Public, private and hybrid cloud. This classification refers to the uso we make of the cloud, which also affects how we connect with it. In the last years the company’s tendency has been to go for the hybrid cloud, which is a combination of public and private cloud.
- The public cloud is an infrastructure in the cloud, owned by an Internet services provider. The provider offers the users their cloud because the application they distribute is hosted there. For example. if we decide using the messaging application Microsoft Exchange Online to manage our email, we will be using Microsoft’s infrastructure in the cloud. There are many applications and providers available on the Internet. The offer is wide and includes billing and accounting programs for companies, CRM (Customer Research Management), e-learning platforms, etc. In all this cases, each provider has its own cloud where it hosts its application, and we can use it simply contracting the service and signing in on the provider’s website. We can use public clouds of many providers if we contract the services with all of them.
- The private cloud is an infrastructure in the cloud contracted by us, in which we set up our applications. The result is a cloud that only we can connect to, with our applications and our data.
- The hybrid cloud is a combination of public and private cloud. We use some applications via the public cloud and others setting them up on our private network.
Therefore, which cloud do I need?
The final decision depends on the application. In some cases, the public cloud is the only available option, because the provider doesn’t offer a private cloud option. If the provider offers both options, we have to evaluate the monthly cost of each option. Usually, if we have many applications, it will be more beneficial to install all of them in our cloud servers in order to reduce expenses. Furthermore, the private cloud option allows us to control much better the users access, and hence it’s a safer system.
The public cloud is more confortable because the provider is the one in charge go installing and maintaining it, but on the other hand the access security is lower because any worldwide user who knows our username and password could sign in without our knowledge.
With a private cloud we can manage much better the users’ access, restricting where connexions are allowed, requiring the users to change passwords periodically, and getting information about the last connections.
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