Self-hosting means running software on hardware your organization owns and manages. The equipment need not be in your office: it may sit in a remote data center. Either way, your organization remains responsible for provisioning and operating the physical infrastructure. section 8.3.2
The decision depends on the workload and the hardware you already have. Cloud resources are consumed on demand, which suits applications with peaks and troughs in demand. Owned hardware can make more sense for intensive computing that keeps processors busy most of the time, or where an existing hardware investment changes the economics. section 8.3
Before choosing a self-hosted product or expanding an installation, check:
- The full cost: hardware, supporting licenses, setup, maintenance, backups, security updates, and any help needed to install the software. section 8.2.1
- Capacity and timing: servers must be purchased, delivered, provisioned, and installed, so adding capacity can take weeks. Buying too much wastes money; buying too little strains systems and staff. section 8.3.2
- Hosting needs: whether the equipment is in an office or data center, it needs power, cooling, and a network connection. section 8.3.2
- Exit options: check whether a purchased product lets you export its data easily and periodically. section 8.2.1
Making room for a promotion
Suppose an online promotion will briefly increase demand. A private cloud built from owned hardware could let you turn off some internal servers and use that capacity for customer-facing servers. This is more flexible than assigning every machine a fixed role, but it cannot create capacity beyond the hardware you own. section 8.3.2
Ask what demand looks like, how quickly capacity may need to change, and who will maintain the installation. Self-hosting remains a defensible choice for some requirements, not a default answer for every application. section 8.3 section 8.9
