By: John Shepler
The Economic Appeal of Cloud Computing
Opting for cloud services over traditional data centers seems incredibly cost-effective. Instead of large loans and capital investments in servers and infrastructure, businesses can subscribe to a cloud service provider and pay only for the resources they consume. This eliminates the need to predict future business demands and allows for flexibility in scaling resources on-demand.
The Allure of Simplicity
The solution appears straightforward: forgo establishing a new data center or dismantle your existing one, and lease the necessary resources from a cloud provider. A simple network connection between your premises and theirs should suffice, making the physical location of the servers irrelevant to network users, who primarily interact with applications.
The Reality of Network Latency
The notion that a network can make distant resources seem as accessible as local ones is an ideal often challenged in reality. While a server miles away should theoretically function identically to one on-site, a noticeable delay can arise, creating inconsistencies in system responsiveness.
When Infinite Resources Feel Limited
Cloud data centers boast vast resources, allowing users to scale their usage dynamically and seemingly eliminating capacity constraints. However, some users experience limitations in the cloud that seem counterintuitive given its purported capabilities.
The WAN Factor
Often overlooked is the crucial role of the WAN (Wide Area Network) connection. While LAN (Local Area Network) performance is typically transparent due to high capacity and short distances, connecting over longer distances with WAN introduces challenges. Unlike local networks, WANs, especially those managed by telecom carriers, can exhibit sluggishness.
Factors Affecting WAN Performance
Several factors contribute to the transparency or lack thereof in WAN connections. Bandwidth, latency, jitter, and packet loss are key aspects. Maximizing bandwidth and minimizing the other three is crucial.
While increasing bandwidth might seem like the solution to sluggishness, latency, which is the inherent delay in data packet transmission over distance, cannot be mitigated by bandwidth alone.
Addressing Latency Issues
Minimizing the physical distance between connected points is one way to reduce latency. However, even at the speed of light, delays are unavoidable over long distances. Fiber optic cables offer faster speeds but still introduce latency, particularly over significant distances. Satellite links, while offering global coverage, introduce even more latency.
Therefore, using terrestrial fiber optic connections with the shortest possible routes is generally recommended for minimizing latency in cloud connections. Dedicated private lines offer the highest performance, while privately operated MPLS networks offer a balance between performance and cost-effectiveness.
The Internet as a WAN Option
The Internet, with its global reach and cost-effectiveness due to shared infrastructure, appears to be an ideal solution for cloud connectivity. While encryption can create secure tunnels, emulating private networks, performance limitations remain.
Unlike private networks optimized for minimal latency, the Internet prioritizes resilience. While this ensures continuous connectivity even with disruptions, it introduces variable paths and potential bottlenecks, ultimately impacting latency and jitter.
For applications demanding maximum performance or real-time interactivity, private lines are preferable. However, a hybrid approach utilizing Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) can provide a balance. DIA leverages the Internet’s high-performance backbone while using a private line for the “last mile” connection, minimizing latency and jitter.
Choosing the Right Cloud Connection
Several cloud connectivity options are available, each with cost and performance implications. Evaluating these tradeoffs is essential for selecting the most suitable link that ensures a seamless and efficient connection to the cloud.