UNIT – II : CLOUD COMPUTING FUNDAMENTALS
Motivation for Cloud Computing:
● The users who are in need of computing are expected to invest money on computing resources such as
hardware, software, networking, and storage;
● This investment naturally costs a bulk currency to the users as they have to buy these computing
resources, keep these in their premises, and maintain and make it
operational—all these tasks would add cost.
● And, this is a particularly true and huge expenditure to the enterprises that require enormous
computing power and resources, compared with classical academics and individuals
● On the other hand, it is easy and handy to get the required computing power and resources from
some provider (or supplier) as and when it is needed and pay only for that usage.
● This would cost only a reasonable investment or spending, compared to the huge investment when
buying the entire computing infrastructure.
● This phenomenon can be viewed as capital expenditure versus operational expenditure.
● As one can easily assess the huge lump sum required for capital expenditure (whole investment and
maintenance for computing infrastructure) and compare it with the moderate or smaller lump sum
required for the hiring or getting the computing infrastructure only to the tune of required time, and rest
of the time free from that.
● Therefore, cloud computing is a mechanism of bringing–hiring or getting the services of the computing
power or infrastructure to an organizational or individual level to the extent required and paying only for
the consumed services.
● One can compare this situation with the usage of electricity (its services) from its producer-cum-
distributor (in India, it is the state-/government-owned electricity boards that give electricity supply to all
residences and organizations) to houses or organizations;
● Here, we do not generate electricity (comparable with electricity production–related tasks); rather, we
use it only to tune up our requirements in our premises, such as for our lighting and usage of other
electrical appliances, and pay as per the electricity meter reading value.
● Therefore, cloud computing is needed in getting the services of computing resources.
● Thus, one can say as a one-line answer to the need for cloud computing that it eliminates a large
computing investment without compromising the use of computing at the user level at an operational
cost.
● Cloud computing is very economical and saves a lot of money.
● A blind benefit of this computing is that even if we lose our laptop or due to some crisis our personal
computer—and the desktop system—gets damaged, still our data and files will stay safe and secured as
these are not in our local machine (but remotely located at the provider’s place—machine).
● In addition, one can think to add security while accessing these remote computing resources as
depicted in Figure.
Figure shows several cloud computing applications.
● The cloud represents the Internet-based computing resources, and the accessibility is through some
secure support of connectivity.
● It is a computing solution growing in popularity, especially among individuals and
small- and medium-sized companies (SMEs). In the cloud computing model, an organization’s core
computer power resides offsite and is essentially subscribed to rather than owned.
● Thus, cloud computing comes into focus and is much needed only when we think about what
computing resources and information technology (IT) solutions are required.
● This need caters to a way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly without investing in new
infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software.
● Cloud computing encompasses the subscription based or pay-per-use service model of offering
computing to end users or customers over the Internet and thereby extending the IT’s existing
capabilities.
Some motivations for cloud computing include:
• Cost reduction: Cloud computing can reduce costs for businesses over time.
• Data backup: Cloud computing makes it easy to back up files and data.
• Reliability: Data loss is less likely when using the cloud.
• Accessibility: Users can access files from any computer with an internet connection.
• Collaboration: Cloud computing makes it easier to share files and collaborate with others.
• Disaster recovery: Cloud computing makes it easier to recover from disasters.
• Business continuity: Cloud computing makes it easier to establish business continuity.
• Scalability: Cloud computing allows for scalability.
• Software updates: Cloud computing provides automatic software updates and integration.
The Need for Cloud Computing:
● The main reasons for the need and use of cloud computing are convenience and reliability.
● In the past, if we wanted to bring a file, we would have to save it to a Universal Serial Bus (USB) flash
drive, external hard drive, or compact disc (CD) and bring that device to a different place.
● Instead, saving a file to the cloud (e.g., use of cloud application Dropbox) ensures that we will be able
to access it with any computer that has an Internet connection.
● The cloud also makes it much easier to share a file with friends, making it possible to collaborate over
the web.
● While using the cloud, losing our data/file is much less likely.
● However, just like anything online, there is always a risk that someone may try to gain access to our
personal data, and therefore, it is important to choose an access control with a strong password and pay
attention to any privacy settings for the cloud service that we are using
Defining Cloud Computing:
● In the simplest terms, cloud computing means storing and accessing data and programs over the
Internet from a remote location or computer instead of our computer’s hard drive.
● This so-called remote location has several properties such as scalability, elasticity etc., which is
significantly different from a simple remote machine.
● The cloud is just a metaphor for the Internet. When we store data on or run a program from the local
computer’s hard drive, that is called local storage and computing.
● For it to be considered cloud computing, we need to access our data or programs over the Internet.
● The end result is the same; however, with an online connection, cloud computing can be done
anywhere, anytime, and by any device.
NIST Definition of Cloud Computing:
● The formal definition of cloud computing comes from the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST): “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 .
● It means that the computing resource or infrastructure—be it server hardware, storage, network, or
application software—all available from the cloud vendor or provider’s site/premises, can be accessible
over the Internet from any remote location and by any local computing device.
● In addition, the usage or accessibility is to cost only to the level of usage to the customers based on
their needs and demands, also known as the pay-as-you-go or pay-as-per-use model.
● If the need is more, more quantum computing resources are made available (provisioning with
elasticity) by the provider.
● Minimal management effort implies that at the customer’s side, the maintenance of computing
systems is very minimal as they will have to look at these tasks only for their local computing devices
used for accessing cloud-based resources, not for those computing resources managed at the provider’s
side.
Cloud Computing Is a Service :
● The simplest thing that any computer does is allow us to store and retrieve information.
● We can store our family photographs, our favorite songs, or even save movies on it, which is also the
most basic service offered by cloud computing.
● Let us look at the example of a popular application called Flickr to illustrate the meaning of this
section.
● While Flickr started with an emphasis on sharing photos and images, it has emerged as a great place to
store those images.
In many ways, it is superior to storing the images on your computer:
● 1. First, Flickr allows us to easily access our images no matter where we are or what type of device we
are using. While we might upload the photos of our vacation from our home computer, later, we can
easily access them from our laptop at the office.
● 2. Second, Flickr lets us share the images. There is no need to burn them to a CD or save them on a
flash drive. We can just send someone our Flickr address to share these photos or images.
● 3. Third, Flickr provides data security. By uploading the images to Flickr, we are providing ourselves
with data security by creating a backup on the web. And, while it is always best to keep a local copy—
either on a computer, a CD, or a flash drive—the truth is that we are far more likely to lose the images
that we store locally than Flickr is of losing our images.
Cloud Computing Is a Platform:
● The World Wide Web (WWW) can be considered as the operating system for all our Internet-based
applications
● However, one has to understand that we will always need a local operating system in our computer to
access web based applications.
● The basic meaning of the term platform is that it is the support on which applications run or give
results to the users.
● For example, Microsoft Windows is a platform. But, a platform does not have to be an operating
system.
● Java is a platform even though it is not an operating system.
● Through cloud computing, the web is becoming a platform. With trends (applications) such as Office
2.0, more and more applications that were originally available on desktop computers are now being
converted into web–cloud applications.
● Word processors like Buzzword and office suites like Google Docs are now available in
the cloud as their desktop counterparts.
● All these kinds of trends in providing applications via the cloud are turning cloud computing into a
platform or to act as a platform.
Five Essential Characteristics of Cloud Computing:
● Cloud computing has five essential characteristics, which are shown in Figure .
The word essential, which means that if any of these characteristics is missing, then it is not cloud
computing:
● 1. 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’s provider.
● 2. 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,
laptops, and personal digital assistants [PDAs])
● 3. Elastic 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 the location at a higher level of abstraction (e.g., country, state, or data center).
Examples of resources include storage, processing, memory, and network bandwidth.
● 4. Rapid elasticity: Capabilities can be rapidly and elastically provisioned, in some cases automatically,
to quickly scale out and rapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilities available for
provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can be purchased in any quantity at any time.
● 5. 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
Four Cloud Deployment Models:
● Deployment models describe the ways with which the cloud services can be deployed or made
available to its customers, depending on the organizational structure and the provisioning location.
● One can understand it in this manner too: cloud (Internet)-based computing resources—that is, the
locations where data and services are acquired and provisioned to its customers— can take various
forms.
● Four deployment models are usually distinguished, namely, public, private, community, and hybrid
cloud service usage:
1. Private cloud:
● The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a single organization comprising multiple
consumers (e.g., business units).
● It may be owned, managed, and operated by the organization, a third party, or some combination of
them, and it may exist on or off premises.
2. 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.
3. Community cloud:
● The cloud infrastructure is shared by several organizations and supports a specific community that has
shared concerns (e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and compliance considerations).
● It may be managed by the organizations or a third party and may exist on premise or off premise.
4. 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).
Unit – II QUESTIONS
1. Define cloud computing.
2. What are the 5-4-3 Principles of Cloud computing?
3. List the Five Essential Characteristics of Cloud computing
4. Give the NIST Definition of Cloud Computing
5. What is cloud computing? Why is it needed?
6. Describe a real-life example to illustrate the concepts behind cloud computing.
7. Distinguish between the definitions of cloud computing is a service and cloud computing is a
platform.
8. Is it true that all essential characteristic features of the cloud are necessary to completely
describe it?
9. What are the deployment models of the cloud?
Fill in the Blanks:
1) Flickr allows us to easily access our images no matter where we are or what type of device we are
using.
2)The world Wide Web can be considered as the operating system for all our Internet-based
applications.
3)When we store data on or run a program from the local computer’s hard drive, that is called local
storage and computing
4) Platform is the support on which applications run or give results to the users.
5) Deployment models describe the ways with which the cloud services can be made available to its
customers.
