HiLCoE

School of Computer Science and Technology

A Course Assignment in Focus on ICT (CS415)

Spring, 2021

Cloud Computing

Submitted by:
Meron Teshome / AM9943

Submitted to:
Dr. Solomon Demissie

<18/ 6 / 2021>
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Abstract
Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services over the internet by using a pay-as-you-
go pricing model. You typically pay only for the cloud services you use, which helps Lower
operating costs, run your infrastructure more efficiently, scale as business needs change. Cloud
computing provides more benefits, such as high security (both physical and network) very high
data durability, lower costs for electricity, cooling and often connectivity. With Ethiopia current
situation, cloud computing will be more beneficial for the organization’s information security.
Background
Cloud computing is a computing style in which scalable and flexible IT functionalities are
delivered as a service to external customers using Internet technologies. Cloud computing is not
a revolutionary idea; Instead, it is an evolutionary concept that integrates various existing
technologies to offer a useful new IT provisioning tool.

What is Cloud Computing?

Before we define what cloud-computing is we need to define what a cloud is. The cloud refers to
servers that are accessed over the Internet, and the software and databases that run on those
servers. Cloud servers are located in data centers all over the world. By using cloud computing,
users and companies don't have to manage physical servers themselves or run software
applications on their own machines.
Cloud computing is the delivery of different services through the Internet. These resources
include tools and applications like data storage, servers, databases, networking, and software.
Cloud computing provides computation, software, data access, and storage services that do not
require end-user knowledge of the physical location and configuration of the system that delivers
the services.
Cloud computing characteristics:
 Agility
 Reduced cost
 Device and Location independence
 On-demand scalability and performance
Cloud applications extend their accessibility through the Internet by using large data centres and
powerful servers that host web applications and services. Anyone with a suitable Internet
connection and a standard Internet browser can access a cloud application. Rapid evolution of
cloud computing technologies can easily blur its definition perceived by the public. Yet, there are
five key attributes to distinguish cloud computing from its conventional counterpart:
 Service-based
 Scalable and elastic
 Shared
 Metered by usage
 Uses Internet technologies
Types of Cloud Computing
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): Instead of users installing an application on their
device, SaaS applications are hosted on cloud servers, and users access them over the Internet.
SaaS is like renting a house: the landlord maintains the house, but the tenant mostly gets to use it
as if they owned it. Examples of SaaS applications include Salesforce, MailChimp, and Slack.
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS): In this model, companies don't pay for hosted applications,
instead they pay for the things they need to build their own applications. PaaS vendors offer
everything necessary for building an application, including development tools, infrastructure,
and operating systems, over the Internet. PaaS can be compared to renting all the tools and
equipment necessary for building a house, instead of renting the house itself. PaaS examples
include Heroku and Microsoft Azure.
Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS): In this model, a company rents the servers and storage they
need from a cloud provider. They then use that cloud infrastructure to build their applications.
IaaS is like a company leasing a plot of land on which they can build whatever they want – but
they need to provide their own building equipment and materials. IaaS providers include
DigitalOcean, Google Compute Engine, and OpenStack.
Formerly, SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS were the three main models of cloud computing, and essentially
all cloud services fit into one of these categories. However, in recent years a fourth model has
emerged:
Function-as-a-Service (FaaS): FaaS, also known as serverless computing, breaks cloud
applications down into even smaller components that only run when they're needed. Imagine if it
were possible to rent a house one little bit at a time: for instance, the tenant only pays for the
dining room at dinner time, the bedroom while they're sleeping, the living room while they're
watching TV, and when they aren't using those rooms, they don't have to pay rent on them.
FaaS or serverless applications still run on servers, as do all these models of cloud computing.
But they're called "serverless" because they don't run on dedicated machines, and because the
companies building the applications don't have to manage any servers.
Cloud Deployment
The most common cloud deployments are:
 Private cloud: A private cloud is a server, data center, or distributed network wholly
dedicated to one organization.
 Public cloud: A public cloud is a service run by an external vendor that may include
servers in one or multiple data centers. Unlike a private cloud, public clouds are shared
by multiple organizations. Using virtual machines, individual servers may be shared by
different companies, a situation that is called "multitenancy" because multiple tenants are
renting server space within the same server.
 Hybrid cloud: Hybrid cloud deployments combine public and private clouds, and may
even include on-premises legacy servers. An organization may use their private cloud for
some services and their public cloud for others, or they may use the public cloud as
backup for their private cloud.
 Multi-cloud: is a type of cloud deployment that involves using multiple public clouds. In
other words, an organization with a multi-cloud deployment rents virtual servers and
services from several external vendors – to continue the analogy used above, this is like
leasing several adjacent plots of land from different landlords. Multi-cloud deployments
can also be hybrid cloud, and vice versa.
Advantages of Cloud Computing
1. Back-up and restore data
Once the data is stored in the cloud, it is easier to get back-up and restore that data using
the cloud.
2. Improved collaboration
Cloud applications improve collaboration by allowing groups of people to quickly and
easily share information in the cloud via shared storage.
3. Excellent accessibility
Cloud allows us to quickly and easily access store information anywhere, anytime in the
whole world, using an internet connection. An internet cloud infrastructure increases
organization productivity and efficiency by ensuring that our data is always accessible.
4. Low maintenance cost
Cloud computing reduces both hardware and software maintenance costs for
organizations.
5. Mobility
 Cloud computing allows us to easily access all cloud data via mobile.
6. IServices in the pay-per-use model
Cloud computing offers Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to the users for
access services on the cloud and pays the charges as per the usage of service.
7. Unlimited storage capacity
Cloud offers us a huge amount of storing capacity for storing our important data such as
documents, images, audio, video, etc. in one place.
8. Data security
Data security is one of the biggest advantages of cloud computing. Cloud offers many
advanced features related to security and ensures that data is securely stored and handled.
Disadvantages of Cloud Computing
1. Internet Connectivity
As you know, in cloud computing, every data (image, audio, video, etc.) is stored on the
cloud, and we access these data through the cloud by using the internet connection. If you
do not have good internet connectivity, you cannot access these data. However, we have
no any other way to access data from the cloud.
2. Vendor lock-in
Vendor lock-in is the biggest disadvantage of cloud computing. Organizations may face
problems when transferring their services from one vendor to another. As different
vendors provide different platforms, that can cause difficulty moving from one cloud to
another.
3. Limited Control
As we know, cloud infrastructure is completely owned, managed, and monitored by the
service provider, so the cloud users have less control over the function and execution of
services within a cloud infrastructure.
4. Security
Although cloud service providers implement the best security standards to store
important information. But, before adopting cloud technology, you should be aware that
you will be sending all your organization's sensitive information to a third party, i.e., a
cloud computing service provider. While sending the data on the cloud, there may be a
chance that your organization's information is hacked by Hackers.
What is Azure?
Azure is a continually expanding set of cloud services that help your organization meet your
current and future business challenges. Azure gives you the freedom to build, manage, and
deploy applications on a massive global network using your favorite tools and frameworks.
What does Azure offer?
With help from Azure, you have everything you need to build your next great solution. The
following table lists several of the benefits that Azure provides, so you can easily invent with
purpose.
Be ready for the future: Continuous innovation from Microsoft supports your development today
and your product visions for tomorrow.
Build on your terms: You have choices. With a commitment to open source, and support for all
languages and frameworks, you can build how you want and deploy where you want to.
Operate hybrid seamlessly: On-premises, in the cloud, and at the edge--we'll meet you where you
are. Integrate and manage your environments with tools and services designed for a hybrid cloud
solution.
What can I do with Azure?
Azure provides more than 100 services that enable you to do everything from running your
existing applications on virtual machines, to exploring new software paradigms, such as
intelligent bots and mixed reality.
Many teams start exploring the cloud by moving their existing applications to virtual machines
that run in Azure. Migrating your existing apps to virtual machines is a good start, but the cloud
is much more than a different place to run your virtual machines.
For example, Azure provides AI and machine-learning services that can naturally communicate
with your users through vision, hearing, and speech. It also provides storage solutions that
dynamically grow to accommodate massive amounts of data. Azure services enable solutions
that aren't feasible without the power of the cloud.
What is the Azure portal?
The Azure portal is a web-based, unified console that provides an alternative to command-line
tools. With the Azure portal, you can manage your Azure subscription by using a graphical user
interface. You can:
 Build, manage, and monitor everything from simple web apps to complex cloud
deployments.
 Create custom dashboards for an organized view of resources.
 Configure accessibility options for an optimal experience.
The Azure portal is designed for resiliency and continuous availability. It maintains a presence in
every Azure datacenter. This configuration makes the Azure portal resilient to individual
datacenter failures and avoids network slowdowns by being close to users. The Azure portal
updates continuously and requires no downtime for maintenance activities.
What is Azure Marketplace?
Azure Marketplace helps connect users with Microsoft partners, independent software vendors,
and startups that are offering their solutions and services, which are optimized to run on Azure.
Azure Marketplace customers can find, try, purchase, and provision applications and services
from hundreds of leading service providers. All solutions and services are certified to run on
Azure.
The solution catalog spans several industry categories such as open-source container platforms,
virtual machine images, databases, application build and deployment software, developer tools,
threat detection, and blockchain. Using Azure Marketplace, you can provision end-to-end
solutions quickly and reliably, hosted in your own Azure environment. At the time of writing,
there are more than 8,000 listings.
Azure Marketplace is designed for IT pros and cloud developers interested in commercial and IT
software. Microsoft partners also use it as a launch point for all joint go-to-market activities.
Azure Services
Let's take a closer look at the most commonly used categories:
 Compute
 Networking
 Storage
 Mobile
 Databases
 Web
 Internet of Things (IoT)
 Big data
 AI
 DevOps

Compute
Compute services are often one of the primary reasons why companies move to the Azure
platform. Azure provides a range of options for hosting applications and services. Here are some
examples of compute services in Azure.
Service Name Service Function
Azure Virtual Machines Windows or Linux virtual machines (VMs)
hosted in Azure.
Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets Scaling for Windows or Linux VMs hosted in
Azure.
Azure Kubernetes Service Cluster management for VMs that run
containerized services.
Azure Service Fabric Distributed systems platform that runs in Azure
or on-premises.
Azure Batch Managed service for parallel and high-
performance computing applications.
Azure Container Instances Containerized apps run on Azure without
provisioning servers or VMs.
Azure Functions An event-driven, serverless compute service.

Networking
Linking compute resources and providing access to applications is the key function of Azure
networking. Networking functionality in Azure includes a range of options to connect the outside
world to services and features in the global Azure datacenters.
Here are some examples of networking services in Azure.
Service Name Service Function
Azure Virtual Network Connects VMs to incoming virtual private
 network (VPN) connections.
Azure Load Balancer Balances inbound and outbound connections
to applications or service endpoints.
Azure Application Gateway Optimizes app server farm delivery while
increasing application security.
Azure VPN Gateway Accesses Azure Virtual Networks through
high-performance VPN gateways.
Azure DNS Provides ultra-fast DNS responses and ultra-
high domain availability.
Azure Content Delivery Network Delivers high-bandwidth content to customers
globally.
Azure DDoS Protection Protects Azure-hosted applications from
distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks.
Azure Traffic Manager Distributes network traffic across Azure
regions worldwide.
Azure ExpressRoute Connects to Azure over high-bandwidth
dedicated secure connections.
Azure Network Watcher Monitors and diagnoses network issues by
using scenario-based analysis.
Azure Firewall Implements high-security, high-availability
firewall with unlimited scalability.
Azure Virtual WAN Creates a unified wide area network (WAN)
that connects local and remote sites.
Storage
Azure provides four main types of storage services.
Service name Service function
Azure Blob storage Storage service for very large objects, such as
video files or bitmaps.
Azure File storage File shares that can be accessed and managed
like a file server.
Azure Queue storage A data store for queuing and reliably
delivering messages between applications.
Azure Table storage Table storage is a service that stores non-
relational structured data (also known as
structured NoSQL data) in the cloud,
providing a key/attribute store with a
schemaless design.
These services all share several common characteristics:
 Durable and highly available with redundancy and replication.
 Secure through automatic encryption and role-based access control.
 Scalable with virtually unlimited storage.
 Managed, handling maintenance and any critical problems for you.
 Accessible from anywhere in the world over HTTP or HTTPS.
Mobile
With Azure, developers can create mobile back-end services for iOS, Android, and Windows
apps quickly and easily. Features that used to take time and increase project risks, such as adding
corporate sign-in and then connecting to on-premises resources such as SAP, Oracle, SQL
Server, and SharePoint, are now simple to include.
 Other features of this service include:
 Offline data synchronization.
 Connectivity to on-premises data.
 Broadcasting push notifications.
 Autoscaling to match business needs.
Databases
Azure provides multiple database services to store a wide variety of data types and volumes. And
with global connectivity, this data is available to users instantly.
Service Name Service function
Azure Cosmos DB Globally distributed database that supports
NoSQL options.
Azure SQL Database Fully managed relational database with auto-
scale, integral intelligence, and robust
security.
Azure Database for MySQL Fully managed and scalable MySQL
relational database with high availability and
security.
Azure Database for PostgreSQL Fully managed and scalable PostgreSQL
relational database with high availability and
security.
SQL Server on Azure Virtual Machines Service that hosts enterprise SQL Server apps
in the cloud.
Azure Synapse Analytics Fully managed data warehouse with integral
security at every level of scale at no extra
cost.
Azure Database Migration Service Service that migrates databases to the cloud
with no application code changes.
Azure Cache for Redis Fully managed service caches frequently used
and static data to reduce data and application
latency.
Azure Database for MariaDB Fully managed and scalable MariaDB
relational database with high availability and
security.
Web
Having a great web experience is critical in today's business world. Azure includes first-class
support to build and host web apps and HTTP-based web services. The following Azure services
are focused on web hosting.
Service name Description
Azure App Service Quickly create powerful cloud web-based
 apps
Azure Notification Hubs Send push notifications to any platform from
any back end.
Azure API Management Publish APIs to developers, partners, and
employees securely and at scale.
Azure Cognitive Search Deploy this fully managed search as a service.
Web Apps feature of Azure App Service Create and deploy mission-critical web apps
at scale.
Azure SignalR Service Add real-time web functionalities easily.
IoT
People are able to access more information than ever before. Personal digital assistants led to
smartphones, and now there are smart watches, smart thermostats, and even smart refrigerators.
Personal computers used to be the norm. Now the internet allows any item that's online-capable
to access valuable information. This ability for devices to garner and then relay information for
data analysis is referred to as IoT.
Many services can assist and drive end-to-end solutions for IoT on Azure.
Service name Description
IoT Central Fully managed global IoT software as a service (SaaS)
solution that makes it easy to connect, monitor, and
manage IoT assets at scale.
Azure IoT Hub Messaging hub that provides secure communications between
and monitoring of millions of IoT devices.
IoT Edge Fully managed service that allows data analysis models to be
pushed directly onto IoT devices, which allows them to react
quickly to state changes without needing to consult cloud-
based AI models.

Big data
Data comes in all formats and sizes. When we talk about big data, we're referring
to large volumes of data. Data from weather systems, communications systems, genomic
research, imaging platforms, and many other scenarios generate hundreds of gigabytes of data.
This amount of data makes it hard to analyze and make decisions. It's often so large that
traditional forms of processing and analysis are no longer appropriate.
Open-source cluster technologies have been developed to deal with these large data sets. Azure
supports a broad range of technologies and services to provide big data and analytic solutions.
Service name Description
Azure Synapse Analytics Run analytics at a massive scale by using a cloud-
based enterprise data warehouse that takes advantage
of massively parallel processing to run complex
queries quickly across petabytes of data.
 Azure HDInsight Process massive amounts of data with managed
clusters of Hadoop clusters in the cloud.
Azure Databricks Integrate this collaborative Apache Spark-based
analytics service with other big data services in
Azure.

AI
AI, in the context of cloud computing, is based around a broad range of services, the core of
which is machine learning. Machine learning is a data science technique that allows computers to
use existing data to forecast future behaviors, outcomes, and trends. Using machine learning,
computers learn without being explicitly programmed.
Forecasts or predictions from machine learning can make apps and devices smarter. For
example, when you shop online, machine learning helps recommend other products you might
like based on what you've purchased. Or when your credit card is swiped, machine learning
compares the transaction to a database of transactions and helps detect fraud. And when your
robot vacuum cleaner vacuums a room, machine learning helps it decide whether the job is done.
Here are some of the most common AI and machine learning service types in Azure.
Service Name Description
Azure Machine Learning Service Cloud-based environment you can use to
develop, train, test, deploy, manage, and
track machine learning models. It can auto-
generate a model and auto-tune it for you. It
will let you start training on your local
machine, and then scale out to the cloud.
Azure ML Studio Collaborative visual workspace where you
can build, test, and deploy machine learning
solutions by using prebuilt machine learning
algorithms and data-handling modules.
A closely related set of products are the cognitive services. You can use these prebuilt APIs in
your applications to solve complex problems.
Service name Description
Vision Use image-processing algorithms to smartly
identify, caption, index, and moderate your
pictures and videos.
Speech Convert spoken audio into text, use voice for
verification, or add speaker recognition to
your app.
Knowledge mapping Map complex information and data to solve
tasks such as intelligent recommendations and
semantic search
Bing Search Add Bing Search APIs to your apps and
harness the ability to comb billions of
webpages, images, videos, and news with a
 single API call.
Natural Language processing Allow your apps to process natural language
with prebuilt scripts, evaluate sentiment, and
learn how to recognize what users want.
DevOps
DevOps brings together people, processes, and technology by automating software delivery to
provide continuous value to your users. With Azure DevOps, you can
create build and release pipelines that provide continuous integration, delivery, and deployment
for your applications. You can integrate repositories and application tests, perform application
monitoring, and work with build artifacts. You can also work with and backlog items for
tracking, automate infrastructure deployment, and integrate a range of third-party tools and
services such as Jenkins and Chef. All of these functions and many more are closely integrated
with Azure to allow for consistent, repeatable deployments for your applications to provide
streamlined build and release processes.
Service name Description
Azure DevOps Use development collaboration tools such as high-performance
pipelines, free private Git repositories, configurable Kanban
boards, and extensive automated and cloud-based load testing.
Formerly known as Visual Studio Team Services.
Azure DevTest Labs Quickly create on-demand Windows and Linux environments to
test or demo applications directly from deployment pipelines.

What is the Azure free account?

The Azure free account includes:
 Free access to popular Azure products for 12 months.
 A credit to spend for the first 30 days.
 Access to more than 25 products that are always free.
The Azure free account is an excellent way for new users to get started and explore. To sign up, you need
a phone number, a credit card, and a Microsoft or GitHub account. The credit card information is used for
identity verification only. You won't be charged for any services until you upgrade to a paid subscription.
What is the Azure free student account?
The Azure free student account offer includes:
 Free access to certain Azure services for 12 months.
 A credit to use in the first 12 months.
 Free access to certain software developer tools.
The Azure free student account is an offer for students that gives $100 credit and free developer tools.
Also, you can sign up without a credit card.
What is the Learn sandbox?
Many of the Learn exercises use a technology called the sandbox, which creates a temporary subscription
that's added to your Azure account. This temporary subscription allows you to create Azure resources for
the duration of a Learn module. Learn automatically cleans up the temporary resources for you after
you've completed the module.
When you're completing a Learn module, you're welcome to use your personal subscription to complete
the exercises in a module. The sandbox is the preferred method to use though, because it allows you to
create and test Azure resources at no cost to you.
What are public, private, and hybrid clouds?
There are three deployment models for cloud computing: public cloud, private cloud, and hybrid cloud.
Each deployment model has different aspects that you should consider as you migrate to the cloud.
Deployment model Description

Public cloud Services are offered over the public internet and available to anyone who
wants to purchase them. Cloud resources, such as servers and storage, are
owned and operated by a third-party cloud service provider, and delivered
over the internet.
Private cloud A private cloud consists of computing resources used exclusively by users
from one business or organization. A private cloud can be physically
located at your organization's on-site (on-premises) datacenter, or it can be
hosted by a third-party service provider.
Hybrid cloud A hybrid cloud is a computing environment that combines a public cloud
and a private cloud by allowing data and applications to be shared between
them.

Cloud model comparison

Public cloud
 No capital expenditures to scale up.
 Applications can be quickly provisioned and deprovisioned.
 Organizations pay only for what they use.
Private cloud
 Hardware must be purchased for start-up and maintenance.
 Organizations have complete control over resources and security.
 Organizations are responsible for hardware maintenance and updates.
Hybrid cloud
 Provides the most flexibility.
 Organizations determine where to run their applications.
 Organizations control security, compliance, or legal requirements.
What are some cloud computing advantages?
There are several advantages that a cloud environment has over a physical environment that Tailwind
Traders can use following its migration to Azure.
 High availability: Depending on the service-level agreement (SLA) that you choose, your cloud-
based apps can provide a continuous user experience with no apparent downtime, even when
things go wrong.
 Scalability: Apps in the cloud can scale vertically and horizontally:
 Scale vertically to increase compute capacity by adding RAM or CPUs to a virtual machine.
 Scaling horizontally increases compute capacity by adding instances of resources, such as adding
VMs to the configuration.
  Elasticity: You can configure cloud-based apps to take advantage of autoscaling, so your apps
always have the resources they need.
 Agility: Deploy and configure cloud-based resources quickly as your app requirements change.
 Geo-distribution: You can deploy apps and data to regional datacenters around the globe, thereby
ensuring that your customers always have the best performance in their region.
 Disaster recovery: By taking advantage of cloud-based backup services, data replication, and geo-
distribution, you can deploy your apps with the confidence that comes from knowing that your
data is safe in the event of disaster.
Capital expenses vs. operating expenses
There are two different types of expenses that you should consider:
 Capital Expenditure (CapEx) is the up-front spending of money on physical infrastructure, and
then deducting that up-front expense over time. The up-front cost from CapEx has a value that
reduces over time.
 Operational Expenditure (OpEx) is spending money on services or products now, and being
billed for them now. You can deduct this expense in the same year you spend it. There is no up-
front cost, as you pay for a service or product as you use it.
In other words, when Tailwind Traders owns its infrastructure, it buys equipment that goes onto its
balance sheets as assets. Because a capital investment was made, accountants categorize this transaction
as a CapEx. Over time, to account for the assets' limited useful lifespan, assets are depreciated or
amortized.
Cloud services, on the other hand, are categorized as an OpEx, because of their consumption model.
There's no asset for Tailwind Traders to amortize, and its cloud service provider (Azure) manages the
costs that are associated with the purchase and lifespan of the physical equipment. As a result, OpEx has a
direct impact on net profit, taxable income, and the associated expenses on the balance sheet.
To summarize, CapEx requires significant up-front financial costs, as well as ongoing maintenance and
support expenditures. By contrast, OpEx is a consumption-based model, so Tailwind Traders is only
responsible for the cost of the computing resources that it uses.
Cloud computing is a consumption-based model
Cloud service providers operate on a consumption-based model, which means that end users only pay for
the resources that they use. Whatever they use is what they pay for.
A consumption-based model has many benefits, including:
 No upfront costs.
 No need to purchase and manage costly infrastructure that users might not use to its fullest.
 The ability to pay for additional resources when they are needed.
 The ability to stop paying for resources that are no longer needed.