4 Benefits of Using ControlUp Hybrid Cloud

Lower infrastructure requirements, extended product functionalities, and shorter implementation times are just three reasons—in addition to better security protocols—that deploying ControlUp in the cloud helps save time, reduces cost, and increases security.

Are you a ControlUp customer with an existing on-premises installation, and all product components are operated locally on your servers? Are you aware that ControlUp can be a cloud service? There are several good reasons to prefer the cloud variant if you plan a new ControlUp deployment or migrate your existing on-premises ControlUp infrastructure. Here are the three main reasons for installing and operating ControlUp products in the cloud: lower infrastructure requirements, an extended set of product functionalities, and shortened implementation time. There are also positive security aspects regarding how ControlUp collects and treats data.

Lower Infrastructure Requirements

Operating ControlUp in hybrid cloud mode significantly reduces infrastructure requirements compared to an on-premises installation. In particular, the reduction in infrastructure applies to web servers, file servers, and databases. Only the classic Windows console and the ControlUp Monitors are still operated on the local infrastructure when in hybrid cloud mode, creating a smaller overall footprint. In addition, this mode eliminates the installation, configuration, and operation of the local instances of the ControlUp Application Server, Insights Server (including Splunk), IOP Forwarder, and Solve Server. Finally, this also reduces the additional effort for administering Windows Servers and the network.

The migration to the cloud translates to significant cost savings in Windows Server and SQL Server licenses. Concerning virtualized infrastructure, hybrid cloud mode saves at least 16 virtual CPUs, 48 gigabytes of RAM, and 120 gigabytes of hard disk space. Additionally, there are no operating costs for ControlUp Application Server, Insights Server, and Solve Server.

Extended Set of Product Functionalities

Operating ControlUp in hybrid cloud mode allows the seamless addition of product components and functionalities unavailable with an on-premises installation. The first is Scoutbees, our proactive synthetic monitoring solution, testing internal and external resources using artificial user actions. This ControlUp component is only available with a cloud backend.

Edge DX, ControlUp’s physical endpoint, and applications monitoring solution are only available as a cloud service. The target platforms are physical or virtual Windows PCs, Macs, and Linux machines, as well as IGEL and HP thin clients. ControlUp enables monitoring, troubleshooting, evaluation, and operational improvement of these connected endpoint devices.

Hybrid cloud mode also expands the range of functionality of ControlUp to include dynamic script actions, dynamic event triggers, mobile notifications, and email alarms based on a cloud service. As a particular highlight, when operating in the cloud, you can compare your monitoring measurements with the anonymized mean values of other ControlUp customers!

Shortened Implementation Time

Installing ControlUp in hybrid cloud mode takes significantly less time than installing it on-premises. A new tenant installs within minutes, and automated DevOps processes generate all the required backend components. This process allows for timely updating and patching of all components by the ControlUp operations team.

As a result of and in addition to reduced implementation time, installing ControlUp in hybrid cloud mode provides significant security and stability improvements when compared to locally installed ControlUp infrastructures. The paths to Citrix Cloud, Azure Virtual Desktop, and Microsoft Windows 365 Cloud PC are much easier and faster.

Security and Compliance

Security and compliance are vital for cloud-based solutions, especially in the European market. It is, therefore, essential to know that in hybrid cloud mode, ControlUp’s real-time data is first collected using locally installed software agents and then aggregated in locally installed ControlUp Monitor components. This data is forwarded to the cloud backend, giving ControlUp customers complete control over the instances involved in data exchange, including the required network ports.

The architecture of the cloud backend for proactive synthetic testing (Scoutbees) and monitoring of endpoint devices (Edge DX) naturally looks a little different – after all, these are native cloud services. Here, the involved endpoints communicate directly with the cloud. However, all ControlUp cloud services operate in cloud data centers that meet the highest security and compliance requirements. For European customers, the Microsoft Azure and Amazon AWS data centers that host the ControlUp cloud backplane are in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Secure methods based on SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) and MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication) authenticate administrators to the ControlUp management consoles ensuring that only authorized personnel can access the data. Overall, there are security benefits to running a ControlUp infrastructure in hybrid cloud mode.

Get Started 

Learn how to get started with ControlUp Hybrid Cloud. Also, get a feel of how ControlUp operates in our TestDrive live demo environment. TestDrive is a sandbox-style platform where you can use ControlUp solutions to experience our unique capabilities firsthand.

A few words about GDPR for European customers: The data processing agreement (DPA) for European customers that are planning to use ControlUp in hybrid cloud mode can be obtained from ControlUp GmbH, based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Personal data is hereby processed in accordance with the legal provisions set out in the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).