Public Cloud 101

There are several things that need some discussion on Public Cloud options.

What you need to ask for is some clarity and put it in writing and if it sounds complicated, get it put in plain english. Why? Because complexity brings costs.

These things are a start to your conversation to Public Cloud promise makers. You have the data and they have the capability to make the data useful for you. Remember that. You have the data, it's yours and Public Cloud is an option for you to use your data to better your clients lives.

Now here are the items you need to talk about and why.

Data Security:

Encryption:

Ensure that data is encrypted both at rest and in transit.

Access Control: Use identity and access management tools to strictly control who has access to what data.

Regular Audits:

Periodically review access logs and conduct security audits.

Compliance:

Data Residency and Sovereignty: Some regulations require data to be stored within certain geographic boundaries. Also, check which countries law the company you giving data to has to adhere to. (It may be in NZ but your data will be under the Companies Legal Authority)

Industry Standards: Depending on the industry (e.g., healthcare, finance), there may be specific regulations about data storage.

Cost:

Usage Patterns: Some providers charge for the amount of data stored, while others might charge for data operations or data outgress.

Hidden Costs: Look for costs associated with data retrieval, API calls, or other less obvious operations. (Get examples of high data use in writing, if it rises in cost get a fair warning before costs are change. This will allow you to move data elsewhere to remove the upcoming cost increase)

Performance:

Latency: Depending on the use case, access speed may be crucial.

I/O Operations: Ensure the cloud storage solution can handle the input/output operations per second (IOPS) your applications require.

Data Integrity and Durability:

Understand the durability guarantees provided. For example, Amazon S3 promises 99.999999999% (11 9's) durability over a given year. (How accurate that is today will come down to the marketing team vs Reddit)

Backup and Disaster Recovery:

Check if the cloud provider offers backup services.

Understand the provider's disaster recovery capabilities, including replication across multiple geographical regions. Time to recover is important, if you can't recover backups quickly to get back up and running then Backups are a cost with no return to the business. Add this as a regular test.

Service Level Agreements (SLAs):

Ensure you are comfortable with the uptime guarantees and the compensations provided for any downtime.

Data Portability

Consider how easy it would be to move your data out of the cloud provider if needed. Some providers might have egress fees or other limitations. Remember be very sure you want to put data in your Public Cloud as the more you store the more you add to the cost to move. Get a cost for a move using your current storage capacity. Get it in writing and ask them to update the pricing for you.

Scalability:

Ensure the solution can scale with your company's growth without incurring prohibitive costs or complexities.

Integration and Compatibility:

Ensure the storage solution integrates well with your existing tools, applications, and workflows. Multi-platform storage is rare and can be expensive, but it lessons the time required to use data.

Support and Training:

Assess the level of customer support offered. Is it 24/7? What's the response time?

Consider if there are adequate resources, documentation, and training available.

If they look after everything make sure the changes can be made quickly for your business changes.

Redundancy:

Understand how your data is backed up by the provider. Is it replicated across multiple data centers? How is data durability ensured?

Vendor Lock-in:

Be wary of getting too tied into a specific provider's ecosystem, as it can make migrating to another provider in the future challenging and costly. Very important to check this as Hybrid workloads are becoming more available and making good change in the market.

Environmental Concerns:

Some companies are now considering the environmental impact of their cloud providers, looking at their use of renewable energy and their carbon footprint.

Look for the certifications of the country your data is in.

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By paying close attention to these aspects, companies can make informed decisions about using public cloud storage, balancing their needs for accessibility, security, performance, and cost.

Sandy Antipas Author.

Works for ASI Solutions providing Private Cloud solutions for Data storage in NZ using all flash technology at scale with a price that is competitive to Public Cloud.