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Describe Cloud Computing

Describe The Shared Responsibility Model

Core technology skills

Lesson Details

You may have heard of the shared responsibility model, but you may not understand what it means or
how it impacts cloud computing.

Start with a traditional corporate datacenter. The company is responsible for maintaining the physical
space, ensuring security, and maintaining or replacing the servers if anything happens. The IT
department is responsible for maintaining all the infrastructure and software needed to keep the
datacenter up and running. They’re also likely to be responsible for keeping all systems patched and on
the correct version.

With the shared responsibility model, these responsibilities get shared between the cloud provider and
the consumer. Physical security, power, cooling, and network connectivity are the responsibility of the
cloud provider. The consumer isn’t collocated with the datacenter, so it wouldn’t make sense for the
consumer to have any of those responsibilities.

At the same time, the consumer is responsible for the data and information stored in the cloud. (You
wouldn’t want the cloud provider to be able to read your information.) The consumer is also responsible
for access security, meaning you only give access to those who need it.

Then, for some things, the responsibility depends on the situation. If you’re using a cloud SQL database,
the cloud provider would be responsible for maintaining the actual database. However, you’re still
responsible for the data that gets ingested into the database. If you deployed a virtual machine and
installed an SQL database on it, you’d be responsible for database patches and updates, as well as
maintaining the data and information stored in the database.

With an on-premises datacenter, you’re responsible for everything. With cloud computing, those
responsibilities shift. The shared responsibility model is heavily tied into the cloud service types (covered
later in this learning path): infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as
a service (SaaS). IaaS places the most responsibility on the consumer, with the cloud provider being
responsible for the basics of physical security, power, and connectivity. On the other end of the
spectrum, SaaS places most of the responsibility with the cloud provider. PaaS, being a middle ground
between IaaS and SaaS, rests somewhere in the middle and evenly distributes responsibility between
the cloud provider and the consumer.

The following diagram highlights how the Shared Responsibility Model Informs who is responsible for
what, depending on the cloud service type.

Diagram showing the responsibilities of the shared responsibility model.

You’ll always be responsible for:

The information and data stored in the cloud

Devices that are allowed to connect to your cloud (cell phones, computers, and so on)

The accounts and identities of the people, services, and devices within your organization

The cloud provider is always responsible for:

The physical datacenter

The physical network

The physical hosts

Your service model will determine responsibility for things like:

Operating systems

Network controls

Applications

Identity and infrastructure

Describe Cloud Computing

Define Cloud Models

Core technology skills

Lesson Details

What are cloud models? The cloud models define the deployment type of cloud resources. The three
main cloud models are: private, public, and hybrid.

Private cloud

Let’s start with a private cloud. A private cloud is, in some ways, the natural evolution from a corporate
datacenter. It’s a cloud (delivering IT services over the internet) that’s used by a single entity. Private
cloud provides much greater control for the company and its IT department. However, it also comes
with greater cost and fewer of the benefits of a public cloud deployment. Finally, a private cloud may be
hosted from your on site datacenter. It may also be hosted in a dedicated datacenter offsite, potentially
even by a third party that has dedicated that datacenter to your company.

Public cloud

A public cloud is built, controlled, and maintained by a third-party cloud provider. With a public cloud,
anyone that wants to purchase cloud services can access and use resources. The general public
availability is a key difference between public and private clouds.

Hybrid cloud

A hybrid cloud is a computing environment that uses both public and private clouds in an inter-
connected environment. A hybrid cloud environment can be used to allow a private cloud to surge for
increased, temporary demand by deploying public cloud resources. Hybrid cloud can be used to provide
an extra layer of security. For example, users can flexibly choose which services to keep in public cloud
and which to deploy to their private cloud infrastructure.

The following table highlights a few key comparative aspects between the cloud models.

Expand table

Public cloudPrivate cloudHybrid cloudNo capital expenditures to scale upOrganizations have complete
control over resources and securityProvides the most flexibilityApplications can be quickly provisioned
and deprovisionedData is not collocated with other organizations’ dataOrganizations determine where
to run their applicationsOrganizations pay only for what they useHardware must be purchased for
startup and maintenanceOrganizations control security, compliance, or legal requirementsOrganizations
don’t have complete control over resources and securityOrganizations are responsible for hardware
maintenance and updates

Multi-cloud

A fourth, and increasingly likely scenario is a multi-cloud scenario. In a multi-cloud scenario, you use
multiple public cloud providers. Maybe you use different features from different cloud providers. Or
maybe you started your cloud journey with one provider and are in the process of migrating to a
different provider. Regardless, in a multi-cloud environment you deal with two (or more) public cloud
providers and manage resources and security in both environments

Azure Arc

Azure Arc is a set of technologies that helps manage your cloud environment. Azure Arc can help
manage your cloud environment, whether it’s a public cloud solely on Azure, a private cloud in your
datacenter, a hybrid configuration, or even a multi-cloud environment running on multiple cloud
providers at once.

Azure VMware Solution

What if you’re already established with VMware in a private cloud environment but want to migrate to a
public or hybrid cloud? Azure VMware Solution lets you run your VMware workloads in Azure with
seamless integration and scalability
1

Describe Cloud Computing

Describe The Consumption-based Model

Core technology skills

Lesson Details

When comparing IT infrastructure models, there are two types of expenses to consider. Capital
expenditure (CapEx) and operational expenditure (OpEx).

CapEx is typically a one-time, up-front expenditure to purchase or secure tangible resources. A new
building, repaving the parking lot, building a datacenter, or buying a company vehicle are examples of
CapEx.

In contrast, OpEx is spending money on services or products over time. Renting a convention center,
leasing a company vehicle, or signing up for cloud services are all examples of OpEx.

Cloud computing falls under OpEx because cloud computing operates on a consumption-based model.
With cloud computing, you don’t pay for the physical infrastructure, the electricity, the security, or
anything else associated with maintaining a datacenter. Instead, you pay for the IT resources you use. If
you don’t use any IT resources this month, you don’t pay for any IT resources.

This 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 potential.

The ability to pay for more resources when they’re needed.

The ability to stop paying for resources that are no longer needed.

With a traditional datacenter, you try to estimate the future resource needs. If you overestimate, you
spend more on your datacenter than you need to and potentially waste money. If you underestimate,
your datacenter will quickly reach capacity and your applications and services may suffer from
decreased performance. Fixing an under-provisioned datacenter can take a long time. You may need to
order, receive, and install more hardware. You’ll also need to add power, cooling, and networking for
the extra hardware.

In a cloud-based model, you don’t have to worry about getting the resource needs just right. If you find
that you need more virtual machines, you add more. If the demand drops and you don’t need as many
virtual machines, you remove machines as needed. Either way, you’re only paying for the virtual
machines that you use, not the “extra capacity” that the cloud provider has on hand.

Compare cloud pricing models

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 you:

Plan and manage your operating costs.

Run your infrastructure more efficiently.

Scale as your business needs change.

To put it another way, cloud computing is a way to rent compute power and storage from someone
else’s datacenter. You can treat cloud resources like you would resources in your own datacenter.
However, unlike in your own datacenter, when you’re done using cloud resources, you give them back.
You’re billed only for what you use.

Instead of maintaining CPUs and storage in your datacenter, you rent them for the time that you need
them. The cloud provider takes care of maintaining the underlying infrastructure for you. The cloud
enables you to quickly solve your toughest business challenges and bring cutting-edge solutions to your
users

Introduction To Microsoft Azure Fundamentals

Core technology skills

Lesson Details

Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform with an ever-expanding set of services to help you build
solutions to meet your business goals. Azure services support everything from simple to complex. Azure
has simple web services for hosting your business presence in the cloud. Azure also supports running
fully virtualized computers managing your custom software solutions. Azure provides a wealth of cloud-
based services like remote storage, database hosting, and centralized account management. Azure also
offers new capabilities like artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) focused services.

In this series, you’ll cover cloud computing basics, be introduced to some of the core services provided
by Microsoft Azure, and will learn more about the governance and compliance services that you can use.

What is Azure Fundamentals?

Azure Fundamentals is a series of three learning paths that familiarize you with Azure and its many
services and features.

Whether you’re interested in compute, networking, or storage services; learning about cloud security
best practices; or exploring governance and management options, think of Azure Fundamentals as your
curated guide to Azure.

Azure Fundamentals includes interactive exercises that give you hands-on experience with Azure. Many
exercises provide a temporary Azure portal environment called the sandbox, which allows you to
practice creating cloud resources for free at your own pace.
Technical IT experience isn’t required; however, having general IT knowledge will help you get the most
from your learning experience.

Why should I take Azure Fundamentals?

If you’re just beginning to work with the cloud, or if you already have cloud experience, Azure
Fundamentals provides you with everything you need to get started.

No matter your goals, Azure Fundamentals has something for you. You should take this course if you:

Have general interest in Azure or in the cloud

Want to earn official certification from Microsoft (AZ-900)

The Azure Fundamentals learning path series can help you prepare for Exam AZ-900: Microsoft Azure
Fundamentals. This exam includes three knowledge domain areas:

Expand table

AZ-900 Domain AreaWeightDescribe cloud concepts25-30%Describe Azure architecture and services35-

40%Describe Azure management and governance30-35%

Each domain area maps to a learning path in Azure Fundamentals. The percentages shown indicate the
relative weight of each area on the exam. The higher the percentage, the more questions that part of
the exam will contain. Be sure to read the exam page for specifics about what skills are covered in each
area.

This training helps you develop a broad understanding of Azure

Summary

Core technology skills

Lesson Details

In this module, you learned about general cloud concepts. You started with things like just
understanding what cloud computing is. You also learned about the shared responsibility model and
how you and your cloud provider share the responsibility of keeping your information in the cloud
secure. You briefly covered the differences between the cloud models (public, private, hybrid, and multi-
cloud). Then, you wrapped up with a unit on how the cloud shifts IT spend from a capital expense to an
operational expense.

Learning objectives

You should now be able too

Define cloud computing.

Describe the shared responsibility model.

Define cloud models, including public, private, and hybrid.

Identify appropriate use cases for each cloud model.

Describe the consumption-based model.

Compare cloud pricing models

Describe The Benefits Of Using Cloud Services

Describe The Benefits Of High Availability And Scalability In The Cloud

Core technology skills

Lesson Details

When building or deploying a cloud application, two of the biggest considerations are uptime (or
availability) and the ability to handle demand (or scale).

High availability

When you’re deploying an application, a service, or any IT resources, it’s important the resources are
available when needed. High availability focuses on ensuring maximum availability, regardless of
disruptions or events that may occur.

When you’re architecting your solution, you’ll need to account for service availability guarantees. Azure
is a highly available cloud environment with uptime guarantees depending on the service. These
guarantees are part of the service-level agreements (SLAs).

This short video describes Azure SLAs in more detail.

Scalability

Another major benefit of cloud computing is the scalability of cloud resources. Scalability refers to the
ability to adjust resources to meet demand. If you suddenly experience peak traffic and your systems are
overwhelmed, the ability to scale means you can add more resources to better handle the increased
demand.

The other benefit of scalability is that you aren’t overpaying for services. Because the cloud is a
consumption-based model, you only pay for what you use. If demand drops off, you can reduce your
resources and thereby reduce your costs.

Scaling generally comes in two varieties: vertical and horizontal. Vertical scaling is focused on increasing
or decreasing the capabilities of resources. Horizontal scaling is adding or subtracting the number of
resources.

Vertical scaling

With vertical scaling, if you were developing an app and you needed more processing power, you could
vertically scale up to add more CPUs or RAM to the virtual machine. Conversely, if you realized you had
over-specified the needs, you could vertically scale down by lowering the CPU or RAM specifications.

Horizontal scaling
With horizontal scaling, if you suddenly experienced a steep jump in demand, your deployed resources
could be scaled out (either automatically or manually). For example, you could add additional virtual
machines or containers, scaling out. In the same manner, if there was a significant drop in demand,
deployed resources could be scaled in (either automatically or manually), scaling in.

Describe The Benefits Of Using Cloud Services

Describe The Benefits Of Security And Governance In The Cloud

Core technology skills

Lesson Details

Whether you’re deploying infrastructure as a service or software as a service, cloud features support
governance and compliance. Things like set templates help ensure that all your deployed resources
meet corporate standards and government regulatory requirements. Plus, you can update all your
deployed resources to new standards as standards change. Cloud-based auditing helps flag any resource
that’s out of compliance with your corporate standards and provides mitigation strategies. Depending
on your operating model, software patches and updates may also automatically be applied, which helps
with both governance and security.

On the security side, you can find a cloud solution that matches your security needs. If you want
maximum control of security, infrastructure as a service provides you with physical resources but lets
you manage the operating systems and installed software, including patches and maintenance. If you
want patches and maintenance taken care of automatically, platform as a service or software as a
service deployments may be the best cloud strategies for you.

And because the cloud is intended as an over-the-internet delivery of IT resources, cloud providers are
typically well suited to handle things like distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, making your
network more robust and secure.

By establishing a good governance footprint early, you can keep your cloud footprint updated, secure,
and well managed

Describe The Benefits Of Using Cloud Services

Describe The Benefits Of Reliability And Predictability In The Cloud

Core technology skills

Lesson Details

Reliability and predictability are two crucial cloud benefits that help you develop solutions with
confidence.

Reliability

Reliability is the ability of a system to recover from failures and continue to function. It’s also one of the
pillars of the Microsoft Azure Well-Architected Framework.
The cloud, by virtue of its decentralized design, naturally supports a reliable and resilient infrastructure.
With a decentralized design, the cloud enables you to have resources deployed in regions around the
world. With this global scale, even if one region has a catastrophic event other regions are still up and
running. You can design your applications to automatically take advantage of this increased reliability. In
some cases, your cloud environment itself will automatically shift to a different region for you, with no
action needed on your part. You’ll learn more about how Azure leverages global scale to provide
reliability later in this series.

Predictability

Predictability in the cloud lets you move forward with confidence. Predictability can be focused on
performance predictability or cost predictability. Both performance and cost predictability are heavily
influenced by the Microsoft Azure Well-Architected Framework. Deploy a solution that’s built around
this framework and you have a solution whose cost and performance are predictable.

Performance

Performance predictability focuses on predicting the resources needed to deliver a positive experience
for your customers. Autoscaling, load balancing, and high availability are just some of the cloud concepts
that support performance predictability. If you suddenly need more resources, autoscaling can deploy
additional resources to meet the demand, and then scale back when the demand drops. Or if the traffic
is heavily focused on one area, load balancing will help redirect some of the overload to less stressed
areas.

Cost

Cost predictability is focused on predicting or forecasting the cost of the cloud spend. With the cloud,
you can track your resource use in real time, monitor resources to ensure that you’re using them in the
most efficient way, and apply data analytics to find patterns and trends that help better plan resource
deployments. By operating in the cloud and using cloud analytics and information, you can predict
future costs and adjust your resources as needed. You can even use tools like the Total Cost of
Ownership (TCO) or Pricing Calculator to get an estimate of potential cloud spend.

Describe The Benefits Of Using Cloud Services

Describe The Benefits Of Manageability In The Cloud

Core technology skills

Lesson Details

A major benefit of cloud computing is the manageability options. There are two types of manageability
for cloud computing that you’ll learn about in this series, and both are excellent benefits.

Management of the cloud

Management of the cloud speaks to managing your cloud resources. In the cloud, you can:

Automatically scale resource deployment based on need.

Deploy resources based on a preconfigured template, removing the need for manual configuration.

Monitor the health of resources and automatically replace failing resources.

Receive automatic alerts based on configured metrics, so you’re aware of performance in real time.

Management in the cloud

Management in the cloud speaks to how you’re able to manage your cloud environment and resources.
You can manage these:

Through a web portal.

Using a command line interface.

Using APIs.

Using PowerShell

Summary

Core technology skills

Lesson Details

In this module, you learned about some of the benefits of operating in the cloud. You learned about high
availability and reliability, and how those work to keep your applications running. You also learned
about how the cloud can provide a more secure environment. Finally, you learned that the cloud
provides a highly manageable environment for your resources.

Learning objectives

You should now be able to:

Describe the benefits of high availability and scalability in the cloud.

Describe the benefits of reliability and predictability in the cloud.

Describe the benefits of security and governance in the cloud.

Describe the benefits of manageability in the cloud

Describe Cloud Service Types

Introduction

Core technology skills

Lesson Details
In this module, you’ll be introduced to cloud service types. You’ll learn how each cloud service type
determines the flexibility you’ll have with managing and configuring resources. You’ll understand how
the shared responsibility model applies to each cloud service type, and about various use cases for each
cloud service type.

Learning objectives

After completing this module, you’ll be able to:

Describe infrastructure as a service (IaaS).

Describe platform as a service (PaaS).

Describe software as a service (SaaS).

Identify appropriate use cases for each cloud service (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS).

Describe Cloud Service Types

Describe Infrastructure As A Service

Core technology skills

Lesson Details

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is the most flexible category of cloud services, as it provides you the
maximum amount of control for your cloud resources. In an IaaS model, the cloud provider is
responsible for maintaining the hardware, network connectivity (to the internet), and physical security.
You’re responsible for everything else: operating system installation, configuration, and maintenance;
network configuration; database and storage configuration; and so on. With IaaS, you’re essentially
renting the hardware in a cloud datacenter, but what you do with that hardware is up to you.

Shared responsibility model

The shared responsibility model applies to all the cloud service types. IaaS places the largest share of
responsibility with you. The cloud provider is responsible for maintaining the physical infrastructure and
its access to the internet. You’re responsible for installation and configuration, patching and updates,
and security.

Diagram showing the responsibilities of the shared responsibility model.

Scenarios

Some common scenarios where IaaS might make sense include:

Lift-and-shift migration: You’re standing up cloud resources similar to your on-prem datacenter, and
then simply moving the things running on-prem to running on the IaaS infrastructure.

Testing and development: You have established configurations for development and test environments
that you need to rapidly replicate. You can stand up or shut down the different environments rapidly
with an IaaS structure, while maintaining complete

Describe Cloud Service Types

Describe Software As A Service

Core technology skills

Lesson Details

Software as a service (SaaS) is the most complete cloud service model from a product perspective. With
SaaS, you’re essentially renting or using a fully developed application. Email, financial software,
messaging applications, and connectivity software are all common examples of a SaaS implementation.

While the SaaS model may be the least flexible, it’s also the easiest to get up and running. It requires the
least amount of technical knowledge or expertise to fully employ.

Shared responsibility model

The shared responsibility model applies to all the cloud service types. SaaS is the model that places the
most responsibility with the cloud provider and the least responsibility with the user. In a SaaS
environment you’re responsible for the data that you put into the system, the devices that you allow to
connect to the system, and the users that have access. Nearly everything else falls to the cloud provider.
The cloud provider is responsible for physical security of the datacenters, power, network connectivity,
and application development and patching.

Diagram showing the responsibilities of the shared responsibility model.

Scenarios

Some common scenarios for SaaS are:

Email and messaging.

Business productivity applications.

Finance and expense tracking

Summary

Core technology skills

Lesson Details

In this module, you learned about the cloud service types and some common scenarios for each type.
You also reinforced how the shared responsibility model determines your responsibilities with different
cloud service types.

Learning objectives

You should now be able to:

Describe infrastructure as a service (IaaS).

Describe platform as a service (PaaS).

Describe software as a service (SaaS).

Identify appropriate use cases for each cloud service (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS).