Public cloud is a cloud solution that uses shared infrastructure whereas private cloud uses the company’s infrastructure. The service provided by a private cloud is completely controlled by a particular organisation and is not shared with any other company. In the case of public cloud, it behaves as a subscription service that is not restricted to one single organisation and is shared by other companies or customers that may require the particular cloud service.
Before getting into a detailed discussion about private cloud vs public cloud, it is important that you understand the concept of these terms and what is meant by public and private clouds. In this article, we will cover the difference between private cloud and public cloud.
What is Private Cloud?
Private cloud is a model or structure of cloud computing where services are dedicated and centred on a particular organisation or a single user customer. You can find a private cloud at the data centre of a company or a colocation facility of a third party or with a private cloud provider who offers cloud facilities to the intended customers.
The operation of private cloud is carried out by the end-user operations. It is treated like a traditional on-premises infrastructure that is dedicated to a particular organisation. It includes ongoing maintenance updates, details of the operating system, application software management and middleware.
The private cloud offers better security facilities with better control of the infrastructure. Using a private cloud requires much more expertise than using a public cloud. The nature of private cloud is much more user-centric and secure.
Another reason to consider private cloud is that it does not make all details and resources public over the internet. The main reason for using private cloud is to better connect with the intended people and not to make the information available to the public in general. Some examples of private cloud data are Google Drive, etc., because these are not available to the public in general.
Thus, now you know a detailed answer to the question of “what is private cloud?” with a set of examples. Read ahead to know about public cloud and the differences between the two.
What is Public Cloud?
The cloud deployment model in which the resources of computing are owned, circulated and operated by a cloud provider and shared across many users over the internet is called public cloud. Here, cloud computing services are not dedicated to a particular organisation or customer and are shared across multiple users at a time.
Public cloud works in a virtual environment to provide support to an organisation’s IT infrastructure. In this way, an organisation is entitled to make better use of certain services, aspects and infrastructure using the virtual mode of support. Using public cloud offers a wide pricing range and models. But, the problem with using public cloud is security concerns. As it shares data across numerous companies, the inherent security risk eventually increases. It may result in data loss or data theft. Thus, many companies are looking forward to encrypting their data when shared through public cloud.
In public cloud, all the data and resources are made public over the internet and are available to the general audience. The resources of service providers can be used for virtual machines, storage and application. Some instances of public cloud can be in the form of YouTube, etc., that can be made available to the general public. Also, public cloud is the most common way of implementing the process of cloud computing.
Many non-profit organisations, research institutes and non-government institutions use public cloud because they need an infrastructure that can accommodate a large pool of customers and work on diverse projects.
Talking about private cloud vs public cloud examples, Microsoft VMware Red Hat, KVM, HP, etc., belong to the former category while Google AppEngine and AWS constitute the latter group.
Public Cloud vs Private Cloud vs Hybrid Cloud
All the companies that require cloud computing services choose to acquire either a public cloud or a private cloud based on their needs and requirements. Some companies also use a hybrid cloud, which is a combination of private and public clouds for their operations. It is important to understand public cloud vs private cloud vs hybrid cloud so that you can choose the best one according to the needs of your company.
The main benefit offered by public cloud is more scalability. However, public cloud is more expensive than a private cloud. Still, it is advisable to use a private cloud if you want easy scalability. If you are using a private cloud, then it may require the purchase of multiple pieces of types of equipment to attain scalability. Make sure that the additional equipment is not underutilised if you are using private cloud.
If you’re confused between private cloud and public cloud, then the hybrid cloud is the best solution for your company. Hybrid cloud is a combination of private and public cloud services and solutions. If you use hybrid cloud services, then you may get the advantages of both private and public cloud infrastructures. A hybrid cloud also helps you to choose the specific form of cloud service for a specific form of data. For instance, if you are using a hybrid cloud infrastructure, then you may store sensitive data and information in private cloud and store the information that is to be circulated with other organisations in public cloud.
Difference Between Public Cloud and Private Cloud
The differences between a private cloud and a public cloud are as follows:
- In private cloud, computing services are shared amongst a particular set of customers or members of an organisation by the cloud service provider and are not shared over the internet in general. It is dedicated to a particular organisation.
In public cloud, computing services are shared amongst the general public by service providers over the internet. It supports multiple organisations and customers.
- The data of a single company only is stored by service providers in private cloud. Hence, it supports single tenancy.
The data of many companies is stored in the cloud infrastructure by cloud service providers in the case of public cloud. Hence, it supports multi-tenancy.
- Only specific services are present in private cloud as per the requirements of a company.
In public cloud, service providers offer all the services because anyone can be a user of public cloud. It is versatile in nature because public cloud has to fulfil the needs of multiple organisations.
- Private cloud is hosted at the site of the service provider or the company.
Public cloud is hosted at the site of the service provider only.
- Private cloud supports connectivity only through a private network.
Public cloud is globally connected over the internet.
- Private cloud is very secure but the scalability is very limited.
Public cloud offers easy scalability but there are major security concerns.
- Private cloud is used and managed by a sole use only.
Public cloud is managed and used by cloud service providers and the users are allowed to use them.
- Private cloud provides high performance and is a bit expensive.
The performance of public cloud is moderate or low but it is cost-effective.
Conclusion
If you want to learn about cloud computing and intend to take up a course on the subject, then there are several programmes in which you can enrol. The programmes are suited for beginners as well as professionals with multiple hours of tutorials and tools. You can also test your learning by taking up mock tests and exams.
Also Read: 5 Reasons More Businesses Are Choosing Cloud
