What is Private Cloud Storage?

Definition, Types, Examples, and Best Practices

A private cloud is defined as an on-demand cloud deployment model in

which the cloud computing services, and infrastructure are hosted
privately within a company’s own intranet or data centre using
proprietary resources. This article explains the basics of private cloud
storage and lists some best practices for private cloud implementation
in 2021.

Fig. Private Cloud Architecture

How Private Cloud Works

Today, businesses are moving to cloud for their most critical business
applications. It is an excellent way to deliver IT services more quickly and
cost-effectively. When looking for a secure cloud option, organizations
often choose private clouds. Although businesses were a little reluctant to
migrate to private cloud earlier, it quickly emerged as the most secure cloud
model.
Among the three types of cloud computing, private cloud is the most
preferred option for organizations due to the additional security it offers. In
a private cloud, the cloud computing services, and infrastructure are hosted
privately within a company’s own data centre. These services are accessible
to the personnel of a single organization. This type of cloud is managed by
internal resources and is not accessible to those outside the organization.
Private clouds are also referred to as enterprise clouds.

Types of Private Cloud

Depending on who manages the private cloud environment and where the
cloud solution is hosted, a private cloud can be classified into four major
types – virtual private cloud, managed private cloud, hosted private cloud,
and on-premises private cloud. Let’s look at each one in detail.

1. Virtual private cloud

A virtual private cloud (VPC) is a type of cloud model that offers the
benefits of a private cloud (more control and an isolated environment) with
the help of public cloud resources Opens a new window. Although private
cloud and virtual private cloud are often used interchangeably, there are
many points of difference between the two.

In a traditional private cloud, a company’s internal IT department acts as the

service provider, and the individual business units act as tenants. In a virtual
private cloud model, a public cloud provider acts as the service provider,
and the cloud users act as its tenants. Simply put, a virtual private cloud is a
hybrid model of cloud computing in which a private cloud solution is
provided within a public cloud provider’s infrastructure.

2. Managed private cloud

A managed private cloud is a type of private cloud model in which the
infrastructure is not shared. It is also referred to as a dedicated or single-
tenant cloud. This type of private cloud is managed by a third-party vendor.
The vendor provides support, maintenance, upgrades, and even remote
management of the private cloud. In some cases, vendors also manage the
software applications in cloud.

3. Hosted private cloud

Hosted private cloud vendors offer cloud servers in their own data centres
and are also responsible for security management. In a hosted private cloud
model, users get access to additional resources, a support team, high-
demand scalability options, as well as a user-friendly dashboard to assist in
server management.

4. On-Premises private cloud

Unlike hosted private clouds, on-premises cloud solutions allow users to

host a cloud environment internally. For such a cloud model, it is necessary
to have an internal data centre to host the cloud server. This type of private
cloud model is very secure as they are internally hosted and managed by an
organization’s internal IT department. The organization, therefore, has
complete control over the security, configurations, and scalability of its
servers.

Let’s glance at the services provided by some leading private cloud

vendors.

1. HPE

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has been a leader in the private cloud
computing Opens a new window market for many years. The private cloud
service provider offers customizable private cloud software and
infrastructure. The HPE private cloud can be used along with a public cloud
to provide a faster connection with the same security protections as a private
cloud. HPE’s private cloud offerings include services, hardware, and
software. Its private cloud solutions include the Helion CloudSystem
hardware, Helion Cloud Suite software, Helion Managed Private Cloud, and
Managed Virtual Private Cloud services, among others.

2. VMware

VMware offers two types of private cloud solutions. While one solution is
completely private, the other is a hybrid solution that offers an integrated
stack as well as automated lifecycle management. Although VMware is best
known for its virtualization software that runs many private cloud
environments, it also offers a variety of other services. VMWare’s vRealize
Suite Cloud Management Platform offers private as well as hybrid cloud
management. The VMWare Cloud Foundation, on the other hand, is a data
centre platform for private clouds.

3. Dell

Dell EMC offers two private cloud products. While one is meant for
Microsoft Azure Stack, the other is a turnkey developer platform. Dell, who
was always a leader in the private cloud market, became an even stronger
player after its merger with EMC. The company’s cloud offerings include
cloud management and cloud security software, virtual private cloud
services, and various cloud consulting services.

4. Oracle

Oracle’s Private Cloud Appliance is a scalable data centre that is capable of

processing mixed workloads. The company’s private cloud solutions
include its cloud platform, infrastructure, applications, lifecycle
management tools, as well as integration services, along with managed
cloud services.

5. IBM

The design of the IBM private cloud is based on open-source frameworks,

including Kubernetes and Cloud Foundry. The company’s private cloud
solutions include IBM Systems and IBM Storage, IBM Cloud Managed
Services, Cloud Manager, and Cloud Orchestrator. Apart from the private
cloud vendors mentioned above, Microsoft, Cisco, NetApp, Red Hat, and
AWS are also major players in the private cloud race.

Advantages and Challenges of Private Cloud

Although a private cloud is quite expensive, it comes with its share of

advantages. Let’s look at the various benefits that a private cloud offers:

Robust security: Private cloud is known for enhanced security and control.
Since a private cloud can be operated in a completely isolated environment,
it offers an additional layer of security.

Enhanced performance: A private cloud is only accessible to one

organization. This results in lesser competition for capacity, and therefore,
improved performance. Therefore, the workload performance for private
cloud is never affected by another organization running resource-intensive
workloads on a shared server.

Complete control over resources: When using a private cloud, an

organization is free to build and configure cloud services in a way that’s
most suitable to the company’s needs. Not only can you use the applications
of your choice, but you may also allocate resources as per business needs.
A private cloud is very secure, no doubt. However, managing a cloud
internally can prove to be quite challenging.
Here are some other challenges organizations face with private clouds:

Added cost: Private clouds are more expensive than public and hybrid
clouds because they require the organization to pay for private cloud server
hardware as well as maintenance. Buying the operating systems and licenses
for software applications further increases the cost.

More support requirements: Setting up a private cloud is a lot more

expensive and time-consuming than a hybrid or public cloud. It also needs
continuous maintenance. A private cloud service requires an in-house IT
setup. Moreover, if your server crashes, your internal IT department will
have to spend more time and resources to fix the issue.

Limited scalability: The private cloud is not as scalable as the public cloud.
If the need arises, an organization may not be able to handle higher
workloads when using a private cloud.

Further talking about the challenges of private cloud, Brian Kelly, CEO,
Cloud Bolt, says, “When businesses invest in private cloud technologies,
they’re responsible for the infrastructure that runs the virtualized
environments. They must size and configure an environment that can handle
anticipated workloads effectively. The challenge is to configure an
environment without over- or under-provisioning the necessary capacity,
which can become a goose chase and tough to predict. Meanwhile, you are
accountable to the critical corporate mandate of securing that networking
environment, mitigating vulnerabilities and malicious attacks while
enforcing smart, reasonable end-user behaviour. It’s a lot, but when
executed thoughtfully, it’s a beautiful thing.

Investing in a private cloud requires oversight of the underlying

infrastructure through monitoring, analytics, and troubleshooting so
enterprises can catch issues before they cause costly downtime from security
breaches or mismatched capacity. Visibility and control of virtualized
environments that run and impact the underlying infrastructure capacity also
help to pinpoint where issues occur.”

Top 8 Best Practices for Implementing Private Cloud

Storage.

Private cloud occupies a sizable share of the global cloud market. According
to the fourth annual cloud usage survey by Denodo, a data virtualization
company, nearly a quarter of all workloads among 150 global businesses
were hosted on a private cloud. As enterprises look beyond one-size-fits-all
public cloud solutions towards something that is tailored and more secure,
private cloud implementation is essential for your IT strategy.

Here are the top 8 best practices for getting started.

1. Choose a hyperscale private cloud provider

One key drawback deterring widespread private cloud implementation is the

lack of scalability. As private cloud relies on a pre-specified set of resources
owned by the enterprise or its cloud partner, it has been traditionally difficult
to scale. Partnering with a hyperscale company like IBM or Equinix could
address this problem.

Hyperscale essentially means that the cloud architecture is purpose-built to

expand based on new demand. Hyperscale-compatible private clouds
effectively bring together the benefits of public and private cloud
environments.

2. Ensure that your private cloud partner offers managed services

Private cloud environments typically require more IT efforts and more

frequent intervention than public clouds, which can be set-and-forget in
nature. An enterprise will require a large in-house IT team, sophisticated
tools, constant training, and significant efforts to keep an end-to-end private
cloud running with external support.

That’s why it is recommended to partner with a private cloud company that

also offers managed services and remotely looks after the implementation,
usage, and maintenance. A new solution has also emerged called managed
private cloud as a service (currently offered through a Cisco-IBM
partnership), where an external partner manages your private servers (in this
case, VMware and IBM) on a subscription model.

3. Carefully assess the front end for ease of use

Even with managed services, enterprises need a powerful front-end

interface that can help to monitor ongoing private cloud activities. What is
the storage status? How are virtual machines and network resources being
provisioned? Can automated workflows be defined for issue resolution?

The front-end user interface (UI) enables all of this and more. It reduces the
manual efforts of the internal IT team and helps enterprises stay on the same
page with their managed services provider. Your private cloud partner
should also be able to deliver custom automation frameworks in tune with
your business requirements.

4. Make private cloud storage interoperable with other environments

While private clouds are technically designed as segregated infrastructure

chunks with minimal interactions with external resources, this could get in
the way of performance and productivity. That’s why some level of
interoperability is essential, even if that makes an environment slightly akin
to a hybrid cloud.

In fact, the 2020 IDC Survey Spotlight on on-premises private cloud

solutions mentions hybrid cloud-enabling interoperability as an essential
parameter for private cloud implementation, which can help deliver a
strategic and competitive advantage. Interoperability will also allow the use
of similar management tools, server images, frameworks, and other cloud
components across multiple environments for a simpler, more cost-efficient
infrastructure stack.

5. Bring uniformity into your application and hardware stack

One of the risks of implementing a fully private cloud environment is that it

might lead to gradual sprawl and fragmentation. For example, consider a
scenario where two servers from different vendors operate on different
configurations, and IT starts provisioning .NET apps for Windows servers
while providing Java apps for Linux.

Over time, this adds to your maintenance overheads, confuses the process
map, and increases costs. Therefore, as you scale your private cloud
landscape, it is best to standardize hardware configurations as legacy
equipment is retired. The enterprise application policy should make room
for exceptions to document all apps across operating systems and
configurations.

6. Leverage PaaS to accelerate your cloud application roadmap

Platform as a service (PaaS) allows developers to create and host

applications with a cloud-native approach. PaaS solutions include
standardized software components, necessary middleware, dev tools,
automaton scripts, and relevant web services to dramatically shrink your
time to go live.

Given that private cloud involves a sizable investment, PaaS could speed up
ROI generation. Further, PaaS solutions are self-service and easy-to-use,
ready to be implemented with minimal intervention from a third-party
vendor. PaaS, along with a private cloud, can enable more efficient
utilization of the available resources and power business processes.

7. Monitor CPU, memory, and storage issues on a per-application basis

These are the three key parameters that need to be monitored on a real-time
basis. A business intelligence dashboard can inform your IT team about the
current state of private cloud utilization, which apps are the most resource-
intensive if an app is exceeding the expected threshold, and whether the
resource availability is keeping up with demand.

If utilization is almost always close to 100% or thereabouts, you might need

to invest in additional private cloud resources. A dashboard that monitors
CPU, memory, and storage utilization can contribute to long-term value
generation as well. Historical data plotted as time-bound trends tell you
exactly when demand is the highest and when your resources are sitting idle.
This helps to plan for peak demand periods more effectively so you can
automate resource provisioning to prevent outages.
8. Establish policies for backup and disaster recovery

The private cloud is central to your IT infrastructure since it may be used as

a production environment and for hosting highly sensitive data. A private
cloud downtime can cause serious damage not only to your business process
but also to your customers. That’s why a robust backup and disaster
recovery blueprint must be in place, defining failover policies where critical
functions are transferred to a secondary component in your cloud
environment.

There are several ways to go about this – for example, you might want to
use multiple data centres to host a private cloud instead of using just one,
avoiding a scenario where you “put all your eggs in one basket” as the adage
goes, or you might want to partner with a managed service provider that can
switch critical functions to a remote location in case of an emergency.