Though it is relevant to several fields, from zoology to medicine, it is with
the automotive industry that the word hybrid is associated more these days, for
vehicles that run on a combination of traditional combustion fuel and electric
power generated by the vehicle itself.
اضافة اعلان
Recently the word started being used in computer
server technology.
The comparison between cars and computers, one that
I, like many technology writers; use, typically involves speed, reliability,
power, and other characteristics. It is particularly relevant when it comes to
the hybrid factor, common to both domains.
Cars that run exclusively on fuel are criticized for
their heavy carbon footprint. Those that are 100 percent electric are
criticized for their driving range, the need for a recharging outlet ever so
often, and the time it takes to recharge them. Hybrid cars make the best of the
two power sources, with one compensating for the weaknesses of the other and
taking over when it fails.
Now this notion is put to good use in the new type
of computer servers that are obviously called hybrid servers.
For more than a decade the trend, globally, was to
go to the cloud to store data or to run software “up there”, and not on the
physical computer. If at the beginning there was reluctance or lack of trust in
the virtual digital world, these fears have been wiped out almost completely.
The last five years have seen a clear increase, an unprecedented move toward
cloud computing.
… whereas the practicality and the advantages of cloud servers are many, and have been widely acknowledged, they do not yet constitute a perfect, foolproof solution. They can be hampered by slow internet connectivity at times, or worse, by total outage, though this is unlikely to happen nowadays, with the fast and reliable fiber optic infrastructure.
Several companies offer complete cloud server
services, whereby they do not need to have their own physical server hardware.
They just subscribe to the online service and work on the users’ computers
(laptops or desktops) as if they were connected to on-site servers. AWS (Amazon
Web Service), for instance, proposes excellent, powerful cloud servers.
Competitors include Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, IBM Cloud, Alibaba
Cloud and Lumen Public Cloud.
But just like the majority of drivers are finding it
hard to rely solely on electric cars and are going to the hybrid formula
instead, for added security and reliability, the last couple of years have seen
a slight reversal of the “cloud server” trend among businesses. This results in
the technology industry offering hybrid servers, a model that Wikipedia aptly
defines as “a new kind of virtual server that offers both the power of a
classic dedicated server and the flexibility of cloud computing”.
Indeed, whereas the practicality and the advantages
of cloud servers are many, and have been widely acknowledged, they do not yet
constitute a perfect, foolproof solution. They can be hampered by slow internet
connectivity at times, or worse, by total outage, though this is unlikely to
happen nowadays, with the fast and reliable fiber optic infrastructure.
Other fears, perhaps more justified than the purely
technical glitches, are of a different nature. You may ask what happens if the
cloud server service, located somewhere in the world, and over which one has no
real control, decides, for some obscure reason, to cut you off temporarily or
permanently. This is a valid question, a reasonable fear, hence hybrid servers.
The local backup solution is implemented not only in
the case of cloud servers, but also in that of the simpler, more
straightforward cloud storage that most private users have adopted, like
Microsoft’s OneDrive, Google’s Drive, Apple’s iCloud, or Dropbox, to name the
main ones.
The private users who have learnt their lesson well,
from data loss or corruption they may have suffered in the past, every now and
then make regular backup copies of all the data they have in the cloud storage
on a local external disk, just in case the unlikely happens. Typically, they
perform this operation two to three times a month.
Whether one is a private user or a large business,
the idea of a “Plan B” is more relevant than ever. Hybrid servers come along
this line.
Jean-Claude Elias is a computer engineer and a classically
trained pianist and guitarist. He has been regularly writing IT articles,
reviewing music albums, and covering concerts for more than 30 years.
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