A private cloud is a model of cloud computing where the infrastructure is dedicated to a single user organization. A private cloud can be hosted either at an organization’s own data center, at a third party colocation facility, or via a private cloud provider who offers private cloud hosting services and may or may not also offer traditional public shared multi-tenant cloud infrastructure.
Typically, the end-user organization is responsible for the operation of a private cloud as if it were a traditional on-premises infrastructure, which includes ongoing maintenance, upgrades, OS patches, middleware, and application software management.
Private cloud solutions offer organizations more control over and better security of private cloud servers, although it does require a much higher level of IT expertise than utilizing a public cloud.
In a private cloud, computing resources are dedicated and proprietary, and a single organization hosts and manages the system. What makes it private is the fact that the underlying hardware layer is segregated from any other client’s infrastructure. In a public cloud, services are owned and managed by a provider who also hosts other tenants. Companies may combine a private cloud with a public cloud in a hybrid or multi-cloud environment.
Private clouds offer the same control and security as traditional on-premises infrastructure. Here are some reasons why organizations opt for private cloud computing:
Security: Private cloud security is enhanced since traffic to a private cloud is typically limited to the organization’s own transactions. Public cloud providers must handle traffic from millions of users and transactions simultaneously, thus opening a greater chance for malicious traffic. Since private clouds consist of dedicated physical infrastructure, the organization has better control over server, network, and application security.
Predictable performance: Because the hardware is dedicated rather than multi-tenant, workload performance is predictable and unaffected by other organizations sharing infrastructure or bandwidth.
Long-term savings: While it can be expensive to set up the infrastructure to support a private cloud, it can pay off in the long term. If an organization already has the hardware and network required for hosting, a private cloud can be much more cost-effective over time compared to paying monthly fees to use someone else’s servers on the public cloud.
Predictable costs: Public cloud costs can be very unpredictable based on usage, storage charges and data egress charges. Private cloud costs are the same each month, regardless of the workloads an organization is running or how much data is moved.
Regulatory governance: Regulations such as the EU’s GDPR may dictate where data resides and where computing occurs. In those regions where public cloud providers cannot offer service, a private cloud may be required. Additionally, organizations with sensitive data such as financial or legal firms may opt for private cloud storage to ensure they have complete control over personally identifiable or sensitive information.
VMware is a global leader in cloud infrastructure, and VMware Private Cloud offers a service enabling organizations to simply pool all their servers into a single resource, which can be distributed among virtual machines (VMs) that run application workloads across the enterprise.
VMware supports the three major types of private cloud: virtual private cloud, hosted private cloud, and managed private cloud.
Private cloud architecture is the aggregation of resources in a data center into a single pool of resources. Through virtualization of the hardware components, organizations increase the efficiency and utilization of their private cloud infrastructure. Private cloud solutions come from leading software companies such as VMware, Microsoft, and others, while enterprise-grade open source solutions are available from Red Hat, OpenStack, and others.
Private cloud solutions allow companies to architect a data center using software-defined networking (SDN) and virtual machines (VMs). A private cloud can span the global network to include multiple server locations or leased space in international colocation facilities. Private cloud solutions provide the software tools for complex network orchestration on bare-metal servers where the security of data can be managed on the premises of a business directly.
There are different types of private clouds that deliver different services. For example, when a company uses a private cloud for infrastructure as a service (IaaS), the cloud might host storage, networking, or compute services. Private clouds can also support platform as a service (PaaS) applications, which work just like regular software applications that are hosted on a local computer.
A virtual private cloud is a private cloud instance that is hosted by and located within a public cloud provider’s infrastructure. This differs from the other types of private cloud in that it is not located in an organization’s own premises or colocation partner.
A hosted private cloud is hosted by the cloud provider and can reside on-premises or in a data center. These resources are not shared with other organizations and are managed by the cloud service provider. All updates, upgrades, and maintenance are the responsibility of the cloud provider.
A managed private cloud offloads many responsibilities of cloud management to a third party hosting partner. Hardware, software, networking, and operations of the private cloud are handled by the provider, who may offer other value-added services such as backup and business continuity.
VMware Cloud Foundation provides a full-stack platform for turnkey hosted private cloud solutions suitable for any application. VMware Cloud Foundation is built with industry-leading compute, storage, networking, security, and management that enables cloud hosting organizations to:
Maximize monetization opportunities by leveraging hosting partner cloud solutions as a pathway to hybrid cloud.
Deliver seamless cloud migration capabilities from customer premises to your data center.
Provide deep visibility with granular monitoring, chargeback, reporting, and logging capabilities
Promote developer productivity and deploy applications to market faster.
Connect their private cloud to public cloud for a hybrid cloud experience for greater scale and efficiency.
Private cloud can be more secure than public cloud, with one important caveat: Organizations must proactively ensure that security is strong and up to date in order to reap the benefits of private cloud. As long as an organization is not complacent about security, the private cloud can offer many advantages for security. Since private clouds are limited to specific physical machines, it can be easier to ensure physical security. Most private clouds sit behind a perimeter firewall and are accessed through private, secure network links, rather than through the public Internet. Additionally, the degree of control a business has over its private cloud can also make it easier to achieve regulatory compliance and governance mandates.
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