Chapter 3:Cloud Computing

Architecture
and Management

DR. ABDULRAHMAN ALSABRI

[email protected]
Learning Objectives
The objectives of this chapter are to
• Provide an overview of the cloud architecture
• Give an insight on the anatomy of the cloud
• Describe the role of network connectivity in the
cloud
• Give a description about applications in the cloud
• Give a detailed description about managing the cloud
• Provide an overview about application migration to
the cloud
The cloud architecture can be
divided into four layers based on
the access of the cloud by the
user. They are as follows.
 3.2.1 Layer 1 (User/Client Layer)

This layer is the lowest layer in the cloud

architecture. All the users or client
belong to this layer. This is the place where the
client/user initiates the connection to the
cloud. The client can be any device such as a
thin client, thick client, or mobile or any
handheld device that would support basic
functionalities to access a web application
Cloud architecture.
3.2.2 Layer 2 (Network Layer)

This layer allows the users to connect to the cloud. The

whole cloud infrastructure is dependent on this connection
where the services are offered to the customers. This is
primarily the Internet in the case of a public cloud.
In the case of a private cloud, the connectivity may be
provided by a local area network (LAN). This layer does not
come under the purview
of service-level agreements (SLAs), that is, SLAs do not
take into account the Internet connection between the user
and cloud
3.2.3 Layer 3 (Cloud
Management Layer)
This layer consists of softwares that are used in managing the cloud.
The software's can be a cloud operating system (OS), a software that
acts as an interface between the data center (actual resources) and the
user, or a management software that allows managing resources.
These softwares usually allow resource management (scheduling,
provisioning, etc.), optimization (server consolidation, storage workload
consolidation), and internal cloud governance. This
layer comes under the purview of SLAs, that is, the operations taking
place in this layer would affect the SLAs that are being decided upon
between the users and the service providers. These SLAs are
for both private and public clouds Popular service providers are Amazon
Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure for public cloud.
3.2.4 Layer 4 (Hardware
Resource Layer)
Layer 4 consists of provisions for actual hardware resources. Usually, in
the case of a public cloud, a data center is used in the back end.
Similarly, in a private cloud, it can be a data center, which is a huge
collection of hardware resources interconnected to each other that is
present in a specific location or a high configuration system. This layer
comes under the purview of SLAs.This is the most important layer that
governs the SLAs.This layer affects the SLAs most in the case of data
centers.
Hence, the data center consists of a high-speed network connection and
a highly efficient algorithm to transfer the data from the data center to
the manager
3.3 Anatomy of the Cloud

Cloud anatomy can be simply defined as the

structure of the cloud. Cloud anatomy cannot be
considered the same as cloud architecture. It may
not include any dependency on which or over which
the technology works.
whereas architecture wholly defines and describes
the technology over which it is working
 Components of Cloud
Computing Architecture
1. Application:
◦ The upper layer is the application layer. In this layer,
any applications are executed.

2. Platform:
◦ This component consists of platforms that are
responsible for the execution of the application. This
platform is between the infrastructure and the
application.

3. Virtualized Infrastructure:
◦ The infrastructure consists of resources over which the
other components work. This provides computational
capability to the user.

4. Virtualization:
◦ Virtualization is the process of making logical
components of resources over the existing physical
resources. The logical components are isolated and
independent, which form the infrastructure.

5. Physical hardware:
◦ The physical hardware is provided by server and
storage units.
3.4 Network Connectivity in Cloud
Computing

Cloud computing is a technique of resource sharing where

servers, storage,and other computing infrastructure in
multiple locations are connected by
networks. In the cloud, when an application is ubmitted for
its execution, needy and suitable resources are allocated
from this collection of resources; as these resources are
connected via the Internet, the users get their required
results
3.4.1 Public Cloud Access Networking

In this option, the connectivity is often through the Internet,

though some cloud providers may be able to support virtual
private networks (VPNs) for customers. Accessing public
cloud services will always create issues related to security,
which in turn is related to performance. This procedure will be
an overhead in the connectivity, and using it will certainly increase
delay.
If we want to reduce the delay without compromising security, then we
have to select a suitable routing method such as the one reducing the
delay by minimizing transit hops in the end-to-end connectivity between
the cloud provider and cloud consumer
3.4.2 Private Cloud Access Networking

In the private cloud deployment model, since the cloud is part of an

organizational network, the technology and approaches are local to the
in-house network structure. This may include an Internet VPN or VPN
service from a network operator.
3.4.3 Intracloud Networking for Public
Cloud Services

Another network connectivity consideration in cloud

computing is intracloud networking for public cloud
services. Here, the resources of the cloud provider and thus the
cloud service to the customer are based on the resources that are
geographically apart from each other but still connected via the Internet.
Public cloud computing networks are internal to the service provider and
thus not visible to the user/customer; however, the security aspects of
connectivity and the access mechanisms of the resources are important.
3.4.4 Private Intracloud Networking

The most complicated issue for networking and

connectivity in cloud computing is private
intracloud networking. Private intracloud networking is usually
supported over connectivity between the major data center sites owned
by the company.
Once the resource linkage is made, the extent to which intracloud
networking is used depends on whether the application is
componentized based on service-oriented architecture (SOA) or not,
among multiple systems.
3.5 Applications on the
Cloud
The power of a computer is realized through the applications. There are
several types of applications. There are three types of applications stand-
alone application, web application and cloud application.
A stand-alone application is developed to be run on a single system that
does not use network for its functioning. These stand-alone systems use
only the machine in which they are installed. The functioning of these
kinds of systems is totally dependent on the resources or features
available within the system.
The web applications were different from the stand-alone applications in
many aspects. The main difference was the client server architecture that
was followed by the web application. Unlike stand-alone applications,
these systems were totally dependent on the network for its working.
Here, there are basically two components, called as the client and the
server. The server is a high-end machine that consists of the web
application installed. This web application is accessed from other client
systems.
The web application is not elastic and cannot handle very heavy
loads, that is, it cannot serve highly varying loads. The web
application is not multitenant.

• The web application does not provide a quantitative

measurement of the services that are given to the users, though
they can monitor the user.
• The web applications are usually in one particular platform.
• The web applications are not provided on a pay-as-you-go basis;
thus, a particular service is given to the user for permanent or trial
use and usually the timings of user access cannot be monitored.
• Due to its nonelastic nature, peak load transactions cannot be
handled.
A cloud application is different from other applications; they have
unique features. A cloud application usually can be accessed as a web
application but its properties differ. According to NIST [3], the features
that make cloud applications unique are described in the following
(Figure 3.4 depicts the features of a cloud application):
1-Multitenancy: Multitenancy is one of the important properties
of cloud that make it different from other types of application in
which the software can be shared by different users with full
independence.
2- Elasticity: Elasticity is also a unique property that enables the cloud to
serve better. According to Herbst et al. [4], elasticity can be defined as
the degree to which a system is able to adapt to workload changes by
provisioning and deprovisioning resources in an autonomic manner such
that at each point in time, the available resources match the current
demand as closely as possible.
3- Heterogeneous cloud platform: The cloud platform supports
heterogeneity, wherein any type of application can be deployed in the
cloud. Because of this property, the cloud is flexible for the developers,
which facilitates deployment. The applications that are usually deployed
can be accessed by the users using a web browser.
4- Quantitative measurement: The services provided can be
quantitatively measured. The user is usually offered services
based on certain charges. Here, the application or resources
are given as a utility on a pay-per-use basis. Thus, the use
can be monitored and measured. Not only the services are
measureable, but also the link usage and several other
parameters that support cloud applications can be measured.
5- On-demand service: The cloud applications offer service to the user,
on demand, that is, whenever the user requires it. The cloud service
would allow the users to access web applications usually without any
restrictions on time, duration, and type of device used.
3.6 Managing the Cloud
Cloud management is aimed at efficiently managing the
cloud so as to maintain the QoS. It is one of the prime jobs
to be considered. The whole cloud is dependent on the way
it is managed. Cloud management can be divided into two
parts:
1. Managing the infrastructure of the cloud
2. Managing the cloud application
Managing the Cloud Infrastructure
The infrastructure of the cloud is considered to be the backbone of the
cloud. This component is mainly responsible for the QoS factor. If the
infrastructure is not properly managed, then the whole cloud can fail and
QoS would be adversely affected. The core of cloud management is
resource management. Resource management involves several internal
tasks such as resource scheduling, provisioning, and load balancing.

Poor resource management may lead to several inefficiencies in terms of

performance, functionality, and cost. If a resource is not efficiently
managed,the performance of the whole system is affected
At a higher level, other than these three issues, there are few more
issues that depend on resource management. These are power
consumption and optimization of multiple objectives to further
reduce the cost. To accomplish these tasks, there are several
approaches followed, namely, consolidation of server and storage
workloads.
Cloud governance is another topic that is closely related to cloud
management. Cloud governance is different from cloud
management. Governance in general is a term in the corporate
world that generally involves the process of creating value to an
organization by creating strategic objectives that will lead to the
growth of the company and would maintain a certain level of
control over the company.
Managing the Cloud Application
Applications become more composite and complex, which requires
leveraging not only capabilities like storage and database offered by the
cloud providers but also third-party SaaS capabilities like e-mail and
messaging.
The composite nature of cloud applications requires visibility into all the
services to determine the overall availability and uptime.
3.7 Migrating Application to Cloud
Cloud migration presents an opportunity to
significantly reduce costs incurred on
applications. This activity comprises, of
different phases like evaluation, migration
strategy, prototyping, provisioning, and
testing.
Approaches for Cloud
Migration
1. Migrate existing applications: Rebuild or rearchitect some or all the
applications, taking advantage of some of the virtualization
technologies around to accelerate the work. But, it requires top
engineers to develop new functionality. This can be achieved over the
course of several releases with the timing determined by customer
demand.
2- Start from scratch: Rather than cannibalize sales, confuse
customers with choice, and tie up engineers trying to rebuild
existing application, it may be easier to start again. Many of
the R&D decisions will be different now, and with some of
the more sophisticated development environments, one can
achieve more even with a small focused working team.
3- Separate company: One may want to create a whole new
company with separate brand, management, R&D, and sales.
The investment and internet protocol (IP) may come from
the existing company, but many of the conflicts disappear
once a new born in the cloud company is established. The
separate company may even be a subsidiary of the existing
company. What is important is that the new company can
act, operate, and behave like a cloud-based start-up.
4-Buy an existing cloud vendor: For a large established
vendor, buying a cloud-based competitor achieves two
things. Firstly, it removes a competitor, and secondly, it
enables the vendor to hit the ground running in the cloud
space. The risk of course is that the innovation, drive, and
operational approach of the cloud-based company are
destroyed as it is merged into the larger acquirer.