Cloud Computing: Characteristics, Types - Public, Private & Hybrid Cloud; IaaS, PaaS, FaaS, SaaS YouTube Lecture Handouts Part 1

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Cloud Computing: Characteristics, Types - Public, Private & Hybrid Cloud; IaaS, PaaS, FaaS, SaaS

Title: 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.
  • 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.
  • Although this widely-adopted description of what makes a cloud computing solution is very valuable, it is not very tangible or easy to understand.

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services.

Servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence

  • 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.
  • ‘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.’
  • Although this widely-adopted description of what makes a cloud computing solution is very valuable, it is not very tangible or easy to understand.

Benefits of Cloud Computing

Illustration: 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.

Types of Cloud Computing

Illustration: Types of Cloud Computing

There are three different ways to deploy cloud services: on a public cloud, private cloud or hybrid cloud.

  • Public cloud: These are owned and operated by a third-party cloud service provider which deliver their computing resources like servers and storage over the Internet. Microsoft Azure is an example of a public cloud. With a public cloud, all hardware, software and other supporting infrastructure is owned and managed by the cloud provider. You access these services and manage your account using a web browser.
  • Private cloud: It refers to cloud computing resources used exclusively by a single business or organisation. A private cloud can be physically located on the company՚s on-site datacenter. Some companies also pay third-party service providers to host their private cloud. A private cloud is one in which the services and infrastructure are maintained on a private network.
  • Hybrid cloud: It combine public and private clouds, bound together by technology that allows data and applications to be shared between them. By allowing data and applications to move between private and public clouds, a hybrid cloud gives your business greater flexibility, more deployment options and helps optimize your existing infrastructure, security and compliance.

Public Cloud

  • A public cloud environment is owned by an outsourced cloud provider.
  • This model provides services and infrastructure to businesses who want to save money on IT operational costs, but it՚s the cloud provider who is responsible for the creation and maintenance of the resources.
  • Public clouds are ideal for small and medium sized businesses with a tight budget requiring a quick and easy platform in which to deploy IT resources.

Pros of a Public Cloud

  • Easy scalability
  • No geographical restrictions
  • Cost effective
  • Highly reliable
  • Easy to manage

Cons of a Public Cloud

Not considered the safest option for sensitive data

Private Cloud

  • This cloud model is a bespoke infrastructure owned by a single business.
  • This model can be externally hosted or can be managed in-house. Although private cloud hosting can be expensive, for larger businesses it can offer a higher level of security and more autonomy to customize the storage, networking and compute components to suit their IT requirements.

Pros of a Private Cloud

  • Improved level of security
  • Greater control over the server
  • Customisable

Cons of a Private Cloud

  • Harder to access data from remote locations
  • Requires IT expertise

Hybrid Cloud

For businesses seeking the benefits of both private and public cloud deployment models, a hybrid cloud environment is a good option. By combining the two models, a hybrid cloud model provides a more tailored IT solution that meets specific business requirements.

Pros of a Hybrid Cloud

  • Highly flexible and scalable
  • Cost effective
  • Enhanced security

Cons of a Hybrid Cloud

Communication in network level may be conflicted as it՚s used in both private and public clouds.

Illustration: Cons of a Hybrid Cloud

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) , Microsoft Azure, IBM՚s Blue Cloud, Sun Cloud, and Google Cloud are examples of the public cloud.

Hybrid cloud refers to a mixed computing, storage, and services environment made up of on-premises infrastructure, private cloud services, and a public cloud such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft Azure — with orchestration among the various platforms.

Mayank