When teams transition to the cloud, they often face concerns regarding selecting the appropriate cloud provider, ensuring long-term compatibility, avoiding vendor lock-in, and leveraging the unique strengths of different cloud providers. These considerations have prompted many companies to adopt multi-cloud setups.
However, before delving into the specifics of a multi-cloud approach, it is crucial to differentiate between hybrid cloud and multi-cloud, as these terms are occasionally used interchangeably.
Hybrid vs Multi-Cloud
A hybrid cloud typically refers to the scenario where a company has both an on-premises private cloud and has also adopted a public cloud service. On the other hand, a multi-cloud environment is commonly used to describe a situation where multiple public cloud providers are involved. However, it’s worth noting that there isn’t a strict definition, and these terms can be used interchangeably in some cases. It’s important to highlight that many larger organizations typically have a combination of on-premises infrastructure along with one or two public cloud providers in their setup.
Advantages and Challenges of Multi-Cloud Setup
The multi-cloud approach offers numerous benefits and presents certain challenges. It is essential to thoroughly assess the pros and cons in order to make an informed decision about whether adopting a multi-cloud strategy is advantageous for an organization.
Advantages of a multi-cloud approach:
By adopting a multi-cloud strategy, organizations can leverage the strengths of different cloud providers, enhance system resilience, and avoid being locked into a single vendor, ultimately enabling more flexibility and control over their cloud deployments.
Access to Best-in-Class Solutions: With the flexibility to choose solutions from multiple cloud providers, organizations can select the best options available. For instance, they can leverage Amazon AWS for competitive virtual machine prices, utilize Google Cloud for advanced machine learning capabilities, and leverage Azure for seamless integration with Microsoft services. This flexibility allows for a mix-and-match approach based on specific needs.
Enhanced Resiliency and Reliability: By designing systems in a manner that incorporates redundancy and backup across multiple clouds, organizations can improve overall system resiliency. In the event of an outage or disruption in one cloud or data center, having parallel systems or backup systems in another cloud ensures continuity of operations and enhances reliability.
Avoidance of Vendor Lock-in: Multi-cloud deployments provide organizations with the freedom to avoid being tied to a single cloud provider. This flexibility allows for the possibility of switching providers if necessary and reduces dependency on any one vendor. Additionally, the ability to leverage multiple cloud providers can provide better negotiating power for organizations when dealing with service agreements and pricing.
Challenges associated with a multi-cloud setup:
While a multi-cloud approach offers numerous benefits, organizations must be prepared to address the complexities associated with managing deployments, controlling costs, and ensuring robust security measures across multiple cloud environments. Proper planning, resource allocation, and the use of appropriate tools and practices can help mitigate these challenges effectively.
Complexity: Managing deployments across multiple clouds introduces complexity. Setting up deployments for different clouds and ensuring smooth communication (based on active-active or active-passive sync) can be challenging. Monitoring applications and maintaining visibility across multiple clouds adds another layer of complexity.
Cost: Cost considerations are crucial when adopting multiple clouds. Onboarding duplicate services can lead to increased expenses, so it’s essential to carefully evaluate and select the necessary services. Training the development team and managing multiple cloud costs become important considerations to optimize expenses.
Security: Managing security across multiple clouds, particularly when copying data, can be complex and requires careful handling. Ensuring data integrity, access controls, and compliance across different cloud platforms demand thorough attention. Managing user accounts and credentials across multiple cloud environments also adds to the security challenges.
Multi-Cloud Architecture with an Example
Let us start with a simple three-tier application to understand how will we set up on multiple clouds i.e. consider a scenario where we have a frontend, a backend, and a database. To cover a wide range of scenarios, let’s assume the frontend is hosted on a web server, the backend is deployed on Kubernetes, and the database is a Postgres database. This use case serves as a common scenario that can be expanded upon as needed.
When managing an application across multiple clouds, there are various architectural approaches that can be employed based on specific requirements. One approach involves distributing the application components across different cloud environments. For example, the architecture below breaks down the components for frontend and backend and deploys to different clouds.
Another approach where we need to build resiliency and disaster recovery is to keep all the components in both clouds. We can setup the system as active-active where both setups are taking traffic at all time vs active-passive setup, where one cloud work as primary and takes live traffic. The secondary cloud will handle traffic only if there is an issue with the primary cloud and it becomes unresponsive.
In practice, the actual setup for multi-cloud deployments is often more intricate than the simplified application design mentioned earlier. It involves a combination of decisions based on the specific requirements of different applications. For instance, critical applications may be set up simultaneously on multiple clouds to ensure high availability and redundancy, while other applications may reside on a single cloud at a time.
When determining the optimal configuration for each application component, it is essential to compare and evaluate the services offered by various cloud providers. This evaluation should consider factors such as functionality, performance, scalability, security, and cost provided by each cloud provider. By carefully assessing these aspects, organizations can make informed decisions to select the best possible solutions for each application component within the multi-cloud environment.
Tools Supporting Multi-Cloud Deployments
When embarking on a multi-cloud strategy, you don’t have to tackle everything alone. Fortunately, there are numerous tools available to facilitate the setup and management of multi-cloud deployments. Here are some noteworthy tools to consider:
Infrastructure as Code (IaaC) Deployments: Utilize tools like Terraform to build scripts that can operate seamlessly across multiple cloud environments. This helps save valuable time for development teams by automating the infrastructure setup process.
Cloud Management Tools: Apache OpenStack is an example of a comprehensive toolset that offers services for managing cloud resources across different providers, including identity management, compute management and storage management.
Containerization across Clouds: Kubernetes is the industry-standard tool for deploying microservices and cloud-native applications. Platforms like OpenShift provide a unified control plane, enabling efficient management and monitoring of applications across multiple clouds.
Database and Storage Managers: There are multiple tools available for managing databases and storage across clouds. Tools like MiniIO, Ceph, etc, assist in managing storage resources across diverse cloud platforms. Additionally, databases such as NuoDB, FaunaDB, and CockroachDB cater to the requirements of multi-cloud environments, providing seamless database setup and management.
Cloud-Specific Tools: Public cloud providers like Azure (Azure Arc) and Google Cloud (Google Anthos) offer their own tools tailored for setting up and managing multi-cloud architectures. These tools provide specialized capabilities to help teams effectively navigate multi-cloud environments.
By leveraging these tools, organizations can simplify the complexities associated with multi-cloud deployments, enhance infrastructure management, streamline application deployment, and harness the full potential of resources across multiple cloud providers.
Conclusion
A recent study from Gartner reveals that roughly 92% of enterprises have a multi-cloud strategy. For IT leaders and Enterprise Architects, it is crucial to grasp the actual requirements and identify areas within the organization where a multi-cloud strategy can bring value.
To embark on a multi-cloud strategy, here are the recommended steps:
Identify Potential Areas: Begin by pinpointing specific areas or use cases where a multi-cloud approach can yield benefits. Assess factors such as workload requirements, scalability needs, data sovereignty, and compliance considerations.
Select Cloud Providers: Determine the mix of cloud providers that align with your organization’s objectives. This may involve a combination of on-premises infrastructure and various public cloud offerings. Consider the strengths and capabilities of each provider to meet your specific requirements.
Evaluate Benefits and Challenges: Conduct a thorough analysis of the advantages and drawbacks associated with a multi-cloud strategy. Assess factors such as cost optimization, agility, vendor lock-in risks, data transfer and integration complexities, and security implications.
Define Approach and Architecture: Based on the evaluation, finalize the approach and architecture that best suits your organization’s needs. This includes defining the integration mechanisms, data flow, security measures, and governance frameworks across multiple clouds.
Leverage Off-the-Shelf Tools: Explore available tools and solutions that can facilitate the transition to a multi-cloud environment. These tools can help with workload deployment, infrastructure orchestration, security management, and monitoring across multiple cloud providers.
When executed effectively, a well-planned multi-cloud strategy not only brings cost savings but also establishes a robust and scalable cloud platform for your organization. It enables flexibility, agility, and resilience by leveraging the strengths of multiple cloud providers while mitigating potential risks and challenges.