Cloud Concepts Overview – Quick-Reference Notes

Cloud Computing Overview

  • Definition: On-demand delivery of compute, storage, databases, applications, and other IT resources via the internet with pay-as-you-go pricing.

  • Infrastructure treated as software → eliminates hardware constraints & long procurement cycles.

Cloud Service & Deployment Models

  • Service models:

    • IaaS – granular control over IT resources (e.g., VMs, networks).

    • PaaS – managed runtime & tooling.

    • SaaS – fully managed applications; least customer control.

  • Deployment models: Cloud\text{Cloud} (public), Hybrid\text{Hybrid}, On!-!premises / Private Cloud\text{On!\text{-}!premises / Private Cloud}.

Advantages of Cloud Computing (6)

  • Trade capital expense for variable expense.

  • Benefit from massive economies of scale.

  • Stop guessing capacity; scale on demand.

  • Increase speed & agility (provision in minutes).

  • Eliminate spend on running/maintaining data centers.

  • Go global in minutes via worldwide AWS Regions.

Introduction to AWS

  • Secure global cloud platform offering on-demand compute, storage, networking, databases, etc.

  • Services act as modular building blocks; pay only for what you use.

  • Web service: software available over the internet via standard API formats (XML/JSON).

AWS Service Categories & Core Services (course focus)

  • Compute: Amazon EC2, AWS Lambda, Elastic Beanstalk, EC2 Auto Scaling, ECS, EKS, ECR, Fargate.

  • Storage: Amazon S3, S3 Glacier, EFS, EBS.

  • Database: Amazon RDS, DynamoDB, Redshift, Aurora.

  • Networking & CDN: Amazon VPC, Route 53, CloudFront, Elastic Load Balancing.

  • Security, Identity & Compliance: AWS IAM, Cognito, Shield, Artifact, KMS.

  • Management & Governance: CloudWatch, CloudTrail, Trusted Advisor, AWS Auto Scaling, etc.

  • Cost Management: Cost & Usage Report, Budgets, Cost Explorer.

  • Interaction methods: AWS Management Console (GUI), AWS CLI (commands/scripts), SDKs (code-level access).

AWS Cloud Adoption Framework (AWS CAF)

  • Purpose: Structured guidance & best practices to accelerate successful cloud adoption.

  • Organized into 6 perspectives, each grouping related capabilities:

    1. Business – IT finance, strategy, benefits realization, risk mgmt.

    2. People – resource & career mgmt, training, org change.

    3. Governance – portfolio & project mgmt, performance, license mgmt.

    4. Platform – compute, network, storage, DB provisioning; architecture & dev.

    5. Security – IAM, detective controls, infra security, data protection, incident response.

    6. Operations – monitoring, change/release, inventory, reporting, BC/DR.

  • Aligns stakeholders across business & technical domains for planned cloud migration.

Key Takeaways

  • Cloud computing delivers IT resources as on-demand services with pay!-!as!-!you!-!go\text{pay!\text{-}!as!\text{-}!you!\text{-}!go} pricing.

  • Models: 3 service (IaaS/PaaS/SaaS) & 3 deployment (cloud/hybrid/on-premises).

  • Six core advantages drive adoption.

  • AWS provides a broad portfolio of integrated global services, accessible via console, CLI, or SDK.

  • AWS CAF offers a structured, six-perspective approach for enterprise cloud adoption.