Best Practices for Embracing the Hybrid Cloud
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Best Practices for Embracing Hybrid Cloud Resources
While organizations commit to hybrid cloud technologies, they should streamline techniques for integrating, managing and automating their workloads. -
Start With Easy Applications
Non-critical workloads give you a low-pressure place to begin building cloud confidence. Leverage that to migrate more sophisticated applications to the cloud. You'll demonstrate value to the enterprise and build support for expanded hybrid projects. -
Determine What Will Remain On-Premise
Some enterprise workloads just aren't suited for the cloud. Before you embrace the hybrid model, determine which workloads will be where and when. You may want to move some temporarily to the cloud and keep others off-premise permanently. -
Migrate in Stages and Test, Test, Test
Start with a simple application stack, import and test as you go. Then move to more sophisticated applications, but keep testing before the cutover. -
Choose Multiple Providers
If you plan to move several workloads to the cloud with a variety of SLAs, plan for more than one provider. Cloud-based services can run anywhere from self-service to fully managed, so consider what levels of technical support you'll need. -
Protect Yourself From Vendor Lock-In
In a changing market, flexibility and mobility are essential. Seek management options that let you migrate, mix and match your on- and off-premise platforms and plug into cloud-based resources best for your evolving requirements. -
Answer Enterprise Concerns About Cloud Security
Engage the largest and most mature public cloud providers so that your cloud-based workloads are more likely to be in an environment that is secure, or more secure than on-premise data centers. -
How to Handle Complexity
Hybrid resources introduce additional management complexity and additional tools can erode the cost and ease-of-use benefits you sought in the cloud. Give your teams the capability to streamline management of hybrid resources. -
Manage New Environments With Familiar Processes
Building out independent tools and workflows for new cloud-based resources will be time- and resource-consuming. Maximize ROI with solutions that isolate, abstract and automate on-premise and cloud-based platforms to a single, unified environment that is both familiar and intuitive.
More than 65% of enterprise IT organizations committed to hybrid cloud technologies by the end of 2015, vastly driving the rate and pace of change in IT organizations, according to IDC. The key business drivers for public cloud adoption include greater agility, faster time to market, disaster recovery, business continuity and other benefits with a low-cost, pay-as-you-go price tag. But those promises, while compelling, don't address the complexity that can result from deploying and managing a spectrum of disparate resource types, said Lynn LeBlanc, CEO of HotLink, which provides a platform that enables data centers of all sizes to streamline the integration and management of cross-platform IT resources. "Enterprises will need to streamline the techniques for integrating, managing and automating on- and off-premise workloads in a way that makes sense for corporate IT departments," she said. LeBlanc offered up eight best practices for reaching that goal.