No doubt there are advantages of the cloud like limitless storage capacity and the possibility of paying only for services utilized, however, now business managers have to deal with new costs of database administration as well as risks. Some specific challenges of cloud computing discussed:
Restriction in Flexibility Due To Cloud Lock-In
The proprietary nature of conventional storage resulted in restriction of flexibility and increase in costs.With the opening up of the cloud, these limitations were thought to be a thing of the past. However, strangely with the passage of time, it is now possible to mix and match hardware far better than before to achieve cost efficiency while storage on the cloud seems to be locked in their own platforms. Further, since cloud storage has its own protocols, tools, and APIs, you can’t even establish compatibility with your on-premises storage systems. This storage compartmentalization makes it complicated to move data around, optimize workloads, and get a universal view of the data.
Increase in Risk and Management Workload Due to Increased Complexity
When you need to work on a larger number of storage devices or even storage environments, managing them can be difficult and efficiency of asset management takes a dip. Since a storage environment that is loosely-managed is more susceptible to data breaches or loss, it implies a greater level of risk. Bear in mind that on a public cloud, each account is a distinct storage environment and a typical business may have hundreds, if not thousands of such environments, on a single cloud. Even a single account created by a rogue user may not be spotted by the IT department and result in a breach of data, according to remoteDba.com consultant.
How to Avoid the Traps in the Environment
One of the simplest ways of breaking free of the restrictions of hardware and operating platforms is to use a gateway device that bridges the gap between the cloud and the on-site systems. However, it has an impact on both the performance and the cost of moving the data. An alternative is to use a hybrid cloud architecture where the cloud acts as an extension of the in-site storage. The software residing on the local system transfers data to the cloud whenever capacity expansion is called for. Data replication on the cloud comes in very handy for disaster recovery. This kind of data management is provided by some storage systems as a built-in feature making data transfers simple as well as cost-effective.
Using a multi-cloud controller gives you the advantage of viewing and managing data residing in multiple clouds as a single system and allowing free movement of data across clouds and on-site storage. It is, however, very expensive to implement, making it ideal only for very large setups.
Conclusion
Using the power of the cloud is an inescapable aspect of data storage and management. Keep the big picture in mind to deliberately maintain the number of clouds to the minimum, and bridge them as well as the on-premise storage with the help of controllers.