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Cloud repatriation


Cloud repatriation, also called unclouding or de-clouding, is the retrieval of applications and data from a cloud computing platform in order to run the workloads locally.

In recent years, organizations ranging from small and medium-sized businesses to large enterprises have turned to the cloud as a cost-effective way to run information technology workloads. Sometimes, however, an organization may elect to uncloud one, a few, or possibly all of its cloud-based assets. Cloud customers cite a number of reasons for wanting to move applications and data back from the cloud, including governance and liability concerns.

Frustrated expectations concerning the cloud's cost-efficiency may also influence de-clouding decisions. Anecdotal evidence suggests that customers citing cost as a factor may elect to move workloads to an in-house, hyper-converged infrastructure as a more cost-efficient, economic choice.
During the process of unclouding, the cloud customer (or a channel partner acting on the cloud customer's behalf), will work with the cloud provider to extract the customer's applications and data. This involves locating the cloud customer's data and mapping application dependencies within the cloud vendor's infrastructure.

This process can be very complex in a public, multi-tenant cloud setting. The customer may have to wait for the cloud vendor's scheduled downtime to migrate applications and data off the cloud -- or the cloud provider may limit the customer's use of migration tools so as not to interfere with the application performance of other customers.

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