Multi-cloud means using more than one public cloud provider, for example running analytics on Google Cloud, core applications on AWS and Microsoft 365 integrations on Azure. It can be deliberate architecture or the result of acquisitions and separate team choices.
Why it matters
Reasons include avoiding vendor lock-in, meeting regional or regulatory requirements, using a specialized service from one provider, and negotiating leverage. It can also reduce the impact of a provider-wide outage if workloads are truly portable. The costs are real: more skills to maintain, differing security models, inconsistent tooling, extra data transfer charges and added operational complexity. Many multi-cloud setups use common layers such as Kubernetes, Terraform and open databases to limit differences.
Example
Primary: AWS (application, database)
Secondary: Google Cloud (BigQuery analytics)
DNS/CDN: independent provider in front of both
A failure of one cloud's region does not automatically move work to another unless that failover is built and tested.
Common mistakes
- Assuming multi-cloud gives resilience without designing and rehearsing failover.
- Using only the lowest common features of each provider and losing their strengths.
- Overlooking cross-cloud egress charges.
Related
Get notified when this term updates
Plus occasional practical tips on uptime and monitoring, nothing else. Unsubscribe anytime.
यह पेज सामान्य जानकारी है, जिसे हमारी संपादकीय टीम ने लिखा है और दस्तावेज़ीकरण बदलने पर अपडेट किया जाता है। सर्वर और प्रदाता अलग-अलग होते हैं, इसलिए बदलाव पहले सुरक्षित तरीके से जाँचें। देखें: संपादकीय नीति और अस्वीकरण.