Benefits of Better Cloud Infrastructure Management

Moving to the cloud brings a lot of change to IT teams, including how they monitor costs and organize staff. One of the biggest challenges they face can be developing an efficient cloud infrastructure management plan. But with a good plan is in place, infrastructure agility can be achieved.

A move to cloud data infrastructure typically requires re-examining current system management tools. These tools can differ depending on whether using public, private, or hybrid cloud solutions. Clouds typically come with a provider’s native tools or a third-party system which can make decisions more complex.

Private Cloud Data Infrastructure Is Often the Choice for Legacy Systems

Out of all the cloud models, private clouds most often align with an organization’s current infrastructure vendors and tool sets. Many organizations choose this because they like going with what or who they know.

When companies implement a private cloud solution, most turn to VMware, the incumbent vendor. Their go-to private cloud stack is typically VMware’s vCloud Suite. In addition, they often use vRealize, vSphere, and other tools of the suite to manage self-service capabilities, provisioning, monitoring, and other important cloud infrastructure management tasks.

A similar concept is true for OpenStack, an open source platform which also serves as a foundation for private cloud deployment. Whether a company chooses OpenStack or vCloud, cloud infrastructure management is an extension of the platform. Several built-in management tools and capabilities are included.

Third-Party Cloud Data Infrastructure Tools Gain Traction in Public Clouds

While some organizations dip their toes into the private cloud sector, many recognize they can’t deliver the same quality of services and infrastructure agility as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, or other public cloud providers.

Just like the shift to a private cloud, public clouds demand a new set of cloud infrastructure management tools. However, some management is shifted to the public cloud provider. Moving to AWS or Azure means you don’t need to access the storage or network tools. These native monitoring tools are unnecessary for your toolbox.

Instead, many public cloud users are driven to different native management tools specific to the vendor’s platform. AWS gives users the AWS Management Console to manage and control access to AWS resources.

Some companies supplement these provider tools with third-party cloud infrastructure management tools such as CloudHealth, RightScale, or ScalR. The most common reason is that these tools offer independent insight into a cloud deployment. In the event their main provider suffers an outage, a third-party monitoring tool can help fill the gap.

Hybrid Clouds Bring New Management Challenges

Another reason companies lean on third-party tools is for hybrid cloud deployment. The traditional tools sometimes don’t involve the full spectrum of management features offered by third-party vendors.

In a multi-cloud environment, third-party tools are especially useful when organizations mix different infrastructure between service providers based on need. One provider’s tools can’t manage resources on the other platform. Third-party vendors help bridge that gap.

At Datera, our cloud infrastructure management tools focus on delivering infrastructure agility with scalable solutions for storage. Contact us today to learn more.