Cloud Computing Overview

By. Mokhtar Abuelhassan, Mustafa Abdallah

Faculty of Electrical & Electronic Engineering

Computer Department

Abstract

Cloud computing is an upcoming

paradigm that offers tremendous

advantages in economical aspects, such as

reduced time to market, flexible computing

capabilities, and limitless computing

power. To use the full potential of cloud

computing, data is transferred, processed

and stored by external cloud providers.

However, data owners are very skeptical to

place their data outside their own control

sphere.

Cloud computing is a new technology

adopted by several companies for services

and information technology. This new

technique to own organizations, libraries,

and allows to avoid hosting multiple

servers and equipment and avoid dealing

with crashes, installing and upgrading

programs issues. In this project we try to

explain what cloud computing and how it

different from other computing.

Brief history & evolution of cloud

computing

It was a gradual evolution that started in

the 1950s with Mainframe computing.

Multiple users were capable of accessing a

central computer through dumb terminals

or accessible via thin

clients/terminal computers, often referred

to as "static terminals", whose only

function was to provide access to the

mainframe. Because of the costs to buy

and maintain mainframe computers, it was

Cloud Computing Overview

, Mustafa Abdallah

Faculty of Electrical & Electronic Engineering

Cloud computing is an upcoming

paradigm that offers tremendous

advantages in economical aspects, such as

reduced time to market, flexible computing

capabilities, and limitless computing

power. To use the full potential of cloud

sferred, processed

and stored by external cloud providers.

However, data owners are very skeptical to

place their data outside their own control

Cloud computing is a new technology

adopted by several companies for services

y. This new

technique to own organizations, libraries,

and allows to avoid hosting multiple

servers and equipment and avoid dealing

with crashes, installing and upgrading

programs issues. In this project we try to

explain what cloud computing and how it

Brief history & evolution of cloud

It was a gradual evolution that started in

the 1950s with Mainframe computing.

Multiple users were capable of accessing a

central computer through dumb terminals

ia thin

computers, often referred

to as "static terminals", whose only

function was to provide access to the

mainframe. Because of the costs to buy

ntain mainframe computers, it was

OMDURMAN AHLIA UNIVERSITY

not practical for an organization to

buy and maintain one for every employee.

Nor did the typical user needs

the time) storage capacity and processing

power that a mainframe provided.

Providing shared access to a single

resource was the solution that made

economical sense for this advance piece of

technology and after some time, around

1970, the concept of virtual machines

(VMs) was created and a practice of

sharing CPU time on a mainframe became

known in the industry as

Also, during the mid 70s, time

popularly known as RJE (

Entry); this terminology was mostly

associated with large vendors such as IBM

and DEC.[1]

Using virtualization software like

VMware, it became possible to execute

one or more operating systems

simultaneously in an isolated environment.

Complete computers (virtual) could be

executed inside one physical har

which in turn can run a completely

different operating system.

The VM operating system took the 1950s’

shared access mainframe to the next level,

permitting multiple distinct computing

environments to reside on one physical

environment. Virtualization came to drive

the technology, and was an important

motivate in the communication and

information evolution. Also, in the 1990s,

telecommunications companies started

offering virtualized private network (VPN)

connections.[1]

Historically, telecommunications

companies only offered single dedicated

point-to-point data connections. The newly

OMDURMAN AHLIA UNIVERSITY

not practical for an organization to

buy and maintain one for every employee.

user needs the large (at

the time) storage capacity and processing

power that a mainframe provided.

Providing shared access to a single

resource was the solution that made

economical sense for this advance piece of

technology and after some time, around

ncept of virtual machines

(VMs) was created and a practice of

sharing CPU time on a mainframe became

known in the industry as time-sharing. Also, during the mid 70s, time-sharing was

popularly known as RJE (Remote Job

); this terminology was mostly

associated with large vendors such as IBM

Using virtualization software like

VMware, it became possible to execute

one or more operating systems

simultaneously in an isolated environment.

Complete computers (virtual) could be

executed inside one physical hardware

which in turn can run a completely

different operating system.

The VM operating system took the 1950s’

shared access mainframe to the next level,

permitting multiple distinct computing

environments to reside on one physical

Virtualization came to drive

the technology, and was an important

motivate in the communication and

information evolution. Also, in the 1990s,

telecommunications companies started

offering virtualized private network (VPN)

Historically, telecommunications

companies only offered single dedicated

point data connections. The newly

offered virtualized private network

connections had the same service quality

as their dedicated services at a reduced

cost. Instead of building out physical

infrastructure to allow for more users to

have their own connections,

telecommunications companies were now

able to provide users with shared access to

the same physical infrastructure.

The following list briefly explains the

evolution of cloud computing:

Grid computing: Solving large

problems with parallel computing

Utility computing: Offering

computing resources as a metered

service

Software as a service (SaaS):

Network-based subscriptions to

applications

Cloud computing: Anytime,

anywhere access to IT resources

delivered dynamically as a

service.[1]

Figure: Display the evolution of computing

environment

IBM already has platforms in its

portfolio that include private, public and

hybrid cloud solutions. The purchase of

Soft Layer guarantees an even more

comprehensive infrastructure as a service

(IaaS) solution. While many companies

look to maintain some applications in

datacenters, many others are moving to

public clouds.

Even now, the purchase of bare metal can

be modelled in commercial cloud (for

example, billing by usage or put another

way, physical server billing by the hour).

The result of this is that a bare metal server

request with all the resources needed, and

nothing more, can be delivered with a

matter of hours.

The evolution of cloud computing has

only begun in 2007 and the term Cloud

Computing was coined in 2007, typically

refereeing to a joint hardware and software

deployment concept. First research

initiatives were started by Google and

IBM, in cooperation with six American

universities.[1]

Defining cloud computing

National Institute of Standards and

Technology (NIST) definition Cloud computing is a model for

enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-

demand network access to a shared pool of

configurable computing resources (e.g.,

networks, servers, storage, applications,

and services) that can be rapidly

provisioned and released with minimal

management effort or service provider

interaction. This cloud model is composed

of five essential characteristics, three

service models, and four deployment

models.[2]

Essential Characteristics: On-demand self-service: A consumer can

unilaterally provision

computing capabilities, such as

server time and network storage, as

needed automatically without

requiring human interaction with

each service provider.

Broad network access: Capabilities are

available over the network and

accessed through standard

mechanisms that promote use by

heterogeneous thin or thick client

platforms (e.g., mobile phones,

tablets, laptops, and workstations).

Resource 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.

There is a sense of location

independence in that the customer

generally has no control or

knowledge over the exact location of

the provided resources but may be

able to specify location at a higher

level of abstraction (e.g., country,

state, or datacenter). Examples of

resources include storage, processing,

memory, and network bandwidth.

Rapid elasticity: Capabilities can be

elastically provisioned and released,

in some cases automatically, to scale

rapidly outward and inward

commensurate with demand. To the

consumer, the capabilities available

for provisioning often appear to be

unlimited and can be appropriated in

any quantity at any time.

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 (e.g., storage, processing,

bandwidth, and active user accounts).

Resource usage can be monitored,

controlled, and reported, providing

transparency for both the provider

and consumer of the utilized service. [2]

Other definitions

- Cloud computing: is the collective term

for a group of IT technologies which in

collaboration are changing the landscape

of how IT services are provided, accessed

and paid for.

And we see that the definition is based

on how cloud computing change the IT

environment.

- Cloud computing: is a collection of

shared (multitenant) computing resources

that are easily accessed and consumed at

will.

This definition depends on how to ease

the accessing to that resource configured

on cloud.

Key characteristics exhibits in

cloud computing:

- Agility: improves with user ability to

re-provision technological

infrastructure resources.

- Application programming

interface (API): accessibility to

software that enables machines to

interact with cloud software in the

same way that a traditional user

interface (e.g., a computer desktop)

facilitates interaction between

humans and computers. Cloud

computing systems typically use

Representational State Transfer

(REST)-based APIs.

- Cost: reductions claimed by cloud

providers. A public-cloud delivery

model converts capital expenditure

to operational expenditure.[4] This

purportedly lowers barriers to entry,

as infrastructure is typically

provided by a third party and does

not need to be purchased for one-

time or infrequent intensive

computing tasks. Pricing on a utility

computing basis is fine-grained,

with usage-based options and fewer

IT skills are required for

implementation (in-house). The e-

FISCAL project's state-of-the-art

repository contains several articles

looking into cost aspects in more

detail, most of them concluding that

costs savings depend on the type of

activities supported and the type of

infrastructure available in-house.

- Device and location independence:

enable users to access systems using

a web browser regardless of their

location or what device they use

(e.g., PC, mobile phone). As

infrastructure is off-site (typically

provided by a third-party) and

accessed via the Internet, users can

connect from anywhere.[5]

- Maintenance: of cloud computing

applications is easier, because they

do not need to be installed on each

user's computer and can be accessed

from different places.

- Multi-tenancy: enables sharing of

resources and costs across a large

pool of users thus allowing for:

Centralization of infrastructure

in locations with lower costs

(such as real estate, electricity,

etc.)

Peak-load capacity increases

(users need not engineer for

highest possible load-levels)

Utilization and

efficiency improvements for

systems that are often only 10–

20% utilized.[5]

- Performance: is monitored and

consistent and loosely coupled

architectures are constructed

using web services as the system

interface.[6]

- Productivity: may be increased

when multiple users can work on the

same data simultaneously, rather

than waiting for it to be saved and

emailed. Time may be saved as

information does not need to be re-

entered when fields are matched, nor

do users need to install application

software upgrades to their computer.

- Reliability: improves with the use of

multiple redundant sites, which

makes well-designed cloud

computing suitable for business

continuity and disaster recovery.

- Scalability & elasticity: via dynamic

("on-demand") provisioning of

resources on a fine-grained, self-

service basis in near real-time (Note,

the VM startup time varies by VM

type, location, OS and cloud

providers), without users having to

engineer for peak loads.[6]

- Security: can improve due to

centralization of data, increased

security-focused resources, etc., but

concerns can persist about loss of

control over certain sensitive data,

and the lack of security for stored

kernels. Security is often as good as

or better than other traditional

systems, in part because providers

are able to devote resources to

solving security issues that many

customers cannot afford to

tackle. However, the complexity of

security is greatly increased when

data is distributed over a wider area

or over a greater number of devices,

as well as in multi-tenant systems

shared by unrelated users. In

addition, user access to

security audit logs may be difficult

or impossible. Private cloud

installations are in part motivated by

users' desire to retain control over

the infrastructure and avoid losing

control of information security.[8]

How cloud applications help your

business Cloud computing offers a number of

benefits that the organization can realize

on a number of levels.

Operational Benefits:

There are benefits to the way you operate.

You can change business processes (for the

better) by moving some applications and

storage to the cloud. The following are

some of the operational benefits:

• Reduced cost Since technology is

paid incrementally; your

organization saves money in the

long run.

• Increased storage You can store

more data on the cloud than on a

private network. Plus, if you need

more it’s easy enough to get that

extra storage.

• Automation Your IT staff no longer

needs to worry that an application is

up to date—that’s the provider’s job.

And they know they have to keep it

up to date or they’ll start losing

customers.

• Flexibility You have more

flexibility with a cloud solution.

Applications can be tested and

deployed with ease, and if it turns

out that a given application isn’t

getting the job done, you can switch

to another.

• Better mobility Users can access

the cloud from anywhere with an

Internet connection. This is ideal for

road warriors or telecommuters—or

someone who needs to access the

system after hours.

• Better use of IT staff IT staff no

longer has to worry about server

updates and other computing issues.

They can focus on duties that matter,

rather than being maintenance

staff.[3]

Economic Benefits:

With cloud computing, cost is a huge

factor. But it isn’t just in equipment

savings; it is realized throughout the

organization. These are some benefits to

consider:

• People We hate to suggest that

anyone lose their job, but the honest-

to-goodness truth (we’re sorry) is

that by moving to the cloud, you’ll

rely on fewer staffers. By having

fewer staff members, you can look

at your team and decide if such-and-

such a person is necessary. Is he or

she bringing something to the

organization? Are their core

competencies something you still

need? If not, this gives you an

opportunity to find the best people to

remain on staff.

• Hardware With the exception of

very large enterprises or

governments, major cloud suppliers

can purchase hardware, networking

equipment, bandwidth, and so forth,

much cheaper than a “regular”

business. That means if you need

more storage, it’s just a matter of

upping your subscription costs with

your provider, instead of buying new

equipment. If you need more

computational cycles, you needn’t

buy more servers; rather you just

buy more from your cloud provider.

• Pay as you go Think of cloud

computing like leasing a car. Instead

of buying the car outright, you pay a

smaller amount each month. It’s the

same with cloud computing—you

just pay for what you use. But, also

like leasing a car, at the end of the

lease you don’t own the car. That

might be a good thing—the car may

be a piece of junk, and in the case of

a purchased server, it’s sure to be

obsolete.

• Time to market One of the greatest

benefits of the cloud is the ability to

get apps up and running in a fraction

of the time you would need in a

conventional scenario. Let’s take a

closer look at that and see how

getting an application online faster

saves you money. Before the cloud,

launching a startup meant using

either an underpowered or inflexible

host or an overpriced self-host. The

former was a bad option, because it

was inflexible. The latter cost a lot

of money: You had to find a host,

configure the machine, ship the

machine, and manage the machine.

With a cloud, you can spin up a new

instance in seconds.[3]

Staffing Benefits:

There are Staffing benefits in being a

cloud provider.

For the Consumer

The consumer benefits from cloud

computing in a number of ways, for

example:

No software installation or

maintenance That means no more

1,000-page planning and

implementation guides.

Shorter deployment time It takes

only a few minutes to spin up a new

server, rather than the months it

would normally take to plan,

prepare, test, and deploy.

Worldwide availability By using a

cloud, your users can access data

and applications from anywhere they

have Internet access.

Service Level Agreement (SLA)

adherence If you have an SLA, then

you’re guaranteed that level of

service. And if you report any bugs,

the vendor will fix them, but you

don’t have to hassle with the patch

yourself—it’ll likely be done in a

way that is transparent to you.

Upgrades The provider wants to

keep you happy, so it’s in their best

interests to ensure the application is

constantly improved. With SaaS this

can be in the guise of small changes

that you don’t see that add up over

time, rather than getting a monstrous

patch that costs you time and money

to implement.

Make life easier on your IT staff

SaaS offloads a lot of the

maintenance duties onto your cloud

provider so that your IT staff can

focus on improving the day-today

technical operations of your

company, rather than being called to

fix some piece of software that isn’t

playing well with the others on the

network.

More money Your organization

saves money by using a cloud

vendor, both in operational costs and

the IT budget. This is money that

can be added to your bottom line or

redistributed to other departments to

boost productivity.[3]

For the Provider

There is benefit to the cloud providers

as well, and it isn’t just money. Here are

some of the ways that cloud computing is a

plus for the provider:

Operating environment The

provider owns their domain. They

aren’t just sending technicians to fix

or customize software because it

doesn’t fit on a client’s unique (or

antique) infrastructure. The provider

has the control to optimize an

infrastructure to their specific SaaS

needs.

Predictable revenue stream

Because customers will be paying a

subscription for their cloud use, it is

easy to get a handle on forecasting

revenues.

Study use The provider is able to

study how their SaaS is used and is

then able to give customers more of

what they want. This isn’t possible if

software is housed on customers’

networks.

Small, regular upgrades This isn’t

just a benefit for customers, but the

providers, as well. The provider’s

development teams can focus on

fixing bugs with incremental patch

rollouts, rather than saving them for

one, monstrous rollout.

Customer relationship

management Providers also must

develop strong relationships with

their customers. Since they are

providing a subscription-based

service, it is important to keep

customers happy, rather than try to

score the next big deal. While it is

important to keep customers coming

in, it is just as important to keep

existing customers happy.[3]

Different between internet and

cloud computing Cloud computing gets its name as a

metaphor for the Internet. Typically, the

Internet is represented in network diagrams

as a cloud, as shown in above. The cloud

icon represents “all that other stuff” that

makes the network work. It’s kind of like

“etc.” for the rest of the solution map. It

also typically means an area of the diagram

or solution that is someone else’s concern,

so why diagram it all out? It’s probably

this notion that is most applicable to the

cloud computing concept.

But there’s more going on under the hood

than to simply equate cloud computing to

the internet. In essence, 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; most often, this

will be a distant datacenter.[3]

Figure: cloud is used in network diagrams to

depict the Internet

Either you ran around with a CD or DVD-

ROM and installed it on all the computers,

or you set up your software distribution

servers to automatically install the

application on your machines “see

figure”.[3]

From this can write about different

that cloud computing is used the internet to

access to the application that store in

servers “datacenters” that owned by

company “service provider” that hosted

your information.

Also, to accessing your data can use the

Point to Point connection but this very

costly.[3]

Figure: With cloud computing, other companies

host your applications

Classification of cloud computing

services Whether or not you move to the cloud

depends on your organization, what you

need to accomplish, and whether or not the

cloud can help you do it. In fact, there are

instances where you should not move to

the cloud. But there are also instances

when you certainly should add cloud

computing to your IT repertoire.

Services:

The term services in cloud computing is

the concept of being able to use reusable,

fine-grained components across a vendor’s

network. This is widely known as “as a

service”.[3] Offerings with as a service as a

suffix include traits like the following:

- Low barriers to entry, making them

available to small businesses

- Large scalability

- Multi-tenancy, which allows resources

to be shared by many users

- Device independence, which allows

users to access the systems on

different hardware.[3]

Cloud computing services model:

Software as a service (SaaS): This model

was around long before anyone started

talking about cloud computing. It is an

online application that you can use instead

of one that you install on a server or a PC.

One of the oldest examples is webmail.

People have been using Hotmail, Yahoo!

Mail, and others since the 1990s. Many

users of these services do not install an

email client; instead they browse to the

website of the service provider, log in, and

correspond with their friends, family, and

colleagues. Since then the variety of

personal and business applications has

exploded.[3] Rather than deploying an

Exchange Server and a SharePoint farm in

a small business or a branch office (which

requires servers and time), you can

subscribe to Microsoft Office 365 and

deploy mailboxes and SharePoint sites in a

matter of hours, and users can access those

services from anywhere on the planet if

they have Internet access. Other examples

include Salesforce Customer resource

management CRM, Accounting, and

Google Apps. The strength of SaaS is that

any user can subscribe to a service as

quickly as they can pay with their credit

card. In addition to this, the company

doesn’t have to deploy or manage an

application infrastructure. The experience

is not that different from purchasing an app

for a Smartphone: you find something that

meets your needs, you pay for it, and you

start using it-with maybe some local

configuration on the PC to maximize

service. The disadvantage is that these

systems are not always flexible and may

not integrate well with other business

applications your organization requires.

SaaS is a generalized service that aims to

meet the needs of the majority of the

market. The rest of the market must find

something that they can customize frothier

own needs.[4]

Figure: SaaS delivered to client from vendors

The idea is that you use the software out

of the box as is and do not need to make a

lot of changes or require integration to

other systems “SaaS provides an

application or piece of software from the

service provider.” and the provider does all

the patching and upgrades as well as

keeping the infrastructure running. Also,

one of the biggest benefits of SaaS is

costing less money than buying the

application outright. The service provider

can offer cheaper, more reliable

applications than organizations can by

themselves.[3]

Platform as a service (PaaS): is another

application of delivery model. PaaS

supplies all the resources required to build

applications and services completely from

the Internet, without having to download

or install software and services include

application design, development, testing,

deployment, and hosting. Other services

include team collaboration, web service

integration, database integration, security,

scalability, storage, state management, and

versioning “PaaS allows clients to access a

computing platform over a cloud

computing solution”.

Also, PaaS generally offers some support

to help the creation of user interfaces, and

is normally based on HTML or JavaScript

and generally provides automatic facilities

for concurrency management, scalability,

failover, and security.

PaaS is found in one of three different

types of systems:

- Add-on development facilities: these

allow existing SaaS applications to

be customized. Often, PaaS

developers and users are required to

purchase subscriptions to the add-on

SaaS application.

- Stand-alone environments: these

environments do not include

licensing, technical, or financial

dependencies on specific SaaS

applications and are used for general

developments.

- Application delivery-only

environments: these environments

support hosting level services, like

security and on-demand scalability.

They do not include development,

debugging, and test capabilities.[3]

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS):

sometimes Hardware as a Service (HaaS)

is the next form of service available in

cloud computing. Where SaaS and PaaS

are providing applications to customers,

HaaS doesn’t. It simply offers the

hardware so that your organization can put

whatever they want onto it.[3]

Figure: IaaS allows service providers to rent

hardware resources

Also, HaaS allows you to “rent” such

resources as:

Server space

Network equipment

Memory

CPU cycles

Storage space

Additionally, the infrastructure can be

dynamically scaled up or down, based on

the application resource needs. [9]

Software plus Services: (Sometimes they

shorten it to S+S). In this model, typical

SaaS is bolstered with software running

locally. That is, you run some software on-

site and reach out to the cloud for

additional services. This provides the

flexibility of using a cloud provider, and

also the reliability of having data stored

on-site, as well.[9]

Figure: Cloud computing providers offer their

services according to several fundamental models [5]

There are additional services that cloud

computing migrate and give it such as:

- Database as a service (DaaS)

- Network as a service (NaaS)

- Unified Communications as a

Service

- Operating system as Service

- To XaaS.

Cloud computing deployment

models: Private cloud: A private cloud is entirely

dedicated to the needs of a single

organization or the cloud infrastructure is

provisioned for exclusive use by a single

organization comprising multiple

consumers (e.g., business units).[9] An on-

premises private cloud resides in the

owner’s computer room or datacenter and

is managed by the organization’s own IT

staff. With the on-premises approach, a

company has complete control of the data

center, the infrastructure, and the

networks.[3]

Community cloud: The cloud

infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive

use by a specific community of consumers

from organizations that have shared

concerns (e.g., mission, security

requirements, policy, and compliance

considerations). It may be owned,

managed, and operated by one or more of

the organizations in the community, a third

party, or some combination of them, and it

may exist on or off premises.

Public cloud: The cloud infrastructure is

provisioned for open use by the general

public. It may be owned, managed, and

operated by a business, academic, or

government organization, or some

combination of them. It exists on the

premises of the cloud provider.

Hybrid cloud: The cloud infrastructure is a

composition of two or more distinct cloud

infrastructures (private, community, or

public) that remain unique entities, but are

bound together by standardized or

proprietary technology that enables data

and application portability (e.g., cloud

bursting for load balancing between

clouds). [4]

Components of cloud computing

solution: Cloud computing solution is made up of

several elements: clients, the datacenter,

and distributed servers. As shown in

Figure below, these components make up

the three parts of a cloud computing

solution and each element has a purpose

and plays a specific role in delivering a

functional cloud based application.[3]

Figure: Three components make up a cloud

computing solution

Clients Are the devices that the end users

interact with to manage their information

on the cloud.

They are, typically, the computers that

just sit on your desk. But they might also

be laptops, tablet computers, mobile

phones, or PDAs—all big drivers for cloud

computing because of their mobility and

generally divided into three categories:

- Mobile: Mobile devices include

PDAs or smartphones, like a

Blackberry, Windows Mobile

Smartphone, or an iPhone.

- Thin clients: Clients are computers

that do not have internal hard drives,

but rather let the servers do all the

work, but then display the

information.

- Thick clients: This type of client is

a regular computer, using a web

browser like Firefox or Internet

Explorer to connect to the cloud.

Thin clients are becoming an

increasingly popular solution, because of

their price and effect on the environment

and there’s also a high level of security,

because no data is stored on the thin client.

All the data resides in your datacenter or

on the cloud, so the risk of a physical

breach is small.[3]

Datacenters Is the collection of servers where the

application to which you subscribe is

housed. It could be a large room in the

basement of your building or a room full of

servers on the other side of the world that

you access via the Internet.

A growing trend in the IT world is

virtualizing servers. That is, software can

be installed allowing multiple instances of

virtual servers to be used. In this way, a

dozen of virtual servers running on one

physical server this number of virtual

servers that can exist on a physical server

depend on size and speed of the physical

server and what applications will be

running on the virtual server.[3]

Distributed servers Is that servers are depending in

geographically disparate locations. But to

the cloud subscriber, see these servers act

as if they’re humming away right next to

each other.

This gives the service provider more

flexibility in options and security. For

instance, Amazon has their cloud solution

in servers all over the world (redundancy).

If something were to happen at one site,

causing a failure, the service would still be

accessed through another site.[3]

Cloud computing scenarios

There are three different major

implementations of cloud computing. How

organizations are using cloud computing is

quite different at a granular level, but the

uses generally fall into one of these three

solutions:

Compute cloud Is allowing access to highly scalable,

inexpensive, on-demand computing

resources that run the code that they’re

given this scenario like:

Amazon’s EC2

Google App Engine

Also, it simply depends on applications

user need to access and the advantages of

these applications are good for any size

organization, but large organizations might

be at a disadvantage because these

applications don’t offer the standard

management, monitoring, and governance

capabilities that these organizations are

used to.[3]

Figure (2.8): Compute clouds allow you to access

applications maintained on a provider’s equipment

Cloud storage: It’s one of the first cloud offerings was

cloud storage and it remains a popular

solution. Cloud storage is a big world.

There are already in excess of 100 vendors

offering cloud storage. This is an ideal

solution if you want to maintain files off-

site.

Figure: Cloud storage allows you to store your

data on a vendor’s equipment

Security and cost are the top issues in

this field and vary greatly, depending on

the vendor you choose. Currently, Amazon

Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) is the

top dog.[3]

Cloud applications: It differs from compute clouds in that

they utilize software applications that rely

on cloud infrastructure. Cloud applications

are versions of SaaS and include such

things as web applications that are

delivered to users via a browser or

application like Microsoft Online

Services.[3]

Figure: Cloud applications deliver applications

that depend on the infrastructure of the Internet

itself

Accessing the cloud To select the best tools to connect to the

cloud will depend on many factors, not the

least of which is the provider you use, and

there are a number of development tools

that allow you to build your applications

and several browser options that you can

use to access those applications.[3]

Platforms: It is how a cloud computing

environment is delivered to the customers

such as:

- Web application Framework: is used

to support the development of dynamic

web sites, web applications, and web

services. The point of a framework is

to reduce the overhead that comes with

common activities in web

development.

- Web hosting service: is allowing user

to store their data and applications.

This is what we think of when the

term “cloud provider” is used. This is

the organization that will host your

data. Some web hosting services

include Amazon Elastic Compute

Cloud and Mosso.

- Proprietary method: is that used by

individual companies to offering their

own, proprietary methods to connect

to the cloud. Microsoft (Azure) and

Force.com are two examples of

companies that have designed their

own infrastructure for connecting to

the cloud.[3]

Web application: If the customers are going to use

applications on the cloud, there are many

to choose from. Much of decision-making

process will come down to your provider

and what they offer.

Different companies offer different things,

but for the sake of understanding the

market, let’s take Google cloud giant and

them offering. Google Apps, launched as a

free service in August 2006, is a suite of

applications that includes:

Gmail webmail services

Google Calendar shared calendaring

Google Talk instant messaging and

Voice Over IP[3]

Web browsers: To connect to the cloud, most likely

you and your users will utilize a web

browser such as Internet Explorer, Google

chrome, Safari, and Firefox.[3]

References

[1] Strachey, Christopher (June 1959). "Time Sharing in Large Fast Computers”. Proceedings of the International Conference on Information processing.

[2] National Institute of Standards and Technology. "The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing". Retrieved 24 July 2011.

[3] Anthony T.Velte, Toby J.Velte, and Ph.D. Robert Elsenpeter, Cloud Computing - A Practical Approach.pdf, Copyright © 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, ISBN: 978-0-07-162695-8.

[4] Aidan Finn, Hans Vredevoort, Patrick Lownds, and Damian Flynn Microsoft Private Cloud Computing, Copyright © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, ISBN: 978-1-118-25147-8.

[5] Voorsluys, William; Broberg, James; Buyya, Rajkumar (February 2011). "Introduction to Cloud Computing". In R. Buyya, J. Broberg, A.Goscinski. Cloud Computing: Principles and Paradigms. New York, USA: Wiley Press. pp. 1–44. ISBN: 978-0-470-88799-8.

[6] Mao, Ming; M. Humphrey (2012). "A Performance Study on the VM Startup Time in the Cloud". Proceedings of 2012 IEEE 5th International Conference on Cloud Computing (Cloud2012):.