Hybrid Cloud For Dummies

What Is a Workload?

At its core, a workload is an independent service or collection of code that can be executed. Some industry experts include the application, operating system, and middleware in their definition of a workload. Because a workload is executed across computer assets, another way to look at it is the amount of work that needs to be accomplished by computer resources in a certain period of time.

Of course, different workloads have different characteristics, and the best platform for a particular workload to run on depends on the nature of the specific workload.

All workloads aren’t the same

Because computing requirements are varied, so are the workloads. This list explains some of the kinds of workloads you might find in a hybrid cloud environment, and Table 12-1 compares them to each other:

Batch workloads: These workloads are designed to operate in the background. Typical batch workloads tend to process huge volumes of data. These workloads may include the data produced from a set of cellphone bills or the results of months of online transactions. These workloads require considerable compute and storage resources. Batch workloads are rarely time sensitive and can be scheduled when few real-time tasks are running. Because this data is well documented and predictable, ...