What is Private Cloud, and is it Right for You?

In the digital age, it is not uncommon for enterprises to engage in “cloud migration” as part of their business strategy. Uploading data to the cloud and making use of cloud-based resources is seen by many companies as a surefire way to gain a competitive edge—which is why the market for cloud computing has grown exponentially. If you are involved with your organization’s IT infrastructure, you may want to think about how cloud computing can help you stay ahead of the curve.

Glossary:
《What is Cloud Computing?》
《What is IT?》

To different people, cloud computing may mean different things. But the “private cloud” is a tried-and-true method that is championed by many public institutes and private companies alike. If you did not know, here is your chance to find out: what is a private cloud? What are its benefits? How can you build and operate your own? GIGABYTE Technology, an industry leader which provides data center and server solutions for cloud service providers (CSPs), is pleased to present our latest Tech Guide. We will delve into the strengths and limitations of the private cloud, share success stories, and make recommendations that may help you decide if the private cloud is right for you.《Glossary: What is Data Center?》

A private cloud is also known as a corporate or internal cloud. It is cloud infrastructure built specifically to provide “isolated access” in a “single-tenant environment”—in lay terms, this means it is accessible only to a single entity, which is usually the organization that is using and maintaining the cloud. This set-up lets the user benefit from the hallmarks of cloud computing, such as remote access and centralized control; as well as the advantages of an on-premises IT infrastructure, such as a high degree of security and superb performance that is made possible through dedicated computing resources. The computing resources in question may be a slew of interconnected servers. In order to let different individuals access these resources simultaneously, virtualization technology is used to create multiple virtual machines (VMs) on the private cloud.《Glossary: What is Virtual Machine?》

Of course, a private cloud is not without its drawbacks. Since the user must set up and maintain the cloud, it comes with a hefty price tag up-front, as well as constant maintenance and upgrade costs through its life cycle. A higher level of IT expertise is needed to service the private cloud during day-to-day operations. Last but not least, if your organization’s IT demand ends up exceeding the private cloud’s capacity, you will need to invest in the additional hardware and software—not to mention real estate—to scale up or scale out your private cloud.

Glossary:
《What is Scale Up?》
《What is Scale Out?》

A private cloud can be further categorized as either an “internal private cloud” or a “hosted private cloud”.

● Internal private cloud: An internal private cloud is built on-premises (“on-prem”) inside the organization. It may be physically located in a company’s data center or server room. This type of private cloud is unique in that all its hardware and software components are wholly owned and controlled by the enterprise. The flip side is that the owner of the cloud must pay for maintenance, staffing, software and hardware upgrades, scaling up and scaling out, etc. In particular, scalability may be constrained by the physical—or financial—limitations of the organization.

Glossary:
《What is Server Room?》
《What is Scalability?》

● Hosted private cloud: Also known as a colocation (“colo”), a hosted private cloud is what happens when the enterprise packs up its private cloud infrastructure and rehouses it in a third party’s data center. The third party may be a public cloud service provider; however, it is only renting out its data center’s floor space and peripheral subsystems (such as the all-important cooling system), not the servers themselves. A hosted private cloud may be a good alternative if you don’t want to maintain your own server room, or want to save on staffing, maintenance, etc. The drawback is that the servers may be physically farther away from you than you would like, and your control over them might be compromised as a result.

Besides the two main categories of “internal” and “hosted”, there are a few minor variations. For instance, a virtual private cloud (VPC) is a VM carved out of a public cloud, reserved exclusively for the use of a single entity. A managed private cloud outsources maintenance of the cloud to a third party, but the actual equipment may be hosted or on-premises. A hybrid cloud is the umbrella term for any organization that does its cloud computing on a combination of private and public clouds.

Learn More:
《Glossary: What is Hyrbid Cloud?》
《GIGABYTE Tech Guide: How to Build Your Own Data Center? A Downloadable PDF Guide》

If you conduct a survey of enterprises and institutes that opt to compute on private clouds, you will probably hear them cite a few (or all) of the advantages listed below:

1. Data security: Unlike the public cloud, a private cloud is erected for the sole purpose of serving the organization that owns the cloud. This makes the question of “who has access?” more clear-cut, so a private cloud is generally safer than a public cloud. In the case of on-premises, internal private clouds, since the owner has full control over the physical computing, storage, and networking equipment, data security is elevated to the highest level.

2. Better control: Since a private cloud is only used by a single organization, the organization has complete control over its software and hardware choices. This high degree of control means that the owner of the private cloud can reconfigure or customize the cloud resources for the task at hand, further improving efficiency.

3. Better performance: Unlike in a public cloud, where your access is limited to a virtual machine carved out of a communal pool of computing, storage, and networking devices, a private cloud is fully devoted to the tasks of your organization. This means you can always get the best performance that your set-up has to offer.

4. Cost-saving: This might seem counter-intuitive, especially since earlier in this article, we mentioned that private clouds have a higher up-front cost. But relying on a public CSP places your organization at the mercy of possible price hikes and service adjustments. Investing in your own private cloud means you will have the ability to control costs and pay for only the things you really need, which may lead to cost-savings in the long term.

5. Regulatory compliance: Technology gives us a lot of conveniences, but we must always keep within legal and regulatory boundaries. Especially in the case of financial statements, medical records, or other sensitive, identifiable data, regulatory compliance is mandatory. Hosting everything on a private cloud can help your organization comply with data-related regulations, such as the European Union’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

For companies that have initiated their cloud migration, the question boils down to this: are you going with public cloud or private cloud? As the previous sections have shown, both options have their benefits and limitations. If you are still on the fence, take a look at the table below and ask yourself three questions to find out if a private cloud is what you need.

The very first question you need to ask is if the data you want to put on the cloud is permissible on a public cloud server? If the answer is no, then a private cloud is your only real solution. Even if the data can be uploaded to a public cloud, you may need to consider how necessary it is for your organization to have control over the servers, and whether it would affect operations if maintenance and availability were not wholly under your control. Choosing a public cloud would mean compromising on how much control you exert over your own cloud infrastructure.《Glossary: What is High Availability?》

One must live within one’s means; this is also true for cloud computing. The security and stability of the private cloud comes with a literal price tag. Besides the monetary costs, an organization also needs to evaluate whether it possesses the technical expertise to maintain its own private cloud. Especially if you opt for the internal private cloud, you will need the physical space to house the servers, as well as the peripheral systems to keep them running smoothly.

This is a fundamental issue that is surprisingly easy to overlook. Building your own private cloud is a long-term commitment. You will be in charge of maintaining and updating the hardware and software, expanding its scope when you need to scale out, and troubleshooting when things don’t work out. You need to take an honest look at your organization to see if a private cloud fits your long-term plans. A hosted private cloud in a colocation center may alleviate some of your burden if you are looking for a private cloud that’s a bit easier to manage than something that’s on-premises.

At its core, a private cloud resembles a data center in terms of its infrastructure. You need servers for computing and storage, and also networking devices to link it all together. Choosing the right tools will pave your way to success in the realm of cloud computing. Read on to learn about the GIGABYTE servers we recommend for the computing and storage layers of your private cloud. We will also go over the power efficiency, high availability, and hardware security functions that will support the deployment of your private cloud.

 ● Compute
- H-Series High Density Servers
If you are building an internal private cloud, limited physical space may be an issue you need to contend with. GIGABYTE’s H-Series High Density Servers pack a highly dense configuration of nodes in slim chassis. They can support Intel® Xeon® Scalable, AMD EPYC™, or Ampere® Altra® processors based on the “cloud-native” ARM architecture. They are the go-to choice for cloud operators who want to benefit from high performance computing (HPC) and hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) in spite of possible space limitations.

Learn More:
《More information about GIGABYTE’s High Density Server》
《Glossary: What is Node?》
《Glossary: What is High Performance Computing (HPC)?》
《Glossary: What is Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI)?》
《GIGABYTE Tech Guide: Let’s Set the Record Straight—What is HPC?》

- G-Series GPU Servers
Another way to upgrade the performance of your private cloud and service more users simultaneously may be to accelerate the process through parallel computing and heterogeneous computing. GIGABYTE’s G-Series GPU Servers support GPGPUs (general-purpose graphics processing units) that make them faster at processing data that has been converted to graphical form. Choose GIGABYTE’s GPU Servers if you expect to deal with a lot of graphical data on your private cloud.

Learn More:
《More information about GIGABYTE’s GPU Server》
《Glossary: What is Parallel Computing?》
《Glossary: What is Heterogeneous Computing?》
《Glossary: What is GPGPU?》

- R-Series Rack Servers
Whereas GIGABYTE’s High Density and GPU Servers are designed for specialized tasks, GIGABYTE’s R-Series Rack Servers offer unrivaled versatility. These servers provide an optimal balance between efficiency and reliability, which makes them ideal for business-critical workloads. Nipa Technology Co., a leading Thai CSP that has built private cloud clusters for Thailand’s largest state-owned bank, Krung Thai Bank (KTBCS), has purchased Rack Servers from GIGABYTE. They used the R282-Z90, R182-Z90, and R182-Z92 servers to build a computing cluster which offers brand-new services for enterprise customers. GIGABYTE’s Rack Servers not only serve as the controller and computing nodes, they are also suitable as the storage nodes, which is what we will talk about next.

Learn More:
《More information about GIGABYTE’s Rack Server》
《Glossary: What is Computing Cluster?》
《GIGABYTE Case Study: Using GIGABYTE, NIPA Cloud Soars Among CSP Giants in Thailand》
《GIGABYTE Tech Guide: Cluster Computing: The Next Level of Distributed Computing》

● Storage
- S-Series Storage Servers
In addition to computing on the cloud, you will need a lot of storage space as more and more data from your organization makes the transition to the cloud. Besides the aforementioned Rack Servers, GIGABYTE’s ultra-dense, highly scalable S-Series Storage Servers are also an ideal choice. With features such as software-defined storage (SDS) and RAID, GIGABYTE Storage Servers can be a safe and efficient way to store your valuable data on the private cloud.

Learn More:
《More information about GIGABYTE’s Storage Server》
《Glossary: What is Software-Defined Storage (SDS)?》
《Glossary: What is RAID?》

● Power Efficiency, High Availability, Hardware Security
GIGABYTE not only offers server solutions that are ideal for building your private cloud, the servers themselves come with proprietary power efficiency, high availability, and hardware security functions, which will you give an edge over other operators.

In terms of power efficiency, GIGABYTE’s air-cooled servers are enabled with Automatic Fan Speed Control to achieve optimal cooling and power efficiency. Individual fan speeds will be automatically adjusted according to temperature sensors strategically placed within the servers. This will allow you to maintain stable operations without running up the electricity bill, and it may improve the overall PUE (power usage effectiveness) of your data center.

Learn More:
《GIGABYTE Tech Guide: How to Pick a Cooling Solution for Your Servers?》
《Glossary: What is PUE?》

In terms of high availability, GIGABYTE’s Smart Crises Management and Protection (SCMP) function is a patented feature which is deployed in servers with a PSU design that is not fully redundant. In the event of faulty PSU or overheating, the system will force the CPU into an ultra-low power mode which reduces the power load and prevents unexpected shutdowns, component damage, or data loss. Smart Ride Through (SmaRT) is another function implemented in GIGABYTE servers to prevent server downtime or data loss. If a power outage occurs, SmaRT will trigger system throttling to maintain availability and reduce power load. Last but not least, the Dual ROM Architecture provides a backup ROM that can be used to boot the system if the primary ROM fails to boot.

As for hardware security, GIGABYTE servers offer built-in hardware-level Root of Trust (RoT) to protect against security attacks or cyber threats. ROT can help isolate the system while the boot process verifies operations and ensures the firmware is not compromised by malware. An optional TPM 2.0 Module is also available on GIGABYTE servers. As for hardware-based authentication, your passwords, encryption keys, and digital certificates can be stored in a TPM module to prevent unauthorized users from gaining access to the data on your private cloud.

We hope this Tech Guide has been able to advance your understanding of the private cloud. For further consultation on how you can benefit from the private cloud, or cloud computing in general, GIGABYTE Technology welcomes you to reach out to our sales representatives at server.grp@gigacomputing.com. We hope to hear from you!

Learn More:
《GIGABYTE Tech Guide: What is Big Data, and How Can You Benefit from It?》
《GIGABYTE Tech Guide: The Advantages of ARM: From Smartphones to Supercomputers》