Parallel Programming in

the Cloud
Cloud Computing
Spring 2025
 Introduction to Parallel Computing Concepts
• Parallel computing is the foundation of modern cloud computing, enabling the
execution of multiple computations simultaneously to improve performance and
scalability.
• It relies on dividing complex tasks into smaller sub-tasks that can run concurrently
on multiple processors.
 Introduction to Parallel Computing Concepts
There are several models of parallelism, including:
 Task Parallelism: Different tasks are executed simultaneously across different
computing units.
 Data Parallelism: The same operation is performed concurrently on subsets of a large
dataset.
 Pipeline Parallelism: A sequence of processing stages where the output of one stage
serves as input to the next.
• Parallel computing in the cloud is facilitated by distributed architectures that
dynamically allocate resources as needed.
• This flexibility enables efficient large-scale data processing and high-performance
computing applications.
 MapReduce and Hadoop Framework
• MapReduce is a programming model designed for processing large datasets in
parallel across a distributed cluster.
• Developed by Google and later popularized through the open-source Apache
Hadoop framework.
MapReduce consists of two main phases:
1. Map Phase: Input data is split into smaller chunks and processed in parallel.
2. Reduce Phase: The processed data is aggregated and combined to generate the
final output.
 MapReduce and Hadoop Framework
Hadoop, an open-source framework, provides:
 HDFS (Hadoop Distributed File System): A scalable and fault-tolerant storage
system.
 YARN (Yet Another Resource Negotiator): A resource management layer that
schedules and allocates resources efficiently.
 MapReduce API: A programming interface for writing distributed applications.
Hadoop is widely used for big data analytics, but its batch-processing nature makes
it less suitable for real-time applications.
 Distributed Computing with Apache Spark
• Apache Spark improves upon Hadoop's limitations by offering an in-memory
distributed computing engine that processes data much faster.
• It follows a Resilient Distributed Dataset (RDD) abstraction, allowing data to be
processed in-memory with fault tolerance.
• Spark runs on various cloud platforms and integrates seamlessly with cloud
storage systems such as Amazon S3 and Google Cloud Storage.
 Distributed Computing with Apache Spark
Key features of Spark include:
 RDDs: Immutable distributed collections of objects.
 DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) Execution: Optimized execution plan for task
dependencies.
 Streaming Capabilities: Support for real-time data processing with Spark
Streaming.
 Integration with Machine Learning: Spark MLlib provides scalable machine
learning algorithms.
 Graph Processing: GraphX enables graph computation at scale.
 Serverless Computing and Function-as-a-
Service (FaaS)
• Serverless computing allows developers to deploy code without managing
underlying infrastructure.
• Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) is a cloud execution model where individual
functions are executed in response to events.
 Benefits of Serverless Computing:
• Automatic Scaling: Functions scale dynamically based on demand.
• Cost Efficiency: Charges are incurred only when functions execute.
• Reduced Operational Overhead: No need to manage servers or infrastructure.
Popular FaaS providers include:
• AWS Lambda
• Google Cloud Functions
• Azure Functions
Serverless computing is ideal for event-driven applications, microservices, and real-
time data processing.
 Cloud-Native Application Development
Cloud-native applications are designed specifically for cloud environments,
leveraging:
 Microservices Architecture: Decomposing applications into small,
independently deployable services.
 Containerization: Using containers (e.g., Docker) to package and deploy
applications.
 Orchestration: Managing containerized applications using Kubernetes.
 CI/CD Pipelines: Automating software delivery with DevOps tools.
Cloud-native development ensures applications are scalable, resilient, and optimized
for cloud platforms.
 Microservices Architecture and Containerization
Microservices architecture divides applications into modular, loosely coupled services,
each responsible for a specific function. This enhances scalability, fault tolerance, and
agility.
Key Components:
 Docker: A containerization platform that packages applications and dependencies into
lightweight, portable containers.
 Kubernetes: An orchestration system that manages containerized applications at scale.
 Service Mesh: Tools like Istio, Linkerd enhance communication and security between
microservices.
By leveraging containers and Kubernetes, organizations can build scalable, resilient, and
cloud-agnostic applications.
 What is a service mesh?
• A service mesh is a tool for adding security, reliability, and observability features
to cloud native applications by transparently inserting this functionality at the
platform layer rather than the application layer.
• The service mesh is rapidly becoming a standard part of the cloud native stack,
especially for Kubernetes adopters.
• Over the past few years, the service mesh has risen from relative obscurity to
become a standard component of the cloud native stack.
 What is a service mesh?
• A service mesh like Linkerd is a tool for adding observability, security, and
reliability features to applications by inserting these features at the platform layer
rather than the application layer.
• The service mesh is typically implemented as a scalable set of network proxies
deployed alongside application code (a pattern sometimes called a sidecar).
• These proxies handle the communication between the microservices and also act
as a point at which the service mesh features can be introduced.
• The proxies comprise the service mesh’s data plane, and are controlled as a whole
by its control plane.
 What is a service mesh?
• The rise of the service mesh is tied to the rise of the “cloud native” application.
• In the cloud native world, an application might consist of hundreds of services;
each service might have thousands of instances; and each of those instances might
be in a constantly-changing state as they are dynamically scheduled by an
orchestrator like Kubernetes.
• Not only is service-to-service communication in this world incredibly complex,
it’s a fundamental part of the application’s runtime behavior.
• Managing it is vital to ensuring end-to-end performance, reliability, and security.
 Event-Driven Computing in the Cloud
Event-driven computing is a paradigm where applications respond to events (e.g., API
calls, file uploads, database changes). It is crucial for building real-time, scalable cloud
applications.
Key Technologies:
 Message Queues (Kafka, RabbitMQ): Facilitate asynchronous event processing.
 Event-Driven FaaS: Functions execute in response to events (e.g., AWS Lambda
triggers from S3 uploads).
 Stream Processing (Apache Flink, Spark Streaming): Enables real-time data
analytics.
Event-driven architectures improve responsiveness and efficiency in cloud applications.
 Conclusion
• Parallel programming in the cloud has revolutionized modern computing, enabling
efficient data processing, scalable applications, and resilient architectures.
• Technologies such as MapReduce, Spark, serverless computing, and microservices
facilitate high-performance distributed computing.
• By leveraging cloud-native design principles, developers can build robust,
scalable, and event-driven applications that fully harness the power of parallel
computing in the cloud.