CHAPTER 2 – CLOUD COMPUTING FUNDAMENTALS

What is cloud computing?

Cloud computing is a general term for anything that
involves delivering hosted services over the internet.
These services are divided into three main categories
or types of cloud computing: infrastructure as a service
(IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and software as a
service (SaaS).

Top benefits of cloud computing

A cloud can be private or public. A public cloud sells
services to anyone on the internet. A private cloud is a
proprietary network or a data center that supplies
hosted services to a limited number of people, with
certain access and permission settings. Private or
public, the goal of cloud computing is to provide easy,
scalable access to computing resources and IT services.
Cloud infrastructure involves the hardware and
software components required for proper
implementation of a cloud computing model. Cloud
computing can also be thought of as utility computing
or on-demand computing.
The name cloud computing was inspired by the cloud
symbol that’s often used to represent the internet in
flowcharts and diagrams.
How does cloud computing work?
Cloud computing works by enabling client devices to
access data and cloud applications over the internet
from remote physical servers, databases and
computers.
An internet network connection links the front end,
which includes the accessing client device, browser,
network and cloud software application, with the back
end, which consists of databases, servers and
computers. The back ends are functions as a repository,
storing data that is accessed by the front end.
Communications between the front and back ends are
managed by central server. The central server relies on
protocols to facilitate the exchange of data. The central
server uses both software and middleware to manage
connectivity between different client devices and cloud
servers. Typically, there is a dedicated server for each
individual application or workload.
Cloud computing relies heavily on virtualization and
automation technologies. Virtualization enables the
easy abstraction and provisioning of services and
underlying cloud systems into logical entities that users
can request and utilize. Automation and accompanying
orchestration capabilities provide users can request
and utilize. Automation and accompanying
orchestration capabilities provide users with a high
degree of self-service to provision resources, connect
services and deploy workloads without direct
intervention from the cloud provider’s IT staff.
Cloud computing can be separated into three general
service delivery categories or forms of cloud
computing:
IaaS. IaaS providers, such as Amazon Web Services
(AWS), supply a virtual server instance and storage, as
well as application programming interfaces (APIs) that
let users migrate workloads to a virtual machine (VM).
Users have an allocated storage capacity and can start,
stop, access and configure the VM and storage as
desired. IaaS providers offer small, medium, large,
extra-large, and memory- or computer – optimized
instances, in addition to enabling customization of
instances, for various workloads needs. The IaaS cloud
model is closet to a remote data center for business
users.
Cloud computing can be separated into three general
service delivery categories or forms of cloud
computing:
PaaS: In the PaaS model, cloud providers host
development tools on their infrastructure. Users access
these tools over the internet using APIs, web portals or
gateway software. PaaS is used for general software
development, and many PaaS providers host the
software after it’s developed. Common PaaS products
include Salesforce’s Lightning Platform, AWS Elastic
Beanstalk and Google App Engine.
Cloud computing can be separated into three general
service delivery categories or forms of cloud
computing:
SaaS: SaaS is a distribution model that delivers
software applications over the internet; these
applications are often called web services. Users can
access SaaS application and services from any location
using a computer or mobile device that has internet
access. In the SaaS model, users gain access to
application software and databases. One common
example of a SaaS application is Microsoft 365 for
productivity and email services.
 CLOUD COMPUTING SERVICE CATEGORIES
A software distribution A model in which a A model in which a

PaaS (Platform as a service)

IaaS (Infrastructure as a
SaaS (Software as a service)

service)
model in which a third third-party provider third-party provider
party provider hosts hosts application hosts servers, storage
applications and development and other virtualized
makes them available platforms and tools on compute resources
to customers over the its own infrastructure and makes them
internet. and makes them available to customers
Examples: Salesforce, available to customers over the internet.
Netsuite and Concur. over the internet. Examples: AWS,
Examples: AWS Elastic Microsoft Azure and
Beanstalk, Google App Google Compute
Engine and Heroku Engine

Private cloud services are delivered from a business’s

data center to internal users. With a private cloud, an
organization builds and maintains its own underlying
cloud infrastructure. This model offers the versatility
and convenience of the cloud, while preserving the
management, control and security common to local
data centers. Internal users might or might not be
billed for services through IT chargeback. Common
private cloud technologies and vendors include
VMware and OpenStack.
In the public cloud model, a third-party cloud service
provider (CSP) delivers the cloud service over the
internet. Public cloud services are sold on demand,
typically by the minute or hour, though long-term
commitments are available for many services.
Customers only pay for the central processing unit
cycles, storage or bandwidth they consume. Leading
public CPSs include AWS, Microsoft Azure, IBM and
Google Cloud Platform (GPM), as well as IBM, Oracle
and Tendent.
A hybrid cloud is a combination of public cloud services
and an on-premises private cloud, with orchestration
and automation between the two. Companies can run
mission-critical workloads or sensitive applications on
the private cloud and use the public cloud to handle
workload bursts or spikes in demand. The goal of a
hybrid cloud is to a create a unified, automated,
scalable environment that takes advantage of all that a
public cloud infrastructure can provide, while still
maintaining control over mission-critical data.
Cloud computing deployment models

Private Hybrid Public

A cloud computing model in A cloud computing model A cloud computing model in

which an enterprise uses a that includes a mix of on- which a third-party provider
proprietary architecture and premises, private cloud and makes compute resources
runs clouds servers within its third-party public cloud available to the general public
own data center. services with orchestration over the internet. With public
CHARACTERISTICS between the two platforms. cloud, enterprises do not
Single-tenant architecture CHARACTERISTICS have to set up and maintain
On-premises hardware Direct Cloud bursting capabilities their own cloud servers in
control of underlying Benefits of both house.
Cloud infrastructure public and private and public CHARACTERISTICS
TOP VENDORS HPE, environments Multi-tenant architecture
VMware, Dell EMC, IBM/ Red TOP VENDORS A Pay-as-you-go pricing model
Hat, Microsoft, OpenStalk combination of both public TOP VENDORS
and private cloud providers. AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google
Cloud

In addition, organizations are increasingly embracing a

multi-cloud model, or the use of multiple IaaS
providers. This enables applications to migrate
between different cloud providers or to even operate
concurrently across two or more cloud providers.
Organizations adopt multi-cloud for various reasons.
For example, they could do so to minimize the risk of a
cloud service outage or to take advantage of more
competitive pricing from a particular provider. Multi-
cloud implementation and application development
can be a challenge because of the differences between
cloud provider’s services and APIs.
Multi-cloud deployments should become easier,
however, as provider’s services and APIs converge and
become more standardized through initiatives such as
the Open Cloud Computing Interface.
Cloud computing has been around for several decades
now, and today’s cloud computing infrastructure
demonstrates on array of characteristics that have
brought meaningful benefits for businesses of all sizes.
Some of the main characteristics of cloud computing
are the following:
Self-service provisioning: End users can spin up
compute resources for almost any type of workload on
demand. An end user can provision computing
capabilities, such as server time and network storage,
eliminating the traditional need for IT administrators to
provision and manage compute resources.
Elasticity: Companies can freely scale up as computing
needs increase and scale down again as demands
decrease. This eliminates the need for massive
investments in local infrastructure, which might or
might not remain active.
Pay per use: Compute resources are measured at a
granular level, enabling users to pay only for the
resources and workloads they use.
Workload resilience: CSPs often implement redundant
resources to ensure resilient storage and to keep user’s
important workloads running – often across multiple
global regions.
Migration flexibility: Organizations can move certain
workloads to or from the cloud or to different cloud
platforms – as desired or automatically for better cost
savings or to use new services as they emerge.
Broad network access: A user can access cloud data or
upload data to the cloud from anywhere with an
internet connection using any device.
Multi-tenancy and resource pooling: Multi-tenancy
lets numerous customers share the same physical
infrastructures or the same application yet still retain
privacy and security over their own data. With resource
pooling, cloud providers service numerous customers
from the same physical resources. The resources pools
of the cloud providers should be large and flexible
enough so they can service the requirements of
multiple customers.
CLOUD FEATURES

Automation and Orchestration Performance Monitoring

Cost Management
Application migration Storage
Cloud instance right sizing
VM images/instances Networks
User chargeback and
Configuration Applications
billing management
management Computer

Governance and compliance

Security
Risk
IAM
assessment / threat analysis
Encryption
Audits
Mobile / endpoint
Service
security
and resources governance

These characteristics support a variety of important

benefits for modern business, including the following:
Cost management: Using cloud infrastructure can
reduce capital costs, as organizations don’t have to
spend massive amounts of money buying and
maintaining equipment. This reduces their capital
expenditure costs – as they don’t have to invest in
hardware, facilities, utilities or building large data
centers to accommodate their growing businesses.
Additionally, companies don’t need large IT teams to
handle cloud data center operations because they can
rely on the expertise of their cloud provider’s teams.
Cloud computing also cuts costs related to downtime.
Since downtime rarely happens in cloud computing,
companies don’t have to spend time and money to fix
any issues that might be related to downtime.
Data and workload mobility: Storing information in the
cloud means that users can access it from anywhere
with any device with just an internet connection. That
means users don’t have to carry around USB drives, an
external hard drive or multiple CDs to access their data.
Users can access corporate data via smartphones and
other mobile devices, enabling remote employees to
stay up to date with co – workers and customers. End
users can easily process, store, retrieve and recover
resources in the cloud. In addition, cloud vendors
provide all the upgrades and updates automatically,
saving time and effort.
Business continuity and disaster recovery (