What is Public Cloud

Your company can't afford to have its servers go down, whether it's through a power outage, a hack, or any other unforeseen accident. While having servers on-site can give you peace of mind in regard to the security of your data, the truth is that on-premise servers are expensive to install and maintain. You'll need a crew of server technicians around the clock to monitor the servers, and you'll need a large enough space to house all the servers. It doesn't have to be this way. With a public cloud, you could have access to all your data from anywhere at any time at a fraction of the cost. Further, public clouds can be more secure due to their non-stop iteration and penetration testing. So, if you're thinking of going all in on private servers, consider public cloud hosting first and see if it's right for your company.

Public Cloud Definition

The public cloud can be defined as a service that provides users access to computing resources, which are shared with users on servers maintained by an external service provider. This concept of shared resources is known as multi-tenancy, allowing various users, or "tenants," to use the same resources across a server.

However, a public cloud doesn't mean users can access other users' information on the same server. Instead, each user, or tenant, on a public cloud server has an environment walled off from the rest. Users on a public cloud server typically have guaranteed resources, ensuring their cloud computing needs can be met regardless of other users' activity.

Pros and Cons of the Public Cloud

The public cloud is easily accessible and cost-effective, but there are additional factors to consider. While the public cloud can serve business needs just fine, it's not without its issues. What you have to decide is whether the pros outweigh the cons.

Pros of Public Cloud:

Cost-Efficient: No upfront costs for hardware or infrastructure. Users typically pay for what they use. OVHcloud's public cloud prices are flexible and vary by instance. For example, users who sign up for a general-purpose instance will be charged as little as 11 cents per hour.

Scalability: Provides instant scalability to adapt to changing workloads and demands. Users can quickly scale resources up or down based on their needs.

No Maintenance: The cloud service provider handles maintenance, software updates, and infrastructure upgrades. By going through a public cloud provider, you no longer have to pay for staff to manage your on-premise private cloud or keep your servers secure.

Accessibility: Users can access services and applications from anywhere in the world as long as they have an internet connection.

Quick Deployment: New applications and services can be deployed rapidly, making it easier for businesses to launch and iterate.

Innovation: Access to the latest technologies and services, such as AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics, without significant investments. With our cloud GPU services, you can tap into the cloud to increase the bandwidth needed to run your large language model or other machine learning applications.

Resilience: Many public cloud providers offer built-in disaster recovery and backup solutions, ensuring data is safe and recoverable.

Resource Management: Automatic allocation and de-allocation of resources based on demand, leading to optimized performance.

Cons of Public Cloud:

Security Concerns: Sharing resources with other businesses can raise concerns about data breaches, especially if the provider doesn't adhere to the highest security standards.

Performance: Depending on the provider, there can be issues of latency or downtime. While OVHcloud offers customers dedicated resources, not all providers are the same. If your public cloud service experiences peak traffic, there's not much you can do about it but wait it out.

Hidden Costs: While initial costs may be low, as you scale or use additional services, expenses can rise. It's essential to understand pricing models thoroughly.

Vendor Lock-in: Switching providers can be challenging due to proprietary tools, technologies, or configurations specific to a particular cloud provider.

Data Transfer Costs: Some providers charge for data transfer, especially for large amounts of data moving in or out of their network. OVHcloud, however, charges no ingress or egress fees, allowing data to flow back and forth between the cloud and the client at no additional cost, as it should be.

Limited Control: Companies have less control over the infrastructure and platform since it's managed and owned by the service provider.

Shared Resources: Being on a multi-tenant model could mean latency during peak usage, though OVHcloud's dedicated resources make this a non-issue.

Public Cloud Service Models: SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS

The public cloud can be further divided into three services, software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (Paas), and infrastructure as a service (IaaS). Each has different uses and companies may use more than one service to achieve different goals.

SaaS — The most common of the three is SaaS, which uses the public cloud to host software that customers can access via a web browser. This is ideal for smaller companies that may not have the bandwidth to develop an app yet since customers can still use the service through a web browser. Also, because the software is accessible from a web browser, it can entice users who may not want to download yet another software. Companies that use the SaaS public cloud include Asana, Slack, Salesforce, Google Workspace, DropBox, Canva, and more. While SaaS is popular among productivity software, it's also used for streaming and cloud gaming services like Netflix, Spotify, and Nvidia's GeForce Now.

PaaS — Unlike SaaS, PaaS allows users to create custom software with fewer limitations. A service provider puts up the servers and handles all maintenance while users get to create whatever they want. Using PaaS saves users time and money. Some examples of PaaS providers include Microsoft Windows Azure, Google App Engine, and AWS Elastic Beanstalk.

IaaS — IaaS is an all-in-one solution that provides users with servers for computing, networking, and storage. Users can set up virtual machines to access a work computer from anywhere. IaaS solutions are flexible. Users can pay for what they need on demand, meaning it's easy to scale up whenever they need.

Migration To and From Public Cloud

Migration to and from public cloud services is a critical process for businesses and one that can cause a lot of stress. With OVHcloud, though, migrating to and from public cloud services is easy, as we use industry-standard technology that to help ensure native compatibility between systems. When migrating to a public cloud, it begins with an assessment of what needs to be transferred and an estimation of costs. Planning the migration strategy is next, with options ranging from straightforward 'lift-and-shift' methods, which OVHcloud employs, to more complex refactoring. Execution often involves utilizing tools provided by cloud vendors. Once on the cloud, performance should be monitored and applications optimized for the new environment. Ensuring security and regulatory compliance is crucial throughout the process.

Conversely, moving away from a public cloud may be motivated by factors like costs, security, or performance. The destination — whether an on-premises data center, another cloud, or a private cloud — must be compatible with the applications being transferred. As with migrating to a public cloud, migrating from a public cloud requires backing up data and performing rigorous testing afterward to catch any issues caused by migrating. Choosing the right provider, which charges no ingress or egress fees, could make a significant difference. Otherwise, you might be stuck paying a lot more than you expected.

OVHcloud Public Cloud Use Cases

The wide range of services we offer permits clients to implement our public cloud in a variety of different ways beyond simple storage. While we do offer object and block storage, as well as long-term storage via cloud archival services, that's only a part of what's offered on the public cloud.

Compute

If you're looking to scale up compute resources for a project, our cloud GPU instances can seamlessly integrate with your network to provide your project with a proverbial shot in the arm. Powered by Nvidia's first-generation enterprise-level GPU, the Tesla V100, you can take advantage of the Tensor cores on the GPU for machine learning and other AI projects. You can use up to four Tesla V100s at a time connected through Nvidia link, offering an interconnect bandwidth of up to 32 GB/s.

Containers and Orchestration

Behind every OVHcloud public cloud instance is Kubernetes. This industry-standard container orchestrator is what allows our public cloud to scale, giving you as many resources as you want when you need them most. Where before you might have had to manually set up a new container to tap into more resources, managed Kubernetes' autoscaling does it for you. Containers and pods can scale up when you need additional resources; they can scale down when you don't. You get all the benefits of Kubernetes with none of the downsides, such as maintenance, updates, security patches, and all the other tedious processes involved with keeping Kubernetes running smoothly.

Why OVHcloud Public Cloud May Be Right for You?

With OVHcloud public cloud solutions, you can get the most out of cloud computing to meet your business needs. And you won't have to pay for more than you need, ensuring costs stay within your budget. Our pay-as-you-go business model is simple: We only charge you for the resources you use, often with an hourly or gigabyte granularity. More importantly, our technology can migrate your existing data to the cloud seamlessly.

Our public cloud solutions are fast, secure, affordable, and versatile. OVHcloud's public cloud offers everything from cloud archive and object storage to managed Kubernetes and cloud GPU instances. As one of the leading cloud computing companies worldwide, we have the extensive resources and knowledge to help companies thrive in the cloud.

If you want to learn more about the public cloud and how OVHcloud can help, contact us or learn more about our public cloud solutions.