A Guide to Deployment Models: On-Premise, Cloud, and Disconnected

The days when every service was managed from a single server or location are long gone. When organizations build software and services, they have a variety of options depending on their budget, infrastructure, and security needs. Now teams can build software across a broad network of machines and software managed either by their own staff or external services.

What tools to use is a complex question and there is no one-size-fits-all for every organization.

Today, we’ve put together some analysis of the various pros and cons of some common cloud and on-premise options. Understanding the options for your team can help you make the right choice and save money and time in the long term.

Self-hosted

With self-hosted software, the software is usually located and operated within the organization’s computing hardware. Self-hosted deployments are set up and maintained by the organization on its own network.

Pros

Full control: By keeping everything in-house, organizations can retain greater control of their tech assets. This level of control can be especially important in highly regulated industries where this type of control is required. The level of security is entirely dependent on your own internal security protocols.

Initial cost: Depending on the size of deployment, an on-premise solution can be cheaper than a private cloud solution, especially in the short term.

Complexity: While cloud is the most sleek and modern deployment model, it can actually cause an increase in complexity with the simple fact that managing a hybrid infrastructure has more moving parts especially when it comes to networking and routing when compared to a co-located strategy. Organizations with a robust DevOps infrastructure that are used to deploying in-house may find it easier to continue adding self-hosted solutions. Deploying to the cloud carries benefits but isn’t a cure-all. It requires (Read more...)