There are some common terms and topics which are true/applicable for any cloud based vendor. Below we will discuss some of these terms in simplest form.
Cloud Computing
Computing when used as a Noun means “the use or operation of computers”
Cloud in the technological term means some location away from your premise. Your premise is termed as “on-premise”
So, roughly speaking, the definition of “Cloud Computing” can be => “The use or operation of computers (servers, storage, network components etc.) which are stored somewhere else”
In more sophisticated language, Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery of compute power, database storage, applications, and other IT resources through a cloud services platform via the Internet with pay-as-you-go pricing
Cloud computing provides a simple way to access servers, storage, databases and a broad set of application services over the Internet.
In conventional model, imagine buying and bringing few hundred kilograms of server and putting at you business location or data center, keeping them cool, maintaining them when they break, maintaining reliable power sources etc. etc.
Cloud Service Platform
Amazon, Microsoft, Google etc. are cloud service providers and they provide cloud computing services they their platform example : Amazon Web Services, or Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud Platform etc.
A cloud services platform, such as Amazon Web Services, owns and maintains the network-connected hardware required for these application services, while you provision and use what you need via a web application.
Benefits of Cloud Computing
- MONEY: Pay for what you consume and when you consume. No need of buying that costly server which you thought you will utilize to the fullest but in actual whole year you used only 50% of the max resources. Instead just buy 40% of that server power using cloud computing at fraction of a cost and scale up and down when needed.
- MORE MONEY: Sharing saves cost. Your cloud provider can use one big server with multiple clients like you and then pass some percentage of the cost savings to you. Also, you will save money on all the infrastructures you were planning for creating/maintaining data centers.
- FLEXIBILITY: Scaling and up and down the resources as easy as pressing a button
- BEATING RISKS: Your business’s big Sale day is coming and you are not sure if your servers can handle the mad rush. With flexibility to add resources at will anytime will give you comfort that you can beat the server resource crunch situation anytime and save the day.
- SPEED: New IT resources are only a click away, which means that you reduce the time to make those resources available to your team from weeks to minutes.
Cloud Computing Models
Several different models and deployment strategies have emerged to help meet specific needs of different users. Below there models are the key one and have sort of become buzz words now a days:
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
- This is the basic building blocks for Cloud infrastructure
- You will be provided access to networking features, computers/machines, and storage space for data
- Similar to the IT resources you have but with much less hassles
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
- In PaaS, you don’t even have to manage the operating systems or anything under it
- resource procurement, capacity planning, software maintenance, patching etc. nothing I your headache
- You just need to focus on the deployment and management of your applications and growing your business
Software as a Service (SaaS)
- This is yet another steps ahead of PaaS as in SaaS you are provided a completed product that is run and managed by the service provider
- You sort of become an end-user to the SaaS provider
- You do not have to think about how the service/infrastructure is maintained. Example GMAIL can be considered as SaaS
Cloud Computing Deployment Models
Cloud
- ALL parts of the application run in the cloud
Hybrid
- NOT all parts of the application run in the cloud. You still have existing resources at your location/data center
- Your cloud based application and your local application may talk over network if needed.
On-premises
- Deployment of resources on-premises, using virtualization and resource management tools. Also sometimes know as private cloud
- Deployment model is the same as legacy IT infrastructure but still you try to use latest available application management and virtualization technologies to increase resource utilization.
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