Cloud Computing 1-3

Chapter 1: Cloud Computing Basics

Cloud Computing Overview

• Cloud Computing gets its name as a metaphor for the Internet
• A cloud is used in network diagrams to represent the Internet
• Cloud computing promises to cut operational costs and lets IT departments focus on strategic projects instead of keeping the datacenter running

• Cloud computing is a construct that allows you to access applications that actually reside at a location other than your computer or other Internet-connected device
• With cloud computing another company hosts your application and this means they handle the costs of servers, they manage the software updates and you pay less for the service

Cloud Components

• A cloud computing solution is made up of several elements:
• clients- the computers that just sit on your desk
• mobile (smartphone or PDAs)
• thin (computers that do not have internal hard drives)
• thick (regular computer, using a web browser)
• datacenter-the collection of servers where the application to which you subscribe is housed
• distributed servers- servers are in geographically disparate locations

• The Infrastructure will depend on the application and how the provider has chosen to build the cloud solution
• Cloud computing is not a one size fits all affair

• Grid Computing applied the resources of numerous computers in a network to work on a single problem at the same time
• a large project is divided among multiple computers to make use of their resources
• cloud computing allows multiple smaller applications to run at the same time
• grid computing and cloud computing do opposite things

• Full virtualization is a technique in which a complete installation of one machine is run on another. The result is a system in which all software running on the server is within a virtual machine.
• In a fully virtualized deployment, the software running on the server is displayed on the clients
• Virtualization is one of the ways in which you will access services on the cloud

• Paravirtualization allows multiple operating systems to run on a single hardware device at the same time by more efficiently using system resources, like processors and memory.

Services

• The term services in cloud computing is the concept of being able to use reusable, fine-grained components across a vendor's network
• Software as a Service (SaaS) is the model in which an application is hosted as a service to customers who access it via the Internet
• A benefit of SaaS is it costs less money than buying the application outright
• Platform as a Service (PaaS) is another application delivery model and it supplies all the resources required to build applications and services completely from the Internet, without having to download or install software
• PaaS is also known as cloudware and it allows clients to access a computing platform over a cloud computing solution
• Hardware as a Service  (HaaS) is also called Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and allows providers to rent hardware resources

Applications

• Applications are a way of viewing, manipulating, and sharing data
• Storage-one of the uses for cloud computing is simply storage
• Databases- are repositories for information with links within the information that help make the data searchable
• Synchronization- allows content to be refreshed across multiple devices

Intranets and the Cloud

• Intranets are used within an organization and are not accessible publicly. That is, a web server is maintained in house and company info is maintained on it that others within the organization can access.

Components

• there are two main components in client/server computing:
• servers
• thin or light clients
• The servers house the applications your organization needs to run, and the thin clients--which do not have hard drives--display the results

Hypervisor Applications

• allows you to virtualize your servers so that multiple virtual servers can run on one physical server

First Movers in the Cloud

• Amazon, Google, Microsoft
• Amazon offers a number of cloud services and is the most extensive cloud service to date
• Google offers online documents and spreadsheets, and encourages developers to build features for those and other online software
• Microsoft's cloud computing solution is called Windows Azure and is an operating system that allows organizations  to run Window applications and store files and data using
• Microsoft's datacenters

Chapter 2: Your Organization and Cloud Computing

When You Can Use Cloud Computing

• Compute Clouds- allow you to access applications maintained on a provider's equipment
• Cloud Storage- allows you to store your data on a vendor's equipment
• Cloud Applications- deliver applications that depend on the infrastructure of the Internet itself

When You Shouldn't Use Cloud Computing

• Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act
• Legislative Issues
• Geopolitical Concerns
• Hardware Dependencies- if you have an application that requires specific hardware, chips, or drivers, a cloud solution might not be good for you
• Server Control- if your application demands complete control over everything that is running, a cloud solution may not be right for you
• Cost- it may cost more to pay the cloud subscription than to have simply bought the servers yourself
• Lack of Need- if your current solution is getting the job  done, why tinker with it?
• Latency Concers- if you require data instantaneously, the cloud might not be your best option

Benefits

• Scalability- if you are anticipating a huge upswing in computing need cloud computing can help you manage
• Simplicity- the cloud solution makes it possible to get your application started immediately, and it costs a fraction of what it would cost to implement an on-site solution
• Knowledgable Vendors- companies have good vendors because they have offered reliable service and plenty of capacity
• More Internal Resources-when youre looking at service providers, make sure you find someone who offers 24-hour help and support and can repond to emegency situations
• Security-vendors have strict privacy policies

Limitations

• important concern of storing sensitive information on the cloud
• protect your data-encrypt your data before you send it to a third party
• Application not ready- in some cases applications are not ready to be used on the cloud and have little quirks

Security Concerns

• Privacy Concerns with a Third Party-the best plan is to not perform critical work on a cloud platform without extensive security controls managed by your organization
• Hackers
• Bot Attackers- attackers use botnets to perform distributed denial of service attacks (you face blackmail)

Security Benefits

• Centralized Data
• Reduced Data Loss
• Monitoring
• Instant Swapover
• Improved Software Security

Regulatory Issues

• Currently there is no existing regulation
• Government to the Rescue?
• Two thoughts on the issue:
• If government can figure out a way to safeguard data any company facing such a loss would applaud the regulation
• on the other hand, those who think the government should stay out of it and let competition and market forces guide cloud computing
• So far US courts have tended to rule that private data stored in the cloud foes not have the same level of protection from law enforcement searches than data stored on a personal computer