Enterprises that want to segment their storage within a provider’s data center or host it entirely on their own premises often choose private cloud solutions, which store data and run compute processes that are separate from any other customer’s virtual infrastructure. Although private clouds are typically more expensive, they give enterprises the option to better […]
Enterprises that want to segment their storage within a provider’s data center or host it entirely on their own premises often choose private cloud solutions, which store data and run compute processes that are separate from any other customer’s virtual infrastructure.
Although private clouds are typically more expensive, they give enterprises the option to better secure their cloud storage and compute environments. Private clouds also give organizations more control, allowing them to customize more elements of their cloud infrastructure.
See below to learn about various top private cloud providers and private cloud technology:
Red Hat OpenStack is a Linux-based cloud computing platform that includes private cloud offerings. Its Ceph Storage is software-defined and engineered for private cloud environments, supporting block, file, and object storage formats.
Ceph Storage can scale to more than 1 billion objects. Red Hat designed Ceph
specifically for OpenStack, intending enterprises to store the data generated from open-source OpenStack projects in a Ceph environment. Consider Ceph if your enterprise needs to store all data formats — file, block, and object — in one storage solution.
Red Hat has set up an OpenStack partner ecosystem, which certifies technology partners that OpenStack customers can integrate with Red Hat technology. These solutions include public cloud and service providers, approved hardware, and third-party software. The partner solutions expand the reach of Red Hat for its enterprise customers.
OpenStack also has an active user community. Because it’s open source, developers can work on projects within OpenStack and tailor the platform to their organization’s needs.
Key differentiators
Also read: Open Source Storage May Change How Enterprises Code
Oracle Private Cloud Appliance (PCA) is an on-premises system for deploying workloads on a variety of operating systems. It’s a software-defined converged infrastructure, and enterprises can scale their Private Cloud Appliance by one server at a time. Oracle PCA makes Oracle VM Templates available to customers, so they can more quickly configure and deploy virtual machines (VMs).
Oracle Private Cloud Appliance supports multiple operating systems and provides a single
pane of glass for application and middleware management. Oracle PCA also allows organizations to deploy and scale Kubernetes clusters.
A Private Cloud Appliance rack can scale up to 3.3 PB of storage and 1408 cores. Users are also able to connect Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance ZS7-2 with PCA VMs through customizable networks. The appliance’s usable capacity is 100 TB.
Oracle PCA supports Oracle Linux Cloud Native Environment and belongs to the Linux foundation as well. Consider PCA for your private cloud if your enterprise technology uses Linux operating systems or if your business already uses Oracle cloud solutions.
Key differentiators
Also read: Public Cloud vs. Private Cloud for Data Storage
HPE offers multiple private and hybrid cloud solutions to enterprises. Through HPE Synergy and its partnership with VMware Cloud Foundation, enterprises are able to curate a software-defined environment running on composable infrastructure. VMware private and public clouds can run on Synergy, which uses Intel Xeon processors and enables rack-scale fabric through HPE Virtual Connect.
HPE also partners with Red Hat to make Red Hat OpenStack, a private cloud platform, and
Red Hat OpenShift, a containerization platform, available on HPE Synergy. In this solution, OpenShift is deployed atop OpenStack, allowing enterprises to run container management on the cloud infrastructure of OpenStack. Then OpenStack runs on Synergy’s composable infrastructure. For enterprises ready to migrate to a composable data center, HPE offers open-source platform options: Red Hat is open source and runs in Linux environments.
The OpenShift and OpenStack partnership with HPE Synergy has an added benefit: enterprises have access to Ceph Storage, a software-defined solution for block, file, and object formats. If your business plans to scale quickly and needs the flexibility of an open-source containerization solution, consider HPE’s solution with Red Hat.
Key differentiators
Dell Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) is an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) solution that comes from Dell’s partnership with Six Degrees Group (6DG), a cloud and managed service provider (MSP). PowerEdge blades provide compute for the private cloud, and Dell EqualLogic SAN is the storage solution. By connecting the Virtual Private Cloud to 6DG’s other cloud solutions, customers are able to create a hybrid cloud environment.
Dell Virtual Private Cloud users have access to managed backup; Dell also backs up all its
virtual private clouds in a secondary zone in another geographic location, keeping the environments configured for high availability. Dell’s VPCs are ISO 27001 and PCI-DSS certified.
Virtual Private Cloud customers have the ability to put their backups in long-term archives. Dell VPC also supports seasonal scaling: if a business has a busy season and wants to increase their cloud capacity for that time period, they can scale back afterward. This is helpful for enterprises that need to rapidly scale resources.
Note that the VPC requires a 12-month minimum contract and is a fixed contract.
Key differentiators
Also read: Composable Infrastructure Adoption Benefits Data Centers
Microsoft Azure Stack is a cloud service that enterprises can run on their own servers and data centers as well as remote offices and edge servers. Azure Stack Edge is a managed appliance that provides an environment for edge workloads. Businesses can use Azure to build machine learning (ML) models and then install them and continue to train them at an edge deployment, so they’re specifically tailored to that location’s data. Consider Azure
Stack if your business needs both an on-premises solution and edge locations to run applications.
Azure Stack Hub allows businesses to run an autonomous cloud on their organization’s premises, running Azure services there. Enterprises can disconnect their cloud environment partially or entirely from the internet or public clouds. Developers can design and deploy cloud applications that run in Azure and on premises.
Stack Hub users can use existing Azure serverless and microservices architectures for their private cloud. Azure Stack is an ideal on-premises cloud environment for organizations that already use an Azure public cloud and want to streamline cloud services across their own data centers and Microsoft’s.
Key differentiators
Also read: Azure Stack vs. Azure Cloud
Private cloud computing environments include virtual machines, which either run on an enterprise’s on-premises servers or on a vendor’s servers. Virtualization allows for more rapid server deployment and resource allocation.
Private clouds can be deployed on-premises. On-premises private clouds run from an organization’s data center or office rather than a vendor’s. This method typically gives enterprises the greatest control over their cloud, because they can manage the physical environment.
Virtual private clouds are often managed by a public cloud provider, using the vendor’s existing cloud infrastructure but separated from other customer clouds.
Managed private clouds are handled by third-party vendors, which help businesses more quickly provision and deploy their cloud computing solutions. The vendor typically manages the customer organization’s infrastructure, so they don’t have to deploy their own.
Security-minded enterprises want to limit data and application access to those within their organization. While many public cloud solutions don’t give a complete list of who can access the data on the servers, private clouds are more suited to the stringent access controls of some businesses and industries.
Also read: Access Control Security Best Practices
Increased security: Because your computing, storage, or networking resources aren’t sharing the same cloud space as a public cloud, your enterprise has more control over the data security policies that govern information and system access.
Increased customization and flexibility: Although purchasing a private cloud solution from a cloud provider still includes any limits the provider has set, it’s generally still a more customizable option than a public cloud. This flexibility is useful for tailoring a cloud specifically to your organization’s infrastructure.
Increased opportunity to comply with regulatory standards: The customization of private cloud environments also means that businesses can more easily modify their private cloud to any regulations they have to follow. For example, an enterprise in the financial services industry might need to design their private cloud permissions to comply with any relevant financial statutes.
“We wanted a scalable, responsive IT architecture with support for microservices, automation, and legacy systems, backed by enterprise support and security. … After evaluating different vendors, we found that Red Hat offers a complete, integrated software stack that could deliver what we need to support and grow our business. … With Red Hat‘s cloud-agnostic solutions, we can develop once and then quickly and easily deploy across on-site, private cloud, or public cloud environments with the same tools and web interface. By extending our public cloud solutions, with data processed on edge-deployed Red Hat OpenShift, our customers can use cloud resources in multiple regions through a unified interface, including geographical resource allocation in line with their edge strategies.” -Vladimir Smrekar, head of IT System Integration Department at Slovenian telecom company T-2, in a case study on Red Hat OpenStack, OpenShift, and Ceph Storage
“What Azure public and Azure Stack Hub give us is one plane of glass. When we provision our workloads in the public cloud, we see the same types of workloads — size, capacity, and usage. When I switch to look at our on-premises workloads, I see the same one in Azure Stack. I can see everything in the Azure portal. … When we needed capacity, we pushed our workloads into the cloud. I didn’t worry about waiting months for hardware. I knew I had capacity.” -Rajeev Siddappa, VP of infrastructure at Molina Healthcare, in a case study on Azure Stack
Decide whether a managed private cloud, hosted private cloud, or virtual private cloud will be best for your business. This is one of the first steps to take when purchasing a private cloud solution; from there, your business can narrow the search.
Communicate frequently with the vendor, discussing your enterprise’s cloud needs and ensuring that the private cloud solution will meet your particular use cases well. Look for indicators that the provider is receptive to questions and offers good customer service, especially due to the single-tenant architecture..
Consider what differentiates private cloud providers, such as container support, data storage formats, and open-source environment, and which vendor can match your specific cloud demands.
Considering a hybrid cloud solution? Read Best Hybrid Cloud Storage Vendors & Software.
Jenna Phipps is a staff writer for Enterprise Storage Forum and eSecurity Planet, where she covers data storage, cybersecurity and the top software and hardware solutions in the storage industry. She’s also written about containerization and data management. Previously, she wrote for Webopedia. Jenna has a bachelor's degree in writing and lives in middle Tennessee.
Enterprise Storage Forum offers practical information on data storage and protection from several different perspectives: hardware, software, on-premises services and cloud services. It also includes storage security and deep looks into various storage technologies, including object storage and modern parallel file systems. ESF is an ideal website for enterprise storage admins, CTOs and storage architects to reference in order to stay informed about the latest products, services and trends in the storage industry.
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