UNIT -I & II

Basics of Cloud Computing

What is cloud computing?

Simply put, cloud computing is the delivery of computing services—including servers, storage,
databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence—over the Internet (“the cloud”) to
offer faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale. You typically pay only for
cloud services you use, helping you lower your operating costs, run your infrastructure more
efficiently, and scale as your business needs change.

Cloud Computing
The term cloud refers to a network or the internet. It is a technology that uses remote servers
on the internet to store, manage, and access data online rather than local drives. The data can
be anything such as files, images, documents, audio, video, and more.

There are the following operations that we can do using cloud computing:

o Developing new applications and services

o Storage, back up, and recovery of data
o Hosting blogs and websites
o Delivery of software on demand
o Analysis of data
o Streaming videos and audios
Small as well as large IT companies, follow the traditional methods to provide the IT
infrastructure. That means for any IT company, we need a Server Room that is the basic
need of IT companies.

In that server room, there should be a database server, mail server, networking, firewalls,
routers, modem, switches, QPS (Query Per Second means how much queries or load will be
handled by the server), configurable system, high net speed, and the maintenance engineers.

To establish such IT infrastructure, we need to spend lots of money. To overcome all these
problems and to reduce the IT infrastructure cost, Cloud Computing comes into existence.

Characteristics of Cloud Computing

The characteristics of cloud computing are given below:

1) Agility

The cloud works in a distributed computing environment. It shares resources among users
and works very fast.

2) High availability and reliability

The availability of servers is high and more reliable because the chances of infrastructure
failure are minimum.

3) High Scalability

Cloud offers "on-demand" provisioning of resources on a large scale, without having

engineers for peak loads.

4) Multi-Sharing
With the help of cloud computing, multiple users and applications can work more
efficiently with cost reductions by sharing common infrastructure.

5) Device and Location Independence

Cloud computing enables the users to access systems using a web browser regardless of their
location or what device they use e.g. PC, mobile phone, etc. As infrastructure is off-
site (typically provided by a third-party) and accessed via the Internet, users can connect
from anywhere.

6) Maintenance

Maintenance of cloud computing applications is easier, since they do not need to be installed
on each user's computer and can be accessed from different places. So, it reduces the cost
also.

7) Low Cost

By using cloud computing, the cost will be reduced because to take the services of cloud
computing, IT company need not to set its own infrastructure and pay-as-per usage of
resources.

8) Services in the pay-per-use mode

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are provided to the users so that they can access
services on the cloud by using these APIs and pay the charges as per the usage of services.

Top benefits of cloud computing

Cloud computing is a big shift from the traditional way businesses think about IT resources.
Here are seven common reasons organizations are turning to cloud computing services:

Cost
 Moving to the cloud helps companies optimize IT costs. This is because cloud
computing eliminates the capital expense of buying hardware and software and setting
up and running onsite datacenters—the racks of servers, the round-the-clock electricity
for power and cooling, and the IT experts for managing the infrastructure. It adds up
fast.

Speed
 Most cloud computing services are provided self service and on demand, so even vast
amounts of computing resources can be provisioned in minutes, typically with just a
few mouse clicks, giving businesses a lot of flexibility and taking the pressure off
capacity planning.
Global scale
 The benefits of cloud computing services include the ability to scale elastically. In cloud
speak, that means delivering the right amount of IT resources—for example, more or
less computing power, storage, bandwidth—right when they’re needed, and from the
right geographic location.

Productivity
 Onsite datacenters typically require a lot of “racking and stacking”—hardware setup,
software patching, and other time-consuming IT management chores. Cloud computing
removes the need for many of these tasks, so IT teams can spend time on achieving
more important business goals.

Performance
 The biggest cloud computing services run on a worldwide network of secure
datacenters, which are regularly upgraded to the latest generation of fast and efficient
computing hardware. This offers several benefits over a single corporate datacenter,
including reduced network latency for applications and greater economies of scale.

Reliability
 Cloud computing makes data backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity easier
and less expensive because data can be mirrored at multiple redundant sites on the cloud
provider’s network.

Security
 Many cloud providers offer a broad set of policies, technologies, and controls that
strengthen your security posture overall, helping protect your data, apps, and
infrastructure from potential threats.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Cloud Computing

Advantages of Cloud Computing
As we all know that Cloud computing is trending technology. Almost every company switched
their services on the cloud to rise the company growth.

Here, we are going to discuss some important 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.

Backward Skip 10sPlay 10s

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

A list of the disadvantage of cloud computing is given below -

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.
History of Cloud Computing
Before emerging the cloud computing, there was Client/Server computing which is basically a
centralized storage in which all the software applications, all the data and all the controls are
resided on the server side.

If a single user wants to access specific data or run a program, he/she need to connect to the
server and then gain appropriate access, and then he/she can do his/her business.

Then after, distributed computing came into picture, where all the computers are networked
together and share their resources when needed.

On the basis of above computing, there was emerged of cloud computing concepts that
later implemented.

“At around in 1961, John MacCharty suggested in a speech at MIT that computing can
be sold like a utility, just like a water or electricity. It was a brilliant idea, but like all
brilliant ideas, it was ahead if its time, as for the next few decades, despite interest in the
model, the technology simply was not ready for it.”

But of course time has passed and the technology caught that idea and after few years we
mentioned that:

In 1999, Salesforce.com started delivering of applications to users using a simple website. The
applications were delivered to enterprises over the Internet, and this way the dream of
computing sold as utility were true.

In 2002, Amazon started Amazon Web Services, providing services like storage, computation
and even human intelligence. However, only starting with the launch of the Elastic Compute
Cloud in 2006 a truly commercial service open to everybody existed.

In 2009, Google Apps also started to provide cloud computing enterprise applications.

Of course, all the big players are present in the cloud computing evolution, some were earlier,
some were later. In 2009, Microsoft launched Windows Azure, and companies like Oracle and
HP have all joined the game. This proves that today, cloud computing has become mainstream.

Evolution of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is all about renting computing services. This idea first came in the 1950s. In
making cloud computing what it is today, five technologies played a vital role. These are
distributed systems and its peripherals, virtualization, web 2.0, service orientation, and utility
computing.

 Distributed Systems:

It is a composition of multiple independent systems but all of them are depicted as a

single entity to the users. The purpose of distributed systems is to share resources and
also use them effectively and efficiently. Distributed systems possess characteristics
such as scalability, concurrency, continuous availability, heterogeneity, and
independence in failures. But the main problem with this system was that all the systems
were required to be present at the same geographical location. Thus to solve this
problem, distributed computing led to three more types of computing and they were-
Mainframe computing, cluster computing, and grid computing.

 Mainframe computing:

Mainframes which first came into existence in 1951 are highly powerful and reliable
computing machines. These are responsible for handling large data such as massive
input-output operations. Even today these are used for bulk processing tasks such as
online transactions etc. These systems have almost no downtime with high fault
tolerance. After distributed computing, these increased the processing capabilities of
the system. But these were very expensive. To reduce this cost, cluster computing came
as an alternative to
mainframe technology.
 Cluster computing:

In 1980s, cluster computing came as an alternative to mainframe computing. Each

machine in the cluster was connected to each other by a network with high bandwidth.
These were way cheaper than those mainframe systems. These were equally capable of
high computations. Also, new nodes could easily be added to the cluster if it was
required. Thus, the problem of the cost was solved to some extent but the problem
related to geographical restrictions still pertained. To solve this, the concept of grid
computing was introduced.

 Grid computing:

In 1990s, the concept of grid computing was introduced. It means that different systems
were placed at entirely different geographical locations and these all were connected
via the internet. These systems belonged to different organizations and thus the grid
consisted of heterogeneous nodes. Although it solved some problems but new problems
emerged as the distance between the nodes increased. The main problem which was
encountered was the low availability of high bandwidth connectivity and with it other
network associated issues. Thus. cloud computing is often referred to as “Successor of
grid computing”.

 Virtualization:

It was introduced nearly 40 years back. It refers to the process of creating a virtual layer
over the hardware which allows the user to run multiple instances simultaneously on the
hardware. It is a key technology used in cloud computing. It is the base on which major
cloud computing services such as Amazon EC2, VMware vCloud, etc work on. Hardware
virtualization is still one of the most common types of virtualization.

 Web 2.0:

It is the interface through which the cloud computing services interact with the clients.
It is because of Web 2.0 that we have interactive and dynamic web pages. It also
increases flexibility among web pages. Popular examples of web 2.0 include Google
Maps, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Needless to say, social media is possible because of this
technology only. It gained major popularity in 2004.
  Service orientation:

It acts as a reference model for cloud computing. It supports low-cost, flexible, and
evolvable applications. Two important concepts were introduced in this computing
model. These were Quality of Service (QoS) which also includes the SLA (Service
Level Agreement) and Software as a Service (SaaS).

 Utility computing:

It is a computing model that defines service provisioning techniques for services such
as compute services along with other major services such as storage, infrastructure, etc
which are provisioned on a pay-per-use basis.
Thus, the above technologies contributed to the making of cloud computing.

Cloud Computing Architecture

What is cloud architecture?

Cloud architecture is a key element of building in the cloud. It refers to the layout and connects
all the necessary components and technologies required for cloud computing.

Cloud architecture dictates how components are integrated so that you can pool, share, and
scale resources over a network. Think of it as a building blueprint for running and deploying
applications in cloud environments.

Cloud architecture defined

Cloud architecture refers to how various cloud technology components, such as hardware,
virtual resources, software capabilities, and virtual network systems interact and connect to
create cloud computing environments. It acts as a blueprint that defines the best way to
strategically combine resources to build a cloud environment for a specific business need.
Cloud architecture components

Cloud architecture components include:

 A frontend platform

 A backend platform

 A cloud-based delivery model

 A network (internet, intranet, or intercloud)

In cloud computing, frontend platforms contain the client infrastructure—user interfaces,

client-side applications, and the client device or network that enables users to interact with and
access cloud computing services. For example, you can open the web browser on your mobile
phone and edit a Google Doc. All three of these things describe frontend cloud architecture
components.

On the other hand, the back end refers to the cloud architecture components that make up the
cloud itself, including computing resources, storage, security mechanisms, management, and
more.

Below is a list of the main backend components:

Application: The backend software or application the client is accessing from the front end to
coordinate or fulfill client requests and requirements.

Service: The service is the heart of cloud architecture, taking care of all the tasks being run on
a cloud computing system. It manages which resources you can access, including storage,
application development environments, and web applications.

Runtime cloud: Runtime cloud provides the environment where services are run, acting as an
operating system that handles the execution of service tasks and management. Runtimes use
virtualization technology to create hypervisors that represent all your services, including apps,
servers, storage, and networking.

Storage: The storage component in the back end is where data to operate applications is stored.
While cloud storage options vary by provider, most cloud service providers offer flexible
scalable storage services that are designed to store and manage vast amounts of data in the
cloud. Storage may include hard drives, solid-state drives, or persistent disks in server bays.

Infrastructure: Infrastructure is probably the most commonly known component of cloud

architecture. In fact, you might have thought that cloud infrastructure is cloud architecture.
However, cloud infrastructure comprises all the major hardware components that power cloud
services, including the CPU, graphics processing unit (GPU), network devices, and other
hardware components needed for systems to run smoothly. Infrastructure also refers to all the
software needed to run and manage everything.

Cloud architecture, on the other hand, is the plan that dictates how cloud resources and
infrastructure are organized.

Management: Cloud service models require that resources be managed in real time according
to user requirements. It is essential to use management software, also known as middleware, to
coordinate communication between the backend and frontend cloud architecture components
and allocate resources for specific tasks. Beyond middleware, management software will also
include capabilities for usage monitoring, data integration, application deployment, and
disaster recovery.

Security: As more organizations continue to adopt cloud computing, implementing cloud

security features and tools is critical to securing data, applications, and platforms. It’s essential
to plan and design data security and network security to provide visibility, prevent data loss
and downtime, and ensure redundancy. This may include regular backups, debugging, and
virtual firewalls.

How does cloud architecture work?

In cloud architecture, each of the components works together to create a cloud computing
platform that provides users with on-demand access to resources and services.

The back end contains all the cloud computing resources, services, data storage, and
applications offered by a cloud service provider. A network is used to connect the frontend and
backend cloud architecture components, enabling data to be sent back and forth between them.
When users interact with the front end (or client-side interface), it sends queries to the back
end using middleware where the service model carries out the specific task or request.

The types of services available to use vary depending on the cloud-based delivery model or
service model you have chosen. There are three main cloud computing service models:

 Infrastructure as a service (IaaS): This model provides on-demand access to cloud

infrastructure, such as servers, storage, and networking. This eliminates the need to
procure, manage, and maintain on-premises infrastructure.

 Platform as a service (PaaS): This model offers a computing platform with all the
underlying infrastructure and software tools needed to develop, run, and manage
applications.

 Software as a service (SaaS): This model offers cloud-based applications that are
delivered and maintained by the service provider, eliminating the need for end users to
deploy software locally.
Cloud architecture layers
A simpler way of understanding how cloud architecture works is to think of all these
components as various layers placed on top of each other to create a cloud platform.

Here are the basic cloud architecture layers:

1. Hardware: The servers, storage, network devices, and other hardware that power the
cloud.

2. Virtualization: An abstraction layer that creates a virtual representation of physical

computing and storage resources. This allows multiple applications to use the same
resources.

3. Application and service: This layer coordinates and supports requests from the
frontend user interface, offering different services based on the cloud service model,
from resource allocation to application development tools to web-based applications.

Cloud infrastructure components :

Different components of cloud infrastructure supports the computing requirements of a
cloud computing model. Cloud infrastructure has number of key components but not
limited to only server, software, network and storage devices. Still cloud infrastructure is
categorized into three parts in general i.e.

1. Computing

2. Networking

3. Storage

The most important point is that cloud infrastructure should have some basic infrastructural
constraints like transparency, scalability, security and intelligent monitoring etc.

The below figure represents components of cloud infrastructure

Components of Cloud Infrastructure

1. Hypervisor :

Hypervisor is a firmware or a low level program which is a key to enable virtualization. It

is used to divide and allocate cloud resources between several customers. As it monitors
and manages cloud services/resources that’s why hypervisor is called as VMM (Virtual
Machine Monitor) or (Virtual Machine Manager).

2. Management Software :
Management software helps in maintaining and configuring the infrastructure. Cloud
management software monitors and optimizes resources, data, applications and services.

3. Deployment Software :

Deployment software helps in deploying and integrating the application on the cloud. So,
typically it helps in building a virtual computing environment.

4. Network :

It is one of the key component of cloud infrastructure which is responsible for connecting
cloud services over the internet. For the transmission of data and resources externally and
internally network is must required.

5. Server :

Server which represents the computing portion of the cloud infrastructure is responsible for
managing and delivering cloud services for various services and partners, maintaining
security etc.

6. Storage :

Storage represents the storage facility which is provided to different organizations for
storing and managing data. It provides a facility of extracting another resource if one of the
resource fails as it keeps many copies of storage.

Along with this, virtualization is also considered as one of important component of cloud
infrastructure. Because it abstracts the available data storage and computing power away
from the actual hardware and the users interact with their cloud infrastructure through GUI
(Graphical User Interface).

Client-Server Model
Client-Server Model – The client-server model describes the communication between two
computing entities over a network. Clients are the ones requesting a resource or service and
Servers are the ones providing that resource or service. Note, the server can be running one
or more programs and involved in multiple communications with multiple clients at the
same time. The client initiates the communication and awaits a response from the server.
This model was developed in the ‘70s at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).

How the Client-Server Model works?

In this article we are going to take a dive into the Client-Server model and have a look at
how the Internet works via, web browsers. This article will help us in having a solid
foundation of the WEB and help in working with WEB technologies with ease.
 Client: When we talk the word Client, it mean to talk of a person or an organization
using a particular service. Similarly in the digital world a Client is a computer (Host)
i.e. capable of receiving information or using a particular service from the service
providers (Servers).

 Servers: Similarly, when we talk the word Servers, It mean a person or medium that
serves something. Similarly in this digital world a Server is a remote computer which
provides information (data) or access to particular services.

So, its basically the Client requesting something and the Server serving it as long as its
present in the database.

How the browser interacts with the servers?

There are few steps to follow to interacts with the servers a client.

 User enters the URL(Uniform Resource Locator) of the website or file. The Browser
then requests the DNS(DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM) Server.

 DNS Server lookup for the address of the WEB Server.

 DNS Server responds with the IP address of the WEB Server.

 Browser sends over an HTTP/HTTPS request to WEB Server’s IP (provided

by DNS server).

 Server sends over the necessary files of the website.

 Browser then renders the files and the website is displayed. This rendering is done with
the help of DOM (Document Object Model) interpreter, CSS interpreter and JS
Engine collectively known as the JIT or (Just in Time) Compilers.
Advantages of Client-Server model:

 Centralized system with all data in a single place.

 Cost efficient requires less maintenance cost and Data recovery is possible.

 The capacity of the Client and Servers can be changed separately.

Disadvantages of Client-Server model:

 Clients are prone to viruses, Trojans and worms if present in the Server or uploaded
into the Server.

 Server are prone to Denial of Service (DOS) attacks.

 Data packets may be spoofed or modified during transmission.

 Phishing or capturing login credentials or other useful information of the user are
common and MITM(Man in the Middle) attacks are common.

Categories of Client-Server Computing

There are four main categories of the client-server model:

 One-Tier architecture: consists of a simple program running on a single computer

without requiring access to the network. User requests don’t manage any network
protocols, therefore the code is simple and the network is relieved of the extra traffic.

 Two-Tier architecture: consists of the client, the server, and the protocol that links the
two tiers. The Graphical User Interface code resides on the client host and the domain
logic resides on the server host. The client-server GUI is written in high-level languages
such as C++ and Java.
  Three-Tier architecture: consists of a presentation tier, which is the User Interface
layer, the application tier, which is the service layer that performs detailed processing,
and the data tier, which consists of a database server that stores information.

 N-Tier architecture: divides an application into logical layers, which separate

responsibilities and manage dependencies, and physical tiers, which run on separate
machines, improve scalability, and add latency from the additional network
communication. N-Tier architecture can be closed-layer, in which a layer can only
communicate with the next layer down, or open-layer, in which a layer can
communicate with any layers below it.

Benefits of the Client-Server Model

There are numerous advantages of the client-server model:

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 A single server hosting all the required data in a single place facilitates easy protection
of data and management of user authorization and authentication.

 Resources such as network segments, servers and computers can be added to a client-
server network without any significant interruptions.

 Data can be accessed efficiently without requiring clients and the server to be in close
proximity.

 All nodes in the client-server system are independent, requesting data only from the
server, which facilitates easy upgrades, replacements, and relocation of the nodes.

 Data that is transferred through client-server protocols are platform-agnostic.

Peer to Peer Computing

The peer to peer computing architecture contains nodes that are equal participants in data
sharing. All the tasks are equally divided between all the nodes. The nodes interact with each
other as required as share resources.
A diagram to better understand peer to peer computing is as follows −
Characteristics of Peer to Peer Computing
The different characteristics of peer to peer networks are as follows −

 Peer to peer networks are usually formed by groups of a dozen or less computers.
These computers all store their data using individual security but also share data
with all the other nodes.
 The nodes in peer to peer networks both use resources and provide resources. So,
if the nodes increase, then the resource sharing capacity of the peer to peer
network increases. This is different than client server networks where the server
gets overwhelmed if the nodes increase.
 Since nodes in peer to peer networks act as both clients and servers, it is difficult
to provide adequate security for the nodes. This can lead to denial of service
attacks.
 Most modern operating systems such as Windows and Mac OS contain software to
implement peer to peer networks.
Advantages of Peer to Peer Computing
Some advantages of peer to peer computing are as follows −

 Each computer in the peer to peer network manages itself. So, the network is quite easy to
set up and maintain.
 In the client server network, the server handles all the requests of the clients. This
provision is not required in peer to peer computing and the cost of the server is saved.
 It is easy to scale the peer to peer network and add more nodes. This only increases the
data sharing capacity of the system.
 None of the nodes in the peer to peer network are dependent on the others for their
functioning.

Disadvantages of Peer to Peer Computing

Some disadvantages of peer to peer computing are as follows −
  It is difficult to backup the data as it is stored in different computer systems and
there is no central server.
 It is difficult to provide overall security in the peer to peer network as each system
is independent and contains its own data.

Difference between Grid Computing and Utility Computing

1. Grid Computing :
Grid Computing, as name suggests, is a type of computing that combine resources from various
administrative domains to achieve common goal. Its main goal to virtualized resources to simply
solve problems or issues and apply resources of several computers in network to single problem
at same time to solve technical or scientific problem.
2. Utility Computing:
Utility Computing, as name suggests, is a type of computing that provide services and computing
resources to customers. It is basically a facility that is being provided to users on their demand
and charge them for specific usage. It is similar to cloud computing and therefore requires cloud-
like infrastructure.

Difference between Grid Computing and Utility Computing :

Grid Computing Utility Computing
It is a process architecture that It is process architecture that provide on-
combines different computing resources demand computing resources and
from multiple locations to achieve infrastructure on basis of pay per use
desired and common goal. method.
It distributes workload across multiple It allows organization to allocate and
systems and allow computers to segregate computing resources and
contribute their individual resources to infrastructure to various users on basis of
common goal. their requirements.
It makes better use of existing It simply reduces IT costs, easier to manage,
resources, address rapid fluctuations in provide greater flexibility, compatibility,
customer demands, improve provide more convenience, etc.
computational capabilities, provide
flexibility, etc.
It mainly focuses on sharing computing It mainly focuses on acquiring computing
resources. resources.
It is of three types i.e., computational It is of two type i.e., Internal and external
grid, data grid, and collaborative grid. utility.
 It is used in ATMs, back-end It is used in large organizations such as
infrastructures, marketing research, Amazon, Google, etc., where they establish
etc. their own utility services for computing
storage and applications.

Its main purpose is to integrate usage Its main purpose is to make computing
of computer resources from resources and infrastructure management
cooperating partners in form of VO available to customer as per their need,
(Virtual Organizations). and charge them for specific usage rather
than flat rate.
Its characteristics include resource Its characteristics include scalability,
coordination, transparent access, demand pricing, standardized utility
dependable access, etc. computing services, automation, etc.

Difference between Cloud Computing and Grid Computing

Cloud Computing
Cloud computing uses a client-server architecture to deliver computing resources such as
servers, storage, databases, and software over the cloud (Internet) with pay-as-you-go pricing.

Cloud computing becomes a very popular option for organizations by providing various
advantages, including cost-saving, increased productivity, efficiency, performance, data back-
ups, disaster recovery, and security.

Grid Computing
Grid computing is also called as "distributed computing." It links multiple computing
resources (PC's, workstations, servers, and storage elements) together and provides a
mechanism to access them.

The main advantages of grid computing are that it increases user productivity by providing
transparent access to resources, and work can be completed more quickly.
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Let's understand the difference between cloud computing and grid computing.

Cloud Computing Grid Computing

Cloud Computing follows client-server Grid computing follows a distributed computing

computing architecture. architecture.

Scalability is high. Scalability is normal.

Cloud Computing is more flexible than Grid Computing is less flexible than cloud computing.
grid computing.

Cloud operates as a centralized Grid operates as a decentralized management system.

management system.

In cloud computing, cloud servers are In Grid computing, grids are owned and managed by the
owned by infrastructure providers. organization.

Cloud computing uses services like Iaas, Grid computing uses systems like distributed computing,
PaaS, and SaaS. distributed information, and distributed pervasive.

Cloud Computing is Service-oriented. Grid Computing is Application-oriented.

It is accessible through standard web It is accessible through grid middleware.

protocols.
How does cloud computing work
Assume that you are an executive at a very big corporation. Your particular responsibilities
include to make sure that all of your employees have the right hardware and software they need
to do their jobs. To buy computers for everyone is not enough. You also have to purchase
software as well as software licenses and then provide these softwares to your employees as
they require. Whenever you hire a new employee, you need to buy more software or make sure
your current software license allows another user. It is so stressful that you have to spend lots
of money.

But, there may be an alternative for executives like you. So, instead of installing a suite of
software for each computer, you just need to load one application. That application will allow
the employees to log-in into a Web-based service which hosts all the programs for the user that
is required for his/her job. Remote servers owned by another company and that will run
everything from e-mail to word processing to complex data analysis programs. It is called cloud
computing, and it could change the entire computer industry.

In a cloud computing system, there is a significant workload shift. Local computers have no
longer to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to run applications. But cloud computing can
handle that much heavy load easily and automatically. Hardware and software demands on the
user's side decrease. The only thing the user's computer requires to be able to run is the cloud
computing interface software of the system, which can be as simple as a Web browser and the
cloud's network takes care of the rest.

Cloud Computing Applications

Cloud service providers provide various applications in the field of art, business, data storage
and backup services, education, entertainment, management, social networking, etc.

The most widely used cloud computing applications are given below -
1. Art Applications
Cloud computing offers various art applications for quickly and easily design attractive cards,
booklets, and images. Some most commonly used cloud art applications are given below:

i Moo e

Moo is one of the best cloud art applications. It is used for designing and printing business
cards, postcards, and mini cards.

ii. Vistaprint

Vistaprint allows us to easily design various printed marketing products such as business cards,
Postcards, Booklets, and wedding invitations cards.

iii. Adobe Creative Cloud

Adobe creative cloud is made for designers, artists, filmmakers, and other creative
professionals. It is a suite of apps which includes PhotoShop image editing programming,
Illustrator, InDesign, TypeKit, Dreamweaver, XD, and Audition.

2. Business Applications
Business applications are based on cloud service providers. Today, every organization requires
the cloud business application to grow their business. It also ensures that business applications
are 24*7 available to users.

There are the following business applications of cloud computing -

i. MailChimp
MailChimp is an email publishing platform which provides various options to design,
send, and save templates for emails.

iii. Salesforce

Salesforce platform provides tools for sales, service, marketing, e-commerce, and more. It also
provides a cloud development platform.

iv. Chatter

Chatter helps us to share important information about the organization in real time.

v. Bitrix24

Bitrix24 is a collaboration platform which provides communication, management, and social

collaboration tools.

vi. Paypal

Paypal offers the simplest and easiest online payment mode using a secure internet account.
Paypal accepts the payment through debit cards, credit cards, and also from Paypal account
holders.

vii. Slack

Slack stands for Searchable Log of all Conversation and Knowledge. It provides a user-
friendly interface that helps us to create public and private channels for communication.

viii. Quickbooks

Quickbooks works on the terminology "Run Enterprise anytime, anywhere, on any device."
It provides online accounting solutions for the business. It allows more than 20 users to work
simultaneously on the same system.

3. Data Storage and Backup Applications

Cloud computing allows us to store information (data, files, images, audios, and videos) on the
cloud and access this information using an internet connection. As the cloud provider is
responsible for providing security, so they offer various backup recovery application for
retrieving the lost data.

A list of data storage and backup applications in the cloud are given below -

i. Box.com
Box provides an online environment for secure content management,
workflow, and collaboration. It allows us to store different files such as Excel, Word, PDF,
and images on the cloud. The main advantage of using box is that it provides drag & drop
service for files and easily integrates with Office 365, G Suite, Salesforce, and more than 1400
tools.

ii. Mozy

Mozy provides powerful online backup solutions for our personal and business data. It
schedules automatically back up for each day at a specific time.

iii. Joukuu

Joukuu provides the simplest way to share and track cloud-based backup files. Many users
use joukuu to search files, folders, and collaborate on documents.

iv. Google G Suite

Google G Suite is one of the best cloud storage and backup application. It includes Google
Calendar, Docs, Forms, Google+, Hangouts, as well as cloud storage and tools for managing
cloud apps. The most popular app in the Google G Suite is Gmail. Gmail offers free email
services to users.

4. Education Applications
Cloud computing in the education sector becomes very popular. It offers various online
distance learning platforms and student information portals to the students. The advantage
of using cloud in the field of education is that it offers strong virtual classroom environments,
Ease of accessibility, secure data storage, scalability, greater reach for the students, and
minimal hardware requirements for the applications.

There are the following education applications offered by the cloud -

i. Google Apps for Education

Google Apps for Education is the most widely used platform for free web-based email,
calendar, documents, and collaborative study.

ii. Chromebooks for Education

Chromebook for Education is one of the most important Google's projects. It is designed for
the purpose that it enhances education innovation.

iii. Tablets with Google Play for Education

It allows educators to quickly implement the latest technology solutions into the classroom and
make it available to their students.

iv. AWS in Education

AWS cloud provides an education-friendly environment to universities, community colleges,

and schools.

5. Entertainment Applications
Entertainment industries use a multi-cloud strategy to interact with the target audience. Cloud
computing offers various entertainment applications such as online games and video
conferencing.

i. Online games

Today, cloud gaming becomes one of the most important entertainment media. It offers various
online games that run remotely from the cloud. The best cloud gaming services are Shaow,
GeForce Now, Vortex, Project xCloud, and PlayStation Now.

ii. Video Conferencing Apps

Video conferencing apps provides a simple and instant connected experience. It allows us to
communicate with our business partners, friends, and relatives using a cloud-based video
conferencing. The benefits of using video conferencing are that it reduces cost, increases
efficiency, and removes interoperability.

6. Management Applications
Cloud computing offers various cloud management tools which help admins to manage all
types of cloud activities, such as resource deployment, data integration, and disaster recovery.
These management tools also provide administrative control over the platforms, applications,
and infrastructure.

Some important management applications are -

i. Toggl
Toggl helps users to track allocated time period for a particular project.

ii. Evernote
Evernote allows you to sync and save your recorded notes, typed notes, and other notes in one
convenient place. It is available for both free as well as a paid version.
It uses platforms like Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Browser, and Unix.

iii. Outright
Outright is used by management users for the purpose of accounts. It helps to track income,
expenses, profits, and losses in real-time environment.

iv. GoToMeeting
GoToMeeting provides Video Conferencing and online meeting apps, which allows you to
start a meeting with your business partners from anytime, anywhere using mobile phones or
tablets. Using GoToMeeting app, you can perform the tasks related to the management such as
join meetings in seconds, view presentations on the shared screen, get alerts for upcoming
meetings, etc.

7. Social Applications
Social cloud applications allow a large number of users to connect with each other using social
networking applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedln, etc.

There are the following cloud based social applications -

i. Facebook

Facebook is a social networking website which allows active users to share files, photos,
videos, status, more to their friends, relatives, and business partners using the cloud storage
system. On Facebook, we will always get notifications when our friends like and comment on
the posts.

ii. Twitter

Twitter is a social networking site. It is a microblogging system. It allows users to follow

high profile celebrities, friends, relatives, and receive news. It sends and receives short posts
called tweets.

iii. Yammer

Yammer is the best team collaboration tool that allows a team of employees to chat, share
images, documents, and videos.

iv. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social network for students, freshers, and professionals.

What are the Security Risks of Cloud Computing
Cloud computing provides various advantages, such as improved collaboration, excellent
accessibility, Mobility, Storage capacity, etc. But there are also security risks in cloud
computing.

Some most common Security Risks of Cloud Computing are given below-

Data Loss
Data loss is the most common cloud security risks of cloud computing. It is also known as data
leakage. Data loss is the process in which data is being deleted, corrupted, and unreadable by
a user, software, or application. In a cloud computing environment, data loss occurs when our
sensitive data is somebody else's hands, one or more data elements can not be utilized by the
data owner, hard disk is not working properly, and software is not updated.

Hacked Interfaces and Insecure APIs

As we all know, cloud computing is completely depends on Internet, so it is compulsory to
protect interfaces and APIs that are used by external users. APIs are the easiest way to
communicate with most of the cloud services. In cloud computing, few services are available
in the public domain. These services can be accessed by third parties, so there may be a chance
that these services easily harmed and hacked by hackers.n

Data Breach
Data Breach is the process in which the confidential data is viewed, accessed, or stolen by the
third party without any authorization, so organization's data is hacked by the hackers.

Vendor lock-in
Vendor lock-in is the of the biggest security risks in 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 one cloud to another.

Increased complexity strains IT staff

Migrating, integrating, and operating the cloud services is complex for the IT staff. IT staff
must require the extra capability and skills to manage, integrate, and maintain the data to the
cloud.
Spectre & Meltdown
Spectre & Meltdown allows programs to view and steal data which is currently processed on
computer. It can run on personal computers, mobile devices, and in the cloud. It can store the
password, your personal information such as images, emails, and business documents in the
memory of other running programs.

Denial of Service (DoS) attacks

Denial of service (DoS) attacks occur when the system receives too much traffic to buffer the
server. Mostly, DoS attackers target web servers of large organizations such as banking sectors,
media companies, and government organizations. To recover the lost data, DoS attackers
charge a great deal of time and money to handle the data.

Account hijacking
Account hijacking is a serious security risk in cloud computing. It is the process in which
individual user's or organization's cloud account (bank account, e-mail account, and social
media account) is stolen by hackers. The hackers use the stolen account to perform
unauthorized activities.

Types of Cloud(Deployment Model)

There are the following 4 types of cloud that you can deploy according to the organization's
needs-

o Public Cloud
o Private Cloud
o Hybrid Cloud
o Community Cloud
Public Cloud
Public cloud is open to all to store and access information via the Internet using the pay-per-
usage method.

In public cloud, computing resources are managed and operated by the Cloud Service Provider
(CSP).

Example: Amazon elastic compute cloud (EC2), IBM SmartCloud Enterprise, Microsoft,
Google App Engine, Windows Azure Services Platform.

Characteristics of Public Cloud

The public cloud has the following key characteristics:

o Accessibility: Public cloud services are available to anyone with an internet connection. Users
can access their data and programs at any time and from anywhere.
o Shared Infrastructure: Several users share the infrastructure in public cloud settings. Cost
reductions and effective resource use are made possible by this.
o Scalability: By using the public cloud, users can easily adjust the resources they need based on
their requirements, allowing for quick scaling up or down.
o Pay-per-Usage: When using the public cloud, payment is based on usage, so users only pay
for the resources they actually use. This helps optimize costs and eliminates the need for upfront
investments.
o Managed by Service Providers: Cloud service providers manage and maintain public cloud
infrastructure. They handle hardware maintenance, software updates, and security tasks,
relieving users of these responsibilities.
o Reliability and Redundancy: Public cloud providers ensure high reliability by implementing
redundant systems and multiple data centers. By doing this, the probability of losing data and
experiencing service disruptions is reduced.
o Security Measures: Public cloud providers implement robust security measures to protect user
data. These include encryption, access controls, and regular security audits.

Advantages of Public Cloud

There are the following advantages of Public Cloud -
 o Public cloud is owned at a lower cost than the private and hybrid cloud.
o Public cloud is maintained by the cloud service provider, so do not need to worry about the
maintenance.
o Public cloud is easier to integrate. Hence it offers a better flexibility approach to consumers.
o Public cloud is location independent because its services are delivered through the internet.
o Public cloud is highly scalable as per the requirement of computing resources.
o It is accessible by the general public, so there is no limit to the number of users.

Disadvantages of Public Cloud

o Public Cloud is less secure because resources are shared publicly.
o Performance depends upon the high-speed internet network link to the cloud provider.
o The Client has no control of data.

Private Cloud
Private cloud is also known as an internal cloud or corporate cloud. It is used by
organizations to build and manage their own data centers internally or by the third party. It can
be deployed using Opensource tools such as Openstack and Eucalyptus.

Based on the location and management, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
divide private cloud into the following two parts-

o On-premise private cloud: An on-premise private cloud is situated within the physical
infrastructure of the organization. It involves setting up and running a specific data
center that offers cloud services just for internal usage by the company. The
infrastructure is still completely under the hands of the organization, which gives them
the freedom to modify and set it up in any way they see fit. Organizations can
successfully manage security and compliance issues with this degree of control.
However, on-premise private cloud setup and management necessitate significant
hardware, software, and IT knowledge expenditures.
o Outsourced private cloud: An outsourced private cloud involves partnering with a
third-party service provider to host and manage the cloud infrastructure on behalf of
the organization. The provider may operate the private cloud in their data center or a
colocation facility. In this arrangement, the organization benefits from the expertise and
resources of the service provider, alleviating the burden of infrastructure management.
The outsourced private cloud model offers scalability, as the provider can adjust
resources based on the organization's needs. Due to its flexibility, it is a desirable choice
for businesses that desire the advantages of a private cloud deployment without the
initial capital outlay and ongoing maintenance expenses involved with an on-premise
implementation.
Compared to public cloud options, both on-premise and external private clouds give businesses
more control over their data, apps, and security. Private clouds are particularly suitable for
organizations with strict compliance requirements, sensitive data, or specialized workloads that
demand high levels of customization and security.

Characteristics of Private Cloud

The private cloud has the following key characteristics:

o Exclusive Use: Private cloud is dedicated to a single organization, ensuring the

resources and services are tailored to its needs. It is like having a personal cloud
environment exclusively for that organization.
o Control and Security: Private cloud offers organizations higher control and security
than public cloud options. Organizations have more control over data governance,
access controls, and security measures.
o Customization and Flexibility: Private cloud allows organizations to customize the
infrastructure according to their specific requirements. They can configure resources,
networks, and storage to optimize performance and efficiency.
o Scalability and Resource Allocation: The private cloud can scale and allocate
resources. According to demand, businesses may scale up or down their infrastructure,
effectively using their resources.
o Performance and dependability: Private clouds give businesses more control over the
infrastructure at the foundation, improving performance and dependability.
o Compliance and Regulatory Requirements: Organizations may more easily fulfill
certain compliance and regulatory standards using the private cloud. It provides the
freedom to put in place strong security measures, follow data residency laws, and follow
industry-specific norms.
o Hybrid Cloud Integration: Private cloud can be integrated with public cloud services,
forming a hybrid cloud infrastructure. This integration allows organizations to leverage
the benefits of both private and public clouds.

Advantages of Private Cloud

There are the following advantages of the Private Cloud -
 o Private cloud provides a high level of security and privacy to the users.
o Private cloud offers better performance with improved speed and space capacity.
o It allows the IT team to quickly allocate and deliver on-demand IT resources.
o The organization has full control over the cloud because it is managed by the organization itself.
So, there is no need for the organization to depends on anybody.
o It is suitable for organizations that require a separate cloud for their personal use and data
security is the first priority.

Disadvantages of Private Cloud

o Skilled people are required to manage and operate cloud services.
o Private cloud is accessible within the organization, so the area of operations is limited.
o Private cloud is not suitable for organizations that have a high user base, and organizations that
do not have the prebuilt infrastructure, sufficient manpower to maintain and manage the cloud.

Hybrid Cloud
Hybrid Cloud is a combination of the public cloud and the private cloud. we can say:

Hybrid Cloud = Public Cloud + Private Cloud

Hybrid cloud is partially secure because the services which are running on the public cloud can
be accessed by anyone, while the services which are running on a private cloud can be accessed
only by the organization's users.

Example: Google Application Suite (Gmail, Google Apps, and Google Drive), Office 365
(MS Office on the Web and One Drive), Amazon Web Services.

Characteristics of Hybrid Cloud

o Integration of Public and Private Clouds: Hybrid cloud seamlessly integrates public and
private clouds, allowing organizations to leverage both advantages. It provides a unified
platform where workloads and data can be deployed and managed across both environments.
o Flexibility and Scalability: Hybrid cloud offers resource allocation and scalability flexibility.
Organizations can dynamically scale their infrastructure by utilizing additional resources from
the public cloud while maintaining control over critical workloads on the private cloud.
 o Enhanced Security and Control: Hybrid cloud allows organizations to maintain higher
security and control over their sensitive data and critical applications. Private cloud components
provide a secure and dedicated environment, while public cloud resources can be used for non-
sensitive tasks, ensuring a balanced approach to data protection.
o Cost Optimization: Hybrid cloud enables organizations to optimize costs by utilizing the cost-
effective public cloud for non-sensitive workloads while keeping mission-critical applications
and data on the more cost-efficient private cloud. This approach allows for efficient resource
allocation and cost management.
o Data and Application Portability: Organizations can move workloads and data between
public and private clouds as needed with a hybrid cloud. This portability offers agility and the
ability to adapt to changing business requirements, ensuring optimal performance and
responsiveness.
o Compliance and Regulatory Compliance: Hybrid cloud helps organizations address
compliance and regulatory requirements more effectively. Sensitive data and applications can
be kept within the private cloud, ensuring compliance with industry-specific regulations while
leveraging the public cloud for other non-sensitive operations.
o Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity: Hybrid cloud facilitates robust disaster recovery
and business continuity strategies. Organizations can replicate critical data and applications
between the private and public clouds, ensuring redundancy and minimizing the risk of data
loss or service disruptions.

Advantages of Hybrid Cloud

There are the following advantages of Hybrid Cloud -

o Hybrid cloud is suitable for organizations that require more security than the public cloud.
o Hybrid cloud helps you to deliver new products and services more quickly.
o Hybrid cloud provides an excellent way to reduce the risk.
o Hybrid cloud offers flexible resources because of the public cloud and secure resources because
of the private cloud.
o Hybrid facilitates seamless integration between on-premises infrastructure and cloud
environments.
o Hybrid provides greater control over sensitive data and compliance requirements.
o Hybrid enables efficient workload distribution based on specific needs and performance
requirements.
o Hybrid offers cost optimization by allowing organizations to choose the most suitable cloud
platform for different workloads.
o Hybrid enhances business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities with private and public
cloud resources.
o Hybrid supports hybrid cloud architecture, allowing applications and data to be deployed across
multiple cloud environments based on their unique requirements.
Advantages of Hybrid Cloud
There are the following advantages of Hybrid Cloud -

o Hybrid cloud is suitable for organizations that require more security than the public cloud.
o Hybrid cloud helps you to deliver new products and services more quickly.
o Hybrid cloud provides an excellent way to reduce the risk.
o Hybrid cloud offers flexible resources because of the public cloud and secure resources because
of the private cloud.

Disadvantages of Hybrid Cloud

o In Hybrid Cloud, security feature is not as good as the private cloud.
o Managing a hybrid cloud is complex because it is difficult to manage more than one type of
deployment model.
o In the hybrid cloud, the reliability of the services depends on cloud service providers.

Community Cloud
Community cloud allows systems and services to be accessible by a group of several
organizations to share the information between the organization and a specific community. It
is owned, managed, and operated by one or more organizations in the community, a third party,
or a combination of them.

Example: Health Care community cloud

Characteristics of Community Cloud

o Shared Infrastructure: Community cloud provides a shared infrastructure accessible to a
specific community of organizations. The participating organizations can leverage this common
cloud infrastructure to meet their shared computing needs and objectives.
 o Community-specific Services: The community cloud provides resources, apps, and services
adapted to the participating organizations' demands. These services are created to meet the
community's specific requirements and difficulties while promoting effective communication
and information exchange.
o Community Ownership and Management: The community cloud is owned, managed, and
operated by one or more organizations from the community, a third party, or a combination of
both. The involved organizations have a say in the governance and decision-making procedures
to ensure that the cloud infrastructure meets their shared objectives.
o Enhanced Security and Compliance: Community cloud emphasizes security and compliance
measures relevant to the specific community. It allows for implementing robust security
controls, access management, and compliance frameworks that meet the community's
regulatory requirements and industry standards.
o Cost Sharing and Efficiency: Participating organizations in a community cloud benefit from
cost sharing. By sharing the infrastructure and resources, the costs associated with establishing
and maintaining the cloud environment are distributed among the community members. This
leads to cost efficiency and reduced financial burden for individual organizations.
o Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing: The community cloud encourages communication
and information exchange amongst participating businesses. It gives community members a
forum for project collaboration, information sharing, and resource exploitation. This
encourages creativity, education, and effectiveness within the neighborhood.
o Scalability and Flexibility: Community cloud enables organizations to scale up or reduce their
resources in response to demand. This allows the community to adjust to shifting computing
requirements and efficiently use cloud resources as needed.

Advantages of Community Cloud

There are the following advantages of Community Cloud -

o Community cloud is cost-effective because the whole cloud is being shared by several
organizations or communities.
o Community cloud is suitable for organizations that want to have a collaborative cloud with
more security features than the public cloud.
o It provides better security than the public cloud.
o It provdes collaborative and distributive environment.
o Community cloud allows us to share cloud resources, infrastructure, and other capabilities
among various organizations.

Disadvantages of Community Cloud

o Community cloud is not a good choice for every organization.
o Security features are not as good as the private cloud.
o It is not suitable if there is no collaboration.
o The fixed amount of data storage and bandwidth is shared among all community members.
Difference between public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, and
community cloud -
The below table shows the difference between public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud, and
community cloud.

Parameter Public Private Cloud Hybrid Cloud Community

Cloud Cloud
Host Service Enterprise (Third Enterprise (Third Community (Third
provider party) party) party)
Users General Selected users Selected users Community members
public
Access Internet Internet, VPN Internet, VPN Internet, VPN
Owner Service Enterprise Enterprise Community
provider

What is the Right Choice for Cloud Deployment Model?

As of now, no such approach fits picking a cloud deployment model. We will always consider the best
cloud deployment model as per our requirements. Here are some factors which should be considered
before choosing the best deployment model.

 Cost: Cost is an important factor for the cloud deployment model as it tells how much amount
you want to pay for these things.

 Scalability: Scalability tells about the current activity status and how much we can scale it.

 Easy to use: It tells how much your resources are trained and how easily can you manage
these models.

 Compliance: Compliance tells about the laws and regulations which impact the
implementation of the model.

 Privacy: Privacy tells about what data you gather for the model.

Each model has some advantages and some disadvantages, and the selection of the best is only done
on the basis of your requirement. If your requirement changes, you can switch to any other model.

Overall Analysis of Cloud Deployment Models

The overall Analysis of these models with respect to different factors is described below.

Factors Public Cloud Private Cloud Community Hybrid Cloud

Cloud
 Initial Setup Easy Complex, requires Complex, requires Complex, requires
a professional a professional team a professional
team to setup to setup team to setup
Scalability and High High Fixed High
Flexibility
Cost- Cost-Effective Costly Distributed cost Between public
Comparison among members and private cloud
Reliability Low Low High High
Data Security Low High High High
Data Privacy Low High High High

Cloud Service Models

There are the following three types of cloud service models -

1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

2. Platform as a Service (PaaS)
3. Software as a Service (SaaS)

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

IaaS is also known as Hardware as a Service (HaaS). It is a computing infrastructure
managed over the internet. The main advantage of using IaaS is that it helps users to avoid the
cost and complexity of purchasing and managing the physical servers.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) helps in delivering computer infrastructure on an external basis for
supporting operations. Generally, IaaS provides services to networking equipment, devices, databases,
and web servers.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) helps large organizations, and large enterprises in managing and
building their IT platforms. This infrastructure is flexible according to the needs of the client.
Characteristics of IaaS
There are the following characteristics of IaaS -

o Resources are available as a service

o Services are highly scalable
o Dynamic and flexible
o GUI and API-based access
o Automated administrative tasks

Example: DigitalOcean, Linode, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Compute
Engine (GCE), Rackspace, and Cisco Metacloud.

Advantages of IaaS

 IaaS is cost-effective as it eliminates capital expenses.

 IaaS cloud provider provides better security than any other software.

 IaaS provides remote access.

Disadvantages of IaaS

 In IaaS, users have to secure their own data and applications.

 Cloud computing is not accessible in some regions of the World.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

PaaS cloud computing platform is created for the programmer to develop, test, run, and manage
the applications.

Platform as a Service (PaaS) is a type of cloud computing that helps developers to build applications
and services over the Internet by providing them with a platform.

PaaS helps in maintaining control over their business applications.

Characteristics of PaaS
There are the following characteristics of PaaS -

o Accessible to various users via the same development application.

o Integrates with web services and databases.
o Builds on virtualization technology, so resources can easily be scaled up or down as per the
organization's need.
o Support multiple languages and frameworks.
o Provides an ability to "Auto-scale".
Example: AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Windows Azure, Heroku, Force.com, Google App Engine,
Apache Stratos, Magento Commerce Cloud, and OpenShift.

Advantages of PaaS

 PaaS is simple and very much convenient for the user as it can be accessed via a web browser.

 PaaS has the capabilities to efficiently manage the lifecycle.

Disadvantages of PaaS

 PaaS has limited control over infrastructure as they have less control over the environment
and are not able to make some customizations.

 PaaS has a high dependence on the provider.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

SaaS is also known as "on-demand software". It is a software in which the applications are
hosted by a cloud service provider. Users can access these applications with the help of internet
connection and web browser.

Software as a Service (SaaS) is a type of cloud computing model that is the work of delivering
services and applications over the Internet. The SaaS applications are called Web-Based Software or
Hosted Software.

SaaS has around 60 percent of cloud solutions and due to this, it is mostly preferred by
companies.

Characteristics of SaaS
There are the following characteristics of SaaS -

o Managed from a central location

o Hosted on a remote server
o Accessible over the internet
o Users are not responsible for hardware and software updates. Updates are applied automatically.
o The services are purchased on the pay-as-per-use basis

Example: BigCommerce, Google Apps, Salesforce, Dropbox, ZenDesk, Cisco WebEx,

ZenDesk, Slack, and GoToMeeting.

Advantages of SaaS
  SaaS can access app data from anywhere on the Internet.

 SaaS provides easy access to features and services.

Disadvantages of SaaS

 SaaS solutions have limited customization, which means they have some restrictions within
the platform.

 SaaS has little control over the data of the user.

 SaaS are generally cloud-based, they require a stable internet connection for proper working.

Characteristics Of Service Model of cloud computing

 Multi-Tenant: Multi-tenancy is an architecture in which a single instance of a software
application serves multiple customers. Each customer is called a tenant.

 Self-Sevice: Self-service cloud computing is a private cloud service where the customer
provisions storage and launches applications without an external cloud service provider. With
a self-service cloud, users access a web-based portal to request or configure servers and
launch applications.

 Elastic (Scale-Up | Scale-Down): Elasticity is the ability to grow or shrink infrastructure

resources dynamically as needed to adapt to workload changes in an autonomic manner,
maximizing the use of resources. This can result in savings in infrastructure costs overall.

 Web-Based: It means you can access your resources via Web-Based applications.

 Automated: Most of the things in the Cloud are automated, and human intervention is less.

 Pay As You Go Model: You only have to pay when utilizing cloud resources.

 Modern Web-Based Integration: It allows you to configure multiple application programs

to share data in the cloud. In a network that incorporates cloud integration, diverse
applications communicate either directly or through third-party software.

 Secure: Cloud services create a copy of the data that you want to store to prevent any form of
data loss. If one server loses the data by any chance, the copy version is restored from the
other server.
The high-level talking points for this analogy were:

 On-premises: is like owning your cars - you can go anywhere you want
at anytime (full control), in a car make/model/color/trim of your choice,
but you own the car and you’re responsible for its maintenance
 IaaS: is like a car rental service - you still can go anywhere you want at
anytime, with some limits in car choices, but you don’t have to maintain
the vehicles; just take the keys and go
 PaaS: is like public transportation - you can go to places as
defined/limited by available routes and schedules, but it’s easy to use and
pay-per-use (full economies of scale)

Difference between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS

The below table shows the difference between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS -

IaaS Paas SaaS

It provides a virtual data center to It provides virtual platforms and It provides web software and
store information and create tools to create, test, and deploy apps to complete business
platforms for app development, apps. tasks.
testing, and deployment.

It provides access to resources It provides runtime environments It provides software as a

such as virtual machines, virtual and deployment tools for service to the end-users.
storage, etc. applications.
 It is used by network architects. It is used by developers. It is used by end users.

IaaS provides only Infrastructure. PaaS provides SaaS provides

Infrastructure+Platform. Infrastructure+Platform
+Software.

What is Cloud API?

A cloud application programming interface (cloud API) enables applications to communicate
and transfer information to one another in the cloud. Cloud APIs essentially enable you to
develop applications and services in the cloud. APIs also connect multiple clouds or connect
cloud and on-premises apps.
Using cloud APIs gives businesses a competitive advantage.

That’s why APIs play a critical role in cloud computing. And that role is only going to expand
as organizations’ cloud deployments expand and grow more complex.

What Is the Role of APIs in Cloud Computing?

APIs enable cloud computing in the enterprise. You can use enterprise APIs in cloud computing
to enable access to different platforms and efficiently manage security. You can even use API
gateways to move workloads across different cloud environments.
There’s no way around it. Cloud is the future of API management. And you’ll need cloud APIs
in order to build a thriving digital ecosystem, ensure governance, and integrate your
applications.

How Does a Cloud API Work?

Here’s how cloud APIs work. Developers access cloud APIs to connect services. The API
communicates with the cloud service and brings the information back to the developer and their
application. As a result, the cloud API enables communication and integration between cloud
services.
As you build and manage cloud APIs, there are some considerations you’ll need to make.

Architecture
First, there’s your API architecture. How will you design your API architecture for the cloud?
There are four key layers you’ll need to consider when planning your cloud architecture:
1. Information management layer — your data repositories.
2. Application layer — where your applications live.
 3. Integration layer — where APIs connect your services.

4. Interaction layer — where your API gateway enables interaction between employees,
customers, and partners.

The API gateway plays a critical role in your cloud deployment. It allows you to deploy across
multiple clouds, enforce security policies, and control access.

Orchestration
Next, you’ll need to consider API orchestration. How will you orchestrate your individual API
calls to cloud services?

To do this, you’ll need to use your API gateway. You can design your API catalog and use the
gateway to decide how to service each request in the cloud.

Integration
Finally, you’ll want to consider API integration. How will you use APIs to integrate your cloud
native applications?

To do this, you’ll need an API platform like Akana. Using Akana ensures you can connect your
cloud applications easily, create new cloud APIs, and work with your existing data sources.

Why Are Cloud APIs Important?

Cloud APIs are important to drive digital transformation success. Using cloud APIs helps you
accelerate time-to-market and gain a competitive advantage.

Create New Markets

APIs enable innovation. They empower you to create new markets and opportunities for your
business.

Take John Deere, for example. John Deere uses APIs to create smart, connected products. This
helps them build a new type of marketplace for the food system.

Deliver Better Customer Experiences

APIs allow you to deliver better customer experiences — without sacrificing security. That’s
because cloud APIs allow you to connect applications and expose services.

Take this Fortune 500 company, for example. They use cloud APIs to ensure security and
protect back-end data, while exposing services to customers. This ensures customer satisfaction
and better experiences.

Create New Partnerships

APIs enable partnerships to flourish. That’s because you can use APIs to make services
available to your partners — and vice versa — so you can innovate faster.
Take this North American Bank, for example. They use cloud APIs to create new, innovative
partnerships with disruptive IoT and FinTech companies.

Modernize Mainframe Applications

APIs help you modernize mainframe applications and leverage their data in the cloud.
Watch the webinar below to learn how to use APIs to go from mainframe to cloud in minutes:

Cloud Service Provider

What is a cloud service provider?

A cloud service provider, or CSP, is a company that offers components of cloud computing --
typically, infrastructure as a service (IaaS), software as a service (SaaS) or platform as a
service (PaaS).

Cloud service providers use their own data centers and compute resources to host cloud
computing-based infrastructure and platform services for customer organizations. Cloud
services typically are priced using various pay-as-you-go subscription models. Customers are
charged only for resources they consume, such as the amount of time a service is used or the
storage capacity or virtual machines used.

For SaaS products, cloud service providers may host and deliver their own managed services
to users. Or they can act as a third party, hosting the app of an independent software vendor.

The most well-known cloud service platforms are Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google
Cloud (formerly Google Cloud Platform or GCP) and Microsoft Azure.

What are the benefits and challenges of using a cloud service

provider?
Using a cloud provider has benefits and challenges. Companies considering using these
services should think about how these factors would affect their priorities and risk profile, for
both the present and long term. Individual CSPs have their own strengths and weaknesses,
which are worth considering.
Benefits
 Cost and flexibility. The pay-as-you-go model of cloud services enables
organizations to only pay for the resources they consume. Using a cloud service
provider also eliminates the need for IT-related capital equipment purchases.
Organizations should review the details of cloud pricing to accurately break down
cloud costs.

 Scalability. Customer organizations can easily scale up or down the IT resources

they use based on business demands.

 Mobility. Resources and services purchased from a cloud service provider can
be accessed from any physical location that has a working network connection.

 Disaster recovery. Cloud computing services typically offer quick and reliable
disaster recovery.

Challenges
 Hidden costs. Cloud use may incur expenses not factored into the initial return
on investment analysis. For example, unplanned data needs can force a customer
to exceed contracted amounts, leading to extra charges. To be cost-effective,
companies also must factor in additional staffing needs for monitoring and
managing cloud use. Terminating use of on-premises systems also has costs, such
as writing off assets and data cleanup.

 Cloud migration. Moving data to and from the cloud can take time.
Companies might not have access to their critical data for weeks, or even months,
while large amounts of data are first transferred to the cloud.

 Cloud security. When trusting a provider with critical data, organizations risk
security breaches, compromised credentials and other substantial security risks.
Also, providers may not always be transparent about security issues and practices.
Companies with specific security needs may rely on open source cloud security
tools, in addition to the provider's tools.

 Performance and outages. Outages, downtime and technical issues on the

provider's end can render necessary data and resources inaccessible during critical
business events.
  Complicated contract terms. Organizations contracting cloud service
providers must actively negotiate contracts and service-level agreements (SLAs).
Failure to do so can result in the provider charging high prices for the return of
data, high prices for early service termination and other penalties.

 Vendor lock-in. High data transfer costs or use of proprietary cloud

technologies that are incompatible with competitor services can make it difficult
for customers to switch CSPs. To avoid vendor lock-in, companies should have a
cloud exit strategy before signing any contracts.

Types of cloud service providers

Customers are purchasing an increasing variety of services from cloud service providers. As
mentioned above, the three most common categories of cloud-based services are IaaS, SaaS
and PaaS.

 IaaS providers. In the IaaS model, the cloud service provider delivers
infrastructure components that would otherwise exist in an on-premises data
center. These components include servers, storage, networking and the
virtualization layer, which the IaaS provider hosts in its own data center. CSPs
may also complement their IaaS products with services such as monitoring,
automation, security, load balancing and storage resiliency.

 SaaS providers. SaaS vendors offer a variety of business technologies, such as

productivity suites, customer relationship management software, human resources
management software and data management software, all of which the SaaS
vendor hosts and provides over the internet. Many traditional software vendors
sell cloud-based versions of their on-premises software products. Some SaaS
vendors will contract a third-party cloud provider, while other vendors -- usually
larger companies -- will host their own cloud services.

 PaaS providers. The third type of cloud service provider, PaaS vendors, offers
cloud infrastructure and services that users can access to perform various
functions. PaaS products are commonly used in software development. In
comparison to an IaaS provider, PaaS providers will add more of the application
stack, such as operating systems and middleware, to the underlying infrastructure.
Cloud providers are also categorized by whether they deliver public cloud, private cloud
or hybrid cloud services.

Understand the similarities and differences between the public cloud, private cloud and hybrid
cloud models.

Common characteristics and services

In general, cloud service providers make their offerings available as an on-demand, self-
provisioning purchase. Customers can pay for the cloud-based services on a subscription
basis -- for example, under a monthly or quarterly billing structure.

Some cloud service providers differentiate themselves by tailoring their offerings to a vertical
market's requirements. Their cloud-based services might deliver industry-specific
functionality and tools or help users meet certain regulatory requirements. For instance,
several healthcare cloud products let healthcare providers store, maintain, optimize and back
up personal health information. Industry-specific cloud offerings encourage organizations to
use multiple cloud service providers.
Amazon and Microsoft lead the cloud infrastructure market. See how the market share breaks out
among the top five providers.

Major cloud service providers and offerings

The cloud services market has a range of providers, but AWS, Microsoft and Google are the
established leaders in the public cloud market.

Amazon was the first major cloud provider, with the 2006 offering of Amazon Simple
Storage Service. Since then, the growing cloud market has seen rapid development of
Amazon's cloud platform, as well as Microsoft's Azure platform and Google Cloud. These
three vendors continue to jockey for the lead on a variety of cloud fronts. The vendors are
developing cloud-based services around emerging technologies, such as machine learning,
artificial intelligence, containerization and Kubernetes.

Other major cloud service providers in the market include the following:

 Adobe

 Akamai Technologies

 Alibaba Cloud

 Apple

 Box

 Citrix

 DigitalOcean
  IBM Cloud

 Joyent

 Oracle Cloud

 Rackspace Cloud

 Salesforce

How to choose a cloud service provider

Organizations evaluating potential cloud partners should consider the following factors:

 Cost. The cost is usually based on a per-use utility model, but all subscription
details and provider-specific variations must be reviewed. Cost is often considered
one of the main reasons to adopt a cloud service platform.

 Tools and features. An overall assessment of a provider's features, including data

management and security features, is important to ensure it meets current and
future IT needs.

 Physical location of the servers. Server location may be an important factor for
sensitive data, which must meet data storage regulations.

 Reliability. Reliability is crucial if customers' data must be accessible. For

example, a typical cloud storage provider's SLA specifies precise levels of service
-- such as 99.9% uptime -- and the recourse or compensation the user is entitled to
should the provider fail to deliver the service as described. However, it's important
to understand the fine print in SLAs, because some providers discount outages of
less than 10 minutes, which may be too long for some businesses.

 Security. Cloud security should top the list of cloud service provider
considerations. Organizations such as the Cloud Security Alliance offer
certification to cloud providers that meet its criteria.

 Business strategy. An organization's business requirements should align with the

offerings and technical capabilities of a potential cloud provider to meet both
current and long-term enterprise goals.
Cloud Service Provider Companies
Cloud Service providers (CSP) offers various services such as Software as a
Service, Platform as a service, Infrastructure as a service, network
services, business applications, mobile applications, and infrastructure in the
cloud. The cloud service providers host these services in a data center, and users can
access these services through cloud provider companies using an Internet connection.

There are the following Cloud Service Providers Companies -

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

AWS (Amazon Web Services) is a secure cloud service platform provided
by Amazon. It offers various services such as database storage, computing power,
content delivery, Relational Database, Simple Email, Simple Queue, and other
functionality to increase the organization's growth.

Features of AWS

AWS provides various powerful features for building scalable, cost-effective, enterprise
applications. Some important features of AWS is given below-

o AWS is scalable because it has an ability to scale the computing resources up or down
according to the organization's demand.
o AWS is cost-effective as it works on a pay-as-you-go pricing model.
o It provides various flexible storage options.
o It offers various security services such as infrastructure security, data encryption,
monitoring & logging, identity & access control, penetration testing, and DDoS attacks.
o It can efficiently manage and secure Windows workloads.
2. Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure is also known as Windows Azure. It supports various operating
systems, databases, programming languages, frameworks that allow IT professionals
to easily build, deploy, and manage applications through a worldwide network. It also
allows users to create different groups for related utilities.

Features of Microsoft Azure

o Microsoft Azure provides scalable, flexible, and cost-effective
o It allows developers to quickly manage applications and websites.
o It managed each resource individually.
o Its IaaS infrastructure allows us to launch a general-purpose virtual machine in different
platforms such as Windows and Linux.
o It offers a Content Delivery System (CDS) for delivering the Images, videos, audios,
and applications.

3. Google Cloud Platform

Google cloud platform is a product of Google. It consists of a set of physical devices,
such as computers, hard disk drives, and virtual machines. It also helps organizations
to simplify the migration process.
Features of Google Cloud
o Google cloud includes various big data services such as Google BigQuery, Google
CloudDataproc, Google CloudDatalab, and Google Cloud Pub/Sub.
o It provides various services related to networking, including Google Virtual Private
Cloud (VPC), Content Delivery Network, Google Cloud Load Balancing, Google Cloud
Interconnect, and Google Cloud DNS.
o It offers various scalable and high-performance
o GCP provides various serverless services such as Messaging, Data Warehouse,
Database, Compute, Storage, Data Processing, and Machine learning (ML)
o It provides a free cloud shell environment with Boost Mode.

4. IBM Cloud Services

IBM Cloud is an open-source, faster, and more reliable platform. It is built with a suite
of advanced data and AI tools. It offers various services such as Infrastructure as a
service, Software as a service, and platform as a service. You can access its services like
compute power, cloud data & Analytics, cloud use cases, and storage networking using
internet connection.
Feature of IBM Cloud
o IBM cloud improves operational efficiency.
o Its speed and agility improve the customer's satisfaction.
o It offers Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), as well as
Software as a Service (SaaS)
o It offers various cloud communications services to our IT environment.

5. VMware Cloud
VMware cloud is a Software-Defined Data Center (SSDC) unified platform for the
Hybrid Cloud. It allows cloud providers to build agile, flexible, efficient, and robust
cloud services.

Features of VMware
o VMware cloud works on the pay-as-per-use model and monthly subscription
o It provides better customer satisfaction by protecting the user's data.
o It can easily create a new VMware Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) cluster on
AWS cloud by utilizing a RESTful API.
 o It provides flexible storage options. We can manage our application storage on a per-
application basis.
o It provides a dedicated high-performance network for managing the application traffic
and also supports multicast networking.
o It eliminates the time and cost complexity.

6. Oracle cloud
Oracle cloud platform is offered by the Oracle Corporation. It combines Platform as
a Service, Infrastructure as a Service, Software as a Service, and Data as a Service with
cloud infrastructure. It is used to perform tasks such as moving applications to the
cloud, managing development environment in the cloud, and optimize connection
performance.

Features of Oracle cloud

o Oracle cloud provides various tools for build, integrate, monitor, and secure the
applications.
o Its infrastructure uses various languages including, Java, Ruby, PHP, Node.js.
o It integrates with Docker, VMware, and other DevOps tools.
o Oracle database not only provides unparalleled integration between IaaS, PaaS, and
SaaS, but also integrates with the on-premises platform to improve operational
efficiency.
o It maximizes the value of IT investments.
o It offers customizable Virtual Cloud Networks, firewalls, and IP addresses to securely
support private networks.

7. Red Hat
Red Hat virtualization is an open standard and desktop virtualization platform
produced by Red Hat. It is very popular for the Linux environment to provide various
infrastructure solutions for virtualized servers as well as technical workstations. Most
of the small and medium-sized organizations use Red Hat to run their organizations
smoothly. It offers higher density, better performance, agility, and security to the
resources. It also improves the organization's economy by providing cheaper and
easier management capabilities.

Features of Rad Hat

o Red Hat provides secure, certified, and updated container images via the Red Hat
Container catalog.
o Red Hat cloud includes OpenShift, which is an app development platform that allows
developers to access, modernize, and deploy apps
o It supports up to 16 virtual machines, each having up to 256GB of RAM.
o It offers better reliability, availability, and serviceability.
o It provides flexible storage capabilities, including very large SAN-based storage, better
management of memory allocations, high availability of LVMs, and support for
particularly roll-back.
o In the Desktop environment, it includes features like New on-screen keyboard, GNOME
software, which allows us to install applications, update application, as well as extended
device support.

8. DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean is the unique cloud provider that offers computing services to the
organization. It was founded in 2011 by Moisey Uretsky and Ben. It is one of the best
cloud provider that allows us to manage and deploy web applications.
Features of DigitalOcean
o It uses the KVM hypervisor to allocate physical resources to the virtual servers.
o It provides high-quality performance.
o It offers a digital community platform that helps to answer queries and holding
feedbacks.
o It allows developers to use cloud servers to quickly create new virtual machines for
their projects.
o It offers one-click apps for droplets. These apps include MySQL, Docker, MongoDB,
Wordpress, PhpMyAdmin, LAMP stack, Ghost, and Machine Learning.

9. Rackspace
Rackspace offers cloud computing services such as hosting web applications, Cloud
Backup, Cloud Block Storage, Databases, and Cloud Servers. The main aim to designing
Rackspace is to easily manage private and public cloud deployments. Its data centers
operating in the USA, UK, Hong Kong, and Australia.
Features of Rackspace
o Rackspace provides various tools that help organizations to collaborate and
communicate more efficiently.
o We can access files that are stored on the Rackspace cloud drive, anywhere, anytime
using any device.
o It offers 6 globally data centers.
o It can manage both virtual servers and dedicated physical servers on the same network.
o It provides better performance at a lower cost.

10. Alibaba Cloud

Alibaba Cloud is used to develop data management and highly scalable cloud
computing services. It offers various services, including Elastic Computing, Storage,
Networking, Security, Database Services, Application Services, Media Services, Cloud
Communication, and Internet of Things.

Features of Alibaba Cloud

o Alibaba cloud offers a suite of global cloud computing services for both international
customers and Alibaba Group's e-commerce ecosystem.
o Its services are available on a pay-as-per-use basis.
o It globally deals with its 14 data centers.
o It offers scalable and reliable data storage.