Many organizations use public or hybrid cloud infrastructure to address issues surrounding the cost of storing data and running applications. Still, infrastructure is rarely optimized for the consumer’s specific processes. Poor resource pooling leads to excessive and unnecessary spending, but there are elegant and simple solutions for proper resource planning in your hybrid infrastructure.
Key Takeaways:
- Virtualization is the foundation of cloud computing and provides access to latent resources in a datacenter.
- Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can become part of an ongoing monitoring strategy that allows for the dynamic allocation of resources.
- Cutting-edge hybrid cloud tools replace complex management practices with simplified access to infrastructure configuration.
Develop a sound resource planning strategy by learning more about the resources present in your hybrid cloud and the steps you can take to make the most of what is available to you.
How does resource pooling work in a hybrid infrastructure?
A hybrid cloud infrastructure combines your on-premises systems with third-party, public cloud services into one connected environment. This enables you to move data and workloads between private and public clouds as you see fit, whether for privacy, storage space, or processing power.
Integrating private and public clouds into a single environment allows efficient resource pooling. A robust hybrid cloud strategy involves effectively using the collective pooled resources available through your scalable public cloud providers and your on-premises infrastructure.
Raw processing power is the most noteworthy resource in a cloud computing scenario. However, processing power can bottleneck or go entirely unused without proper planning. A lack of forethought can even lead to a situation in which insufficient processing power is available to run newly-developed applications.
Effective resource planning requires a framework that accommodates your existing hybrid environment's private and public clouds. Hyperconvergence can further increase the efficiency of workloads running in your on-premises datacenter, which is a boon when the private cloud is the foundation of the entire hybrid environment.
Avoid poor resource planning practices
Establishing a productive hybrid cloud is often a collaborative effort between the consumer and the public cloud provider. Reliable vendors will strive to provide the best service possible, but end users can still fall into poor habits if they neglect the proper resource pooling practices.
One common mistake is investing in additional private or public cloud servers when the existing infrastructure already has enough resources available for present and future workloads. This can happen when the consumer or vendor uses virtual machines (VMs) poorly, resulting in excess processing power going unused and unnoticed.
Legacy systems in your environment can also be a source of resource management issues. Poor compatibility between outdated architecture and modern cloud solutions can create bottlenecks that slow down response time and delay the development or deployment of applications.
If you utilize legacy systems in your hybrid environment, it may be time to migrate to a new infrastructure. Even if you are running mission-critical processes in your legacy datacenter, modernizing the IT landscape of your organization can improve your resource pooling possibilities.
Capitalize on virtualization
Virtualization is creating multiple instances of a system within a single hardware location. These VMs are separate from each other and have their own operating system, but they all draw processing power from the host device. Virtualization is the technology that makes cloud computing reasonably possible, so each party involved in a hybrid cloud environment must maintain strong virtualization practices.
When building your hybrid cloud, you need to work with a third-party provider with a high level of competence with virtualization. Vendors are responsible for their hypervisor software, which creates and runs VMs and manages resource allocation to those machines. You should not have to sacrifice the simplicity of deployment in exchange for a good hypervisor that does not needlessly consume hardware resources.
Virtualization in the private cloud is also part of a complete resource pooling plan. Just as virtualization enables third-party providers to maximize their datacenter performance for their customers, you can use virtualization to make the most of resources within your own servers.
Most infrastructure devices typically have far more processing power than the amount a user can access without using VMs.
Embrace artificial intelligence and machine learning
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are becoming more prominent in every aspect of the IT industry. Organizations can adopt AI to improve security and threat detection, analyze data, and optimize resource strategies.
AI tools with ML capabilities can monitor resource pooling in a hybrid cloud environment. With AI, devices can dynamically enter rest or power down during periods of low use. This is a massive benefit to enterprises looking to reduce energy consumption and costs in the long term.
Similarly, AI can monitor physical hardware temperatures and automate configuring cooling systems in real time. Using AI in this way can increase the longevity of infrastructure devices and further reduce your company’s carbon footprint.
AI Helps Datacenters Cut Energy & Emissions
A 2022 survey from NewVantage Partners indicates that over 92% of companies are seeing returns on data and AI investments. AI can help bridge the gap between smaller businesses with little workforce and larger corporations with colossal resource pooling potential.
Use hybrid cloud tools that promote resource pooling
Businesses need the right hybrid cloud tools for facilitating an integrated environment of on-premises infrastructure and external cloud services. The Nutanix Cloud Platform is a solution that enables intuitive yet powerful management through simplified software packages.
Low-code tools make it easy for any consumer to establish end-to-end connections between clouds in a hybrid or multicloud environment, even when sourcing from various providers, including AWS, Azure, and other platform-as-a-service vendors.
Allowing for effective integration of endpoints within your infrastructure network makes it possible for data to pass between public clouds, as well as to and from private clouds, with reliable speed and minimal resource consumption. However, simplicity remains the most critical factor. The most productive hybrid cloud tools will likely hide the underlying complexity so the end-user can focus on the outcomes of solid resource pooling practices.
Learn more about how products such as the Nutanix Cloud Manager and Nutanix Database Service contribute to resource planning in a hybrid infrastructure.
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