Cloud
Computing
Basics
A Beginner’s Guide
Table of
Contents
Overview 01
What Is Cloud Computing? 02
Why Do You Need To Learn Cloud 03
Computing?
Career Progression In Cloud Computing 04
Industry Applications Of Cloud Computing 05
Real-Life Examples Of Cloud Computing 06
Key Terminologies Used In Cloud Computing 09
Skills And Tools Required To Build A Career 13
In Cloud Computing
Get Started With Simplilearn: Courses 15
Offered By Simplilearn
Overview
This Cloud Computing handbook will be a comprehensive guide for
professional individuals to get an idea about cloud computing as well
as its industrial applications. Cloud computing is useful and facilitates
the applications and data from any location globally through any
platform and offers businesses with scalable computing resources.
This handbook covers the following topics:
Introduction To Cloud Computing And Why You Need To Learn It
Industry Importance And Applications Of Cloud Computing
Career Progression In Cloud Computing
Relatable Real-Life Examples Of Cloud Computing
Key Terminologies Used In The Cloud Computing
Skills Required To Build A Career In Cloud Computing And The
Tools To Be Learnt
How Simplilearn Offers Courses On Cloud Computing – Get
Started With Simplilearn
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What Is Cloud
Computing?
Cloud computing is the delivery of IT services through the internet
on-demand with a pay-as-you-go pricing model. With the help of
cloud computing, you can access IT resources, such as several tools
and applications, data storage, servers, databases, and software
from a cloud service provider such as Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Cloud-based storage makes it achievable to save files in the remote
database, not stressing much on your local system and can be
accessed with a compatible device or software program.
In recent times, the popularity of cloud computing has increased
for businesses due to several reasons, such as cost savings,
increased productivity, the enhanced speed with better efficiency,
performance, as well as security.
Along with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Salesforce’s CRM system
and Microsoft Azure are also popular public cloud offerings.
Moreover, businesses are now using more than one cloud service for
exemplary features.
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Why Do You Need
To Learn Cloud
Computing?
Due to its increasing popularity, companies around the world are
in search of more cloud computing experts, as more organizations
are now switching from the classical server infrastructure to cloud
solutions to implement critical applications.
Cloud computing helps you innovate new programming methods
to develop and deploy application access to the users, plus you can
provide this to your customers as a service.
With three business models: Platform as a Service (PaaS), software
as a Service (SaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), it is likely
that in future, the system and network administrator jobs will be
replaced if you are not updated with your skills. Cloud computing is
helping businesses automate and configure their systems, as many
are now transforming their onsite data center to clouds. Hence, there
will be a huge demand for experts configuring Cloud Computing
Infrastructure and APIs into their applications and storage.
Learning cloud computing is beneficial in the IT field too, helping
you invent new applications and software, gaining you better career
opportunities, as well as business in clouds. It helps you gain a hand
at infrastructure development and integration, billing methods,
private and public cloud, secure document sharing, storage, backup
and recovery, etc.
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Career
Progression In
Cloud Computing
With cloud becoming an intrinsic part of the market, the demand for
Cloud Engineers is on the rise with every passing day. Companies
are willing to pay thousands of dollars to cloud architects who can
maintain their cloud-hosted systems.
It opens the doors to many career opportunities, listed as below, which you can
opt for based on your qualification and experience:
Cloud Solution Architect
Cloud Developer Engineer
Cloud DevOps Engineer
Cloud System Engineer/ Administrator
Cloud SysOps Administrator
Cloud Network Engineer
Cloud Network Security Engineer
Cloud Product Manager
Cloud Consultant
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Industry
Applications Of
Cloud Computing
As more industries adopt the cloud into their infrastructure, they
can reap the benefits of general cloud solutions to serve multiple
verticals.
Here is a list of the top industry applications of cloud computing to give you an
idea of its potential, and the major industry verticals it can serve:
Education
Educational institutions can be benefited from cloud-based solutions
suitable for both the staff employees and students. Faculty and IT
departments can keep students’ data securely. Students can access
the information, collaborate with teachers, and have great education
experience.
Healthcare
Safety, security, and privacy are the major concerns of a healthcare
industry that is adequately taken care of by cloud solutions. Doctors
can now access the patient’s medical history, and the solutions abide
by HIPAA compliance for proper treatment and diagnosis.
Automotive
The automotive industry needs data availability as they want to give
information about their inventory as well as accessible locations for
dealing with the clients and giving them better customer service.
Having a common cloud environment for both automotive suppliers
and manufacturers can be beneficial.
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Finance
Recently, many financial organizations, such as banks and insurance
firms, have adopted SaaS programs to keep track of records and
handle back-office tasks. Capital markets implement cloud-powered
AI to help them in device investment strategies and financial data
management.
Manufacturing
Cloud solutions can be beneficial for manufacturing businesses and
can also be helpful in enterprise resource planning (ERP) to migrate
your business management practices to the cloud. For the orders to
be funneled, it can do so at ease and quickly employ useful channels.
This is the list of the top five industrial applications of cloud computing,
which is the most profitable sector of today. But, the list doesn’t end here; the
application of cloud computing can be furthermore extended to real estate,
law, production, hospitality, and non-profit organizations.
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Real-Life
Examples Of
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is a software model that provides access to shared
pools of storage, networks, servers, and applications with ease of
installation, low maintenance, and scalability.
Cloud Storage
With the increasing need to store data and to find space in the cloud
for the same, the number of cloud storage providers have increased
tremendously. Listing a few are Dropbox, Gmail and Facebook.
Amongst these, Dropbox, being the leader in the cloud storage,
allows storage of approximately one terabyte. Gmail also provides
unlimited cloud storage and has also revolutionized email-sending,
whereas Facebook has its virtue and offers infinite information
storage in the form of images and videos that can be accessed from
multiple devices. It also provides a Messenger app that allows the
exchange of data.
Business Communication
Cloud Computing provides SaaS tools used by teams and
companies for collaborations and passing on group messages
initiated by individuals and teams to provide details of a project to
ensure everybody has access to the information and can actively
communicate during the meetings and put their points forward. One
of such tools is Slack also enables features such as video chatting
and file-sharing as well as integrating other cloud facilities such as
Dropbox, and Salesforce for more storage and better CRM.
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Data Management
Cloud Computing is also helpful for business giants manage their
cloud-based apps by providing frameworks for handling large chunks
of data and business automation and ensure that the data quality is
kept intact as big data companies require massive amounts of data
storage and analyzing the same. One such tool is Collibra which is
capable of handling it profusely with added security for business
records. It empowers enterprises to improve the quality of business
decisions.
Belgium’s largest telecommunications company, Proximus, has opted
for Collibra for a long time to manage its data governance in a better
way due to its high-end quality.
Marketing
Cloud computing offers Marketing Cloud Platforms that serve as end-
to-end digital marketing platforms for clients to manage contacts
and target leads to gaining conversion rates for their businesses.
Some of the emerging examples are Maropost, Hubspot, and Adobe
Marketing Cloud. Maropost Marketing Cloud combines marketing
automation, as well as leads targeting, and making sure that emails
arrive in the inbox appropriately with its advanced email deliverability
capabilities.
HubSpot offers a full platform of marketing, sales, customer service,
and CRM software — plus the methodology, resources, and support
— to help businesses flourish.
Online Streaming
One of the major examples of online streaming enabled cloud
computing is Netflix, which offers scalable usage of resources with
subscription fees. Online streaming sites utilize cloud computing for
providing the same quality performance offline and online. It allows
the content curators to make complex and robust interactive content.
It ensures efficient usage of bandwidth as any user chooses to watch
some peculiar content based on their preference and choice.
Along with Netflix, some other service providers of online streaming
applications are HBO Now, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Sling Orange, etc.
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Key Terminologies
Used In Cloud
Computing
The Internet is flooded with cloud terms, and there are some
common terms one needs to know for understanding industry
developments and future trends in cloud computing.
Below is a brief of some the key cloud computing terminologies:
Software as a Service (SaaS)
SaaS comprises software applications to be run on remote
computers operated by others providing real-time information with
no loss of data.
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
PaaS is a cloud-based environment that supports building and
deploying cloud-based applications, eliminating the need to purchase
hardware, software, management, and hosting tools.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
IaaS is a business model where businesses provide several computing
resources, such as servers, storage, networks, and data centre
spaces.
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Anything as a Service (XaaS)
This is a generic term that refers to any cloud-related and enabled
service available through the internet. It can be replicated with SaaS,
DaaS, PaaS, and IaaS, etc.
Desktop as a Service (DaaS)
Desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) is a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI),
where VDI is outsourced and handled by a third-party vendor and is
also sometimes called ‘hosted desktop services’.
Cloud Storage
A service that allows internet users to save data by transferring it
over the internet or another network to a third-party offsite storage
system.
Private Cloud
This is the part of the cloud that is meant for a certain organization
for its usage. It gives added security in contrast to the public cloud.
Public Cloud
These are parts of the cloud that are owned and run by companies
that provide accessibility of computing resources to the general
public.
Hybrid Cloud
The term hybrid cloud utilizes private cloud infrastructure along with
public cloud services that most companies are shifting towards.
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Cloud Provider
An organization that offers a cloud-based platform, infrastructure,
application, or storage services to other organizations or individuals
in exchange for a price.
Cloudsourcing
It is transforming conventional IT services with cloud services.
Cluster
It is a chunk of linked computers that work closely together, similar to
a single computer, for higher availability and load balancing.
External Cloud
Public or private cloud services that are offered by a third-party
source, outside one’s company.
Hosted Application
An internet-based application or software program that runs on a
remote server that can be accessed via an internet-connected PC.
OpenStack
OpenStack is a free, open-source cloud platform that is primarily
deployed as an Iaas offering on the cloud.
Subscription-Based Pricing Model
A pricing model that lets customers pay a fee to use the SaaS
services for a particular period.
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Vendor Lock-In
It refers to locking in of a particular cloud vendor and finding it
difficult to move from one cloud vendor to another due to lack of
standardized protocols, APIs, data structures (schema), and service
models.
Vertical Cloud
An optimizable cloud computing environment to be utilised in a
particular industry for specified operations.
Cloudware
Software that enables creation, deployment, and running applications
in the cloud.
Microsoft Azure
Microsoft cloud services that provide the platform, as a service
business model, tending to developers creating cloud applications
and services.
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Skills And Tools
Required To Build
A Career In Cloud
Computing
Cloud computing is one of the highly demanded technologies and
always requires qualified professionals. Thus, to meet the criteria to
bag the hottest job offers, the candidate needs to have a specific skill
set that industries of almost all prime sectors are looking for.
Let’s see what they are to get you started in the cloud computing career:
Programming Languages
There are some programming languages that you need to master to
create cloud applications, which include Java, C, Python, Perl, Ruby,
.net, as the application demand is so versatile, and the created end
application must be robust as well as scalable. Along with learning
the languages, you also need to master your coding skills.
Database Management
A person who can set-up, access and manage the databases is much
in demand. Knowledge of a database query language and related
database platforms is essential. For that, the developer needs to
learn database languages such as SQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Hadoop,
etc. to manage those large chunks of data.
Certification Courses
Industries prefer the candidate holding certifications from verified
courses. Today, major service providers such as Amazon and
Microsoft offer training and certifications such as AWS Certification,
Azure Certification, and as well as Google Cloud Certification to build
your credibility as a cloud professional. Simplilearn is one of those.
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Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning are the game-changers in
the field of cloud-based technology. With AI, you can get the edge of
data integration, aggregation, and analysis without human assistance
enhancing user experience. A professional with these two skills are
obviously in great demand.
Cloud Platforms
A cloud professional must be in the most common cloud platforms
such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform and
Microsoft Azure, which can greatly enhance their profile as well as
leave a positive impression on the employer.
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Get Started With
Simplilearn:
Courses Offered
By Simplilearn
No matter how skillful you are at the learned tools and technologies,
a certification will add more stars to your profile and help you
gain knowledge about the most-recent skills contributing to your
organization’s success.
For making a mark in the cloud industry, a cloud computing course
such as the Cloud Engineer Masters Program offered by Simplilearn
can help your resume get noticed by recruitment companies. It also
proves to your employers that you have the right cloud computing
skills, knowledge, and expertise for the job.
Cloud Computing Master’s Program has a Master’s Program and
comprises 11 courses for Cloud Architect, 5 courses for AWS Cloud
Architect as well as 5 courses for Azure Cloud Architect, better
learned with expert professionals with guidance at every stage.
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Other Cloud Computing Certifications and Trainings are as below:
AWS Technical Essentials Certification Training course
Microsoft Azure Fundamentals Training Course
AWS Developer Associate
AWS SysOps Associate
AWS Solutions Architect
Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate AZ-104
Microsoft Certified Azure Developer Associate: AZ-204
Microsoft Azure Architect Technologies: AZ-300
Microsoft Azure Architect Design: AZ-301
Google Cloud Platform Architect Training
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