Multi-cloud: strategy or fantasy
When multi-cloud pays off. This post digs into the topic, drawing on recent discussion from Hacker News, Reddit, and the wider community.
The conversation that prompted this post is linked in the sources. I have tried to capture the substance of the discussion rather than just summarize it, because the comments are usually where the real insight lives.
What happened
Multi-region is not multi-cloud. Running in two AWS regions is redundancy. Running on AWS and GCP is strategy, and it is expensive.
Multi-region is not multi-cloud. Running in two AWS regions is redundancy. Running on AWS and GCP is strategy, and it is expensive.
IAM is the foundation of cloud security. Get it wrong and nothing else matters. Get it right and most attacks become much harder.
Spot instances are free money if your workload can tolerate interruption. Most batch and async workloads can.
IAM is the foundation of cloud security. Get it wrong and nothing else matters. Get it right and most attacks become much harder.
Multi-region is not multi-cloud. Running in two AWS regions is redundancy. Running on AWS and GCP is strategy, and it is expensive.
IAM is the foundation of cloud security. Get it wrong and nothing else matters. Get it right and most attacks become much harder.
Autoscaling is not a substitute for capacity planning. It reacts to load; it does not predict it.
IAM is the foundation of cloud security. Get it wrong and nothing else matters. Get it right and most attacks become much harder.
Managed databases trade operational burden for cost and flexibility. Know what you are giving up.
Multi-region is not multi-cloud. Running in two AWS regions is redundancy. Running on AWS and GCP is strategy, and it is expensive.
Managed databases trade operational burden for cost and flexibility. Know what you are giving up.
Managed databases trade operational burden for cost and flexibility. Know what you are giving up.
Serverless is great until it isn't. Cold starts, concurrency limits, and vendor lock-in are real costs that show up at scale.
Infrastructure as code is not optional at scale. Clicking in the console is fine for learning and unacceptable for production.
Why it matters
Serverless is great until it isn't. Cold starts, concurrency limits, and vendor lock-in are real costs that show up at scale.
Infrastructure as code is not optional at scale. Clicking in the console is fine for learning and unacceptable for production.
Spot instances are free money if your workload can tolerate interruption. Most batch and async workloads can.
The shared responsibility model means the cloud secures the infrastructure and you secure everything else. Most breaches are in the everything else.
The shared responsibility model means the cloud secures the infrastructure and you secure everything else. Most breaches are in the everything else.
Autoscaling is not a substitute for capacity planning. It reacts to load; it does not predict it.
Managed databases trade operational burden for cost and flexibility. Know what you are giving up.
IAM is the foundation of cloud security. Get it wrong and nothing else matters. Get it right and most attacks become much harder.
IAM is the foundation of cloud security. Get it wrong and nothing else matters. Get it right and most attacks become much harder.
The cloud is just someone else's computer, and that someone else is very good at charging you for convenience. The question is always whether the convenience is worth the markup.
Tagging is boring and essential. Without consistent tags, cost attribution is guesswork.
Networking is where cloud bills hide. Data transfer charges between regions and out to the internet add up fast.
Spot instances are free money if your workload can tolerate interruption. Most batch and async workloads can.
Observability is the difference between knowing something is broken and knowing why. Invest in it before you need it.
The shared responsibility model means the cloud secures the infrastructure and you secure everything else. Most breaches are in the everything else.
Practical takeaways
- Observability is the difference between knowing something is broken and knowing why.
- Backups are not disaster recovery.
- Infrastructure as code is not optional at scale.
- Autoscaling is not a substitute for capacity planning.
- Autoscaling is not a substitute for capacity planning.
- Reserved instances and savings plans reward commitment.
- IAM is the foundation of cloud security.
- Cloud cost is the new technical debt.
- IAM is the foundation of cloud security.
- Managed databases trade operational burden for cost and flexibility.
The cloud is just someone else's computer, and that someone else is very good at charging you for convenience. The question is always whether the convenience is worth the markup.
Infrastructure as code is not optional at scale. Clicking in the console is fine for learning and unacceptable for production.
The shared responsibility model means the cloud secures the infrastructure and you secure everything else. Most breaches are in the everything else.
Serverless is great until it isn't. Cold starts, concurrency limits, and vendor lock-in are real costs that show up at scale.
Networking is where cloud bills hide. Data transfer charges between regions and out to the internet add up fast.
IAM is the foundation of cloud security. Get it wrong and nothing else matters. Get it right and most attacks become much harder.
Managed databases trade operational burden for cost and flexibility. Know what you are giving up.
Serverless is great until it isn't. Cold starts, concurrency limits, and vendor lock-in are real costs that show up at scale.
Multi-region is not multi-cloud. Running in two AWS regions is redundancy. Running on AWS and GCP is strategy, and it is expensive.
Multi-region is not multi-cloud. Running in two AWS regions is redundancy. Running on AWS and GCP is strategy, and it is expensive.
Backups are not disaster recovery. Test your restores or you do not have backups.
Spot instances are free money if your workload can tolerate interruption. Most batch and async workloads can.
IAM is the foundation of cloud security. Get it wrong and nothing else matters. Get it right and most attacks become much harder.
The shared responsibility model means the cloud secures the infrastructure and you secure everything else. Most breaches are in the everything else.
Spot instances are free money if your workload can tolerate interruption. Most batch and async workloads can.
Managed databases trade operational burden for cost and flexibility. Know what you are giving up.
IAM is the foundation of cloud security. Get it wrong and nothing else matters. Get it right and most attacks become much harder.
Reserved instances and savings plans reward commitment. If your workload is stable, not using them is leaving money on the table.
The cloud is just someone else's computer, and that someone else is very good at charging you for convenience. The question is always whether the convenience is worth the markup.
Tagging is boring and essential. Without consistent tags, cost attribution is guesswork.
Sources
This post is informed by discussion on cncf.io and related threads on Hacker News and Reddit. Primary source: https://www.cncf.io/.
Spot instances are free money if your workload can tolerate interruption. Most batch and async workloads can.
Observability is the difference between knowing something is broken and knowing why. Invest in it before you need it.
The cloud is just someone else's computer, and that someone else is very good at charging you for convenience. The question is always whether the convenience is worth the markup.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
Tagging is boring and essential. Without consistent tags, cost attribution is guesswork.
The shared responsibility model means the cloud secures the infrastructure and you secure everything else. Most breaches are in the everything else.
IAM is the foundation of cloud security. Get it wrong and nothing else matters. Get it right and most attacks become much harder.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
The cloud is just someone else's computer, and that someone else is very good at charging you for convenience. The question is always whether the convenience is worth the markup.
Tagging is boring and essential. Without consistent tags, cost attribution is guesswork.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
Observability is the difference between knowing something is broken and knowing why. Invest in it before you need it.
Observability is the difference between knowing something is broken and knowing why. Invest in it before you need it.
Backups are not disaster recovery. Test your restores or you do not have backups.
IAM is the foundation of cloud security. Get it wrong and nothing else matters. Get it right and most attacks become much harder.
Tagging is boring and essential. Without consistent tags, cost attribution is guesswork.
Infrastructure as code is not optional at scale. Clicking in the console is fine for learning and unacceptable for production.
Networking is where cloud bills hide. Data transfer charges between regions and out to the internet add up fast.
Observability is the difference between knowing something is broken and knowing why. Invest in it before you need it.
The cloud is just someone else's computer, and that someone else is very good at charging you for convenience. The question is always whether the convenience is worth the markup.
Spot instances are free money if your workload can tolerate interruption. Most batch and async workloads can.
Networking is where cloud bills hide. Data transfer charges between regions and out to the internet add up fast.
Reserved instances and savings plans reward commitment. If your workload is stable, not using them is leaving money on the table.
Serverless is great until it isn't. Cold starts, concurrency limits, and vendor lock-in are real costs that show up at scale.
Autoscaling is not a substitute for capacity planning. It reacts to load; it does not predict it.
The cloud is just someone else's computer, and that someone else is very good at charging you for convenience. The question is always whether the convenience is worth the markup.
Observability is the difference between knowing something is broken and knowing why. Invest in it before you need it.
Serverless is great until it isn't. Cold starts, concurrency limits, and vendor lock-in are real costs that show up at scale.
Multi-region is not multi-cloud. Running in two AWS regions is redundancy. Running on AWS and GCP is strategy, and it is expensive.
Backups are not disaster recovery. Test your restores or you do not have backups.
Reserved instances and savings plans reward commitment. If your workload is stable, not using them is leaving money on the table.
Networking is where cloud bills hide. Data transfer charges between regions and out to the internet add up fast.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
Autoscaling is not a substitute for capacity planning. It reacts to load; it does not predict it.
Serverless is great until it isn't. Cold starts, concurrency limits, and vendor lock-in are real costs that show up at scale.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
The shared responsibility model means the cloud secures the infrastructure and you secure everything else. Most breaches are in the everything else.
IAM is the foundation of cloud security. Get it wrong and nothing else matters. Get it right and most attacks become much harder.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
The cloud is just someone else's computer, and that someone else is very good at charging you for convenience. The question is always whether the convenience is worth the markup.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
Observability is the difference between knowing something is broken and knowing why. Invest in it before you need it.
Reserved instances and savings plans reward commitment. If your workload is stable, not using them is leaving money on the table.
Cloud cost is the new technical debt. Teams that do not track spend by service and team end up with bills that nobody can explain and nobody can reduce.
Observability is the difference between knowing something is broken and knowing why. Invest in it before you need it.
Tagging is boring and essential. Without consistent tags, cost attribution is guesswork.
The cloud is just someone else's computer, and that someone else is very good at charging you for convenience. The question is always whether the convenience is worth the markup.
Infrastructure as code is not optional at scale. Clicking in the console is fine for learning and unacceptable for production.
Multi-region is not multi-cloud. Running in two AWS regions is redundancy. Running on AWS and GCP is strategy, and it is expensive.
Managed databases trade operational burden for cost and flexibility. Know what you are giving up.
The shared responsibility model means the cloud secures the infrastructure and you secure everything else. Most breaches are in the everything else.
Multi-region is not multi-cloud. Running in two AWS regions is redundancy. Running on AWS and GCP is strategy, and it is expensive.
Networking is where cloud bills hide. Data transfer charges between regions and out to the internet add up fast.
Infrastructure as code is not optional at scale. Clicking in the console is fine for learning and unacceptable for production.
Networking is where cloud bills hide. Data transfer charges between regions and out to the internet add up fast.
Spot instances are free money if your workload can tolerate interruption. Most batch and async workloads can.
Managed databases trade operational burden for cost and flexibility. Know what you are giving up.
IAM is the foundation of cloud security. Get it wrong and nothing else matters. Get it right and most attacks become much harder.