Effective private cloud management starts before adoption
With the increasing popularity of the public cloud, it can be easy to simply dismiss the private cloud altogether. But migrating everything to the public cloud isn't the best way to take advantage of certain features and functionality.
It can be extremely costly and time-consuming to migrate everything to the cloud. Security and compliance requirements can also be an issue, depending on the industry your business resides in and the type of data you work with. In those cases, a private cloud implementation might make more sense, but there are still limitations to what you can do with a private cloud.
To get the best of both worlds, more and more IT departments are considering hybrid cloud adoption. Even if this is your endgame, building an effective private cloud as your foundation will make this complex infrastructure more functional and seamless. To start, you should outline exactly what you want to accomplish with a private cloud. What is the ultimate goal? What business needs would a private cloud meet? How will you handle private cloud management? Once you have the answers to these questions, you can start evaluating your options. Consider cost, expertise, security, compliance and scalability before building a private cloud. Also, if your plan is to go hybrid eventually, ensure compatibility with the public cloud provider of your choice.
It's important to find your footing before you even think about migrating workloads to the public cloud, though. Incorporate private cloud management tools and establish some best practices. Monitor performance and resource utilization to get a good sense of your workload needs. Then, with a clear view of your environment, migrate those workloads that are best suited to the public cloud. If you've done your homework and created a strong foundation, you'll find the cloud much easier to navigate.
