TECHNOLOGY GUIDE THREE

Cloud Computing

TECHNOLOGY GUIDE OUTLINE

TG3.1 Introduction

TG3.2 What Is Cloud Computing?

TG3.3 Different Types of Clouds

TG3.4 Cloud Computing Services

TG3.5 The Benefits of Cloud Computing

TG3.6 Concerns and Risks with Cloud Computing

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Describe the problems that modern information technology departments face.

2. Describe the key characteristics and advantages of cloud computing.

3. Identify a use-case-scenario for each of the four types of clouds.

4. Explain the operational model of each of the three types of cloud services.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

5. Identify the key benefits of cloud computing.

6. Discuss the concerns and risks associated with cloud computing.

TG 3.1 Evolution of Modern IT Infrastructure

Stand-alone mainframesMainframes and dumb terminalsStand-alone personal computersLocal area networksEnterprise computing (wide area networks and the Internet)Cloud computing and mobile computing

Problems Faced by Traditional IT Departments

On-premise computing: a type of IT model where a company owns its IT infrastructure (hardware, software, networks, and data management) and maintains that infrastructure internally (or “on premise”)

Problems Faced by Traditional IT Departments (continued)

* Expensive: IT staff, software licenses, hardware * Funds expended on maintaining existing systems rather than on developing new systems* Can result in a lack of flexibility for the organization to meet rapidly changing business conditions

TG 3.2 What Is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing: a type of computing that delivers convenient, on-demand, pay-as-you-go access for multiple customers to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (servers, networks, storage, applications, and services)

Cloud Computing Characteristics

Provides on-demand self serviceEncompasses grid computingEncompasses utility computingUtilizes broad network accessPools computing resourcesOften occurs on virtualized servers

Grid Computing

Grid computing: shares the processing resources of many geographically dispersed computers across a network

Provides fault tolerance and redundancyEnables companies to scale up and scale down

Grid Computing

Utility Computing

Utility computing: a service provider makes computing resources and infrastructure management available to customers as needed

Customers pay based on usage, not a flat rate

Utility Computing

Server Farms

Server farms: massive data centers, which may contain hundreds of thousands of networked computer servers

Server Virtualization

Server virtualization: uses software-based partitions to create multiple virtual servers – called virtual machines – on a single physical server

Organizational server farms in relation to the Internet

TG 3.3 Different Types of Clouds

Public cloud: shared, easily accessible, multi-customer IT infrastructure available nonexclusively to any entity in the general public (individuals, groups, and/or organizations)

Private cloud (internal or corporate cloud): IT infrastructures that can be accessed only by a single entity or by an exclusive group of related entities that share the same purpose

Hybrid cloud: composed of public and private clouds that remain unique entities while offering users the benefits of multiple deployment models

The Three Types of Clouds

TG 3.4 Cloud Computing Services

Infrastructure-as-a-Service: cloud computing vendors offer remotely accessible servers, networks, and storage capacity

Platform-as-a-Service: customers rent servers, operating systems, storage, a database, software development technologies, and network capacity over the Internet

Software-as-a-Service: cloud computing vendors provide software over the Internet that is specific to their customers’ requirements

TG 3.5 Benefits of Cloud Computing

Making individuals more productiveFacilitating collaborationMining insights from dataReducing costsExpand scope of business operationsRespond quickly to market changesCustomize products and services

TG 3.6 Risks of Cloud Computing

Legacy IT systemsReliabilityPrivacySecurityLegal and regulatory environment