Overview
Direct Answer
Cloud bursting is a hybrid cloud strategy in which an organisation maintains baseline workloads in a private cloud infrastructure and automatically offloads excess demand to a public cloud provider when capacity thresholds are exceeded. This approach enables elastic scaling whilst preserving control over sensitive or baseline operations.
How It Works
Applications run continuously in the private environment with monitoring systems tracking resource utilisation against predefined thresholds. When demand exceeds private capacity, orchestration software automatically provisions additional resources in the public cloud, distributing workloads across both environments. Traffic routing and data synchronisation occur transparently to end users, with workloads repatriated to private infrastructure as demand normalises.
Why It Matters
Organisations achieve cost efficiency by avoiding permanent over-provisioning whilst maintaining performance during unpredictable spikes. This model reduces capital expenditure on private infrastructure by allowing temporary public cloud consumption, improving response times for critical business periods such as seasonal peaks or promotional campaigns.
Common Applications
Financial services utilise this pattern during month-end reconciliation and trading surges. E-commerce platforms employ it during peak shopping periods such as Black Friday. Software-as-a-service providers leverage this approach to handle variable customer demand whilst maintaining core infrastructure control.
Key Considerations
Network latency and data transfer costs between private and public environments can offset savings; careful architectural design and threshold configuration are essential. Organisations must ensure robust security policies, compliance controls, and failover mechanisms function reliably across hybrid boundaries.
Cross-References(2)
More in Cloud Computing
Docker
InfrastructureA platform for developing, shipping, and running applications in isolated containers with consistent environments.
Kubernetes
InfrastructureAn open-source container orchestration platform for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerised applications.
Infrastructure as a Service
Service ModelsCloud computing model providing virtualised computing resources like servers, storage, and networking over the internet.
Region
InfrastructureA geographic area containing one or more data centres where cloud services are hosted.
Infrastructure as Code
Deployment & OperationsManaging and provisioning computing infrastructure through machine-readable configuration files rather than manual processes.
Software as a Service
Service ModelsCloud computing model that delivers software applications over the internet on a subscription basis.
Spot Instance
Service ModelsA cloud computing option that uses spare capacity at significantly reduced prices with the possibility of interruption.
Cloud Cost Optimisation
Service ModelsStrategies and practices for minimising cloud computing expenses while maintaining performance and functionality.