Successful Hybrid Cloud Management: Best Practices

Hybrid clouds partner two different types of cloud environments. Learn how to successfully implement and manage a hybrid cloud.

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Most organizations are moving to a hybrid cloud environment, if they aren’t already operating one. But while the benefits of hybrid clouds are many, successfully managing one can be a challenge. This post will outline some best practices for successful hybrid cloud management.  

What is Hybrid Cloud?  

There are four types of clouds: private, public, multicloud, and hybrid. A hybrid cloud is a composition of two or more of different types of clouds—private and public. The environment is tied together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting for load-balancing between clouds). 

What is Hybrid Cloud Management?  

Hybrid cloud management is the process of managing a hybrid cloud environment. A hybrid cloud environment is one where some resources are on-premises and some are in the cloud. Hybrid cloud management includes managing both on-premises data center resources and cloud resources. 

Benefits of Hybrid Cloud Management 

Hybrid cloud management can provide a number of benefits for organizations, including: 

  • Improved DevOps: DevOps enables organizations to create, test, and deploy software. Successful hybrid cloud management can help organizations to improve their DevOps practices by providing a more streamlined workflow. 
  • Greater Modernization: Hybrid cloud management can help organizations to modernize cloud applications. Efficient hybrid cloud management can help organizations to more easily and quickly deploy applications and services. 
  • Improved Security and Compliance: Another benefit of hybrid cloud management is helping organizations improve their security posture by adding an extra layer of security, protecting against attacks, and ensuring that data is kept safe and secure. 

 

How Businesses are Managing Hybrid Cloud Environments 

Businesses are managing hybrid cloud environments by creating a plan for how the hybrid cloud will be used. They are also using tools to help manage the hybrid cloud. 

How to Manage Hybrid Cloud 

Here are some best practices to successfully manage hybrid cloud environments: 

Document What is Being Managed and By Who 

Documenting what is being managed and by who is important for hybrid cloud environments. This allows businesses to keep track of what is going on in their hybrid cloud and who is responsible for each part of it. By documenting what is being managed, businesses can ensure that their hybrid cloud is functioning properly and that everyone involved knows what they are responsible for. 

Prioritize Maintaining the Security of Your Cloud 

One of the most important aspects of hybrid cloud management is ensuring the security of your cloud. Businesses need to make sure that their data is safe and that their hybrid cloud is secure from hackers and other threats. 

When it comes to hybrid cloud management, organizations need to be aware of the security requirements of both their private and public clouds. In order to ensure that performance is not affected, it is important to monitor data encryption and other security measures.  

Keeping track of compliance regulations and sending alerts if they're violated is also part of maintaining the security of your cloud. This allows you to establish or enforce security, infrastructure, and application restrictions. 

Move Everything to a Singular Interface 

One way to make hybrid cloud management easier is to move everything to a singular interface. This will make it easier for you to keep track of what is going on in your hybrid cloud and allow you to manage all of your clouds from one place. 

Read Your SLA and Make Adjustments to Avoid Vendor Lock-In 

When managing a hybrid cloud, it is important to read your service level agreement and make adjustments to avoid vendor lock-in. By adjusting your hybrid cloud to work with multiple vendors, you can avoid being locked into a single provider, giving you more flexibility and options when it comes to using your hybrid cloud. 

Train and Test 

Effective hybrid cloud management is ensuring that employees are properly trained on how to use it. Businesses should hold training sessions for employees so that they can learn how to use the hybrid cloud and understand its benefits. Testing is also important for hybrid cloud environments. Businesses should test their hybrid cloud before putting it into production. 

Hybrid Cloud Management Solutions: What to Look For 

Integration 

Many hybrid cloud management solutions include the ability to integrate all applications within an environment into one place in order to streamline ease of management. This allows businesses to manage all of their applications from a single interface. 

Cost-Effectiveness 

A hybrid cloud management solution that is able to scale costs easily with use and offer enterprise-level users affordable storage is a valuable commodity. By being able to scale costs, businesses can save money as their hybrid cloud grows. And by offering affordable storage, businesses can keep their hybrid cloud's costs low without sacrificing quality or features, or adding unnecessary complexity. 

Supports DevOps 

When looking for a hybrid cloud management solution, businesses should consider solutions that are able to automate and scale workloads and processes. This can help to improve collaboration between development and operations teams and speed up the time to market for new applications and services. 

Compatible APIs 

Additionally, it is important that the hybrid cloud management solution be compatible with Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). This will allow businesses to easily connect their hybrid cloud to other applications and systems. 

Supports Cloud Migrations 

Cloud migrations can be difficult to execute successfully. Fortunately, there are a number of solutions that can help you with the process. One such solution is cloud orchestration software. This software can automate the migration process, making it simpler and less time-consuming.  

Another solution that can support cloud migrations is cloud management platforms. These platforms provide a single interface for managing all of your clouds, both public clouds and private clouds. This makes it easier to move applications and data between clouds and to manage your overall hybrid cloud environment. 

Seagate Lyve Cloud for Hybrid Cloud Management  

Multicloud can easily become a challenging mess without the proper resources and processes in place—and, more likely than not, your organization’s data must make the best of it. At a time when IT organizations are extra concerned about their budgets, it’s crucial to both minimize costs and maximize innovation. If you're navigating cloud management, consider a partner like Lyve Cloud that can transform your hybrid cloud management.  

Connect with Lyve Cloud experts to learn more.