Overcoming common hybrid cloud challenges

Many businesses have successfully adopted a hybrid cloud and are enjoying the scalability, customizability, and security it offers, but that doesn’t mean moving to such an environment is a walk in the park. In reality, the various steps and aspects of moving to a hybrid cloud may present challenges you need to address early, lest they make managing your infrastructure more difficult later on.
 
These are the usual challenges with adopting and managing a hybrid cloud and how you can tackle them:

Migration

Whether you’re transitioning from a public or a private cloud to a hybrid cloud, migration will likely be one of the trickiest steps in the process. During this stage, factors such as the following may complicate the move:
 
●      Applications that can only be run in either a public or a private cloud
●      Incomplete or decentralized data and applications
●      Complex interdependencies among your applications  (e.g., your business applications may be dependent on specific apps that cannot be migrated to a hybrid environment)
 
Migration-related issues are best addressed before the move even begins. As you plan the migration, make sure you have a clear view of your workloads’ operational requirements and performance characteristics. Identify which applications are high-priority and which services are redundant, underutilized, or are unnecessarily taking up resources.

Governance

Cloud governance covers the management of key aspects of your cloud environment, including performance, costs, security, and configuration. What makes hybrid cloud governance challenging is that you’re essentially managing several cloud environments with disparate characteristics. For instance, your public and private clouds may utilize different cybersecurity measures — you’ll have to take these differences into account when creating policies for your hybrid environment.
 
You will need the right tools to effectively govern your hybrid cloud. Cloud management platforms are especially helpful, as they allow you to monitor data, implement policies, and cross-manage the private and public cloud components of your hybrid environment.

Provisioning

Cloud provisioning is a broad term that refers to how your organization allocates your cloud resources. For instance, it may involve determining which of your applications should be run using public or private clouds. If provisioning is not properly planned and implemented, you may encounter problems like performance issues and unexpected costs.
 
Instead of provisioning your resources yourself, consider automating the process. Automation eliminates guesswork and allows you to adapt to sudden changes in cloud resource demands better. Your cloud service provider may be able to provide recommendations on the best cloud infrastructure automation software on the market.

Security

In a hybrid cloud environment, you can store sensitive files in the private cloud since you have full control over the cybersecurity measures implemented there. That said, you're still not completely safe from cyberthreats. Common security issues include:
 
●      You have little control over the public cloud server’s security, which means you still risk losing the data stored in it. Identify which security measures are supported by your public cloud and make sure to activate them.
●      Your data is vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks as it passes between different cloud environments. Use encryption to scramble your data and make it unreadable to unauthorized users.
●      Your employees may access data using unsecured devices and internet connections. Such behavior creates vulnerabilities that crooks can exploit to penetrate even your private cloud. Discourage your staff from using public Wi-Fi networks and educate them on cybersecurity best practices.

Costs

A hybrid cloud environment can lead to unexpected costs and sticker shock if you’re not careful. To avoid issues with cost, go over factors like the billing model you’re using, the apps and services running in your environment, and how your resources are provisioned. You can also use tools designed to help you monitor and manage cloud spend. If these are not being offered by your vendor, you can turn to third-party tools like CloudCheckr and ParkMyCloud instead.
 
One of the best ways to mitigate and manage issues with a hybrid cloud environment is to partner with specialists like SimplyClouds. We will assist you with every step of the hybrid cloud adoption process, ensuring that you overcome any challenge along the way. Consult with our experts now.