Cloud Comparison: Hybrid Cloud vs. Multi Cloud vs. Cloud Native
Choose the right cloud strategy based on your database estate management needs
Understanding the Cloud Landscape
A brief introduction to hybrid cloud, multi-cloud, and cloud-native strategies
Cloud computing presents a transformative shift in IT infrastructure. Before the cloud, companies had to manage physical, onsite hardware on top of other core responsibilities. Now they can access shared resources, such as storage and computing power, all from remote servers. The cloud has enabled businesses to cut costs by paying only for the IT services they use, scale quickly to address market changes, and access resources anywhere at any time.
There are three main cloud strategies: hybrid cloud, multi-cloud, and native cloud.
Hybrid cloud
Hybrid cloud combines on-premises, private cloud, and third-party public cloud services so that organizations can deploy applications and workloads depending on their needs. This model allows for seamless movement of workloads between various computing environments.
Multi-cloud
Multi-cloud utilizes multiple cloud computing platforms, including public, private, or hybrid clouds. Organizations can select a combination of services from different cloud providers to facilitate a more tailored cloud strategy. This model allows organizations to avoid vendor lock-in and access a broader range of cloud services, geographic service locations, and pricing models.
Cloud native
Cloud-native environments are specialized systems designed to fully utilize cloud computing principles in any infrastructure. They allow organizations to build, deploy, and manage applications inherently optimized for cloud infrastructures. Key components of such environments include an infrastructure layer, container orchestration tools, and a service mesh. The environment commonly starts as a flexible architecture for on-premises deployments, and over time extends into private cloud and beyond.
The following sections will discuss each of these cloud strategies at greater length.
Flexibility and Control – What Is Hybrid Cloud?
What hybrid cloud can do for your database estate management
Hybrid cloud is a computing, storage, and services environment combining on-premises infrastructure, private cloud services, and public cloud resources such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure. Its interconnectivity between on-prem and the cloud allows applications to operate across different infrastructures, optimizing resource allocation based on workload needs.
Hybrid is cost-efficient; organizations can use more cost-effective public cloud services for non-sensitive workloads and keep more sensitive ones on secure private cloud infrastructure or on-premises. This ability to keep mission-critical data and applications more secure also ensures greater control and compliance with regulatory requirements. For instance, some laws may restrict data storage based on geographical location and particular industry standards.
Hybrid can also establish clear audit trails, since governance policies can be implemented consistently across on-prem and cloud environments. The model also allows the organization to adapt to sudden regulatory changes, altering data management strategies without drastically modifying infrastructure.
The agility and flexibility of hybrid cloud pose a significant advantage; organizations can quickly ramp capabilities up or down depending on the market. It is beneficial for businesses with fluctuating workloads or those needing to accommodate seasonal spikes or rapid growth. Hybrid also allows organizations to offer services in different geographic locations, engaging the cloud provider closest to each user base.
Varied industries use hybrid cloud. Healthcare institutions, for example, keep sensitive patient data in a private cloud to ensure compliance with regulations such as HIPAA. At the same time, they use public cloud for telemedicine and data analytics, which rely on scalability and speed. Financial services also adopt hybrid cloud strategies, storing critical transaction data in private servers while relying on public cloud solutions for customer-facing applications.
Diversification and Resilience – What Is Multi-Cloud?
What multi-cloud can do for your database estate management
A multi-cloud strategy involves using two or more cloud computing services from various providers. This way, organizations can avoid vendor lock-in, find the optimal cloud service for each need, and boost resilience. Mixing cloud providers also lets businesses capitalize on price competition among vendors.
Multi-cloud also offers significant resilience and fault tolerance. Since workloads can be distributed across various platforms, operations can be seamlessly rerouted to another provider for business continuity if one provider encounters downtime. The model can be particularly useful for geographic outages; service availability will remain uncompromised even if a natural disaster affects a specific locality.
Scalability is another benefit of multi-cloud. Organizations can leverage multiple cloud services and providers to dynamically allocate resources based on demand fluctuations. For example, while one cloud provider may excel in handling high request volumes with smaller data transfers, another could be more suited to large data transactions. An organization can use both to different degrees, depending on what’s needed at the time and what’s most resource-efficient.
Managing multiple cloud providers requires careful planning and execution, given its complexity. A centralized cloud management platform (CMP) works well, as integrating API from various providers can facilitate management, monitoring, and governance from a single console. Tools such as Terraform can also automate deployment, configuration, and management. For security, adopting a zero-trust model ensures that every user and application is authenticated and authorized before accessing any resources. Cost management tools can provide visibility into resource utilization and spending patterns across all providers.
More and more companies are taking on multi-cloud strategies. Music-streaming platform Spotify, for example, uses one provider for data analytics and another for its general computing needs. This way, the company can analyze user behavior and offer personalized recommendations while ensuring robust content delivery. Car manufacturer BMW harnesses multiple cloud providers for data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, while retail giant Walmart also combines cloud services to enhance scalability during peak shopping seasons.
Cloud Deployment from the Ground Up – What Is Cloud Native?
How cloud-native technologies can speed up business growth and innovation
Cloud native is the software strategy of building, deploying, and managing highly flexible, easily updatable applications in any computing environment. The apps are made up of small, interdependent services called microservices. They are created from the ground up with the aid of orchestration tools and DevOps practices for continuous integration and delivery. This results in rapid iteration, frequent releases, and better reliability, enabling businesses to adapt swiftly to changing market demands and technological advancements.
Cloud native has many advantages. Businesses can build applications without downtime during updates, and it’s also cheaper than maintaining physical infrastructure. Cloud-native development can also be made more efficient with automation and container orchestration, which reduce reliance on error-prone manual operations.
Cloud-native applications perform well because of their architecture; each resource and microservice that makes up the application can be optimized individually, leading to lower latency and high availability. These apps can also add or remove server nodes efficiently for optimum scalability.
Many industries use cloud-native technologies. Financial services giant JPMorgan Chase harnesses cloud native for faster processing of transactions and real-time data analytics. By segmenting its applications into manageable services, the company can implement updates and new features without disrupting operations. Telecommunications firm Telstra also uses cloud-native architecture, providing customers with enhanced 5G connectivity and continuous service improvements.
A few tips for businesses interested in cloud native:
- Adopt containers for deployment: By encapsulating everything an application needs to run, containers promote operational consistency.
- Implement continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD): CI/CD allows developers to integrate code changes frequently and automate the deployment process, minimizing manual errors and reducing time to market.
- Carefully choose design patterns: Popular patterns include event-driven architectures and command query responsibility segregation (CQRS), which facilitate optimized data management and responsiveness.
Comparative Analysis of Cloud Strategies
A side-by-side comparison of hybrid cloud, multi-cloud, and cloud native
When deciding which cloud strategy to adopt for your business, the following key factors must be considered: cost, complexity, control, scalability, and security.
The table below lays out how each strategy adheres to these factors:
| Cost | Complexity | Control | Scalability | Security | |
| Hybrid Cloud | Organizations can manage costs by using public clouds for nonsensitive workloads. | The integration of public and private cloud resources introduces complexity. Challenges include compatibility issues, data governance, and interoperability. | Organizations retain significant control over sensitive data and workloads. By integrating private clouds, they can enforce their own security policies. | Companies can utilize public cloud resources to meet peak demands while maintaining stability with their private cloud. | Organizations can implement tailored security measures but must also manage the complexities of maintaining consistent security configurations across different environments. |
| Multi-cloud | Organizations can select the best price-performance ratio from different providers, though managing multiple agreements can lead to unexpected costs. | Companies must manage multiple cloud service providers with diverse technologies and interfaces via advanced management tools and expertise. | Businesses maintain control over their resource allocations, though control can become fragmented as organizations navigate different security policies and management protocols. | The distribution of workloads across various cloud providers enhances scalability. | A unified approach to security measures is needed across different platforms. Integrating security policies and ensuring compliance becomes more complex. |
| Cloud native | Applications leverage pay-as-you-go models that can lower operational costs but incur unexpected expenses if scaling is not managed. | Applications are inherently complex due to their reliance on numerous interconnected services and microservices. | Organizations maintain full control over their applications and data. | Applications are designed for scalability from the ground up, utilizing microservices and container orchestration to scale dynamically and efficiently. | Security must be integrated throughout the application lifecycle, requiring automated tools and practices to detect and address vulnerabilities. |
Best Practices for Selecting a Cloud Strategy
How to assess whether hybrid cloud, multi-cloud, or cloud native is best for your business
When selecting which cloud strategy to adopt for your organization, prioritize these factors:
Organizational goals
What does your organization aim to achieve? Is it increased agility? Cost savings? Enhanced security? Determining this should be the primary concern.
Current IT infrastructure
What resources are already in place, and what needs improvement? Determining this can help you decide which applications and data sets can be moved to the cloud, clarifying what kind of cloud model is best to adopt.
Data sensitivity and compliance needs
The nature of your data can dictate which deployment models are best to use. For instance, highly sensitive data would be safer in a private cloud or hybrid model. Compliance with industry regulations is also a factor, so doing due diligence on any requirements is critical.
Cloud service models
Service models should also be assessed as well as strategies. Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) cater to different operational needs, so it’s key to investigate each model’s characteristics.
Scalability and flexibility
Cloud-native architectures are inherently designed for scalability when infrastructure resources are available; however, multi-cloud or hybrid approaches can provide the flexibility necessary to adapt to changing business demands. How prone is your business to scaling quickly or changing gears?
Cost management
Analyze potential costs associated with various cloud options and plan budgeting strategically to optimize cloud spending. Implementing cost governance measures can also help.
Stakeholder input
Engage organizational stakeholders—IT, finance, operations, leadership, and others—to deliberate cloud strategies. Diverse insights can facilitate a comprehensive understanding of business needs and preferences.
Once a strategy has been chosen, consider Integration-Platform-as-a-Service (iPaaS) solutions, middleware options, or application programming interfaces (APIs) that can facilitate system interaction. Map out how data will flow between applications, detailing the processes that will be automated in the integration setup. Finally, document the entire integration process—mappings, workflows, configurations—as a reference for troubleshooting and future growth.
Making the Right Cloud Choice for Your Business
How well-informed decisions help achieve database estate management goals
A well-chosen cloud strategy can enhance scalability, reduce operational overhead, improve performance, and reduce downtime. Cloud providers can alleviate the burden of rote tasks on database administrators (DBAs), allowing DBAs to focus on strategizing and handling other higher-level responsibilities. They also offer cost-effective, efficient storage solutions and can facilitate the unification of data from diverse sources into a comprehensive view.
Organizations should practice due diligence to find the right cloud strategy for their goals to leverage these benefits. Do you need extra control over sensitive data, which hybrid cloud can offer? Would you prefer the multi-cloud approach of spreading out data across various providers for redundancy? Or do you need to build highly scalable applications from the ground up through cloud-native technologies? EDB’s experts can help determine the best path in the cloud for your team’s optimal operations and solid growth.
Cloud Migration Content and Resources
Thinking of moving to the cloud? Here are more resources to help in your decision.
Learn why Postgres in the public cloud is better for your business than legacy cloud providers such as Oracle.
How are hybrid cloud and multi-cloud fostering innovation in the cloud computing landscape?
What must your enterprise consider to create an accurate spending model for cloud adoption?
Hybrid clouds combine the advantages of private and public clouds, keeping sensitive data on-premises while leveraging public cloud scalability for nonsensitive applications. This mitigates single points of failure, ensures higher availability, and helps meet regulatory requirements.
Meanwhile, using multiple clouds can prevent vendor lock-in, allowing organizations to choose the best services and pricing from different providers. This approach optimizes operations, reduces downtime risks, and enhances business resilience by not relying on a single cloud provider.
Cloud native is the software strategy of building, deploying, and managing highly flexible, easily updatable applications in any computing environment. The apps are made up of small, interdependent services called microservices and are created from the ground up with the aid of orchestration tools and DevOps practices.
While cloud native emphasizes an optimized approach to cloud environments with a focus on performance and rapid iteration, hybrid and multi-cloud strategies provide flexibility and management capabilities across varied cloud infrastructures.
For alternatives to Oracle Advanced Queuing in PostgreSQL, consider:
- Cost control: Organizations can manage costs by using public clouds for nonsensitive workloads.
- Flexibility and scalability: Companies can utilize public cloud resources to meet peak demands while maintaining stability with their private cloud.
- Enhanced control and security: Organizations can retain critical workloads in a private cloud setting.
- Business continuity and disaster recovery: By distributing workloads across multiple environments, organizations can ensure that critical applications remain available and that data is safeguarded in the event of failure.
- Supporting remote workforces: Teams can access necessary applications and data, irrespective of their physical location.
- Innovation and transformation: Organizations get a platform to trial new applications and technology integrations without significant up-front investment.
Managing multiple cloud providers requires careful planning and execution, given its complexity. A centralized cloud management platform (CMP) would be a great help; by integrating API from various providers, it can facilitate management, monitoring, and governance from a single console. Tools such as Terraform can also automate deployment, configuration, and management. For security, adopting a zero-trust model ensures that every user and application is authenticated and authorized before accessing any resources. Cost management tools, meanwhile, can provide visibility into resource utilization and spending patterns across all providers.
- Organizational goals
- Current IT infrastructure
- Data sensitivity and compliance needs
- Cloud service models
- Scalability and flexibility
- Cost management
- Stakeholder input
Private clouds allow organizations to fully customize their infrastructure to meet performance, security, or regulatory needs. They provide enhanced security because resources are kept private, which is crucial for handling sensitive data or strict compliance. Costs are also more predictable, usually fixed based on capacity rather than variable usage, which helps with budgeting and planning.
Meanwhile, public clouds offer scalability, allowing PostgreSQL databases to scale up or down quickly based on demand. They’re cost-effective for variable workloads with a pay-as-you-go model and provide access to a broad ecosystem of integrated services and innovative tools to enhance database functionality.
PostgreSQL cloud databases are available in five deployment models:
- Virtual machine: EDB Postgres AI can be installed on virtual machines in cloud environments, providing more control over the database server and environment. This is for users who require custom configurations not supported by fully managed services.
- Hybrid: PostgreSQL can be deployed in a hybrid environment, with some components managed on-premises and others in the cloud. This can be useful for organizations that need to keep sensitive data on-premises for compliance reasons while still benefiting from the scalability of the cloud. This model is best served via Containerized deployments.
- Containerized: PostgreSQL can be deployed in containerized environments using Kubernetes, which provides high availability, failover, and other cluster operations. EDB Postgres Distributed for Kubernetes is one example where Postgres is deployed using a Kubernetes operator.
- Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS): These fully managed services handle most database management tasks, such as installation, maintenance, and upgrades. This allows users to focus more on their applications rather than database operations. Examples include EDB Postgres® AI Cloud Service, Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL, and Azure Database for PostgreSQL.
EDB Postgres® AI Cloud Service supports high availability active/active Postgres Distributed deployments. Postgres Distributed can build robust applications that process thousands of transactions per second, with up to 99.995% availability and 5X throughput support versus native logical replication.
It’s also the only managed Postgres cloud solution offering advanced security features common to commercial databases, including Transparent Data Encryption, audit trail, privilege analysis, and firewall. Compliance-readiness includes GDPR, PCI DSS, and SOC2.
PostgreSQL databases allow you to avoid vendor lock-in scenarios in several ways, including:
- Multi-cloud support: Leading Postgres solutions operate across multiple cloud service providers (CSPs), including AWS, Azure, and GCP, allowing users to deploy PostgreSQL databases in a cloud-native environment without being tied to a single provider.
- Access controls: Granular access control is implemented using SSO and RBAC policies, managing user access and permissions to enhance security.
- Open source compatibility: PostgreSQL’s open source nature helps avoid proprietary technology lock-in, providing users flexibility and community support even when using a managed service.
- Oracle compatibility: EDB Postgres Advanced Server (EPAS) makes Postgres work seamlessly with existing written-for-Oracle applications. It supports Oracle-compatible SQL, data types, stored procedures, functions, data dictionary, etc. Re-write of migrated applications is reduced up to 95% with the help of EPAS.
- Flexible deployment options: To help avoid vendor lock-in, managed Postgres database solutions should allow users to deploy their own open source database in their preferred CSP environment or in a hybrid/multi-cloud environment. This keeps data isolated and under user control, reducing dependency on any cloud vendor.
- Standardized tooling: Some solutions, like EDB Postgres AI Cloud Service, are integrated with standard cloud tools and provide a consistent user interface across CSPs, reducing the learning curve and dependency on specific vendor tools and making it easier to switch providers if needed.
That said, although users are theoretically not locked in to a particular CSP, they can find themselves practically locked in without the vendor-agnostic features mentioned above. For example, users may be forced to use a CSP-specific API to provision databases, impacting efficiency and flexibility.
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