Cloud Computing

Ved Parkash
Associate Professor, CSE
Cloud Computing:

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 lower
your operating costs, run your
infrastructure more efficiently and scale as
your business needs change.
Benefits of cloud computing :
Cost
Cloud computing eliminates the capital expense of
buying hardware and software and setting up and
running on-site datacenters—the racks of servers, the
round-the-clock electricity for power and cooling, 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 it is needed and from the right geographic location.
Productivity:
On-site 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.
 Traditional Computing Cloud Computing
1 Data storage on local Internal / Data storage in the cloud or
hard drive external server
2 Extra storage – pay for Unlimited storage – no extra
hardware, no unlimited storage hardware required
3 For hardware configuration, you No need to do hardware
may hire expert configuration – dynamic
resources
4 Pay for power, electricity, AC No expense on power,
cooling etc. electricity, AC cooling etc.
5 If you need to add new server it Pay for use, dynamic resources
will take few days and more allocation.
charges apply.
6 Fixed charges – installation, If resources are use less, then
hardware used. pay less
7 Lack of isolation – high risk of No need to worry about
security and poor performance. security / loss of data.
8 Backup and recovery take risky. Backup and recovery very
easy.
9 Extra pay for software Automatic software upgrade
installation & upgrade. available
Cloud Computing architecture:
Cloud Computing architecture comprises of many cloud
components, which are loosely coupled. We can broadly
divide the cloud architecture into two parts:
Front End
Back End
Each of the ends is connected through a network, usually
Internet.
Front End
The front end refers to the client part of cloud computing
system. It consists of interfaces and applications that are
required to access the cloud computing platforms, Example -
Web Browser.
Back End
The back End refers to the cloud itself. It consists of all the
resources required to provide cloud computing services. It
comprises of huge data storage, virtual machines, security
mechanism, services, deployment models, servers, etc.
Cloud infrastructure consists of servers, storage
devices, network, cloud management software,
deployment software, and platform virtualization.
Hypervisor:
Hypervisor is a firmware or low-level
program that acts as a Virtual Machine Manager. It
allows to share the single physical instance of cloud
resources between several tenants.
Management Software:
It helps to maintain and configure the infrastructure.
Deployment Software:
It helps to deploy and integrate the application on
the cloud.
Network:
It is the key component of cloud infrastructure. It
allows to connect cloud services over the Internet. It
is also possible to deliver network as a utility over
the Internet, which means, the customer can
customize the network route and protocol.
Server:
The server helps to compute the resource
sharing and offers other services such as
resource allocation and de-allocation,
monitoring the resources, providing security
etc.
Storage:
Cloud keeps multiple replicas of storage. If
one of the storage resources fails, then it can
be extracted from another one, which makes
cloud computing more reliable.
Infrastructural Constraints:
Fundamental constraints that cloud infrastructure should
implement are shown in the following diagram:
Cluster Computing:
Cluster computing or High-Performance
computing frameworks is a form of computing
in which bunch of computers (often called
nodes) that are connected through a LAN
(local area network) so that, they behave like a
single machine. A computer cluster help to
solve complex operations more efficiently with
much faster processing speed, better data
integrity than a single computer and they only
used for mission-critical applications.
Some of the critical Applications of Cluster
Computers are Google Search Engine,
Petroleum Reservoir Simulation, Earthquake
Simulation, Weather Forecasting.
Types of Cluster computing:
1. Load-balancing clusters: As the name
implies, This system is used to distribute
workload across multiple computers. That
system distributes the processing load as
possible across a cluster of computers.
2. High availability (HA) clusters: A high
availability clusters (HA cluster) are the bunch
of computers that can reliably utilise for
redundant operations in the event of nodes
failure in Cluster computing.
3. High performance (HP) clusters: This
computer networking methodology use
supercomputers and Cluster computing to
solve advanced computation problems.
Advantages of using Cluster computing
1. Cost efficiency: In a Cluster computing
Cost efficiency is the ratio of cost to output,
that is the connecting group of the computer
as computer cluster much cheaper as
compared to mainframe computers.
2. Processing speed: The Processing speed
of computer cluster is the same as
a mainframe computer.
3. Expandability: The best benefit of Cluster
Computing is that it can be expanded easily
by adding the additional desktop workstation
to the system.
4. High availability of resources: If any
node fails in a computer cluster, another node
within the cluster continue to provide
Grid Computing:
Grid computing is the practice of leveraging multiple
computers, often geographically distributed but connected
by networks, to work together to accomplish joint tasks. It
is typically run on a “data grid” a set of computers that
directly interact with each other to coordinate jobs.
How Does Grid Computing Work?
Grid computing works by running specialized software on
every computer that participates in the data grid. The
software acts as the manager of the entire system and
coordinates various tasks across the grid. Specifically, the
software assigns subtasks to each computer so they can
work simultaneously on their respective subtasks. After
the completion of subtasks, the outputs are gathered and
aggregated to complete a larger-scale task. The software
lets each computer communicate over the network with
the other computers so they can share information on
what portion of the subtasks each computer is running,
and how to consolidate and deliver outputs.
In a basic grid computing system, every computer
can access the resources of every other computer
belonging to the network.
 Grid computing is distinguished from the cluster computing,
because in Grid computing each node has heterogeneous and
geographical dispersed (such as WAN) and its own resource
manager and perform a different task, but in cluster
computing resources are managed in a single location. Grid
computing is a way of using resources optimally inside an
organization.
TYPES OF GRID:-
There are many types of grid like:-
1) COMPUTATIONAL GRID:- It acts as the resource of
many computers in a network to a single problem at a time.
2) DATA GRID:- It deals with the controlled sharing and
management of distributed data of large amount.
3) COLLABORATIVE GRID:- It is the grid which solves
collaborative problems.
4) MANUSCRIPT GRID:- This grid works well when things
are presenting in large continuous blocks of text or images.
5) MODULAR GRID:- This grid works well when columns
alone don’t offer enough flexibility for complex problems.
 ADVANTAGES OF GRID COMPUTING:-
1) It can solve more complex problems in a very short span
of time.
2) It can easily combine with other organization.
3) It can make better use of existing hardware.
Distributed Computing:
 Distributed computing is a computing concept that, in its
most general sense, refers to multiple computer systems
working on a single problem. In distributed computing, a
single problem is divided into many parts, and each part is
solved by different computers. As long as the computers are
networked, they can communicate with each other to solve
the problem. If done properly, the computers perform like a
single entity.
 The ultimate goal of distributed computing is to maximize
performance by connecting users and IT resources in a cost-
effective, transparent and reliable manner. It also ensures
fault tolerance and enables resource accessibility in the
event that one of the components fails.
A distributed computing architecture consists of a
number of client machines with very lightweight
software agents installed with one or more
dedicated distributed computing management
servers. The agents running on the client machines
usually detect when the machine is idle and send a
notification to the management server that the
machine is not in use and available for a processing
job. The agents then requests an application
package. When the client machine receives this
application package from the management server to
process, it runs the application software when it has
free CPU cycles and sends the result back to the
management server. When the user returns and
requires the resources again, the management
server returns the resources was using to perform
different tasks in the user's absence.
Grid can be thought as a distributed system
with non interactive workload that involve a
large number of files.

Utility Computing:
Utility computing is the process of providing
computing service through an on-demand,
pay-per-use billing method. Utility computing
is a computing business model in which the
provider owns, operates and manages the
computing infrastructure and resources, and
the subscribers accesses it as and when
required on a rental or metered basis.
Utility computing is one of the most popular
IT service models, primarily because of the
flexibility and economy it provides. This
model is based on that used by conventional
utilities such as telephone services, electricity
and gas. The principle behind utility
computing is simple. The consumer has
access to a virtually unlimited supply of
computing solutions over the Internet or a
virtual private network, which can be sourced
and used whenever it's required. The back-
end infrastructure and computing resources
management and delivery is governed by the
provider.
Utility computing solutions can include
virtual servers, virtual storage, virtual
Pros and Cons of Cloud computing:
Pros:
No cost on infrastructure: Cloud computing is
divided into three major categories as per the
services: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform
as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS).
In all these categories, one thing is common that you
don’t need to invest in hardware or any infrastructure.
In general, every organization has to spend a lot
on their IT infrastructure to set up and hire a
specialized team.
Servers, network devices, ISP connections, storage, and
software – these are the major things on which you
need to invest if we talk about general IT infrastructure.
But if you move to cloud computing services, then you
don’t need to invest in these. You simply go to a
cloud services provider and buy a cloud service.
Minimum management and cost: By
selecting the cloud, you save cost in many
ways:
--Zero investment in infrastructure.
--Since you don’t own the infrastructure,
you spend nothing on its management or staff
to manage it.
--Cloud works on pay as you go model, so
you spend only on resources that you need.
Nothing more!
When you opt for the cloud, the management of
its infrastructure is the sole responsibility of
the cloud provider and not of the user.
Forget about administrative or management
hassles: Whenever there is a purchase or up-
gradation of hardware, a lot of time is wasted
looking for best vendors, inviting quotations,
negotiating rates, taking approvals, generating
POs and waiting for delivery and then in setting up
the infrastructure.
This whole process includes lots of
administrative/managerial tasks that waste a lot of
time.
With cloud services, you just need to compare the
best cloud service providers and their plans and buy
from the one that matches your requirements. And
this whole process doesn’t take much time and
saves you a lot of efforts. Your system maintenance
tasks are also eliminated in the cloud.
Accessibility and pay per use: Cloud
resources are easily accessible from around
the globe – anytime, anywhere and from any
device and you have complete access to your
resources.
This decides your billing also -you only pay for
what you use and how much you use. It’s like
your phone or electricity bill. But with other IT
infrastructure, one spends the complete
amount in one go and it is very very rare that
those resources are used optimally and thus,
the investment goes waste.
Reliability: Your infrastructure in the cloud increases
the reliability and availability of applications and
services. Cloud services run on pooled and redundant
infrastructure which provides you with a higher
availability of IT services.
Data control: Another primary advantage of the cloud is
that it centralizes all the data from multiple projects and
branch offices to a single location. You gain complete
control over the data without visiting individual places
for checking the information.
Data backup & recovery: Loss of data can significantly
impact your business. You might lose critical information
which can cost you a huge sum of money, waste your
valuable time and adversely impact your brand image.
To prevent it, you can automatically backup all the data to
the cloud on a regular basis. This helps you to recover any
data in case of accidental deletion, loss because of natural
calamity or if the hard drive crashes.
Huge cloud storage: Most cloud services
provide you a free, secure and huge storage
space to store all your valuable information.
Although most cloud storage services like
OneDrive offer you a good amount of free
storage, if you use it all, you can always go for
buying more secure storage in the cloud.
Automatic software updates: Updating a
system every now and then can be a frustrating
task for enterprises. The IT department needs
to update the system for every individual which
not only wastes time but affects productivity.
But if you are using cloud-based applications,
they will get automatically updated, without any
involvement from the users.
Cons of cloud computing:
Requires good speed internet with good
bandwidth: To access your cloud services, you need
to have a good internet connection always with good
bandwidth to upload or download files to/from the
cloud
Downtime: Since the cloud requires high internet
speed and good bandwidth, there is always a
possibility of service outage, which can result in
business downtime. Today, no business can afford
revenue or business loss due to downtime or slow
down from an interruption in critical business
processes.
Limited control of infrastructure: Since you are
not the owner of the infrastructure of the cloud,
hence you don’t have any control or have limited
access to the cloud infra.
 Restricted or limited flexibility: The cloud provides a huge
list of services, but consuming them comes with a lot of
restrictions and limited flexibility for your applications or
developments. Also, platform dependency or ‘vendor lock-in’ can
sometimes make it difficult for you to migrate from one provider
to another.
 Ongoing costs: Although you save your cost of spending on
whole infrastructure and its management, on the cloud, you
need to keep paying for services as long as you use them. But in
traditional methods, you only need to invest once.
 Security: Security of data is a big concern for everyone. Since
the public cloud utilizes the internet, your data may become
vulnerable.
In the case of a public cloud, it depends on the cloud provider to
take care of your data. So, before opting for cloud services, it is
required that you find a provider who follows maximum
compliance policies for data security.
For complete security of data on the cloud, one needs to consider
a somewhat costlier private cloud option or the hybrid cloud
option, where generic data can be on the public cloud and
business-critical data is kept on the private cloud.
 Vendor Lock-in: Although the cloud service
providers assure you that they will allow you to
switch or migrate to any other service provider
whenever you want, it is a very difficult process.
You will find it complex to migrate all the cloud
services from one service provider to another.
During migration, you might end up facing
compatibility, interoperability and support issues.
To avoid these issues, many customers choose not
to change the vendor.
 Technical issues: Even if you are a tech whiz,
the technical issues can occur, and everything
can’t be resolved in-house. To avoid interruptions,
you will need to contact your service provider for
support. However, not every vendor provides 24/7
support to their clients.
A list of advantages and disadvantages of
cloud computing:

Disadvantages of
Advantages of Cloud
Cloud
No cost of Good internet
infrastructure connection &
bandwidth required
Minimum management Downtime
and cost
No administrative or Limited control of
management hassles infrastructure
Easy accessibility Restricted or limited
flexibility
Pay per use Ongoing costs
Reliability Security
Data control Vendor lock-in
Data backup and Technical Issues
recovery
 Benefits of cloud computing
Cloud computing offers your business many benefits. It allows you
to set up what is essentially a virtual office to give you the
flexibility of connecting to your business anywhere, any time.
With the growing number of web-enabled devices used in today's
business environment (e.g. smartphones, tablets), access to your
data is even easier.
There are many benefits to moving your business to the cloud:
 Reduced IT costs
Moving to cloud computing may reduce the cost of managing and
maintaining your IT systems. Rather than purchasing expensive
systems and equipment for your business, you can reduce your
costs by using the resources of your cloud computing service
provider. You may be able to reduce your operating costs because:
 the cost of system upgrades, new hardware and software may
be included in your contract
 you no longer need to pay wages for expert staff
 your energy consumption costs may be reduced
 there are fewer time delays.
Scalability
Your business can scale up or scale down your operation
and storage needs quickly to suit your situation,
allowing flexibility as your needs change. Rather than
purchasing and installing expensive upgrades yourself,
your cloud computer service provider can handle this
for you. Using the cloud frees up your time so you can
get on with running your business.
Business continuity
Protecting your data and systems is an important part
of business continuity planning. Whether you
experience a natural disaster, power failure or other
crisis, having your data stored in the cloud ensures it is
backed up and protected in a secure and safe location.
Being able to access your data again quickly allows you
to conduct business as usual, minimizing any downtime
and loss of productivity.
Collaboration efficiency
Collaboration in a cloud environment gives
your business the ability to communicate and
share more easily outside of the traditional
methods. If you are working on a project across
different locations, you could use cloud
computing to give employees, contractors and
third parties access to the same files. You could
also choose a cloud computing model that
makes it easy for you to share your records
with your advisers (e.g. a quick and secure way
to share accounting records with your
accountant or financial adviser).
Flexibility of work practices
Cloud computing allows employees to be more
flexible in their work practices. For example, you
have the ability to access data from home, on
holiday, or via the commute to and from work
(providing you have an internet connection). If you
need access to your data while you are off-site, you
can connect to your virtual office, quickly and easily.
Access to automatic updates
Access to automatic updates for your IT
requirements may be included in your service fee.
Depending on your cloud computing service
provider, your system will regularly be updated with
the latest technology. This could include up-to-date
versions of software, as well as upgrades to servers
and computer processing power.
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. In 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.
Business drivers for adopting cloud computing:
Business Hike:
Analyzing your moves gives fabricated results. Thus, if you
view a certain range of hike in your business, it might be
one of the cloud drivers. The growth in business is one of
the major obligations, that any organization could ever rate.
Therefore, based on the steps of the plan for driving the
cloud services, it is prominent to boil out the business
strategy by the consideration of cloud adoption.
- Balanced Cost Structure:
This is one of the most recognized factors, acting as a driver
for cloud adoption. The number of organizations has
witnessed that employing the cloud bolsters in cutting the
cost, resulting in turning down of license for legacy
systems.
Depending on the cloud for acquiring cloud storage
services, reduction in office space and attaining the quality,
domes as the driver for cloud adoption.
Improvised Productivity:
When the organizations are adopting the means of
fabricated technology, it is believed to view tremendous
change in the range of productivity.
Productivity is the factor, often considered as a driver of
cloud adoption. If the cloud is structured at a significant
rate, it could produce imitable results, in favour of an
organization.
- Efficiency:
Improved Efficiency, with minimal errors, is one of the key
drivers, propagating the reasons for adoption of the cloud.
When the organization adopts any newer means of
technology, it always has an underlying motive to access the
medium for fulfilling the business requirement, with a hike
in business and optimized cloud solutions. At its core,
efficiency is about removing unnecessary steps to
streamline processes in order to increase productivity or
deliver on customer requirements faster
Scalability:
The scalable service of the cloud is one the
biggest key driver, acting in the favor of
organizations. The cloud-enabled services are
swaddled in such a manner that one can scale
the range of services as per its requirement.
One can add on more number of services with
customized features if the organization feels
ready to step up. Also, the organization can
step down in terms of services, if it finds it as
the far-reaching target.
NIST Model:
NIST is part of the U.S. Department of
Commerce and works to promote the economy
and public welfare by providing technical
leadership for measurement and standards
infrastructure.
From the NIST definition of cloud computing,
“Cloud computing is a model for enabling
ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network
access to a shared pool of configurable
computing resources that can be rapidly
provisioned and released with minimal
management effort or service provider
interactive.” NIST provides the following
definitions of the essential characteristics and
service and deployment models for cloud
Essential Cloud Computing Characteristics:
 On-demand self-service: consumers can unilaterally
provision computing capabilities as needed automatically
without requiring human interaction with each service
provider.
 Broad network access: capabilities are available over the
network and accessed through standard mechanism that
promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms.
 Resources pooling: The provider’s computing resources are
pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant
model, with different physical and virtual resources
dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer
demand
 Rapid elasticity: capabilities can be elastically provisioned
and released to scale rapidly outward and inward
commensurate with demand.
 Measured service: cloud systems automatically control and
optimize resource use by leveraging a metering capability at
some level of abstraction appropriate to the type of service.
Service Models: The many paradigms of cloud
computing can be broken down into three
unique service model classifications: Software
as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service
(PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).
Software as a Service (Saas)
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Deployment Models:
Private cloud
Community cloud
Public cloud
Hybrid cloud
Infrastructure as a Service | IaaS
 Iaas is also known as Hardware as a Service (HaaS). It is
one of the layers of the cloud computing platform. It allows
customers to outsource their IT infrastructures such as
servers, networking, processing, storage, virtual machines,
and other resources. Customers access these resources on the
Internet using a pay-as-per use model.
 In traditional hosting services, IT infrastructure was rented
out for a specific period of time, with pre-determined
hardware configuration. The client paid for the configuration
and time, regardless of the actual use. With the help of the
IaaS cloud computing platform layer, clients can dynamically
scale the configuration to meet changing requirements and are
billed only for the services actually used.

A cloud computing service provider, such as Azure, manages the

infrastructure, while you purchase, install, configure and
manage your own software—operating systems, middleware
and applications.
Hosted Development tools, Operating systems Servers and storage Networking Data center physical
applications/apps database management, firewalls/security plant/building
business analytics
IaaS provider provides the following services
-
Compute: Computing as a Service includes
virtual central processing units and virtual
main memory for the Vms that is provisioned
to the end- users.
Storage: IaaS provider provides back-end
storage for storing files.
Network: Network as a Service (NaaS)
provides networking components such as
routers, switches, and bridges for the Vms.
Load balancers: It provides load balancing
capability at the infrastructure layer.
Advantages of IaaS cloud computing layer
There are the following advantages of IaaS computing layer -
 1. Shared infrastructure
IaaS allows multiple users to share the same physical
infrastructure.
 2. Web access to the resources
Iaas allows IT users to access resources over the internet.
 3. Pay-as-per-use model
IaaS providers provide services based on the pay-as-per-use
basis. The users are required to pay for what they have used.
 4. Focus on the core business
IaaS providers focus on the organization's core business rather
than on IT infrastructure.
 5. On-demand scalability
On-demand scalability is one of the biggest advantages of IaaS.
Using IaaS, users do not worry about to upgrade software and
troubleshoot the issues related to hardware components.
Disadvantages of Iaas:
1. Security
Security is one of the biggest issues in IaaS.
Most of the IaaS providers are not able to
provide 100% security.
2. Maintenance & Upgrade
Although IaaS service providers maintain the
software, but they do not upgrade the
software for some organizations.
3. Interoperability issues
It is difficult to migrate VM from one IaaS
provider to the other, so the customers might
face problem related to vendor lock-in.
Top Iaas Providers who are providing IaaS cloud computing
platform
 IaaS (Infra as a Service)
IaaS provides the infrastructure such as virtual machines and
other resources like virtual-machine disk image library, block
and file-based storage, firewalls, load balancers, IP
addresses, virtual local area networks etc. Infrastructure as
service or IaaS is the basic layer in cloud computing model.
Common examples: DigitalOcean, Linode, Rackspace,
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Cisco Metapod, Microsoft
Azure, Google Compute Engine (GCE) are some popular
examples of Iaas.
 PaaS (Platform as a Service)
PaaS or platform as a service model provides you computing
platforms which typically includes an operating system,
programming language execution environment, database,
web server. technically It is a layer on top of IaaS as the
second thing you demand after Infrastructure is a platform.
Common examples: AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Windows Azure,
Heroku, Force.com, Google App Engine, Apache Stratos.
SaaS (Software as a Service)
In a SaaS, you are provided access to
application services installed at a server. You
don’t have to worry about installation,
maintenance or coding of that software. You
can access and operate the software with just
your browser. You don’t have to download or
install any kind of setup or OS, the software is
just available for you to access and operate.
The software maintenance or setup or help
will be provided by SaaS provider company
and you will only have to pay for your usage.
Common examples: Google Apps, Microsoft
office365, Google docs, Gmail, WHMCS
billing software
Platform as a Service | PaaS
Platform as a Service (PaaS) provides a runtime
environment. It allows programmers to easily create,
test, run, and deploy web applications. You can
purchase these applications from a cloud service
provider on a pay-as-per use basis and access
them using the Internet connection. In PaaS, back
end scalability is managed by the cloud service
provider, so end- users do not need to worry about
managing the infrastructure.
PaaS includes infrastructure (servers, storage,
and networking) and platform (middleware,
development tools, database management systems,
business intelligence, and more) to support the
web application life cycle.
Example: Google App Engine, Force.com, Joyent,
Azure.
The following diagram shows how PaaS offers
an API and development tools to the
developers and how it helps the end user to
access business applications.
 PaaS providers provide the Programming languages,
Application frameworks, Databases, and Other tools:
 Programming languages
PaaS providers provide various programming languages for the
developers to develop the applications. Some popular
programming languages provided by PaaS providers are Java,
PHP, Ruby, Perl, and Go.
 2. Application frameworks
PaaS providers provide application frameworks to easily
understand the application development. Some popular
application frameworks provided by PaaS providers are Node.js,
Drupal, Joomla, WordPress, Spring, Play, Rack, and Zend.
 3. Databases
PaaS providers provide various databases such as ClearDB,
PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and Redis to communicate with the
applications.
 4. Other tools
PaaS providers provide various other tools that are required to
develop, test, and deploy the applications.
Advantages of PaaS
There are the following advantages of PaaS -
 1) Simplified Development
PaaS allows developers to focus on development and innovation
without worrying about infrastructure management.
 2) Lower risk
No need for up-front investment in hardware and software.
Developers only need a PC and an internet connection to start
building applications.
 3) Prebuilt business functionality
Some PaaS vendors also provide already defined business
functionality so that users can avoid building everything from
very scratch and hence can directly start the projects only.
 4) Instant community
PaaS vendors frequently provide online communities where the
developer can get the ideas to share experiences and seek advice
from others.
 5) Scalability
Applications deployed can scale from one to thousands of users
without any changes to the applications.
Disadvantages of PaaS:
Vendor lock-in
One has to write the applications according to the platform
provided by the PaaS vendor, so the migration of an
application to another PaaS vendor would be a problem.
For example, an application written in Python against API of
Google, and using App Engine of Google is likely to work
only in that environment.
2) Data Privacy
Corporate data, whether it can be critical or not, will be
private, so if it is not located within the walls of the
company, there can be a risk in terms of privacy of data.
3) Integration with the rest of the systems
applications
It may happen that some applications are local, and some
are in the cloud. So there will be chances of increased
complexity when we want to use data which in the cloud
with the local data.
What is Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)?
Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS for short, is a
cloud-based method of providing software to
users. SaaS users subscribe to an application
rather than purchasing it once and installing it.
Users can log into and use a SaaS application
from any compatible device over the Internet.
The actual application runs in cloud servers
that may be far removed from a user's location.
A SaaS application may be accessed through a browser or
through an app. Online email applications that users
access through a browser, such as Gmail and Office 365,
are common examples of SaaS applications.
The difference between SaaS and a software installation
on a user's computer is somewhat like the difference
between streaming a TV show online and buying all the
seasons of the TV show on DVD.
Someone who buys a TV show on DVD only needs to pay
for it once; however, they will need to store and maintain
the DVDs, and if they change their hardware – for
instance, if they replace their DVD player with a Blu-ray
player – then they will need to purchase the physical
media again. Streaming the show instead means a third
party handles all the storage and upgrades, and all a user
needs to do is press play. However, streaming is
dependent on an Internet connection, and users typically
need to pay a recurring monthly fee to maintain their
access.
What does 'as a service' mean?
Consider the difference between valet
parking and renting a parking spot. Valet
parking is a service, while a parking spot is a
product, even though both provide the same
benefit to the customer: a place to leave their
car.
Traditionally, software vendors sold their
software to users as a product. However, in
the SaaS model they actively provide and
maintain the software for their users, via the
cloud. They host and maintain the databases
and code necessary for the application to run,
and they run the application on their servers.
Thus, SaaS is more like a service than a
 What is the cloud?
 "The cloud" refers to remote web servers in various data centers that host
databases and run application code. Cloud providers deliver their services to
customers or end users via the Internet.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using SaaS?

 The SaaS model has a number of pros and cons, although for modern
businesses and users the pros of SaaS often outweigh the cons. Here are
some of the advantages and disadvantages of using SaaS applications:
Advantage:
 Access from anywhere, on any device. Typically, users can log into SaaS
applications from any device and any location. This offers a great deal of
flexibility – businesses can allow employees to operate all over the world, and
users can access their files no matter they are. In addition, most users use
multiple devices and replace them often; users don't need to reinstall SaaS
applications or purchase new licenses each time they switch to a new device.
 No need for updates or installations. The SaaS provider updates and
patches the application on an ongoing basis.
 Scalability. The SaaS provider handles scaling up the application, such as
adding more database space or more compute power as usage increases.
 Cost savings. SaaS cuts down on internal IT costs and overhead. The SaaS
provider maintains the servers and infrastructure that support the
application, and the only cost to a business is the subscription cost of the
application.
 Disadvantage:
 The need for stronger access control. The increased accessibility of
SaaS applications also means that verifying user identity and
controlling access levels becomes very important. With SaaS,
organizational assets are no longer kept within an internal network,
separate from the outside world. Instead, user access is based on user
identity: if someone has the right login credentials, they are granted
access. Strong identity verification thus becomes crucial.
 Vendor lock-in. A business may become overly reliant on the SaaS
application provider. It's time-consuming and expensive to move to a
new application if an organization's entire database is stored within
the old application.
 Disadvantage (for enterprises): Security and compliance. With
SaaS applications, the responsibility for protecting those applications
and their data moves from internal IT teams to the external SaaS
providers. For small to medium-sized businesses, this is less of a
disadvantage, as large cloud providers typically have more resources
for putting strong security in place. But this can be a challenge if a
large business faces tight security or regulatory standards. In some
cases businesses will be unable to assess their applications' security
themselves, for instance by performing penetration testing. Essentially,
they have to take the external SaaS provider's word that the
application is secure.
Cloud Computing Stack:
Cloud computing is a broad term that
describes a wide range of services. We can
categorise cloud services into one of three
offerings: software-as-a-service (SaaS),
platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and
infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS). They are
called ‘as a service’ because businesses
purchase them as service products from third
parties. Together, they are the cloud
computing stack.
SaaS are used by end users such as
employees in a business, programmers use
PaaS for developing applications, and IaaS
are used by network architects to design a
firm’s IT systems
Cloud computing has commonly been
referred to as a “stack” because it typically
encompasses many different types of services
which have been built on top of each other
under a “cloud”. Cloud computing has been
defined by the NIST (National Institute of
Standards and Technology) as a model that
enables on-demand access to a shared
resource pool consisting of servers, networks,
applications, services and storage which can
be rapidly deployed with minimal
management efforts. There are three
different types of cloud computing services
namely Platform as a Service or PaaS,
Software as a Service or SaaS and
Infrastructure as a Service or IaaS.
HOW DOES CLOUD COMPUTING WORK?
Cloud computing is an application-based software
infrastructure that stores data on remote serves, which can
be accessed through the internet. To understand how cloud
computing works, it can be divided into front-end and
backend.
The front end enables a user to access data stored in the
cloud using an internet browser or a cloud computing
software. However, the primary component of cloud
computing – responsible for securely storing data and
information – is the backend. It comprises servers,
computers, databases, and central servers.
The central server facilitates operations by following a set
of rules known as protocols. It uses a software, middleware,
to ensure seamless connectivity between
devices/computers linked via cloud computing. Cloud
computing service providers usually maintain multiple
copies of the data to mitigate instances of security threats,
data loss, data breach, etc.
Let's say you're an executive at a large corporation. Your
particular responsibilities include making sure that all of
your employees have the right hardware and software they
need to do their jobs. Buying computers for everyone isn't
enough -- you also have to purchase software or software
licenses to give employees the tools they require.
Whenever you have a new hire, you have to buy more
software or make sure your current software license allows
another user. It's so stressful that you find it difficult to go
to sleep on your huge pile of money every night.
Soon, there may be an alternative for executives like you.
Instead of installing a suite of software for each computer,
you'd only have to load one application. That application
would allow workers to log into a Web-based service which
hosts all the programs the user would need for his or her
job. Remote machines owned by another company would
run everything from e-mail to word processing to complex
data analysis programs. It's called cloud computing, and
it could change the entire computer industry.
In a cloud computing system, there's a significant
workload shift. Local computers no longer have to do all
the heavy lifting when it comes to running applications.
The network of computers that make up the cloud
handles them instead. Hardware and software demands
on the user's side decrease. The only thing the user's
computer needs to be able to run is the cloud
computing system's interface software, which can be
as simple as a Web browser, and the cloud's network
takes care of the rest.
There's a good chance you've already used some form of
cloud computing. If you have an e-mail account with a
Web-based e-mail service like Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail or
Gmail, then you've had some experience with cloud
computing. Instead of running an e-mail program on
your computer, you log in to a Web e-mail account
remotely. The software and storage for your account
doesn't exist on your computer -- it's on the service's
computer cloud.
Role of network in cloud computing:
Emerging capabilities of network have enabled cloud to
successfully provide on-demand services which can
unilaterally provision computing capabilities such as
servers, network, OS and storage. Further, it allows
resource pooling where multiple users through multiple
tenant model (multiple customer utilizing the same facility)
can access different physical and virtual resources.
Additionally, virtualization permits applications, compute
and network resources to reside anywhere, which are then
accessed through the network, thus allowing these
resources to be flexible and scalable. Cloud computing also
has the capability to measure the services being offered
through the usage of charge back or metering where it can
control and optimize resource usage.
The network plays a key role in the delivery of cloud-based
services as it provides a means to connect every IT system
and has the ability to provision and scale these resources
to meet application and end-user requirements.
XaaS:
XaaS is a general, collective term that refers
to the delivery of Anything as a service or
Everything-as-a-Service (XaaS). It
recognizes the vast number of products, tools
and technologies that vendors now deliver to
users as a service over a network -- typically
the internet -- rather than provide locally or
on-site within an enterprise.
There are countless examples of XaaS, but
the most common encompass the three
general cloud computing models: Software as
a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS)
and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).
Hardware-as-a-Service (HaaS)
Managed service providers (MSP) own some
hardware and install it on customers’ sites on
demand. Customers utilize the hardware in
accordance with service level agreements.
This pay-as-you-go model is similar to leasing
and can be compared to IaaS when
computing resources are located at MSP’s
site and provided to users as virtual
equivalents of physical hardware.
The Haas model is especially cost-effective
for small or mid-sized businesses.
Communication-as-a-Service (CaaS)
This model includes different communication solutions
such as VoIP (voice over IP or Internet telephony), IM
(instant messaging), video conference applications that are
hosted in the vendor’s cloud. A company can selectively
deploy communication apps that best suit their current
needs for a certain period and pay for this usage period
only.
Such an approach is cost-effective and reduces expenses
for short-time communication needs.
Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS)
Desktops are delivered as virtual services along with the
apps needed for use. Thus, a client can work on a personal
computer, using the computing capacities of third-party
servers (which can be much more powerful than those of a
PC).
A DaaS provider is typically responsible for storing,
securing and backing up user data, as well as delivering
upgrades for all the supported desktop apps.
 Security-as-a-Service (SECaaS)
This is the model of outsourced security management. A provider
integrates their security services into your company’s
infrastructure and, as a rule, delivers them over the Internet. Such
services may include anti-virus software, encryption,
authentication, intrusion detection solutions and more.

 Healthcare-as-a-Service (HaaS)
With electronic medical records (EMR) and hospital information
systems (HIS), the healthcare industry is transforming into
Healthcare-as-a-Service. Medical treatment is becoming more
data-driven and patient-centric. Thanks to the IoT, wearables and
other emerging technologies, the following services are available:
 Online consultations with doctors
 Health monitoring 24/7
 Medicine delivery at your doorstep
 Lab samples collection even at home and delivery of results as
soon as they are ready
 Access to your medical records 24/7
HaaS creates opportunities for almost all categories of citizens to
get qualified medical help.
Transportation-as-a-Service (TaaS)
Important trends of modern society are mobility and
freedom of transportation at different distances.
There are numerous apps popping up connected
with transport, so a part of this industry is
transforming into an -aaS model. The most vivid
examples are:
Carsharing (you can rent a car at any place via a
special app and drive anywhere you need, paying for
the time you use a car, or for the distance you cover)
Uber taxi services (you order a taxi via an app,
which calculates the cost of the rout in advance).
Uber is planning to test flying taxis and self-driving
planes in the near future.
TaaS model is not only convenient but also
ecologically friendly.
Database as a Service (DBaaS): provides
access to a database platform through the
cloud. Public cloud providers like AWS and
Azure have DBaaS offerings.
Malware as a Service (MaaS): uses the
public cloud to help organizations guard
against common attacks, such as ransomware
and distributed denial of service (DDoS).
VMware AppDefense is one emerging
example of MaaS.
Benefits of XaaS:
The market of services provided via cloud computing and the Internet is
expanding at a rapid pace due to a range of advantages they provide both for
organizations and end-users. The biggest benefits are:
 Scalability (outsourcing provides access to unlimited computing capacities,
storage space, RAM, etc; a company can quickly and seamlessly scale its
processes up and down depending on requirements and doesn’t have to worry
about additional deployments or downtimes)
 Cost- and time-effectiveness (a company doesn’t purchase its personal
equipment and doesn’t need to deploy it, saving much time and money; a pay-
as-you-go model is also beneficial)
 Focus on core competencies (there’s no need to set up apps and programs
or conduct training for employees; consequently, they can concentrate on
their direct duties and achieve better performance)
 The high quality of services (since professionals support and maintain your
infrastructure and systems, they provide the latest updates and all the
emerging technologies, guaranteeing the quality of services)
 Better customer experience (the above-mentioned pros lead to customer
satisfaction and increase customer loyalty)
However, -aaS services are not without flaws. The biggest drawbacks are mostly
related to end users and concern the security of personal data and risks of
massive data loss.
Many consumers are afraid to fully depend on cloud providers and lose control
over their business. Service providers, on their part, are doing their best to
address such concerns and allow organizations to migrate more workloads
into the cloud.
Deployment Models
Deployment models define the type of access to
the cloud, i.e., how the cloud is located? Or
A cloud deployment model is a specific
configuration of environment parameters such
as the accessibility and proprietorship of the
deployment infrastructure and storage size.
This means that deployment types vary
depending on who controls the infrastructure
and where it’s located.
Cloud can have any of the four types of access:
Public, Private, Hybrid, and Community.
Public Cloud
This type of cloud services is provided on a network for
public use. Customers have no control over the location
of the infrastructure. It is based on a shared cost model
for all the users, or in the form of a licensing policy
such as pay per user. Public deployment models in the
cloud are perfect for organizations with growing and
fluctuating demands. It is also popular among
businesses of all sizes for their web applications,
webmail, and storage of non-sensitive data.
The public cloud deployment model is the first choice
for businesses with low privacy concerns. When it
comes to popular public cloud deployment models,
examples are Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon
EC2 — the top service provider according to ZDNet),
Microsoft Azure, Google App Engine, IBM Cloud,
Salesforce Heroku and others.
The Advantages of a Public Cloud
 Hassle-free infrastructure management. Having a third
party running your cloud infrastructure is convenient: you
do not need to develop and maintain your software because
the service provider does it for you. In addition, the
infrastructure setup and use are uncomplicated.
 High scalability. You can easily extend the cloud’s
capacity as your company requirements increase.
 Reduced costs. You pay only for the service you use, so
there’s no need to invest in hardware or software.
 24/7 uptime. The extensive network of your provider’s
servers ensures your infrastructure is constantly available
and has improved operation time.
The Disadvantages of a Public Cloud
 Compromised reliability. That same server network is
also meant to ensure against failure But often enough,
public clouds experience outages and malfunction, as in the
case of the 2016 Salesforce CRM disruption that caused a
storage collapse.
 Data security and privacy issues give rise to
concern. Although access to data is easy, a public
deployment model deprives users of knowing where their
information is kept and who has access to it.
 The lack of a bespoke service. Service providers have
only standardized service options, which is why they often
fail to satisfy more complex requirements.
Private Cloud
There is little to no difference between a public and a
private model from the technical point of view, as their
architectures are very similar. However, as opposed to a
public cloud that is available to the general public, only
one specific company owns a private cloud. That is why it
is also called an internal or corporate model.
The server can be hosted externally or on the premises
of the owner company. Regardless of their physical
location, these infrastructures are maintained on a
designated private network and use software and
hardware that are intended for use only by the owner
company.
A clearly defined scope of people have access to the
information kept in a private repository, which prevents
the general public from using it. In light of numerous
breaches in recent years, a growing number of large
corporations has decided on a closed private cloud
model, as this minimizes data security issues.
 Compared to the public model, the private cloud provides
wider opportunities for customizing the infrastructure to
the company’s requirements. A private model is especially
suitable for companies that seek to safeguard their mission-
critical operations or for businesses with constantly
changing requirements.
 Multiple public cloud service providers, including Amazon,
IBM, Cisco, Dell and Red Hat, also provide private
solutions.
The Benefits of a Private Cloud:
All the benefits of this deployment model result from
its autonomy. They are the following:
Bespoke and flexible development and high
scalability, which allows companies to customize
their infrastructures in accordance with their
requirements
High security, privacy and reliability, as only
authorized persons can access resources
The Drawbacks of a Private Cloud:
The major disadvantage of the private cloud
deployment model is its cost, as it requires
considerable expense on hardware, software and
staff training. That is why this secure and flexible
computing deployment model is not the right
choice for small companies.
Community Cloud
 A community deployment model largely resembles the
private one; the only difference is the set of users. Whereas
only one company owns the private cloud server, several
organizations with similar backgrounds share the
infrastructure and related resources of a community cloud.
 If all the participating organizations have uniform security,
privacy and performance requirements, this multi-tenant
data center architecture helps these companies enhance
their efficiency, as in the case of joint projects. A centralized
cloud facilitates project development, management and
implementation. The costs are shared by all users. Or
 It is a mutually shared model between organizations that
belong to a particular community such as banks,
government organizations, or commercial enterprises.
Community members generally share similar issues of
privacy, performance, and security. This type of deployment
model of cloud computing is managed and hosted internally
or by a third-party vendor.
The Strengths of a Community Cloud:
 Cost reduction
 Improved security, privacy and reliability
 Ease of data sharing and collaboration
The Shortcomings of a Community Cloud:
 High cost compared to the public deployment model
 Sharing of fixed storage and bandwidth capacity
Hybrid Cloud:
 As is usually the case with any hybrid phenomenon, a hybrid
cloud encompasses the best features of the abovementioned
deployment models (public, private and community). It allows
companies to mix and match the facets of the three types that
best suit their requirements.
 As an example, a company can balance its load by locating
mission-critical workloads on a secure private cloud and
deploying less sensitive ones to a public one. The hybrid cloud
deployment model not only safeguards and controls
strategically important assets but does so in a cost- and
resource-effective way. In addition, this approach facilitates
data and application portability.
The Benefits of a Hybrid Cloud:
Improved security and privacy
Enhanced scalability and flexibility
Reasonable price
 Private Community Hybrid
Public

Ease of setup and Requires IT Requires IT Requires IT

Easy
use proficiency proficiency proficiency

Data security and

Low High Comparatively high High
privacy

Data control Little to none High Comparatively high Comparatively high

Reliability Low High Comparatively high High

Scalability and
High High Fixed capacity High
flexibility

Cost-intensive; Cheaper than a private

Cost is shared among
Cost-effectiveness The cheapest the most model but more costly
community members
expensive model than a public one

Demand for in-

No Depends Depends Depends
house hardware