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What is a private cloud? Private clouds can be defined as a cloud computing platform that is implemented within a client’s own private network using equipment dedicated solely to that client. In most cases, only one client runs on a private cloud. Find out how NetSource implements private clouds for our customers and the benefits of the service offers.
NetSource offers both public and private cloud hosting setups based out of our Naperville datacenter. NetSource’s private cloud packages usually include 3 or more physical dedicated servers attached to a dual controller private SAN. A virtualization product, like Citrix Xenserver, VMware, or Hyper-V, is usually run in the environment. The SAN’s full storage resources are fully dedicated to a single customer so that you can keep control over the environment and use the full resources of the configuration. In this article, NetSource will outline the benefits a business may achieve when using a private cloud hosting setup over other approaches.
1) Customization and Security – Private cloud hosting allows for your business to setup very specific security rules. Private clouds also allow for businesses to select custom servers and hardware to meet business objectives and performance goals. Unlike public cloud hosting where the security is pre-determined by the provider, private cloud hosting allows customers to pick specific models of firewalls (ex. Juniper SSG140 or Cisco 5520) and decide if additional layers of security are needed like Intrusion Detection and Prevention Devices (IDP). Maybe you want to add a certain level of (Denial of Service) DDoS protection. Customers decide how to build out their environment and have complete control.
2) Compliance – With continuous changes to compliance rules and regulations, such as HIPAA, PCI-DSS, Sarbanes Oxley (SOX), FEDRAMP, and others, many business find that public clouds don’t meet their strict compliance requirements. In many cases, it is impossible to tell how public cloud instances are setup or secured by the provider. For example, the compliance they are trying to achieve might not allow them to share storage on a SAN with other businesses. Some auditors may or may not accept a public cloud setup depending on the service they are auditing. Private cloud setups don’t have these issues because the private clouds setup at NetSource are fully dedicated and custom to just one single client. The entire environment can be customized to meet very specific compliance requirements or to meet an auditor’s specific recommendations.
3) Control – Many clients still need tight control over their environment and data. It only makes sense that in a private cloud environment where the resources are dedicated to one client, the client has more control. The client has complete visibility into the location of servers and data and can completely control the flow of data.
4) Scalability – While the public cloud provides good scalability, so does the private cloud. It is easy to setup additional virtual machines (VMs) or even add additional physical servers and storage space to the overall system when resources run out. Private clouds are setup using virtualization just like public clouds so they are easy to scale. There is no need to redo system architectures to get more resources.
5) Performance and Reliability – A private cloud setup can include multiple physical servers with 64, 128, or 256 GB of RAM. Businesses that purchase a private cloud can use the full resources of the physical servers for their virtual machines (VMs), and the full resources of the dedicated private SAN’s Input/Output Operations (IOPs). A business will not compete for resources with other customers when using their own private cloud setup. This means that performance could be higher in a private cloud and they can be built to meet specific performance requirements. It also means the reliability of the sytem could be better when there is no conflict of resources with other users. Of course many factors influence performance, but private clouds allow you to control the performance and reliability of the environment.
6) Cost – If you are looking for an enterprise solution, then cost is probably not your primary concern. However, you may be surprised to find that a dedicated private cloud solution might cost less that other solutions. In a fully redundant private cloud, you can install a large number of VMs on dedicated hardware and pay one monthly fixed cost.
If you are interested in finding out how NetSource can build a private cloud for your business, please contact us at or sales@netsource.com.