Define cloud computing.

What are the characteristics of cloud

computing
Cloud Computing is defined as storing and accessing of data and computing
services over the internet. It doesn’t store any data on your personal
computer. It is the on-demand availability of computer services like servers,
data storage, networking, databases, etc. The main purpose of cloud
computing is to give access to data centers to many users. Users can also
access data from a remote server.
There are basically 5 essential characteristics of Cloud Computing.
1. On-demand self service
The Cloud computing services does not require any human
administrators, user themselves are able to provision, monitor and
manage computing resources as needed.
2. Broad network access:
The Computing services are generally provided over standard networks
and heterogeneous devices.
3. Rapid elasticity:
The Computing services should have IT resources that are able to scale
out and in quickly and on as needed basis. Whenever the user require
services it is provided to him and it is scale out as soon as its
requirement gets over.
4. Resource pooling:
The IT resource (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and
services) present are shared across multiple applications and occupant
in an uncommitted manner. Multiple clients are provided service from
a same physical resource.
5. Measured services:
The resource utilization is tracked for each application and occupant, it
will provide both the user and the resource provider with an account of
what has been used. This is done for various reasons like monitoring
billing and effective use of resource.
Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages:
1. Cost Savings
Cost saving is one of the biggest Cloud Computing benefits. It helps you
to save substantial capital cost as it does not need any physical
hardware investments. Also, you do not need trained personnel to
maintain the hardware. The buying and managing of equipment is done
by the cloud service provider.
2. Strategic edge
Cloud computing offers a competitive edge over your competitors. It is
one of the best advantages of Cloud services that helps you to access
the latest applications any time without spending your time and money
on installations.
3. High Speed
Cloud computing allows you to deploy your service quickly in fewer
clicks. This faster deployment allows you to get the resources required
for your system within fewer minutes.
4. Back-up and restore data
Once the data is stored in a Cloud, it is easier to get the back-up and
recovery of that, which is otherwise very time taking process on-
premise.
5. Automatic Software Integration
In the cloud, software integration is something that occurs
automatically. Therefore, you don’t need to take additional efforts to
customize and integrate your applications as per your preferences.
Disadvantages
1. Performance Can Vary
When you are working in a cloud environment, your application is
running on the server which simultaneously provides resources to other
businesses. Any greedy behavior or DDOS attack on your tenant could
affect the performance of your shared resource.
2. Technical Issues
Cloud technology is always prone to an outage and other technical
issues. Even, the best cloud service provider companies may face this
type of trouble despite maintaining high standards of maintenance.
3. Security Threat in the Cloud
Another drawback while working with cloud computing services is
security risk. Before adopting cloud technology, you should be well
aware of the fact that you will be sharing all your company’s sensitive
information to a third-party cloud computing service provider. Hackers
might access this information.
What is virtualization. And types of virtualization
Virtualization is a technique, which allows to share a single physical instance
of a resource or an application among multiple customers and organizations.
It does by assigning a logical name to a physical storage and providing a
pointer to that physical resource when demanded.
Types of Virtualization:
1. Application Virtualization.
2. Network Virtualization.
3. Desktop Virtualization.
4. Storage Virtualization.
• Application Virtualization:
o Application virtualization helps a user to have remote access of an
application from a server. The server stores all personal information
and other characteristics of the application but can still run on a local
workstation through the internet.
o Example of this would be a user who needs to run two different
versions of the same software. Technologies that use application
virtualization are hosted applications and packaged applications..
• Network Virtualization:
o The ability to run multiple virtual networks with each has a separate
control and data plan. It co-exists together on top of one physical
network. It can be managed by individual parties that potentially
confidential to each other.
o Network virtualization provides a facility to create and provision
virtual networks—logical switches, routers, firewalls, load balancer,
Virtual Private Network (VPN), and workload security within days or
even in weeks.
• Desktop virtualization:
o Desktop virtualization allows the users’ OS to be remotely stored on
a server in the data centre. It allows the user to access their desktop
virtually, from any location by a different machine.
o Users who want specific operating systems other than Windows
Server will need to have a virtual desktop. Main benefits of desktop
virtualization are user mobility, portability, easy management of
software installation, updates, and patches.
• Storage Virtualization:
o Storage virtualization is an array of servers that are managed by a
virtual storage system. The servers aren’t aware of exactly where their
data is stored, and instead function more like worker bees in a hive.
It makes managing storage from multiple sources to be managed and
 utilized as a single repository. storage virtualization software
maintains smooth operations, consistent performance and a
continuous suite of advanced functions despite changes, break down
and differences in the underlying equipment.
Characteristics of virtualized environment
• Increased Security –
The ability to control the execution of a guest program in a completely
transparent manner opens new possibilities for delivering a secure,
controlled execution environment. All the operations of the guest
programs are generally performed against the virtual machine, which
then translates and applies them to the host programs. A virtual
machine manager can control and filter the activity of the guest
programs, thus preventing some harmful operations from being
performed. Resources exposed by the host can then be hidden or simply
protected from the guest. Increased security is a requirement when
dealing with untrusted code.
• Managed Execution –
In particular, sharing, aggregation, emulation, and isolation are the
most relevant features.

• Sharing –
Virtualization allows the creation of a separate computing environment
within the same host. This basic feature is used to reduce the number
of active servers and limit power consumption.
• Aggregation –
It is possible to share physical resources among several guests, but
virtualization also allows aggregation, which is the opposite process. A
group of separate hosts can be tied together and represented to guests
as a single virtual host. This functionality is implemented with cluster
management software, which harnesses the physical resources of a
homogeneous group of machines and represents them as a single
resource.
 • Emulation –
Guest programs are executed within an environment that is controlled
by the virtualization layer, which ultimately is a program. Also, a
completely different environment with respect to the host can be
emulated, thus allowing the execution of guest programs requiring
specific characteristics that are not present in the physical host.
Cloud migration and its benefits
Cloud migration is the procedure of transferring applications, data, and other
types of business components to any cloud computing platform. There are
several parts of cloud migration an organization can perform. The most used
model is the applications and data transfer through an on-premises and
local data center to any public cloud. but, a cloud migration can also entail
transferring applications and data from a single cloud environment or
facilitate them to another- a model called cloud-to-cloud migration. The other
type of cloud migration is reverse cloud migration, cloud exit, and cloud
repatriation where applications or data are transferred and back to the local
data center.
Some of the advantages of migrating to a cloud are as follows:
o Flexibility: No organization facilitating experiences a similar demand
level by a similar number of users every time. If our apps face
fluctuations in traffic, then cloud infrastructure permits us to scale
down and up to meet the demand. Hence, we can apply only those
resources we require.
o Scalability: The analytics grow as the organization grows with
databases, and other escalates workloads. The cloud facilitates the
ability to enhance existing infrastructure. Therefore, applications have
space to raise without impacting work.
o Agility: The part of the development is remaining elastic enough for
responding to rapid modifications within the technology resources.
Cloud adoption offers this by decreasing the time drastically it takes for
procuring new storage and inventory.
o Productivity: Our cloud provider could handle the complexities of our
infrastructure so we can concentrate on productivity. Furthermore, the
remote accessibility and simplicity of most of the cloud solutions define
that our team can concentrate on what matters such as growing our
business.
Cloud migration process
The way we consider the strategies of cloud migration as mentioned above
depends on migration goals, the complexity, size of our current environment,
and our business model. At this time, we will want to trust our IT team's
expertise to understand the various outs and in of our environment.
Whether we transfer all services and apps at once or take the hybrid path of
keeping a few applications on-premise, most of the migrations pursue a
similar basic procedure as listed below:
1. Plan our migration
Cloud migration needs a solid planning strategy to be successful. Get clear
over our reasons for the transfer and which of the migration strategy best
helps them before getting begun. Here is where we might apply cloud
migration resources and tools for supporting our migration plan by:
o Giving complete visibility into our on-premise platform including each
system dependency.
o Assessing security, server, and performance requirements. Also,
examine what type of training our team will require.
2. Select our cloud environment
We are ready to select any cloud provider that matches our requirements after
evaluating our latest application resource needs.
The most popular environments include Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft
Azure, and AWS (Amazon Web Services). All of these environments provide a
lot of distinct cloud models for adopting, whether it is multi-cloud, private
cloud, hybrid cloud, or public cloud. Price out, test, and build out a virtual
workspace for seeing how things appear in distribution.
3. Migrate our data and apps
We have three options for moving a local data center to a public cloud such
as online transfer with either private network or public internet, or an offline
transfer (offline). Here, we upload data on an appliance for shipping to any
cloud provider. One of the best approaches relies on the type and amount of
data we are speed and moving on which to implement it.
4. Certify post-move success
Our work is not complete until we can show any return over investment in
our migration.