In today’s era of digitization, more and more companies are opting for a multi-cloud strategy. Multiple clouds make the organization more agile allowing them to scale their resources, as needed. They also facilitate optimal workload distribution for applications and services. Multi-cloud setup also enhances reliability. In the event a cloud service provider experiences downtime, the other cloud provider can support the applications and services in a multi-cloud environment. However, there is a flip side to it.
Multi-cloud setup can be complex and often becomes difficult to manage. Not only does it cause security and compliance issues (where every cloud provider has a different set of compliance) but the separate cloud APIs can incur high operational costs for the company.
This is where multi-cloud networking helps businesses out.
Defining multi-cloud networking software
Multi-cloud networking software connects and manages multiple cloud service providers or cloud environments within a singular network. It creates a reliable and flexible network structure with a steady governance policy and better visibility through all the cloud environments.
Earlier, the enterprises traditionally set up individual connections for each cloud, creating a star network topology that relied on an on-premises hub. However, this design resulted in performance bottlenecks, limited visibility, and security concerns.
Recent surveys indicate that a substantial majority of organizations are now utilizing services from multiple public cloud providers, with percentages ranging from 80% to 86%. The limitations of the existing network infrastructure to support these diverse and sprawling multi-cloud initiatives became evident with time. To address these issues, the concept of multi-cloud networking emerged.
Benefits and challenges of multi-cloud networking
Multi-cloud networking, while offering numerous advantages to organizations, also presents a set of challenges. Let’s discuss the benefits first.
Benefits of multi-cloud networking:
- Enhanced flexibility and agility: Multi-cloud networking empowers organizations to select the most suitable cloud services for their unique requirements and seamlessly shift workloads between cloud providers. This flexibility enhances overall agility in IT operations, allowing organizations to adapt swiftly to changing demands.
- Improved performance and reliability: By distributing traffic across multiple cloud providers and utilizing various network paths, multi-cloud networking can boost application performance and reliability. Redundancy and load-balancing mechanisms contribute to a more dependable network infrastructure.
- Cost optimization: Multi-cloud networking enables cost reduction by capitalizing on the competitive pricing and feature sets offered by different cloud providers. Organizations can choose cost-effective solutions without being tied to a single vendor.
- Enhanced security: Multi-cloud networking provides an opportunity to bolster security through the implementation of diverse security measures. This can include the use of firewalls, intrusion detection systems, access control lists, and other security tools across multiple cloud providers, enhancing the overall security posture.
Challenges of multi-cloud Networking:
- Complexity: Designing, deploying, and managing a multi-cloud networking environment can be intricate. It demands a deep understanding of the various cloud platforms in use, making it essential for organizations to invest time and resources in developing expertise.
- Cost considerations: While multi-cloud networking offers flexibility, it can also entail additional expenses. Organizations must budget not only for the cloud services they consume but also for the tools and services necessary to manage the complexity of their multi-cloud network effectively.
- Security implications: Multi-cloud networking introduces new security challenges as it exposes applications and data to multiple cloud providers. This expanded attack surface necessitates a comprehensive security strategy to mitigate potential risks and vulnerabilities.
Key components of multi-cloud networking architecture
Image Credit: Polarin
- Programmability:
Traditional networking technologies often lack the programmability required for connecting diverse infrastructure elements, including private networks and public cloud resources. Multi-cloud networking architecture prioritizes programmability, enabling dynamic adjustments and interactions within the diverse infrastructure.
- API-First approach:
Multi-cloud networking architecture places a strong emphasis on being API-first. This approach focuses on API consumption and supports seamless data sharing and visibility. It also abstracts the intricacies of individual cloud providers, making it easier for network teams to manage multi-cloud environments.
- Network as a Service (NaaS):
NaaS is a consumption-based cloud model that allows enterprises to purchase network services, infrastructure, or management from a provider. NaaS in cloud computing offers flexibility, faster service delivery, end-to-end visibility, and simplified deployment. Multi-cloud networking is expected to further advance the concept of NaaS by enabling organizations to unify various networking resources, such as public communications infrastructure, public cloud infrastructure, and private data centers, and operate them as a single network.
- Infrastructure as Code (IaC):
IaC leverages code to provision and manage infrastructure and resources, replacing manual tasks with programmable configurations. Integrating multi-cloud networking with IaC enables the coding of multi-cloud networking capabilities directly into applications as they are developed.
- Software overlays:
Software overlays provide segmentation and granular control features highly sought after in multi-cloud environments. Multi-cloud networking leverages overlays to enhance management capabilities, security, segmentation, and control within a single platform.
Many companies these days are looking for vendors and distributors that provide Network-as-a-Service in their offerings. ZNetLive is a trusted distributor of Polarin – a NaaS platform by Lightstorm.
Polarin NaaS platform ensures agile multi-cloud networking that streamlines workflows.
- Compatible with multiple public cloud providers like AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and Oracle Cloud, the platform is efficient, fast, and highly scalable.
- Its integrated advanced firewalls, malware scanning, DDoS protection, and SSL certificates as well as its user-friendly UI make it a popular choice for companies looking for reliable, secure, and fast cloud connectivity.
Wrapping up
Enterprises deploying multi-cloud networking architectures seek solutions that integrate identity and security services, offer comprehensive visibility and management controls, optimize cloud utilization to reduce networking costs, and recommend efficient network paths that minimize egress costs. As multi-cloud networking continues to evolve, these foundational components will play a crucial role in simplifying complex multi-cloud environments, supporting digital transformation initiatives, and providing organizations with the flexibility and control they need to thrive in a multi-cloud world.
Feature image credit: Freepik
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