Chapter 1

Understanding Cloud
Computing
By Dawit Mekonnen(MSc.)

[email protected]
 Outline

Origins and Basic Concepts Goals and Risks and

Influences and Terminology Benefits Challenges

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Origins and Influences

A Brief
Definition
History

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A Brief History

• The idea of computing in a “cloud” traces back to the

origins of utility computing, a concept that
computer scientist John McCarthy publicly proposed
in 1961:

“If computers of the kind I have advocated become the

computers of the future, then computing may someday be
organized as a public utility just as the telephone system is a
public utility. … The computer utility could become the basis
of a new and important industry.”
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A Brief History

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A Brief History

• In 1969, Leonard Kleinrock, a chief scientist of

the Advanced Research Projects Agency
Network or ARPANET project that seeded the
Internet, stated:

“As of now, computer networks are still in their

infancy, but as they grow up and become
sophisticated, we will probably see the spread of
‘computer utilities’ …” 6
A Brief History

• The general public has been leveraging forms of Internet-based computer utilities
since the mid-1990s through various incarnations of
search engines (Yahoo!, Google),

e-mail services (Hotmail, Gmail),

open publishing platforms (MySpace, Facebook, YouTube), and

other types of social media (Twitter, LinkedIn).

• Though consumer-centric, these services popularized and validated core concepts

that form the basis of modern-day cloud computing.

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A Brief History

• In the late 1990s,Salesforce.com pioneered

the notion of bringing remotely provisioned
services into the enterprise. i.e. CRM

• In 2002, Amazon.com launched the Amazon

Web Services (AWS) platform, a suite of
enterprise-oriented services that provide
remotely provisioned storage, computing
resources, and business functionality. 8
A Brief History

• A slightly different evocation of the term “Network Cloud” or

“Cloud” was introduced in the early 1990s throughout the networking
industry.

• It referred to an abstraction layer derived in the delivery methods of

data across heterogeneous public and semi-public networks that were
primarily packet-switched, although cellular networks used the
“Cloud” term as well.

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A Brief History

• The networking method at this point

supported the transmission of data from one
end-point (local network) to the “Cloud” (wide
area network) and then further decomposed
to another intended end-point.

• This is relevant, as the networking industry

still references the use of this term, and is
considered an early adopter of the concepts
that underlie utility computing. 10
A Brief History

• It wasn’t until 2006 that the term “cloud computing” emerged in the
commercial arena.
• It was during this time that Amazon launched its Elastic Compute
Cloud (EC2) services that enabled organizations to “lease” computing
capacity and processing power to run their enterprise applications.
• Google Apps also began providing browser-based enterprise
applications in the same year, and three years later, the Google App
Engine became another historic milestone.

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A Brief History: Summary

Launches of Google App

2008 - 2009 Engine/Windows Azure Beta

Google App / Azure

2006
S3 Launches/EC2

2002
Launch of Amazon web services

The first milestone for Cloud

1990 Computing
The arrival of Salesforce.com

1960
Supercomputers/Mainframe

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Definition Gartner

• A Gartner report listing cloud computing at the top of its strategic technology
areas further reaffirmed its prominence as an industry trend by announcing its
formal definition as:

“…a style of computing in which scalable and elastic IT-enabled capabilities are delivered as a
service to external customers using Internet technologies.”

• This is a slight revision of Gartner’s original definition from 2008, in which

“massively scalable” was used instead of “scalable and elastic.”

• This acknowledges the importance of scalability in relation to the ability to scale

vertically and not just to enormous proportions.
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Definition Forrester

• Forrester Research provided its own definition of cloud computing as:

“…a standardized IT capability (services, software, or infrastructure) delivered

via Internet technologies in a pay-per-use, self-service way.”

• The definition that received industry-wide acceptance was composed

by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

• NIST published its original definition back in 2009, followed by a

revised version after further review and industry input that was
published in September of 2011: 14
Definition NIST

“Cloud computing is 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. This cloud
model is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four
deployment models.”

• Cloud computing is a specialized form of distributed computing that introduces

utilization models for remotely provisioning scalable and measured resources.

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 Business Drivers

Capacity Cost Organizational

Planning Reduction Agility

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 Technology Innovations

Clustering
Grid Computing Virtualization Technology
A cluster is a group of
independent IT A computing grid (or Virtualization represents Innovations vs.
“computational grid”) a technology platform
resources that are provides a platform in used for the creation of Enabling
interconnected and
work as a single
which computing virtual instances of IT Technologies
resources are organized resources
system. • Broadband Networks and
into one or more logical Internet Architecture
pools. • Data Center Technology
• Web Technology
• Multitenant Technology
• Service Technology17
Basic Concepts and Terminology

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 Cloud

• A cloud refers to a distinct IT environment that is designed for the purpose

of remotely provisioning scalable and measured IT resources.

• The term originated as a metaphor for the Internet which is, in essence, a network
of networks providing remote access to a set of decentralized IT resources.

• Prior to cloud computing becoming its own formalized IT industry segment, the
symbol of a cloud was commonly used to represent the Internet in a variety of
specifications and mainstream documentation of Web-based architectures.

• This same symbol is now used to specifically represent the boundary of a cloud
environment.
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Cloud

• It is important to distinguish the term “cloud” and the cloud symbol from the
Internet.

• As a specific environment used to remotely provision IT resources, a cloud has a finite

boundary.

• There are many individual clouds that are accessible via the Internet.

• Whereas the Internet provides open access to many Web-based IT resources, a

cloud is typically privately owned and offers access to IT resources that is
metered.

• Much of the Internet is dedicated to the access of content-based IT resources

published via the World Wide Web.
Cloud

• IT resources provided by cloud environments, on the other hand, are dedicated

to supplying back-end processing capabilities and user-based access to these
capabilities.
• Another key distinction is that it is not necessary for clouds to be Web-based
even if they are commonly based on Internet protocols and technologies.
• Protocols refer to standards and methods that allow computers to communicate
with each other in a predefined and structured manner.
• A cloud can be based on the use of any protocols that allow for the remote
access to its IT resources.

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IT Resource
• An IT resource is a physical or virtual IT-related artifact that can be either
software based, such as a virtual server or a custom software program, or
hardware-based, such as a physical server or a network device

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On-Premise
• As a distinct and remotely accessible environment, a cloud represents an option
for the deployment of IT resources.

• An IT resource that is hosted in a conventional IT enterprise within an

organizational boundary (that does not specifically represent a cloud) is considered
to be located on the premises of the IT enterprise, or on-premise for short.

• In other words, the term “on-premise” is another way of stating “on the premises
of a controlled IT environment that is not cloud-based.”

• This term is used to qualify an IT resource as an alternative to “cloud-based.”

• An IT resource that is on-premise cannot be cloud-based, and vice-versa.

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On-Premise

• Note the following key points:

• An on-premise IT resource can access and interact with a cloud-based IT

resource.

• An on-premise IT resource can be moved to a cloud, thereby changing it to a

cloud-based IT resource.

• Redundant deployments of an IT resource can exist in both on-premise and cloud

based environments.

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Cloud Consumers and Cloud Providers

• The party that provides cloud-based IT resources is the cloud provider.

• The party that uses cloud-based IT resources is the cloud consumer.

• These terms represent roles usually assumed by organizations in relation to

clouds and corresponding cloud provisioning contracts.

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Scaling

from an IT resource perspective, represents the ability of the IT

resource to handle increased or decreased usage demands.

The following are types of scaling:

Horizontal Scaling – scaling out and scaling in

Vertical Scaling – scaling up and scaling down

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 Horizontal Scaling
• The allocating or releasing of IT resources
that are of the same type is referred to as
horizontal scaling

• The horizontal allocation of resources is

referred to as scaling out and the horizontal
releasing of resources is referred to as scaling
in.

• Horizontal scaling is a common form of scaling

within cloud environment 27
Vertical Scaling

• When an existing IT resource is replaced by another with

higher or lower capacity, vertical scaling is considered to
have occurred.

• Specifically, the replacing of an IT resource with another

that has a higher capacity is referred to as scaling up and
the replacing an IT resource with another that has a lower
capacity is considered scaling down.

• Vertical scaling is less common in cloud environments due

to the downtime required while the replacement is taking
place. 28
 A comparison of horizontal and vertical
scaling

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 Cloud Service

• A cloud service is any IT resource that is made remotely accessible via a cloud.

• Unlike other IT fields that fall under the service technology umbrella such as
service- oriented architecture the term “service” within the context of cloud
computing is especially broad.

• A cloud service can exist as a simple Web-based software program with a

technical interface invoked via the use of a messaging protocol, or as a remote
access point for administrative tools or larger environments and other IT
resources.
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Cloud Service
• A multitude of models for generic types of cloud services have
emerged, most of which are labeled with the “as-a-service” suffix

• The driving motivation behind cloud computing is to provide IT

resources as services that encapsulate other IT resources, while
offering functions for clients to use and leverage remotely.

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Cloud Service
• Cloud service usage conditions are typically expressed in a service level
agreement (SLA) that is the human readable part of a service contract
between a cloud provider and cloud consumer.

• SLA describes QoS features, behaviors, and limitations of a cloud based

service or other provisions.

• An SLA provides details of various measurable characteristics related to

IT outcomes, such as uptime, security characteristics, and other specific
QoS features, including availability, reliability, and performance.
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Cloud Service Consumer
• The cloud service consumer is a temporary runtime role assumed by
a software program when it accesses a cloud service.

• common types of cloud service consumers can include

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Goals and Benefits

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Benefits

Scalability

Availability

Reliability

Cost Savings

Security
Risks and Challenges

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 Risks and Challenges

Increased Improper Access

Security Cloud Migration Controls and
Vulnerabilities Management

Multi-Regional
Lack of Expertise Compliance and …etc
Legal Issues
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Question????

End of chapter 1

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