The Cloud Does Not Live Without Data Centers: What It Means And The Differences

Because the foundation of cloud services must be solid and reliable data centers. The main differences and the example of Aruba. When it comes to cloud and cloud computing, many people – probably allowing themselves to be influenced by the terms – believe they are dealing with something ethereal and impalpable.

In reality, behind every cloud service is a data center managed by a team of experts to offer customers guarantees in terms of availability, integrity, security, and data confidentiality. Each cloud service is based on a “physical” data center, on a more or less large set of servers that allow end users to be assured of continuous accessibility and availability of the requested service.

Difference Between Cloud And Data Center

The main difference between what is referred to using the word cloud and the term data center is how data is managed. In the case of the cloud, one frees oneself from the “iron.” As seen in the article How to migrate content between different providers. Towards the multi-cloud, a cloud provider such as Aruba helps the customer to free himself from the use of traditional type servers. 

These will no longer have to manage the hardware or take care of the networking because these aspects will be automatically managed thanks to the use of the innovative cloud approach. With the cloud, there is no single physical server to manage the user’s data and take on the workloads: thanks to a distributed infrastructure and virtualization (there can be various hypervisors selected), the user’s machine no longer has pre-established and well-defined boundaries.

A single cloud server no longer corresponds to a single physical machine but to a set of virtualized resources that can be sized and scaled up or down according to needs and workloads to be managed at various times of the year. Therefore, the advantages of the cloud are also in terms of business continuity because your data is backed up continuously and in real-time thanks to the particular infrastructure used. In the article ” How to install WordPress in the cloud, ” we have summarized all the advantages of cloud hosting in terms of costs.

The Aruba Case: Data Center Supporting The Cloud

Aruba is an all-Italian company that today has four large data centers, three located in Italy (which makes the difference thanks also to the certifications the provider can exhibit) and one in the Czech Republic. The largest ever ( covers an area of ​​200,000 m 2 ) is that of Bergamo, where a MIX PoP ( Milan Internet eXchange; The new MIX PoP has been activated at the Global Cloud Data Center Aruba in Bergamo ) has also recently been established.

Aruba can also count on the resources available in many data centers managed by partner companies in France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Poland. All Aruba data centers are presented on these pages. The European data center network is Aruba’s main strength, thanks to which the company can provide a complete range of IaaS ( Infrastructure as a Service ) services in the form of Public, Private, and Hybrid Cloud(for deepen, we suggest reading the article Difference between public, private and hybrid cloud What it means to have listening ports ). 

Aruba is, therefore, the prime example of how a solid structure at the data center level can be put at the service of the cloud, regardless of the solution chosen by the customer. The company and the professional are free to configure their virtual infrastructure on the cloud because, using a simple control panel, it is possible not only to create a cloud server in a few minutes but to choose which hardware characteristics it will have to have, which operating system will have to be pre-installed and even set up a complex network composed of multiple cloud servers, load balancers, unified and shared storage between the various virtual machines.

Using a simple and intuitive graphical interface, it is possible to segment the virtual network – as if you were using switches – and create VLANs to manage traffic based on specific rules. The customer will therefore have to focus on the virtual infrastructure, from the simplest project (a single virtual server can be purchased for a few euros per month) to multi-server configurations with significant amounts of RAM (32 GB) and storage in addition to 8 vCore or more if needed. Aruba will take care of managing the physical infrastructure.

How Important Is A Reliable Data Center In The Case Of Cloud Services: Resilience, DR, Transparent Conduct, And Respect For The Environment

A provider good at putting together “the bricks” that make the data center work can provide excellent guarantees from a cloud perspective. For example, resilience is fundamental in cloud services: the infrastructure and data can be rebuilt and restored even in serious incidents.

In addition to guaranteeing this type of approach, Aruba uses the Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) scheme to protect the virtual infrastructure of each customer: intelligent management of data replicas makes it possible to compensate for the remote eventuality of an accident and prevent even minimal data loss.

And once again, the value of the data center is important because, in the case of Aruba, the customer can configure customized disaster recovery policies that allow replicating and possibly restoring on-premise infrastructures. Aruba is also one of the founders of CISPE ( Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe ). 

A coalition formed between European providers which, among the advantages for end users, has allowed the introduction of a shared code of conduct to guarantee users the use of safe and transparent procedures. The code of conduct anticipated the entry into force of the GDPR, the new European legislation protecting personal data, with which Aruba is fully compliant (also offering ” GDPR ready ” turnkey solutions).

Another of Aruba’s strengths is using “green” data centers because renewable energy sources power them and consequently have a very low environmental impact. Such a plant is a source of significant long-term cost savings for Aruba. 

However, as the company’s managers have repeatedly stated, ” it’s nice to know that the data centers are also powered by hydroelectric energy from a river. ” And it is thanks to the efforts that have been made up to now that in the case of Aruba, the CFP ( carbon footprint ) indicator is equal to zero: the company, with its data centers, does not contribute to greenhouse gas emissions (greater details at this address ).

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