly if the company has the hardware. A company would need to buy and install new servers in order to scale up its on-premise infrastructure to become a private cloud.
A private cloud hosted by a cloud provider can reduce some of these efforts. However, scaling up or down can be more complicated and time-consuming with private cloud services than it is with public ones.
Performance
WINNER: USUALLY PRIVATE SERVICE PROVIDER
It is more difficult to perform. Mike Divaris of Rackspace has an excellent in-depth post about this topic. Cloud allows you to run your software and apps on virtual machines.
These virtual machines’ performance is dependent on the performance and capabilities of the underlying hardware. Here are the differences.
Public cloud resources are not your own. You have no control over the hardware. They won’t give you precise specifications about performance in most cases because they use multiple types of servers across a single cloud.
Public cloud performance can be unpredictable, even though it isn’t necessarily poor. The ‘noisy neighbour’ effect is another possibility. This is when you could be affected by other users of your host machine.
Private clouds allow you to choose the hardware that will be used. This allows you to be more confident about how the cloud will perform and can set minimum requirements. There is no neighbor noise, so there is no noise from other neighbors.
Multiple public clouds are more efficient when there is high demand. However, private clouds that are well-designed will offer better performance for day-to-day operations.
Control and customization
WINNER: PRIVATE LOUD
Private clouds are a better choice than private ones. Private clouds allow you to control and configure any system you wish. This is especially true if you have all the hardware and are responsible for its operation.
There are no limitations on what you can accomplish. You can tailor the infrastructure and hardware to meet your specific needs.
Public clouds don’t offer this option. Although you can control the way you use resources, you won’t have control over their underlying specifications. It is possible that you won’t get any details on hardware specifications or setup.
The main difference between these deployment models is control. Some organizations can’t let go of this flexibility and control. We will be discussing the main reasons why.
Cloud Security and Privacy
WINNER: IT DEPENDS…
Security is important for both private and public clouds. The Platform9 survey of enterprise clients shows that security is a top concern.
Private cloud has the advantage of giving you complete control of your system. This means that you can set up all the privacy and security tools and protocols that your company needs. You can also physically seperate your infrastructure from other users.
This is an essential feature for large businesses who need data protection and security that is uncompromising. This is why many businesses use private cloud. Strangely, however, this does not necessarily mean that it is safer or more secure.
Google, Microsoft and Amazon are the world’s leaders in IT cloud security. Their decades-long cloud security experience will benefit you if you use their computing infrastructure.
E.g. Google claims that with Google Cloud Platform you get “Google Grade Security”.
Brandon of Network World says that you may be better off focusing your attention on the security and not the infrastructure. This brings us to the next point.
Legal Compliance
WINNER: PRIVATE LOUD
Navica CEO Bernard Golden says that “a lot of what we call security is actually compliance.” Google and Microsoft are the only companies that can provide better privacy or security than them. However, this might not be enough when it comes data laws.
There are strict regulations in the US and other countries regarding how the personal data of customers must be stored and handled.
Certain regulations apply to organizations in financial operations, public services, and health. These include the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
Sometimes hosting your own hardware and setting up everything in a specific way is the best way to ensure you meet all legal requirements.
These laws may include:
- Hosting data in a country is a requirement.
- NOT hosting data in a country.
- Your company will have access to data at certain times.
- Data protection and retention
- Reporting when things go wrong
These issues are being taken seriously by the government. Be careful if you work in any industry that deals with sensitive data. A public cloud data center may not be able to meet all of your legal requirements, as opposed to an on-premise data center.
Cloud providers can sometimes build services that meet the certifications and requirements of these organizations.
Rackspace, for example, has created a dedicated environment for healthcare that has been certified by the Health Information Trust Alliance. Healthcare organizations can now hire a private cloud environment in this environment, provided they pass all industry tests.
Cost Savings
WINNER: PUBLIC CLOUD
Small, medium and large companies are all moving to the cloud because of cost. Cloud computing is cheaper than traditional data centers for certain reasons.
- To get started, there is almost no capital expense.
- You can benefit from economies of scale
- Only pay for what you actually use.
- To keep things running smoothly, you don’t have to hire IT, professionals.
- There are no lock-in commitments or contracts.
The public cloud service offers all these benefits and has a lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). A public cloud service is free to sign up for and you won’t have to pay any setup fees.
There is very little risk because you don’t usually have any lock-in contracts.
You can also save money by renting a smaller slice of a larger data center than if you were to purchase your own server. According to the economy of scale, the more you buy something, the less it costs per unit. This means that storage and computing are much more affordable.
These are the pricing pages of some major cloud providers:
- Amazon EC2 Pricing
- Microsoft Azure Pricing
- Google Cloud Platform Pricing
You only pay for the use of your website or web app. You don’t need to pay for any visits to your website or web application if you don’t have them. If you experience spikes in traffic, this can help you save a lot of money.
A business would normally have to maintain a server that can handle high traffic spikes. They also had to pay for it when it wasn’t being used. Public cloud computing is different.
You can also rent your IT infrastructure as an outsourcing service. This allows you to outsource the management, setup, and maintenance of all hardware. This can help you save time and money, as most IT professionals have done it before.
Also read: Top 6 Tips to Stay Focused on Your Financial Goals
Private cloud is not usually available with all these cost advantages and will have a similar price to a traditional data centre.
You will need to pay:
- Cloud migration costs.
- All servers that you own.
- It will be managed by an IT team.
Some cloud providers will host your private clouds. You can skip the setup and cost of cloud adoption and don’t have to worry about the infrastructure.
However, you will have to pay for all your private servers even if they aren’t working at their full potential.
You will likely need to sign a contract with the cloud service provider in order to use this type of cloud service. It can also make running costs easier to predict, which can be a huge plus.
Network World says there are certain circumstances in which a private cloud may have a lower TCO. A private cloud may be more cost-effective if an organization has a great track record of managing large numbers of servers with high utilization. It’s not easy to do.
As you can see, cloud computing makes it more difficult to manage costs.
Ease-of-Use
WINNER: PUBLIC CLOUD
Public cloud wins in every aspect, from setting up to running live apps, It takes care of all the details that you don’t have to worry about. With a simple interface, you can set up, access, and use your cloud resources in just a few clicks.
DevOps also shines in the public cloud. With platform-as-a-service products like Google App Engine, developers can build, test, and run scalable, cloud-native web applications all in one place. This is one of the most exciting areas in cloud computing.
For more information, see our dedicated article
It can be difficult to build and maintain your private cloud deployments. Although there are many great cloud software tools, such as Microsoft Private Cloud, VMware Cloud Suite and OpenStack (check out this comparison ), it is always going to be harder than something like AWS Cloud Service Provider.
Training staff to use custom cloud architectures is also an important consideration.
Reliability & Resilience
WINNER: IT DEPENDS
The massive Amazon Web Services outage really brought this issue to the forefront. Many companies experienced huge issues during this period, as large parts of the internet became unavailable for hours.
In IT terminology reliability means “The likelihood that a system (including all hardware and firmware) will satisfactorily execute the task for which they were designed or intended for, for a specific time and in a particular environment”.
Resilience refers to the ability to keep your normal functions intact despite the occurrence of failures. Basically:
How often does it actually work?
What if it goes wrong?
uptime is a common indicator of cloud computing. All cloud computing models and resources have high uptime.
Cloud environments are made up of many servers. The managing software ensures that the service continues to run as normal even if one server is down. This is possible in both public and private clouds, but who do it better?
Redundancy is required to ensure high uptime and resilience during outages. This is done by distributing code and data to multiple locations. You can switch between servers or data centers if one goes down.
The public cloud usually has high levels of redundancy, which is done automatically. You can have sensitive data and applications replicated in multiple locations.
Your Service Level Agreement (SLA) will tell you how much uptime you can expect. This is the minimum level of uptime that the cloud provider must provide in order to charge you the amount you pay. You can get more guarantees by purchasing a higher SLA.
Private cloud deployments can have as much redundancy as you want, even more than public cloud providers. You can add more backups to your system to increase its reliability.
Most companies won’t be able to create a system that can be accessed from a public cloud. It will also increase in cost. Private clouds managed by an administrator offer the same SLA as public clouds.
Are they mutually exclusive?
Both cloud models have distinct advantages and disadvantages, as we’ve seen. Are there ways to combine them?
It is. Hybrid cloud environments can be described as an organization that combines public cloud technologies with private cloud deployments to create one cohesive unit.
These are some examples of hybrid cloud deployments:
- One medical company that stores sensitive patient data on their private network but runs their website and other applications on the public cloud.
- Large organizations that run their IT operations in a private cloud but use public cloud services for spikes in demand. This is also known as cloudbursting.
A community cloud is another example of hybrid cloud deployments. This is a private cloud that is available only to companies in a particular industry. This allows the cloud to be configured in the best way for the organizations.
Future Forecast
Both public and private cloud are hot topics right now. Both have a bright future in IT. According to the RightScale State of the Cloud Report “Public Cloud Adoption grows, while private cloud wanes”,
This is due to growing trust in public cloud deployments. Many organisations that previously used private clouds are now comfortable enough to switch to public cloud.
Both of these deployment models are necessary. You can see that large companies have plans for both private and public cloud.
Which should you choose?
The main difference between public and private cloud deployments lies in control over the infrastructure. Once you have read everything, you should be able to determine which cloud is best suited for your company or enterprise.
Here’s a quick summary:
Public cloud works best for:
- Startups are growing quickly, especially those with little funding.
- Anyone who requires a low initial capital investment.
- Spiking or fluctuating demand.
- Industries that require less compliance and privacy.
- Companies with less IT legacy baggage.
Private cloud works best for:
- Companies with higher and more predictable computing needs.
- Organizations that adhere to strict privacy and compliance requirements.
- For greater ownership and control, those who require dedicated computing resources.
Cloud Computing is for you, whatever your situation.
What cloud approach is best? Public cloud vs private or hybrid? No matter which cloud approach you choose, it is important to get moving before you fall behind. Cloud computing isn’t a fad, or a trend. It’s a whole industry that is changing before our eyes.
Companies that have been using cloud technology for years have an advantage over companies that don’t. Take advantage of cloud technology.
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