A hybrid cloud is an architecture that links a private environment, such as your own data center or a private cloud, with one or more public cloud services. The two parts are connected through a VPN or dedicated network link and managed so applications can use resources from both.
Why it matters
Organizations choose hybrid designs to keep sensitive data or legacy systems on their own hardware while using the public cloud for elastic capacity, new applications, backups or disaster recovery. A common pattern is cloud bursting, where extra load temporarily spills into the public cloud. Challenges include network latency between sites, consistent identity and security policy, and the skills to run two environments.
Example
On-premises: customer database, ERP system
Public cloud: web front end, analytics, nightly backups
Link: site-to-site VPN or private circuit
Rule: database stays on-premises; cloud reads via APICommon mistakes
- Treating the link between sites as a single point of failure with no backup path.
- Moving a chatty application to the cloud while its database stays behind, causing slow responses.
- Using different access policies in each environment.
Related
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