Introduction to Cloud Computing

Flashcards on Introduction to Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing

The delivery of computing resources such as servers, storage, applications, processes and data on demand over the Internet on a pay-per-use basis.

NIST definition of Cloud Computing

A model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.

Public Cloud

Cloud infrastructure is made available for open use by the general public and is housed at an external service provider.

Private Cloud

Cloud infrastructure is provided for exclusive use by a single organization comprising multiple consumers, and may exist on or off premises.

Community Cloud

Cloud infrastructure is shared by a select group of organizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns.

Hybrid Cloud

Cloud infrastructure is a combination of two or more distinct cloud infrastructures (private, community, or public) linked together by technology that enables data and application portability.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

Provides application and data services; applications are accessible from various client devices.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Provides an operating system, development platform, and/or a database platform, allowing organizations to develop applications without managing the underlying infrastructure.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Provides basic infrastructure services to customers including physical machines, virtual machines, networking, and storage.

Agility (System Driver)

The ability to easily reappropriate resources when needed, making better use of internal infrastructure resources.

Reliability (System Driver)

Having multiple systems or datacentre locations for services.

Scalability and Elasticity (System Driver)

Resources can be dynamically allocated on demand.

Performance (System Driver)

Performance in cloud systems is constantly being measured and monitored and can automatically adjust.

Ease of maintenance (System Driver)

Maintenance is taken care of by the service provider.

Cost (Business driver)

Moving from Capital expenditure to operational expenditure.

Consumerism (Business driver)

A focus on the needs and wants of the consumer, where consumers are free to choose access methods and applications.

Virtualization (Technology Driver)

Makes it possible to host multiple virtual systems on one physical system, cutting costs and increasing utilization.

Application Architecture (Technology Driver)

Multiple customers can access a single instance of an application, but their interactions are segmented.

Bandwidth increases (Technology Driver)

Increased bandwidth has increased the overall speed of application access, improving the usability of web-based applications.

Economies of Scale (Driver for Cloud Providers)

RoI is more as once the infrastructure for an application or service has been built adding capacity will require only incremental additions

Recurring revenue (Driver for Cloud Providers)

Offering subscription-based services can provide a service provider with a recurring revenue stream, adding stability to a business.

Ambiguity (Factor inhibiting Cloud adoption)

Lack of understanding what the cloud offers.

Concern over maturity (Factor inhibiting Cloud adoption)

Many newer public service providers simply do not meet the needs of organizations.

Services aren’t Robust Enough Yet to meet customer needs (Factor inhibiting Cloud adoption)

Services offered are not robust enough to meet customer needs.

SLAs (Factor inhibiting Cloud adoption)

Some providers don’t offer SLAs at all, or not suitable for many organizations or not truly substantive SLAs.

Integration (Factor inhibiting Cloud adoption)

Customer do not have direct access to the systems used by the service providers.

Ownership of data (Factor inhibiting Cloud adoption)

Who owns the data?

Auditing (Factor inhibiting Cloud adoption)

ability to do proper auditing can vary among cloud environment