In this article, BAKOTECH delves into the challenges of local data storage, explores why businesses are migrating to the cloud, and highlights how modern IT solutions enhance process management and data protection in cloud environments.
What happens to data and processes when they are hosted locally?
On-premises infrastructure still has its advantages, and some businesses will benefit from this option. However, you should look at both sides of the coin and weigh all the facts.
Disadvantages of on-premises hosting
Low reliability. The reliability of local infrastructure depends on the quality of maintenance. A well-trained team and proven tools are necessary to ensure smooth operations and robust data protection.
Limited scalability. Local servers provide a fixed number of resources. If you need to increase their quantity, the only way is to buy additional equipment. This limits your options and prevents you from scaling quickly to provide more services or more frequent updates.
Unreasonable costs. Imagine investing in extra servers that become underutilized. It would be unprofitable. Managing on-premises infrastructure is often costlier than cloud-based alternatives.
Excessive maintenance. It’s your team that’s responsible for the state of the local infrastructure, so constant maintenance turns into an operating expense. These budgets could be used for modernization.
Security responsibility. On-premises hosting gives you more control over your infrastructure, but you are still responsible for its security. Complex systems with many dependencies, which are often the case in the enterprise, are heavily influenced by the human factor, and it’s much higher in on-premises infrastructure.
Managing and scaling large infrastructure in the cloud: why businesses should move all their processes there
Digital transformation requires dramatic changes: new technologies can make a company many times stronger, and they appear almost every day. To use them and get the most out of them, modern IT enterprises are migrating to the cloud. There are different architectures and approaches, but the benefits of moving processes to the cloud are undeniable:
Enhanced security
Cloud providers invest heavily in data and infrastructure security including physical safeguards, encryption, identity and access controls, and compliance certifications.
Compliance
Cloud providers meet regulatory requirements and adhere to industry standards to ensure data protection: SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, PCI DSS, etc. This helps to avoid fines and save the company's reputation.
Deployment automation
Cloud services allow customized CI/CD pipelines, streamlining development processes and delivery.
Simplification
Cloud tools simplify deployment, maintenance, security configuration, backup, and disaster recovery.
Automatic scalability
If necessary, you can set up automatic scaling of your capacity. For example, if the amount of traffic increases dramatically or a particular process requires more resources for a certain period.
What F5 Distributed Cloud Services brings to enterprises
Comprehensive data protection
DDoS protection ensures business continuity, and the Web Application Firewall (WAF) protects against a wide range of threats to provide a robust level of security.
F5 provides access control through roles and other attributes. Data is securely encrypted to protect it from unauthorized access. The platform also supports multifactor authentication (MFA).
Analytical tools and machine learning allow you to detect anomalies and potential threats in real-time. In addition, F5 Distributed Cloud Services protects APIs from scanning and vulnerabilities.
Multiple integration options
With its flexibility and support for multiple standards, F5 enables easy integration with popular cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and others. This allows you to take advantage of the benefits of various cloud services while ensuring security and performance.
Integration with DevOps tools such as Docker and Kubernetes enables F5 Distributed Cloud Services to provide powerful container management and orchestration solutions that simplify the process of deploying and scaling applications in cloud environments.
Flexibility through the use of modules
With a modular approach, businesses can choose only the services and features they need, instead of investing in a complete solution that may include unnecessary components. This allows them to optimize costs.
If a business grows, the modular architecture of F5 Distributed Cloud Services also allows to add new modules without major re-engineering of the existing infrastructure. This provides scalability and helps avoid the additional costs associated with a complete system reconfiguration.
6 ways to protect your data in the cloud with F5
Cloud load balancing
F5 Distributed Cloud DNS Load Balancer is a centrally managed and globally distributed load balancer and proxy that provides network traffic distribution and comprehensive application security in distributed environments with consistent configuration features. This includes health checks, service discovery, HTTP and TCP load balancing, routing, APIs, application micro-segmentation, and application policy.
Distributed cloud protection from DDoS attacks
F5 Distributed Cloud DDoS Mitigation Service provides robust DDoS protection with a distributed architecture that can effectively detect and mitigate threats in real-time. This service ensures uninterrupted application performance and reduces downtime risks due to its scalability and high bandwidth to handle large volumes of traffic.
Cloud-based bot protection
F5 Distributed Cloud Bot Defense provides robust protection against malicious bots using advanced detection techniques, including machine learning and behavioral analysis. The service injects code into clients to collect telemetry and transaction metadata and continuously analyzes data using artificial intelligence to detect threats and automated attacks, credential theft attempts, and other cyber threats. It also allows legitimate bots and users to interact with applications seamlessly.
Client-side protection
F5 Distributed Cloud Client-Side Defense protects against client-side threats such as JavaScript attacks, form injection, and more. Using behavioral analysis and machine learning, the service effectively detects and blocks malicious code, protecting sensitive information and improving the overall security of web applications.
API security
F5 Distributed Cloud API Security provides comprehensive API protection using advanced threat detection techniques to identify and block malicious requests and anomalous activity. This service helps prevent data theft, API misuse, and DDoS attacks at the API level while ensuring uninterrupted access for legitimate users.
Fraud and risk prevention and data analytics
F5 Fraud and Abuse Prevention provides strong protection against fraud and abuse. This service helps detect and block fraudulent transactions, protecting sensitive user data and reducing financial losses for companies.
In turn, F5 Distributed Cloud Data Intelligence offers powerful capabilities for collecting, analyzing, and visualizing traffic and security data, allowing organizations to gain in-depth insights into threats and anomalies in real-time.
Conclusion
Cloud computing isn’t the future — it’s the present. It allows even small companies to deliver services much more efficiently, empowering them to scale quickly and reduce the burden of maintaining on-premises infrastructure.
However, cloud computing unlocks its potential when it's used by enterprises. Now you know more about the benefits you can get from it.
Contact BAKOTECH today to strengthen your enterprise with technology from F5.