Tag Archives: Hybrid Cloud

Automate Your Data Workflows With Backblaze B2 Event Notifications

Post Syndicated from Bala Krishna Gangisetty original https://backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com/blog/announcing-event-notifications/

A decorative image showing the Backblaze logo on a cloud with an alert notification.

Backblaze believes companies should be able to store, use, and protect their data in whatever way is best for their business—and that doing so should be easy. That’s why we’re such fierce advocates for the open cloud and why today’s announcement is so exciting.

Event Notifications—available today in private preview—gives businesses the freedom to build automated workloads across the different best-of-breed cloud platforms they use or want to use, saving time and money and improving end user experiences.

Here’s how: With Backblaze Event Notifications, any data changes within Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage—like uploads, updates, or deletions—can automatically trigger actions in a workflow, including transcoding video files, spooling up data analytics, delivering finished assets to end users, and many others. Importantly, unlike many other solutions currently available, Backblaze’s service doesn’t lock you into one platform or require you to use legacy tools from AWS.

So, to businesses that want to create an automated workflow that combines different compute, content delivery networks (CDN), data analytics, and whatever other cloud service: Now you can, with the bonus of cloud storage at a fifth of the rates of other solutions and free egress.

If you’re already a Backblaze customer, you can join the waiting list for the Event Notifications preview by signing up here. Once you’re admitted to the preview, the Event Notifications option will become visible in your Backblaze B2 account.

A screenshot of the where to find Event Notifications in your Backblaze account.

Not a Backblaze customer yet? Sign up for a free Backblaze B2 account and join the waitlist. Read on for more details on how Event Notifications can benefit you.

With Event Notifications, we can eliminate the final AWS component, Simple Queue Service (SQS), from our infrastructure. This completes our transition to a more streamlined and cost-effective tech stack. It’s not just about simplifying operations—it’s about achieving full independence from legacy systems and future-proofing our infrastructure.


— Oleh Aleynik, Senior Software Engineer and Co-Founder at CloudSpot.

A Deeper Dive on Backblaze’s Event Notifications Service

Event Notifications is a service designed to streamline and automate data workflows for Backblaze B2 customers. Whether it’s compressing objects, transcoding videos, or transforming data files, Event Notifications empowers you to orchestrate complex, multistep processes seamlessly.

The top line benefit of Event Notifications is its ability to trigger processing workflows automatically whenever data changes on Backblaze B2. This means that as soon as new data is uploaded, changed, or deleted, the relevant processing steps can be initiated without manual intervention. This automation not only saves time and resources, but it also ensures that workflows are consistently executed with precision, free from human errors.

What sets Event Notifications apart is its flexibility. Unlike some other solutions that are tied to specific target services, Event Notifications allows customers the freedom to choose the target services that best suit their needs. Whether it’s integrating with third-party applications, cloud services, or internal systems, Event Notifications seamlessly integrates into existing workflows, offering unparalleled versatility.

Finally, Event Notifications doesn’t only bring greater ease and efficiency to workflows, it is also designed for very easy enablement. Whether via browser UI or SDKs or APIs or CLI, it is incredibly simple to set up a notification rule and integrate it with your preferred target service. Simply choose your event type, set the criteria, and input your endpoint URL, and a new workflow can be configured in minutes.

What Is Backblaze B2 Event Notifications Good For?

By leveraging Event Notifications, Backblaze B2 customers can simplify their data processing pipelines, reduce manual effort, and increase operational efficiency. With the ability to automate repetitive tasks and handle millions of objects per day, businesses can focus on extracting insights from their data rather than managing the logistics of data processing.

A diagram showing the steps of event notifications.

Automating tasks: Event Notifications allows users to trigger automated actions in response to changes in stored objects like upload, delete, and hide actions, streamlining complex data processing tasks.

Orchestrating workflows: Users can orchestrate multi-step workflows, such as compressing files, transcoding videos, or transforming data formats, based on specific object events.

Integrating with services: The feature offers flexible integration capabilities, enabling seamless interaction with various services and tools to enhance data processing and management.

Monitoring changes: Users can efficiently monitor and track changes to stored objects, ensuring timely responses to evolving data requirements and faster security response to safeguard critical assets.

What Are Some of the Key Capabilities of Backblaze B2 Event Notifications?

  • Flexible Implementation: Event Notifications are sent as HTTP POST requests to the desired service or endpoint within your infrastructure or any other cloud service. This flexibility ensures seamless integration with your existing workflows. For instance, your endpoint could be Fastly Compute, AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, or Google Cloud Functions, etc.
  • Event Categories: Specify the types of events you want to be notified about, such as when files are uploaded and deleted. This allows you to receive notifications tailored to your specific needs. For instance, you have the flexibility to specify different methods of object creation, such as copying, uploading, or multipart replication, to trigger event notifications. You can also manage Event Notification rules through UI or API.
  • Filter by Prefix: Define prefixes to filter events, enabling you to narrow down notifications to specific sets of objects or directories within your storage on Backblaze B2. For instance, if your bucket contains audio, video, and text files organized into separate prefixes, you can specify the prefix for audio files to receive event notifications exclusively for audio files.
  • Custom Headers: Include personalized HTTP headers in your event notifications to provide additional authentication or contextual information when communicating with your target endpoint. For example, you can use these headers to add necessary authentication tokens or API keys for your target endpoint, or include any extra metadata related to the payload to offer contextual information to your webhook endpoint, and more.
  • Signed Notification Messages: You can configure outgoing messages to be signed by the Event Notifications service, allowing you to validate signatures and verify that each message was generated by Backblaze B2 and not tampered with in transit.
  • Test Rule Functionality: Validate the functionality of your target endpoint by testing event notifications before deploying them into action. This allows you to ensure that your integration with your target endpoint is set up correctly and functioning as expected.

Want to Learn More About Event Notifications?

Event Notifications represents a significant advancement in data management and automation for Backblaze B2 users. By providing a flexible and powerful capability for orchestrating data processing workflows, Backblaze continues to empower businesses to unlock the full potential of their data with ease and efficiency.

Join the Waitlist ➔ 

The post Automate Your Data Workflows With Backblaze B2 Event Notifications appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

What Is Hybrid Cloud?

Post Syndicated from Molly Clancy original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/confused-about-the-hybrid-cloud-youre-not-alone/

An illustration of clouds computers and servers.
Editor’s note: This post has been updated since it was originally published in 2017.

The term hybrid cloud has been around for a while—we originally published this explainer in 2017. But time hasn’t necessarily made things clearer. Maybe you hear folks talk about your company’s hybrid cloud approach, but what does that really mean? If you’re confused about the hybrid cloud, you’re not alone. 

Hybrid cloud is a computing approach that uses both private and public cloud resources with some kind of orchestration between them. The term has been applied to a wide variety of IT solutions, so it’s no wonder the concept breeds confusion. 

In this post, we’ll explain what a hybrid cloud is, how it can benefit your business, and how to choose a cloud storage provider for your hybrid cloud strategy.

What Is the Hybrid Cloud?

A hybrid cloud is an infrastructure approach that uses both private and public resources. Let’s first break down those key terms:

  • Public cloud: When you use a public cloud, you are storing your data in another company’s internet-accessible data center. A public cloud service allows anybody to sign up for an account, and share data center resources with other customers or tenants. Instead of worrying about the costs and complexity of operating an on-premises data center, a cloud storage user only needs to pay for the cloud storage they need.
  • Private cloud: In contrast, a private cloud is specifically designed for a single tenant. Think of a private cloud as a permanently reserved private dining room at a restaurant—no other customer can use that space. As a result, private cloud services can be more expensive than public clouds. Traditionally, private clouds typically lived on on-premises infrastructure, meaning they were built and maintained on company property. Now, private clouds can be maintained and managed on-premises by an organization or by a third party in a data center. The key defining factor is that the cloud is dedicated to a single tenant or organization.

Those terms are important to know to understand the hybrid cloud architecture approach. Hybrid clouds are defined by a combined management approach, which means there is some type of orchestration between the private and public environments that allows workloads and data to move between them in a flexible way as demands, needs, and costs change. This gives you flexibility when it comes to data deployment and usage.  

In other words, if you have some IT resources on-premises that you are replicating or sharing with an external vendor—congratulations, you have a hybrid cloud!

Hybrid cloud refers to a computing architecture that is made up of both private cloud resources and public cloud resources with some kind of orchestration between them.

Hybrid Cloud Examples

Here are a few examples of how a hybrid cloud can be used:

  1. As an active archive: You might establish a protocol that says all accounting files that have not been changed in the last year, for example, are automatically moved off-premises to cloud storage archive to save cost and reduce the amount of storage needed on-site. You can still access the files; they are just no longer stored on your local systems. 
  2. To meet compliance requirements: Let’s say some of your data is subject to strict data privacy requirements, but other data you manage isn’t as closely protected. You could keep highly regulated data on premises in a private cloud and the rest of your data in a public cloud. 
  3. To scale capacity: If you’re in an industry that experiences seasonal or frequent spikes like retail or ecommerce, these spikes can be handled by a public cloud which provides the elasticity to deal with times when your data needs exceed your on-premises capacity.
  4. For digital transformation: A hybrid cloud lets you adopt cloud resources in a phased approach as you expand your cloud presence.

Hybrid Cloud vs. Multi-cloud: What’s the Diff?

You wouldn’t be the first person to think that the terms multi-cloud and hybrid cloud appear similar. Both of these approaches involve using multiple clouds. However, multi-cloud uses two clouds of the same type in combination (i.e., two or more public clouds) and hybrid cloud approaches combine a private cloud with a public cloud. One cloud approach is not necessarily better than the other—they simply serve different use cases. 

For example, let’s say you’ve already invested in significant on-premises IT infrastructure, but you want to take advantage of the scalability of the cloud. A hybrid cloud solution may be a good fit for you. 

Alternatively, a multi-cloud approach may work best for you if you are already in the cloud and want to mitigate the risk of a single cloud provider having outages or issues. 

Hybrid Cloud Benefits

A hybrid cloud approach allows you to take advantage of the best elements of both private and public clouds. The primary benefits are flexibility, scalability, and cost savings.

Benefit 1: Flexibility and Scalability

One of the top benefits of the hybrid cloud is its flexibility. Managing IT infrastructure on-premises can be time consuming and expensive, and adding capacity requires advance planning, procurement, and upfront investment. 

The public cloud is readily accessible and able to provide IT resources whenever needed on short notice. For example, the term “cloud bursting” refers to the on-demand and temporary use of the public cloud when demand exceeds resources available in the private cloud. A private cloud, on the other hand, provides the absolute fastest access speeds since it is generally located on-premises. (But cloud providers are catching up fast, for what it’s worth.) For data that is needed with the absolute lowest levels of latency, it may make sense for the organization to use a private cloud for current projects and store an active archive in a less expensive, public cloud.

Benefit 2: Cost Savings

Within the hybrid cloud framework, the public cloud segment offers cost-effective IT resources, eliminating the need for upfront capital expenses and associated labor costs. IT professionals gain the flexibility to optimize configurations, choose the most suitable service provider, and determine the optimal location for each workload. This strategic approach reduces costs by aligning resources with specific tasks. Furthermore, the ability to easily scale, redeploy, or downsize services enhances efficiency, curbing unnecessary expenses and contributing to overall cost savings.

Comparing Private vs. Hybrid Cloud Storage Costs

To understand the difference in storage costs between a purely on-premises solution and a hybrid cloud solution, we’ll present two scenarios. For each scenario, we’ll use data storage amounts of 100TB, 1PB, and 2PB. Each table is the same format, all we’ve done is change how the data is distributed: private (on-premises) or public (off-premises). We are using the costs for our own Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage in this example. The math can be adapted for any set of numbers you wish to use.

Scenario 1    100% of data on-premises storage

    Data Stored
  Data Stored On-premises: 100%   100TB 1,000TB 2,000TB
On-premises cost range   Monthly Cost
  Low — $12/TB/Month   $1,200 $12,000 $24,000
  High — $20/TB/Month   $2,000 $20,000 $40,000

Scenario 2    20% of data on-premises with 80% public cloud storage (Backblaze B2)

    Data Stored
  Data Stored On-premises: 20%   20TB 200TB 400TB
  Data Stored in the Cloud: 80%   80TB 800TB 1,600TB
On-premises cost range   Monthly Cost
  Low — $12/TB/Month   $240 $2,400 $4,800
  High — $20/TB/Month   $400 $4,000 $8,000
Public cloud cost range   Monthly Cost
  Low — $6/TB/Month (Backblaze B2)   $480 $4,800 $9,600
  High — $20/TB/Month   $1,600 $16,000 $32,000
On-premises + public cloud cost range   Monthly Cost
  Low   $720 $7,200 $14,400
  High   $2,000 $20,000 $40,000

As you can see, using a hybrid cloud solution and storing 80% of the data in the cloud with a provider like Backblaze B2 can result in significant savings over storing only on-premises.

Choosing a Cloud Storage Provider for Your Hybrid Cloud

Okay, so you understand the benefits of using a hybrid cloud approach, what next? Determining the right mix of cloud services may be intimidating because there are so many public cloud options available. Fortunately, there are a few decision factors you can use to simplify setting up your hybrid cloud solution. Here’s what to think about when choosing a public cloud storage provider:

  • Ease of use: Avoiding a steep learning curve can save you hours of work effort in managing your cloud deployments. By contrast, overly complicated pricing tiers or bells and whistles you don’t need can slow you down.
  • Data security controls: Compare how each cloud provider facilitates proper data controls. For example, take a look at features like authentication, Object Lock, and encryption.
  • Data egress fees: Some cloud providers charge additional fees for data egress (i.e., removing data from the cloud). These fees can make it more expensive to switch between providers. In addition to fees, check the data speeds offered by the provider.
  • Interoperability: Flexibility and interoperability are key reasons to use cloud services. Before signing up for a service, understand the provider’s integration ecosystem. A lack of needed integrations may place a greater burden on your team to keep the service running effectively.
  • Storage tiers: Some providers offer different storage tiers where you sacrifice access for lower costs. While the promise of inexpensive cold storage can be attractive, evaluate whether you can afford to wait hours or days to retrieve your data.
  • Pricing transparency: Pay careful attention to the cloud provider’s pricing model and tier options. Consider building a spreadsheet to compare a shortlist of cloud providers’ pricing models.

When Hybrid Cloud Might Not Always Be the Right Fit

The hybrid cloud may not always be the optimal solution, particularly for smaller organizations with limited IT budgets that might find a purely public cloud approach more cost-effective. The substantial setup and operational costs of private servers could be prohibitive.

A thorough understanding of workloads is crucial to effectively tailor the hybrid cloud, ensuring the right blend of private, public, and traditional IT resources for each application and maximizing the benefits of the hybrid cloud architecture.

So, Should You Go Hybrid?

Big picture, anything that helps you respond to IT demands quickly, easily, and affordably is a win. With a hybrid cloud, you can avoid some big up-front capital expenses for in-house IT infrastructure, making your CFO happy. Being able to quickly spin up IT resources as they’re needed will appeal to the CTO and VP of operations.

So, given all that, we’ve arrived at the bottom line and the question is, should you or your organization embrace hybrid cloud infrastructure?According to Flexera’s 2023 State of the Cloud report, 72% of enterprises utilize a hybrid cloud strategy. That indicates that the benefits of the hybrid cloud appeal to a broad range of companies.

A venn diagram showing the percentage of companies that use public, private, and hybrid clouds.
Source.

If an organization approaches implementing a hybrid cloud solution with thoughtful planning and a structured approach, a hybrid cloud can deliver on-demand flexibility, empower legacy systems, and applications with new capabilities, and become a catalyst for digital transformation. The result can be an elastic and responsive infrastructure that has the ability to quickly adapt to changing demands of the business.

As data management professionals increasingly recognize the advantages of the hybrid cloud, we can expect more and more of them to embrace it as an essential part of their IT strategy.

Tell Us What You’re Doing With the Hybrid Cloud

Are you currently embracing the hybrid cloud, or are you still uncertain or hanging back because you’re satisfied with how things are currently? We’d love to hear your comments below on how you’re approaching your cloud architecture decisions.

FAQs About Hybrid Cloud

What exactly is a hybrid cloud?

Hybrid cloud is a computing approach that uses both private and public cloud resources with some kind of orchestration between them.

What is the difference between hybrid and multi-cloud?

Multi-cloud uses two clouds of the same type in combination (i.e., two or more public clouds) and hybrid cloud approaches combine a private cloud with a public cloud. One cloud approach is not necessarily better than the other—they simply serve different use cases.

What is a hybrid cloud architecture?

Hybrid cloud architecture is any kind of IT architecture that combines both the public and private clouds. Many organizations use this term to describe specific software products that provide solutions which combine the two types of clouds.

What are hybrid clouds used for?

Organizations will often use hybrid clouds to create redundancy and scalability for their computing workload. A hybrid cloud is a great way for a company to have extra fallback options to continue offering services even when they have higher than usual levels of traffic, and it can also help companies scale up their services over time as they need to offer more options.

The post What Is Hybrid Cloud? appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

The Power of Specialized Cloud Providers: A Game Changer for SaaS Companies

Post Syndicated from Amrit Singh original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/the-power-of-specialized-cloud-providers-a-game-changer-for-saas-companies/

A decorative image showing a cloud with the Backblaze logo, then logos hanging off it it for Vultr, Fastly, Equinix metal, Terraform, and rclone.

“Nobody ever got fired for buying AWS.” It’s true: AWS’s one-size-fits-all solution worked great for most businesses, and those businesses made the shift away from the traditional model of on-prem and self-hosted servers—what we think of as Cloud 1.0—to an era where AWS was the cloud, the one and only, which is what we call Cloud 2.0. However, as the cloud landscape evolves, it’s time to question the old ways. Maybe nobody ever got fired for buying AWS, but these days, you can certainly get a lot of value (and kudos) for exploring other options. 

Developers and IT teams might hesitate when it comes to moving away from AWS, but AWS comes with risks, too. If you don’t have the resources to manage and maintain your infrastructure, costs can get out of control, for one. As we enter Cloud 3.0 where the landscape is defined by the open, multi-cloud internet, there is an emerging trend that is worth considering: the rise of specialized cloud providers.

Today, I’m sharing how software as a service (SaaS) startups and modern businesses can take advantage of these highly-focused, tailored services, each specializing and excelling in specific areas like cloud storage, content delivery, cloud compute, and more. Building on a specialized stack offers more control, return on investment, and flexibility, while being able to achieve the same performance you expect from hyperscaler infrastructure.

From a cost of goods sold perspective, AWS pricing wasn’t a great fit. From an engineering perspective, we didn’t want a net-new platform. So the fact that we got both with Backblaze—a drop-in API replacement with a much better cost structure—it was just a no-brainer.

—Rory Petty, Co-Founder & CTO, Tribute

The Rise of Specialized Cloud Providers

Specialized providers—including content delivery networks (CDNs) like Fastly, bunny.net, and Cloudflare, as well as cloud compute providers like Vultr—offer services that focus on a particular area of the infrastructure stack. Rather than trying to be everything to everyone, like the hyperscalers of Cloud 2.0, they do one thing and do it really well. Customers get best-of-breed services that allow them to build a tech stack tailored to their needs. 

Use Cases for Specialized Cloud Providers

There are a number of businesses that might benefit from switching from hyperscalers to specialized cloud providers, including:

In order for businesses to take advantage of the benefits (since most applications rely on more than just one service), these services must work together seamlessly. 

Let’s Take a Closer Look at How Specialized Stacks Can Work For You

If you’re wondering how exactly specialized clouds can “play well with each other,” we ran a whole series of application storage webinars that talk through specific examples and uses cases. I’ll share what’s in it for you below.

1. Low Latency Multi-Region Content Delivery with Fastly and Backblaze

Did you know a 100-millisecond delay in website load time can hurt conversion rates by 7%? In this session, Pat Patterson from Backblaze and Jim Bartos from Fastly discuss the importance of speed and latency in user experience. They highlight how Backblaze’s B2 Cloud Storage and Fastly’s content delivery network work together to deliver content quickly and efficiently across multiple regions. Businesses can ensure that their content is delivered with low latency, reducing delays and optimizing user experience regardless of the user’s location.

2. Scaling Media Delivery Workflows with bunny.net and Backblaze

Delivering content to your end users at scale can be challenging and costly. Users expect exceptional web and mobile experiences with snappy load times and zero buffering. Anything less than an instantaneous response may cause them to bounce. 

In this webinar, Pat Patterson demonstrates how to efficiently scale your content delivery workflows from content ingestion, transcoding, storage, to last-mile acceleration via bunny.net CDN. Pat demonstrates how to build a video hosting platform called “Cat Tube” and shows how to upload a video and play it using HTML5 video element with controls. Watch below and download the demo code to try it yourself.

3. Balancing Cloud Cost and Performance with Fastly and Backblaze

With a global economic slowdown, IT and development teams are looking for ways to slash cloud budgets without compromising performance. E-commerce, SaaS platforms, and streaming applications all rely on high-performant infrastructure, but balancing bandwidth and storage costs can be challenging. In this 45-minute session, we explored how to recession-proof your growing business with key cloud optimization strategies, including ways to leverage Fastly’s CDN to balance bandwidth costs while avoiding performance tradeoffs.

4. Reducing Cloud OpEx Without Sacrificing Performance and Speed

Greg Hamer from Backblaze and DJ Johnson from Vultr explore the benefits of building on best-of-breed, specialized cloud stacks tailored to your business model, rather than being locked into traditional hyperscaler infrastructure. They cover real-world use cases, including:

  • How Can Stock Photo broke free from AWS and reduced their cloud bill by 55% while achieving 4x faster generation.
  • How Monument Labs launched a new cloud-based photo management service to 25,000+ users.
  • How Black.ai processes 1000s of files simultaneously, with a significant reduction of infrastructure costs.

5. Leveling Up a Global Gaming Platform while Slashing Cloud Spend by 85%

James Ross of Nodecraft, an online gaming platform that aims to make gaming online easy, shares how he moved his global game server platform from Amazon S3 to Backblaze B2 for greater flexibility and 85% savings on storage and egress. He discusses the challenges of managing large files over the public internet, which can result in expensive bandwidth costs. By storing game titles on Backblaze B2 and delivering them through Cloudflare’s CDN, they achieve reduced latency since games are cached at the edge, and pay zero egress fees thanks to the Bandwidth Alliance. Nodecraft also benefited from Universal Data Migration, which allows customers to move large amounts of data from any cloud services or on-premises storage to Backblaze’s B2 Cloud Storage, managed by Backblaze and free of charge.

Migrating From a Hyperscaler

Though it may seem daunting to transition from a hyperscaler to a specialized cloud provider, it doesn’t have to be. Many specialized providers offer tools and services to make the transition as smooth as possible. 

  • S3-compatible APIs, SDKs, CLI: Interface with storage as you would with Amazon S3—switching can be as easy as dropping in a new storage target.
  • Universal Data Migration: Free and fully managed migrations to make switching as seamless as possible.
  • Free egress: Move data freely with the Bandwidth Alliance and other partnerships between specialized cloud storage providers.

As the decision maker at your growing SaaS company, it’s worth considering whether a specialized cloud stack could be a better fit for your business. By doing so you could potentially unlock cost savings, improve performance, and gain flexibility to adapt your services to your unique needs. The one-size-fits-all is no longer the only option out there. 

Want to Test It Out Yourself?

Take a proactive approach to cloud cost management: Get 10GB free to test and validate your proof of concept (POC) with Backblaze B2. All it takes is an email to get started.

Download the Ransomware Guide ➔ 

The post The Power of Specialized Cloud Providers: A Game Changer for SaaS Companies appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

The Free Credit Trap: Building SaaS Infrastructure for Long-Term Sustainability

Post Syndicated from Amrit Singh original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/the-free-credit-trap-building-saas-infrastructure-for-long-term-sustainability/

In today’s economic climate, cost cutting is on everyone’s mind, and businesses are doing everything they can to save money. But, it’s equally important that they can’t afford to compromise the integrity of their infrastructure or the quality of the customer experience. As a startup, taking advantage of free cloud credits from cloud providers like Amazon AWS, especially at a time like this, seems enticing. 

Using those credits can make sense, but it takes more planning than you might think to use them in a way that allows you to continue managing cloud costs once the credits run out. 

In this blog post, I’ll walk through common use cases for credit programs, the risks of using credits, and alternatives that help you balance growth and cloud costs.

The True Cost of “Free”

This post is part of a series exploring free cloud credits and the hidden complexities and limitations that come with these offers. Check out our previous installments:

The Shift to Cloud 3.0

As we see it, there have been three stages of “The Cloud” in its history:

Phase 1: What is the Cloud?

Starting around when Backblaze was founded in 2007, the public cloud was in its infancy. Most people weren’t clear on what cloud computing was or if it was going to take root. Businesses were asking themselves, “What is the cloud and how will it work with my business?”

Phase 2: Cloud = Amazon Web Services

Fast forward to 10 years later, and AWS and “The Cloud” started to become synonymous. Amazon had nearly 50% of market share of public cloud services, more than Microsoft, Google, and IBM combined. “The Cloud” was well-established, and for most folks, the cloud was AWS.

Phase 3: Multi-Cloud

Today, we’re in Phase 3 of the cloud. “The Cloud” of today is defined by the open, multi-cloud internet. Traditional cloud vendors are expensive, complicated, and seek to lock customers into their walled gardens. Customers have come to realize that (see below) and to value the benefits they can get from moving away from a model that demands exclusivity in cloud infrastructure.

An image displaying a Tweet from user Philo Hermans @Philo01 that says I migrated most infrastructure away from AWS. Now that I think about it, those AWS credits are a well-designed trap to create a vendor lock in, and once your credits expire and you notice the actual cost, chances are you are in shock and stuck at the same time (laughing emoji).
Source.

In Cloud Phase 3.0, companies are looking to reign in spending, and are increasingly seeking specialized cloud providers offering affordable, best-of-breed services without sacrificing speed and performance. How do you balance that with the draw of free credits? I’ll get into that next, and the two are far from mutually exclusive.

Getting Hooked on Credits: Common Use Cases

So, you have $100k in free cloud credits from AWS. What do you do with them? Well, in our experience, there are a wide range of use cases for credits, including:

  • App development and testing: Teams may leverage credits to run an app development proof of concept (PoC) utilizing Amazon EC2, RDS, and S3 for compute, database, and storage needs, for example, but without understanding how these will scale in the longer term, there may be risks involved. Spinning up EC2 instances can quickly lead to burning through your credits and getting hit with an unexpected bill.
  • Machine learning (ML): Machine learning models require huge amounts of computing power and storage. Free cloud credits might be a good way to start, but you can expect them to quickly run out if you’re using them for this use case. 
  • Data analytics: While free cloud credits may cover storage and computing resources, data transfer costs might still apply. Analyzing large volumes of data or frequently transferring data in and out of the cloud can lead to unexpected expenses.
  • Website hosting: Hosting your website with free cloud credits can eliminate the up front infrastructure spend and provide an entry point into the cloud, but remember that when the credits expire, traffic spikes you should be celebrating can crater your bottom line.
  • Backup and disaster recovery: Free cloud credits may have restrictions on data retention, limiting the duration for which backups can be stored. This can pose challenges for organizations requiring long-term data retention for compliance or disaster recovery purposes.

All of this is to say: Proper configuration, long-term management and upkeep, and cost optimization all play a role on how you scale on monolith platforms. It is important to note that the risks and benefits mentioned above are general considerations, and specific terms and conditions may vary depending on the cloud service provider and the details of their free credit offerings. It’s crucial to thoroughly review the terms and plan accordingly to maximize the benefits and mitigate the risks associated with free cloud credits for each specific use case. (And, given the complicated pricing structures we mentioned before, that might take some effort.)

Monument Uses Free Credits Wisely

Monument, a photo management service with a strong focus on security and privacy, utilized free startup credits from AWS. But, they knew free credits wouldn’t last forever. Monument’s co-founder, Ercan Erciyes, realized they’d ultimately lose money if they built the infrastructure for Monument Cloud on AWS.

He also didn’t want to accumulate tech debt and become locked in to AWS. Rather than using the credits to build a minimum viable product as fast as humanly possible, he used the credits to develop the AI model, but not to build their infrastructure. Read more about how they put AWS credits to use while building infrastructure that could scale as they grew.

➔ Read More

The Risks of AWS Credits: Lessons from Founders

If you’re handed $100,000 in credits, it’s crucial to be aware of the risks and implications that come along with it. While it may seem like an exciting opportunity to explore the capabilities of the cloud without immediate financial constraints, there are several factors to consider:

  1. The temptation to overspend: With a credit balance at your disposal just waiting to be spent, there is a possibility of underestimating the actual costs of your cloud usage. This can lead to a scenario where you inadvertently exhaust the credits sooner than anticipated, leaving you with unexpected expenses that may strain your budget.
  2. The shock of high bills once credits expire: Without proper planning and monitoring of your cloud usage, the transition from “free” to paying for services can result in high bills that catch you off guard. It is essential to closely track your cloud usage throughout the credit period and have a clear understanding of the costs associated with the services you’re utilizing. Or better yet, use those credits for a discrete project to test your PoC or develop your minimum viable product, and plan to build your long-term infrastructure elsewhere.
  3. The risk of vendor lock-in: As you build and deploy your infrastructure within a specific cloud provider’s ecosystem, the process of migrating to an alternative provider can seem complex and can definitely be costly (shameless plug: at Backblaze, we’ll cover your migration over 50TB). Vendor lock-in can limit your flexibility, making it challenging to adapt to changing business needs or take advantage of cost-saving opportunities in the future.

The problems are nothing new for founders, as the online conversation bears out.

First, there’s the old surprise bill:

A Tweet from user Ajul Sahul @anjuls that says Similar story, AWS provided us free credits so we though we will use it for some data processing tasks. The credit expired after one year and team forgot about the abandoned resources to give a surprise bill. Cloud governance is super importance right from the start.
Source.

Even with some optimization, AWS cloud spend can still be pretty “obscene” as this user vividly shows:

A Tweet from user DHH @dhh that says We spent $3,201,564.24 on cloud in 2022 at @37signals, mostly AWS. $907,837.83 on S3. $473,196.30 on RDS. $519,959.60 on OpenSearch. $123,852.30 on Elasticache. This is with long commits (S3 for 4 years!!), reserved instances, etc. Just obscene. Will publish full accounting soon.
Source.

There’s the founder raising rounds just to pay AWS bills:

A Tweet from user Guille Ojeda @itsguilleojeda that says Tech first startups raise their first rounds to pay AWS bills. By the way, there's free credits, in case you didn't know. Up to $100k. And you'll still need funding.
Source.

Some use the surprise bill as motivation to get paying customers.

A tweet from user Leo Guinan @leo_guinan that says (I also got my AWS bill for last month and it was about 4x what I was expecting after my credits ran out, so a little more push to get paid users [laughing emoji])
Source.

Lastly, there’s the comic relief:

A tweet from user Mrinal Wahal @MrinalWahal that reads Yeah high credit card bills are scary but have you forgotten turning off your AWS instances?
Source.

Strategies for Balancing Growth and Cloud Costs

Where does that leave you today? Here are some best practices startups and early founders can implement to balance growth and cloud costs:

  1. Establishing a cloud cost management plan early on.
  2. Monitoring and optimizing cloud usage to avoid wasted resources.
  3. Leveraging multiple cloud providers.
  4. Moving to a new cloud provider altogether.
  5. Setting aside some of your credits for the migration.

1. Establishing a Cloud Cost Management Plan

Put some time into creating a well-thought-out cloud cost management strategy from the beginning. This includes closely monitoring your usage, optimizing resource allocation, and planning for the expiration of credits to ensure a smooth transition. By understanding the risks involved and proactively managing your cloud usage, you can maximize the benefits of the credits while minimizing potential financial setbacks and vendor lock-in concerns.

2. Monitoring and Optimizing Cloud Usage

Monitoring and optimizing cloud usage plays a vital role in avoiding wasted resources and controlling costs. By regularly analyzing usage patterns, organizations can identify opportunities to right-size resources, adopt automation to reduce idle time, and leverage cost-effective pricing options. Effective monitoring and optimization ensure that businesses are only paying for the resources they truly need, maximizing cost efficiency while maintaining the necessary levels of performance and scalability.

3. Leveraging Multiple Cloud Providers

By adopting a multi-cloud strategy, businesses can diversify their cloud infrastructure and services across different providers. This allows them to benefit from each provider’s unique offerings, such as specialized services, geographical coverage, or pricing models. Additionally, it provides a layer of protection against potential service disruptions or price increases from a single provider. Adopting a multi-cloud approach requires careful planning and management to ensure compatibility, data integration, and consistent security measures across multiple platforms. However, it offers the flexibility to choose the best-fit cloud services from different providers, reducing dependency on a single vendor and enabling businesses to optimize costs while harnessing the capabilities of various cloud platforms.

4. Moving to a New Cloud Provider Altogether

If you’re already deeply invested in a major cloud platform, shifting away can seem cumbersome, but there may be long-term benefits that outweigh the short term “pains” (this leads into the shift to Cloud 3.0). The process could involve re-architecting applications, migrating data, and retraining personnel on the new platform. However, factors such as pricing models, performance, scalability, or access to specialized services may win out in the end. It’s worth noting that many specialized providers have taken measures to “ease the pain” and make the transition away from AWS more seamless without overhauling code. For example, at Backblaze, we developed an S3 compatible API so switching providers is as simple as dropping in a new storage target.

5. Setting Aside Credits for the Migration

By setting aside credits for future migration, businesses can ensure they have the necessary resources to transition to a different provider without incurring significant up front expenses like egress fees to transfer large data sets. This strategic allocation of credits allows organizations to explore alternative cloud platforms, evaluate their pricing models, and assess the cost-effectiveness of migrating their infrastructure and services without worrying about being able to afford the migration.

Welcome to Cloud 3.0: Alternatives to AWS

In 2022, David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Basecamp and Hey, announced that he was moving Hey’s infrastructure from AWS to on-premises. Hansson cited the high cost of AWS as one of the reasons for the move. His estimate? “We stand to save $7m over five years from our cloud exit,” he said.  

Going back to on-premises solutions is certainly one answer to the problem of AWS bills. In fact, when we started designing Backblaze’s Personal Backup solution, we were faced with the same problem. Hosting data storage for our computer backup product on AWS was a non-starter—it was going to be too expensive, and our business wouldn’t be able to deliver a reasonable consumer price point and be solvent. So, we didn’t just invest in on-premises resources: We built our own Storage Pods, the first evolution of the Backblaze Storage Cloud. 

But, moving back to on-premises solutions isn’t the only answer—it’s just the only answer if it’s 2007 and your two options are AWS and on-premises solutions. The cloud environment as it exists today has better choices. We’ve now grown that collection of Storage Pods into the Backblaze B2 Storage Cloud, which delivers performant, interoperable storage at one-fifth the cost of AWS. And, we offer free egress to our content delivery network (CDN) and compute partners. Backblaze may provide an even more cost-effective solution for mid-sized SaaS startups looking to save on cloud costs while maintaining speed and performance.

As we transition to Cloud 3.0 in 2023 and beyond, companies are expected to undergo a shift, reevaluating their cloud spending to ensure long-term sustainability and directing saved funds into other critical areas of their businesses. The age of limited choices is over. The age of customizable cloud integration is here. 

So, shout out to David Heinemeier Hansson: We’d love to chat about your storage bills some time.

Want to Test It Yourself?

Take a proactive approach to cloud cost management: If you’ve got more than 50TB of data storage or want to check out our capacity-based pricing model, B2 Reserve, contact our Sales Team to test a PoC for free with Backblaze B2.

And, for the streamlined, self–serve option, all you need is an email to get started today.

FAQs About Cloud Spend

If you’re thinking about moving to Backblaze B2 after taking AWS credits, but you’re not sure if it’s right for you, we’ve put together some frequently asked questions that folks have shared with us before their migrations:

My cloud credits are running out. What should I do?

Backblaze’s Universal Data Migration service can help you off-load some of your data to Backblaze B2 for free. Speak with a migration expert today.

AWS has all of the services I need, and Backblaze only offers storage. What about the other services I need?

Shifting away from AWS doesn’t mean ditching the workflows you have already set up. You can migrate some of your data storage while keeping some on AWS or continuing to use other AWS services. Moreover, AWS may be overkill for small to midsize SaaS businesses with limited resources.

How should I approach a migration?

Identify the specific services and functionalities that your applications and systems require, such as CDN for content delivery or compute resources for processing tasks. Check out our partner ecosystem to identify other independent cloud providers that offer the services you need at a lower cost than AWS.

What CDN partners does Backblaze have?

With the ease of use, predictable pricing, zero egress, our joint solutions are perfect for businesses looking to reduce their IT costs, improve their operational efficiency, and increase their competitive advantage in the market. Our CDN partners include Fastly, bunny.net, and Cloudflare. And, we extend free egress to joint customers.

What compute partners does Backblaze have?

Our compute partners include Vultr and Equinix Metal. You can connect Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage with Vultr’s global compute network to access, store, and scale application data on-demand, at a fraction of the cost of the hyperscalers.

The post The Free Credit Trap: Building SaaS Infrastructure for Long-Term Sustainability appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

A Cyber Insurance Checklist: Learn How to Lower Risk to Better Secure Coverage

Post Syndicated from Kari Rivas original https://www.backblaze.com/blog/a-cyber-insurance-checklist-learn-how-to-lower-risk-to-better-secure-coverage/

A decorative image showing a cyberpig on a laptop with a shield blocking it from accessing a server.

If your business is looking into cyber insurance to protect your bottom line against security incidents, you’re in good company. The global market for cybersecurity insurance is projected to grow from 11.9 billion in 2022 to 29.2 billion by 2027.

But you don’t want to go into buying cyber security insurance blind. We put together this cyber insurance readiness checklist to help you strengthen your cyber resilience stance in order to better secure a policy and possibly a lower premium. (And even if you decide not to pursue cyber insurance, simply following some of these best practices will help you secure your company’s data.)

What is Cyber Insurance?

Cyber insurance is a specialty insurance product that is useful for any size business, but especially those dealing with large amounts of data. Before you buy cyber insurance, it helps to understand some fundamentals. Check out our post on cyber insurance basics to get up to speed.

Once you understand the basic choices available to you when securing a policy, or if you’re already familiar with how cyber insurance works, read on for the checklist.

Cyber Insurance Readiness Checklist

Cybersecurity insurance providers use their questionnaire and assessment period to understand how well-situated your business is to detect, limit, or prevent a cyber attack. They have requirements, and you want to meet those specific criteria to be covered at the most reasonable cost.

Your business is more likely to receive a lower premium if your security infrastructure is sound and you have disaster recovery processes and procedures in place. Though each provider has their own requirements, use the checklist below to familiarize yourself with the kinds of criteria a cyber insurance provider might look for. Any given provider may not ask about or require all these precautions; these are examples of common criteria. Note: Checking these off means your cyber resilience score is attractive to providers, though not a guarantee of coverage or a lower premium.

General Business Security

  • A business continuity/disaster recovery plan that includes a formal incident response plan is in place.
  • There is a designated role, group, or outside vendor responsible for information security.
  • Your company has a written information security policy.
  • Employees must complete social engineering/phishing training.
  • You set up antivirus software and firewalls.
  • You monitor the network in real-time.
  • Company mobile computing devices are encrypted.
  • You use spam and phishing filters for your email client.
  • You require two-factor authentication (2FA) for email, remote access to the network, and privileged user accounts.
  • You have an endpoint detection and response system in place.

Cloud Storage Security

  • Your cloud storage account is 2FA enabled. Note: Backblaze accounts have 2FA via SMS or via authentication apps using ToTP.
  • You encrypt data at rest and in transit. Note: Backblaze B2 provides server-side encryption (encryption at rest), and many of our partner integration tools, like Veeam, MSP360, and Archiware, offer encryption in transit.
  • You follow the 3-2-1 or 3-2-1-1-0 backup strategies and keep an air-gapped copy of your backup data (that is, a copy that’s not connected to your network).
  • You run backups frequently. You might consider implementing grandfather-father-son strategy for your cloud backups to meet this requirement.
  • You store backups off-site and in a geographically separate location. Note: Even if you keep a backup off-site, your cyber insurance provider may not consider this secure enough if your off-site copy is in the same geographic region or held at your own data center.
  • Your backups are protected from ransomware with object lock for data immutability.

AcenTek Adopts Cloud for Cyber Insurance Requirement

Learn how Backblaze customer AcenTek secured their data with B2 Cloud Storage to meet their cyber insurance provider’s requirement that backups be secured in a geographically distanced location.

By adding features like SSE, 2FA, and object lock to your backup security, insurance companies know you take data security seriously.

Cyber insurance provides the peace of mind that, when your company is faced with a digital incident, you will have access to resources with which to recover. And there is no question that by increasing your cybersecurity resilience, you’re more likely to find an insurer with the best coverage at the right price.

Ultimately, it’s up to you to ensure you have a robust backup strategy and security protocols in place. Even if you hope to never have to access your backups (because that might mean a security breach), it’s always smart to consider how fast you can restore your data should you need to, keeping in mind that hot storage is going to give you a faster recovery time objective (RTO) without any delays like those seen with cold storage like Amazon Glacier. And, with Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage offering hot cloud storage at cold storage prices, you can afford to store all your data for as long as you need—at one-fifth the price of AWS.

Get Started With Backblaze

Get started today with pay-as-you-go pricing, or contact our Sales Team to learn more about B2 Reserve, our all-inclusive, capacity-based bundles starting at 20TB.

The post A Cyber Insurance Checklist: Learn How to Lower Risk to Better Secure Coverage appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

New Whitepaper: Selecting & Designing Your Hybrid Connectivity Model

Post Syndicated from Santiago Freitas original https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/architecture/new-whitepaper-selecting-designing-your-hybrid-connectivity-model/

Introduction

Many organizations need to connect their on-premises data centers, remote sites, and the cloud. A hybrid network connects these different environments.

A modern organization uses an extensive array of IT resources. In the past, it was common to host these resources in an on-premises data center or a colocation facility. With the increased adoption of cloud computing, IT resources are delivered and consumed from cloud service providers over a network connection. In some cases, organizations have opted to migrate all existing IT resources to the cloud. In other cases, organizations maintain IT resources both on premises and in the cloud. In both cases, a common network is required to connect on-premises and cloud resources. Coexistence of on-premises and cloud resources is called “hybrid cloud” and the common network connecting them is referred to as a “hybrid network. “ Even if your organization keeps all of its IT resources in the cloud, it may still require hybrid connectivity to remote sites.

There are several connectivity models to choose from. Although having options adds flexibility, selecting the best option requires analysis of the business and technical requirements and the elimination of options that are not suitable. Requirements can be grouped together across considerations, such as: security, time to deploy, performance, reliability, communication model, scalability, and more. Once requirements are carefully collected, analyzed, and considered, network and cloud architects identify applicable AWS hybrid network building blocks and solutions. To identify and select the optimal model(s), architects must understand advantages and disadvantages of each model. There are also technical limitations that might cause an otherwise good model to be excluded.

Consideration covered in the whitepaper

Figure 1 – Consideration covered on the whitepaper.

A new whitepaper on Hybrid Connectivity describes AWS building blocks and the key things to consider when deciding which hybrid connectivity model is right for you. To help you determine the best solution for your business and technical requirements, we provide decision trees to guide you through the logical selection process as well as a customer use case to show how to apply the considerations and decision trees in practice.

Decision tree applied to Example Corp. Automotive use case

Figure 2: Example Corp. Automotive connection type decision tree

Contributors

Contributors to this new whitepaper on Hybrid Connectivity are: Marwan Al Shawi, AWS Solutions Architect; Santiago Freitas, AWS Head of Technology; Evgeny Vaganov, AWS Specialist Solutions Architect – Networking; and Tom Adamski, AWS Specialist Solutions Architect – Networking. Special thanks to Stephen Bird, AWS Senior Program Manager – Content.