Which direction of traffic should you use unmanaged workloads for?

Using unmanaged workloads primarily for East/West traffic is a strategic approach because East/West traffic refers to communication happening between workloads within a data center or cloud environment, such as between virtual machines or containers.

Unmanaged workloads are often those that do not have the same level of monitoring, visibility, or security as managed workloads. In many cases, they can be less predictable in terms of how they communicate with each other. Therefore, allowing East/West traffic in this context provides flexibility for workloads that need to communicate internally without stringent controls, as the focus is typically on lateral movement within the data center rather than external interactions.

On the other hand, North/South traffic deals with external traffic that comes into or goes out from the network, which usually requires more stringent security measures, monitoring, and management. It is often critically assessed for risks as it interacts with external entities. Thus, employing unmanaged workloads for North/South traffic could expose the network to vulnerabilities that are better mitigated by monitored and managed workloads.

In scenarios where the traffic is minimal or labeled as "not applicable," this does not align with the optimal deployment of unmanaged workloads, which are not inherently linked to traffic volume or indicated as suitable for any specific workloads.