Cloud Computing

What is Cloud Computing

The term cloud refers to a network or the internet. It is a technology that uses
remote servers on the internet to store, manage, and access data online rather than
local drives. The data can be anything such as files, images, documents, audio, video,
and more.

There are the following operations that we can do using cloud computing:

o Developing new applications and services

o Storage, back up, and recovery of data
o Hosting blogs and websites
o Delivery of software on demand
o Analysis of data
o Streaming videos and audios

Why Cloud Computing?

Small as well as large IT companies, follow the traditional methods to provide the IT
infrastructure. That means for any IT company, we need a Server Room that is the
basic need of IT companies.

In that server room, there should be a database server, mail server, networking,
firewalls, routers, modem, switches, QPS (Query Per Second means how much
queries or load will be handled by the server), configurable system, high net speed,
and the maintenance engineers.
To establish such IT infrastructure, we need to spend lots of money. To overcome all
these problems and to reduce the IT infrastructure cost, Cloud Computing comes
into existence.

Characteristics of Cloud Computing

The characteristics of cloud computing are given below:

1) Agility

The cloud works in a distributed computing environment. It shares resources

among users and works very fast.

2) High availability and reliability

The availability of servers is high and more reliable because the chances of
infrastructure failure are minimum.

3) High Scalability

Cloud offers "on-demand" provisioning of resources on a large scale, without

having engineers for peak loads.

4) Multi-Sharing
With the help of cloud computing, multiple users and applications can work more
efficiently with cost reductions by sharing common infrastructure.

5) Device and Location Independence

Cloud computing enables the users to access systems using a web browser
regardless of their location or what device they use e.g. PC, mobile phone, etc. As
infrastructure is off-site (typically provided by a third-party) and accessed via the
Internet, users can connect from anywhere.

6) Maintenance

Maintenance of cloud computing applications is easier, since they do not need to be

installed on each user's computer and can be accessed from different places. So,
it reduces the cost also.

7) Low Cost

By using cloud computing, the cost will be reduced because to take the services of
cloud computing, IT company need not to set its own infrastructure and pay-as-
per usage of resources.

8) Services in the pay-per-use mode

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are provided to the users so that they
can access services on the cloud by using these APIs and pay the charges as per
the usage of services.

Prerequisite
Before learning cloud computing, you must have the basic knowledge of computer
fundamentals.

Audience
Our cloud computing is designed to help beginners and professionals.

Problem
We assure that you will not find any difficulty while learning our cloud computing
tutorial. But if there is any mistake in this tutorial, kindly post the problem or error in
the contact form.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Cloud
Computing
Advantages of Cloud Computing
As we all know that Cloud computing is trending technology. Almost every company
switched their services on the cloud to rise the company growth.

Here, we are going to discuss some important advantages of Cloud Computing-

1) Back-up and restore data

Once the data is stored in the cloud, it is easier to get back-up and restore that data
using the cloud.

2) Improved collaboration

Cloud applications improve collaboration by allowing groups of people to quickly

and easily share information in the cloud via shared storage.
3) Excellent accessibility

Cloud allows us to quickly and easily access store information anywhere, anytime in
the whole world, using an internet connection. An internet cloud infrastructure
increases organization productivity and efficiency by ensuring that our data is always
accessible.

4) Low maintenance cost

Cloud computing reduces both hardware and software maintenance costs for
organizations.

5) Mobility

Cloud computing allows us to easily access all cloud data via mobile.

6) IServices in the pay-per-use model

Cloud computing offers Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to the users for
access services on the cloud and pays the charges as per the usage of service.

7) Unlimited storage capacity

Cloud offers us a huge amount of storing capacity for storing our important data
such as documents, images, audio, video, etc. in one place.

8) Data security

Data security is one of the biggest advantages of cloud computing. Cloud offers
many advanced features related to security and ensures that data is securely stored
and handled.

Disadvantages of Cloud Computing

A list of the disadvantage of cloud computing is given below -

1) Internet Connectivity

As you know, in cloud computing, every data (image, audio, video, etc.) is stored on
the cloud, and we access these data through the cloud by using the internet
connection. If you do not have good internet connectivity, you cannot access these
data. However, we have no any other way to access data from the cloud.
2) Vendor lock-in

Vendor lock-in is the biggest disadvantage of cloud computing. Organizations may

face problems when transferring their services from one vendor to another. As
different vendors provide different platforms, that can cause difficulty moving from
one cloud to another.

3) Limited Control

As we know, cloud infrastructure is completely owned, managed, and monitored by

the service provider, so the cloud users have less control over the function and
execution of services within a cloud infrastructure.

4) Security

Although cloud service providers implement the best security standards to store
important information. But, before adopting cloud technology, you should be aware
that you will be sending all your organization's sensitive information to a third party,
i.e., a cloud computing service provider. While sending the data on the cloud, there
may be a chance that your organization's information is hacked by Hackers.

History of Cloud Computing

Before emerging the cloud computing, there was Client/Server computing which is
basically a centralized storage in which all the software applications, all the data and
all the controls are resided on the server side.

If a single user wants to access specific data or run a program, he/she need to
connect to the server and then gain appropriate access, and then he/she can do
his/her business.

Then after, distributed computing came into picture, where all the computers are
networked together and share their resources when needed.

On the basis of above computing, there was emerged of cloud computing concepts
that later implemented.

At around in 1961, John MacCharty suggested in a speech at MIT that computing can
be sold like a utility, just like a water or electricity. It was a brilliant idea, but like all
brilliant ideas, it was ahead if its time, as for the next few decades, despite interest in
the model, the technology simply was not ready for it.
But of course time has passed and the technology caught that idea and after few
years we mentioned that:

In 1999, Salesforce.com started delivering of applications to users using a simple

website. The applications were delivered to enterprises over the Internet, and this way
the dream of computing sold as utility were true.

In 2002, Amazon started Amazon Web Services, providing services like storage,
computation and even human intelligence. However, only starting with the launch of
the Elastic Compute Cloud in 2006 a truly commercial service open to everybody
existed.

In 2009, Google Apps also started to provide cloud computing enterprise applications.

Of course, all the big players are present in the cloud computing evolution, some
were earlier, some were later. In 2009, Microsoft launched Windows Azure, and
companies like Oracle and HP have all joined the game. This proves that today, cloud
computing has become mainstream.

Cloud Computing Applications

Cloud service providers provide various applications in the field of art, business, data
storage and backup services, education, entertainment, management, social
networking, etc.

The most widely used cloud computing applications are given below -
1. Art Applications
Cloud computing offers various art applications for quickly and easily
design attractive cards, booklets, and images. Some most commonly used cloud
art applications are given below:

i Moo

Moo is one of the best cloud art applications. It is used for designing and printing
business cards, postcards, and mini cards.

ii. Vistaprint

Vistaprint allows us to easily design various printed marketing products such as

business cards, Postcards, Booklets, and wedding invitations cards.

iii. Adobe Creative Cloud

Adobe creative cloud is made for designers, artists, filmmakers, and other creative
professionals. It is a suite of apps which includes PhotoShop image editing
programming, Illustrator, InDesign, TypeKit, Dreamweaver, XD, and Audition.
2. Business Applications
Business applications are based on cloud service providers. Today, every organization
requires the cloud business application to grow their business. It also ensures that
business applications are 24*7 available to users.

There are the following business applications of cloud computing -

i. MailChimp

MailChimp is an email publishing platform which provides various options

to design, send, and save templates for emails.

iii. Salesforce

Salesforce platform provides tools for sales, service, marketing, e-commerce, and
more. It also provides a cloud development platform.

iv. Chatter

Chatter helps us to share important information about the organization in real

time.

v. Bitrix24

Bitrix24 is a collaboration platform which provides communication, management,

and social collaboration tools.

vi. Paypal

Paypal offers the simplest and easiest online payment mode using a secure internet
account. Paypal accepts the payment through debit cards, credit cards, and also from
Paypal account holders.

vii. Slack

Slack stands for Searchable Log of all Conversation and Knowledge. It provides
a user-friendly interface that helps us to create public and private channels for
communication.

viii. Quickbooks

Quickbooks works on the terminology "Run Enterprise anytime, anywhere, on any

device." It provides online accounting solutions for the business. It allows more than
20 users to work simultaneously on the same system.
3. Data Storage and Backup Applications
Cloud computing allows us to store information (data, files, images, audios, and
videos) on the cloud and access this information using an internet connection. As the
cloud provider is responsible for providing security, so they offer various backup
recovery application for retrieving the lost data.

A list of data storage and backup applications in the cloud are given below -

i. Box.com

Box provides an online environment for secure content management,

workflow, and collaboration. It allows us to store different files such as Excel, Word,
PDF, and images on the cloud. The main advantage of using box is that it provides
drag & drop service for files and easily integrates with Office 365, G Suite, Salesforce,
and more than 1400 tools.

ii. Mozy

Mozy provides powerful online backup solutions for our personal and business
data. It schedules automatically back up for each day at a specific time.

iii. Joukuu

Joukuu provides the simplest way to share and track cloud-based backup files.
Many users use joukuu to search files, folders, and collaborate on documents.

iv. Google G Suite

Google G Suite is one of the best cloud storage and backup application. It includes
Google Calendar, Docs, Forms, Google+, Hangouts, as well as cloud storage and
tools for managing cloud apps. The most popular app in the Google G Suite is Gmail.
Gmail offers free email services to users.

4. Education Applications
Cloud computing in the education sector becomes very popular. It offers
various online distance learning platforms and student information portals to
the students. The advantage of using cloud in the field of education is that it offers
strong virtual classroom environments, Ease of accessibility, secure data storage,
scalability, greater reach for the students, and minimal hardware requirements for the
applications.

There are the following education applications offered by the cloud -

i. Google Apps for Education

Google Apps for Education is the most widely used platform for free web-based
email, calendar, documents, and collaborative study.

ii. Chromebooks for Education

Chromebook for Education is one of the most important Google's projects. It is

designed for the purpose that it enhances education innovation.

iii. Tablets with Google Play for Education

It allows educators to quickly implement the latest technology solutions into the
classroom and make it available to their students.

iv. AWS in Education

AWS cloud provides an education-friendly environment to universities, community

colleges, and schools.

5. Entertainment Applications
Entertainment industries use a multi-cloud strategy to interact with the target
audience. Cloud computing offers various entertainment applications such as online
games and video conferencing.

i. Online games

Today, cloud gaming becomes one of the most important entertainment media. It
offers various online games that run remotely from the cloud. The best cloud gaming
services are Shaow, GeForce Now, Vortex, Project xCloud, and PlayStation Now.

ii. Video Conferencing Apps

Video conferencing apps provides a simple and instant connected experience. It

allows us to communicate with our business partners, friends, and relatives using a
cloud-based video conferencing. The benefits of using video conferencing are that it
reduces cost, increases efficiency, and removes interoperability.

6. Management Applications
Cloud computing offers various cloud management tools which help admins to
manage all types of cloud activities, such as resource deployment, data integration,
and disaster recovery. These management tools also provide administrative control
over the platforms, applications, and infrastructure.
Some important management applications are -

i. Toggl
Toggl helps users to track allocated time period for a particular project.

ii. Evernote
Evernote allows you to sync and save your recorded notes, typed notes, and other
notes in one convenient place. It is available for both free as well as a paid version.

It uses platforms like Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Browser, and Unix.

iii. Outright
Outright is used by management users for the purpose of accounts. It helps to track
income, expenses, profits, and losses in real-time environment.

iv. GoToMeeting
GoToMeeting provides Video Conferencing and online meeting apps, which allows
you to start a meeting with your business partners from anytime, anywhere using
mobile phones or tablets. Using GoToMeeting app, you can perform the tasks related
to the management such as join meetings in seconds, view presentations on the
shared screen, get alerts for upcoming meetings, etc.

7. Social Applications
Social cloud applications allow a large number of users to connect with each other
using social networking applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedln, etc.

There are the following cloud based social applications -

i. Facebook

Facebook is a social networking website which allows active users to share files,
photos, videos, status, more to their friends, relatives, and business partners using
the cloud storage system. On Facebook, we will always get notifications when our
friends like and comment on the posts.

ii. Twitter
Twitter is a social networking site. It is a microblogging system. It allows users to
follow high profile celebrities, friends, relatives, and receive news. It sends and
receives short posts called tweets.

iii. Yammer

Yammer is the best team collaboration tool that allows a team of employees to
chat, share images, documents, and videos.

iv. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social network for students, freshers, and professionals.

What are the Security Risks of Cloud

Computing
Cloud computing provides various advantages, such as improved collaboration,
excellent accessibility, Mobility, Storage capacity, etc. But there are also security risks
in cloud computing.

Some most common Security Risks of Cloud Computing are given below-

Data Loss
Data loss is the most common cloud security risks of cloud computing. It is also
known as data leakage. Data loss is the process in which data is being deleted,
corrupted, and unreadable by a user, software, or application. In a cloud computing
environment, data loss occurs when our sensitive data is somebody else's hands, one
or more data elements can not be utilized by the data owner, hard disk is not
working properly, and software is not updated.

Hacked Interfaces and Insecure APIs

As we all know, cloud computing is completely depends on Internet, so it is
compulsory to protect interfaces and APIs that are used by external users. APIs are
the easiest way to communicate with most of the cloud services. In cloud computing,
few services are available in the public domain. These services can be accessed by
third parties, so there may be a chance that these services easily harmed and hacked
by hackers.
Data Breach
Data Breach is the process in which the confidential data is viewed, accessed, or
stolen by the third party without any authorization, so organization's data is hacked
by the hackers.

Vendor lock-in
Vendor lock-in is the of the biggest security risks in cloud computing. Organizations
may face problems when transferring their services from one vendor to another. As
different vendors provide different platforms, that can cause difficulty moving one
cloud to another.

Increased complexity strains IT staff

Migrating, integrating, and operating the cloud services is complex for the IT staff. IT
staff must require the extra capability and skills to manage, integrate, and maintain
the data to the cloud.

Spectre & Meltdown

Spectre & Meltdown allows programs to view and steal data which is currently
processed on computer. It can run on personal computers, mobile devices, and in the
cloud. It can store the password, your personal information such as images, emails,
and business documents in the memory of other running programs.

Denial of Service (DoS) attacks

Denial of service (DoS) attacks occur when the system receives too much traffic to
buffer the server. Mostly, DoS attackers target web servers of large organizations
such as banking sectors, media companies, and government organizations. To
recover the lost data, DoS attackers charge a great deal of time and money to handle
the data.

Account hijacking
Account hijacking is a serious security risk in cloud computing. It is the process in
which individual user's or organization's cloud account (bank account, e-mail
account, and social media account) is stolen by hackers. The hackers use the stolen
account to perform unauthorized activities.
Cloud Computing Architecture

Cloud architecture is the way technology components combine to build a cloud, in

which resources are pooled through virtualization technology and shared across a network.
The components of a cloud architecture include: A front-end platform (the client or device
used to access the cloud)

As we know, cloud computing technology is used by both small and large

organizations to store the information in cloud and access it from anywhere at
anytime using the internet connection.

Cloud computing architecture is a combination of service-oriented

architecture and event-driven architecture.

Cloud computing architecture is divided into the following two parts -

o Front End
o Back End

The below diagram shows the architecture of cloud computing -

Front End
The front end is used by the client. It contains client-side interfaces and applications
that are required to access the cloud computing platforms. The front end includes
web servers (including Chrome, Firefox, internet explorer, etc.), thin & fat clients,
tablets, and mobile devices.

Back End
The back end is used by the service provider. It manages all the resources that are
required to provide cloud computing services. It includes a huge amount of data
storage, security mechanism, virtual machines, deploying models, servers, traffic
control mechanisms, etc.

Components of Cloud Computing Architecture

There are the following components of cloud computing architecture -

1. Client Infrastructure

Client Infrastructure is a Front end component. It provides GUI (Graphical User

Interface) to interact with the cloud.

2. Application

The application may be any software or platform that a client wants to access.

3. Service

A Cloud Services manages that which type of service you access according to the
client’s requirement.

Cloud computing offers the following three type of services:

i. Software as a Service (SaaS) – It is also known as cloud application services.

Mostly, SaaS applications run directly through the web browser means we do not
require to download and install these applications. Some important example of SaaS
is given below –

Example: Google Apps, Salesforce Dropbox, Slack, Hubspot, Cisco WebEx.

ii. Platform as a Service (PaaS) – It is also known as cloud platform services. It is

quite similar to SaaS, but the difference is that PaaS provides a platform for software
creation, but using SaaS, we can access software over the internet without the need
of any platform.

Example: Windows Azure, Force.com, Magento Commerce Cloud, OpenShift.

iii. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) – It is also known as cloud infrastructure

services. It is responsible for managing applications data, middleware, and runtime
environments.

Example: Amazon Web Services (AWS) EC2, Google Compute Engine (GCE), Cisco
Metapod.

4. Runtime Cloud

Runtime Cloud provides the execution and runtime environment to the virtual
machines.

5. Storage

Storage is one of the most important components of cloud computing. It provides a

huge amount of storage capacity in the cloud to store and manage data.

6. Infrastructure

It provides services on the host level, application level, and network level. Cloud
infrastructure includes hardware and software components such as servers, storage,
network devices, virtualization software, and other storage resources that are needed
to support the cloud computing model.

7. Management

Management is used to manage components such as application, service, runtime

cloud, storage, infrastructure, and other security issues in the backend and establish
coordination between them.

8. Security

Security is an in-built back end component of cloud computing. It implements a

security mechanism in the back end.

9. Internet

The Internet is medium through which front end and back end can interact and
communicate with each other.
Cloud Service Models
There are the following three types of cloud service models -

1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

2. Platform as a Service (PaaS)
3. Software as a Service (SaaS)

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

IaaS is also known as Hardware as a Service (HaaS). It is a computing infrastructure
managed over the internet. The main advantage of using IaaS is that it helps users to
avoid the cost and complexity of purchasing and managing the physical servers.

Characteristics of IaaS
There are the following characteristics of IaaS -

o Resources are available as a service

o Services are highly scalable
o Dynamic and flexible
o GUI and API-based access
 o Automated administrative tasks

Example: DigitalOcean, Linode, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure,

Google Compute Engine (GCE), Rackspace, and Cisco Metacloud.

Infrastructure as a Service | IaaS

Iaas is also known as Hardware as a Service (HaaS). It is one of the layers of the
cloud computing platform. It allows customers to outsource their IT infrastructures
such as servers, networking, processing, storage, virtual machines, and other
resources. Customers access these resources on the Internet using a pay-as-per use
model.

In traditional hosting services, IT infrastructure was rented out for a specific period of
time, with pre-determined hardware configuration. The client paid for the
configuration and time, regardless of the actual use. With the help of the IaaS cloud
computing platform layer, clients can dynamically scale the configuration to meet
changing requirements and are billed only for the services actually used.

IaaS cloud computing platform layer eliminates the need for every organization to
maintain the IT infrastructure.

IaaS is offered in three models: public, private, and hybrid cloud. The private cloud
implies that the infrastructure resides at the customer-premise. In the case of public
cloud, it is located at the cloud computing platform vendor's data center, and the
hybrid cloud is a combination of the two in which the customer selects the best of
both public cloud or private cloud.

IaaS provider provides the following services -

1. Compute: Computing as a Service includes virtual central processing units

and virtual main memory for the Vms that is provisioned to the end- users.
2. Storage: IaaS provider provides back-end storage for storing files.
3. Network: Network as a Service (NaaS) provides networking components such
as routers, switches, and bridges for the Vms.
4. Load balancers: It provides load balancing capability at the infrastructure
layer.
Advantages of IaaS cloud computing layer
There are the following advantages of IaaS computing layer -

1. Shared infrastructure

IaaS allows multiple users to share the same physical infrastructure.

2. Web access to the resources

Iaas allows IT users to access resources over the internet.

3. Pay-as-per-use model

IaaS providers provide services based on the pay-as-per-use basis. The users are
required to pay for what they have used.

4. Focus on the core business

IaaS providers focus on the organization's core business rather than on IT

infrastructure.

5. On-demand scalability

On-demand scalability is one of the biggest advantages of IaaS. Using IaaS, users do
not worry about to upgrade software and troubleshoot the issues related to
hardware components.
Disadvantages of IaaS cloud computing layer
1. Security

Security is one of the biggest issues in IaaS. Most of the IaaS providers are not able
to provide 100% security.

2. Maintenance & Upgrade

Although IaaS service providers maintain the software, but they do not upgrade the
software for some organizations.

3. Interoperability issues

It is difficult to migrate VM from one IaaS provider to the other, so the customers
might face problem related to vendor lock-in.

Some important point about IaaS cloud computing layer

IaaS cloud computing platform cannot replace the traditional hosting method, but it
provides more than that, and each resource which are used are predictable as per the
usage.

IaaS cloud computing platform may not eliminate the need for an in-house IT
department. It will be needed to monitor or control the IaaS setup. IT salary
expenditure might not reduce significantly, but other IT expenses can be reduced.

Breakdowns at the IaaS cloud computing platform vendor's can bring your business
to the halt stage. Assess the IaaS cloud computing platform vendor's stability and
finances. Make sure that SLAs (i.e., Service Level Agreement) provide backups for
data, hardware, network, and application failures. Image portability and third-party
support is a plus point.

The IaaS cloud computing platform vendor can get access to your sensitive data. So,
engage with credible companies or organizations. Study their security policies and
precautions.

Top Iaas Providers who are providing IaaS cloud computing

platform
IaaS Vendor Iaas Solution Details

Amazon Web Elastic, Elastic Compute Cloud The cloud computing platform
Services (EC2) MapReduce, Route 53, pioneer, Amazon offers auto scaling,
Virtual Private Cloud, etc. cloud monitoring, and load balancing
features as part of its portfolio.

Netmagic Netmagic IaaS Cloud Netmagic runs from data centers in

Solutions Mumbai, Chennai, and Bangalore,
and a virtual data center in the
United States. Plans are underway to
extend services to West Asia.

Rackspace Cloud servers, cloud files, cloud The cloud computing platform
sites, etc. vendor focuses primarily on
enterprise-level hosting services.

Reliance Reliance Internet Data Center RIDC supports both traditional

Communications hosting and cloud services, with data
centers in Mumbai, Bangalore,
Hyderabad, and Chennai. The cloud
 services offered by RIDC include IaaS
and SaaS.

Sify Technologies Sify IaaS Sify's cloud computing platform is

powered by HP's converged
infrastructure. The vendor offers all
three types of cloud services: IaaS,
PaaS, and SaaS.

Tata InstaCompute InstaCompute is Tata

Communications Communications' IaaS offering.
InstaCompute data centers are
located in Hyderabad and Singapore,
with operations in both countries.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

PaaS cloud computing platform is created for the programmer to develop, test, run,
and manage the applications.

Characteristics of PaaS
There are the following characteristics of PaaS -

o Accessible to various users via the same development application.

o Integrates with web services and databases.
o Builds on virtualization technology, so resources can easily be scaled up or down as
per the organization's need.
o Support multiple languages and frameworks.
o Provides an ability to "Auto-scale".

Example: AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Windows Azure, Heroku, Force.com, Google App
Engine, Apache Stratos, Magento Commerce Cloud, and OpenShift.

Platform as a Service | PaaS

Platform as a Service (PaaS) provides a runtime environment. It allows programmers
to easily create, test, run, and deploy web applications. You can purchase these
applications from a cloud service provider on a pay-as-per use basis and access them
using the Internet connection. In PaaS, back end scalability is managed by the cloud
service provider, so end- users do not need to worry about managing the
infrastructure.

PaaS includes infrastructure (servers, storage, and networking) and platform

(middleware, development tools, database management systems, business
intelligence, and more) to support the web application life cycle.

Example: Google App Engine, Force.com, Joyent, Azure.

PaaS providers provide the Programming languages, Application frameworks,

Databases, and Other tools:

1. Programming languages
PaaS providers provide various programming languages for the developers to
develop the applications. Some popular programming languages provided by PaaS
providers are Java, PHP, Ruby, Perl, and Go.

2. Application frameworks
PaaS providers provide application frameworks to easily understand the application
development. Some popular application frameworks provided by PaaS providers are
Node.js, Drupal, Joomla, WordPress, Spring, Play, Rack, and Zend.
3. Databases
PaaS providers provide various databases such as ClearDB, PostgreSQL, MongoDB,
and Redis to communicate with the applications.

4. Other tools
PaaS providers provide various other tools that are required to develop, test, and
deploy the applications.

Advantages of PaaS
There are the following advantages of PaaS -

1) Simplified Development

PaaS allows developers to focus on development and innovation without worrying

about infrastructure management.

2) Lower risk

No need for up-front investment in hardware and software. Developers only need a
PC and an internet connection to start building applications.

3) Prebuilt business functionality

Some PaaS vendors also provide already defined business functionality so that users
can avoid building everything from very scratch and hence can directly start the
projects only.

4) Instant community

PaaS vendors frequently provide online communities where the developer can get
the ideas to share experiences and seek advice from others.

5) Scalability

Applications deployed can scale from one to thousands of users without any changes
to the applications.

Disadvantages of PaaS cloud computing layer

1) Vendor lock-in
One has to write the applications according to the platform provided by the PaaS
vendor, so the migration of an application to another PaaS vendor would be a
problem.

2) Data Privacy

Corporate data, whether it can be critical or not, will be private, so if it is not located
within the walls of the company, there can be a risk in terms of privacy of data.

3) Integration with the rest of the systems applications

It may happen that some applications are local, and some are in the cloud. So there
will be chances of increased complexity when we want to use data which in the cloud
with the local data.

Popular PaaS Providers

The below table shows some popular PaaS providers and services that are provided by them
–

Providers Services
Google App Engine App Identity, URL Fetch, Cloud storage client library, Logservice
(GAE)

Salesforce.com Faster implementation, Rapid scalability, CRM Services, Sales cloud,

Mobile connectivity, Chatter.

Windows Azure Compute, security, IoT, Data Storage.

AppFog Justcloud.com, SkyDrive, GoogleDocs

Openshift RedHat, Microsoft Azure.

Cloud Foundry from Data, Messaging, and other services.

VMware

Software as a Service (SaaS)

SaaS is also known as "on-demand software". It is a software in which the
applications are hosted by a cloud service provider. Users can access these
applications with the help of internet connection and web browser.

Characteristics of SaaS
There are the following characteristics of SaaS -

o Managed from a central location

o Hosted on a remote server
o Accessible over the internet
o Users are not responsible for hardware and software updates. Updates are applied
automatically.
o The services are purchased on the pay-as-per-use basis

Example: BigCommerce, Google Apps, Salesforce, Dropbox, ZenDesk, Cisco WebEx,

ZenDesk, Slack, and GoToMeeting.

Software as a Service | SaaS

SaaS is also known as "On-Demand Software". It is a software distribution model in
which services are hosted by a cloud service provider. These services are available to
end-users over the internet so, the end-users do not need to install any software on
their devices to access these services.

There are the following services provided by SaaS providers -

Business Services - SaaS Provider provides various business services to start-up the
business. The SaaS business services include ERP (Enterprise Resource
Planning), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), billing, and sales.

Document Management - SaaS document management is a software application

offered by a third party (SaaS providers) to create, manage, and track electronic
documents.

Example: Slack, Samepage, Box, and Zoho Forms.

Social Networks - As we all know, social networking sites are used by the general
public, so social networking service providers use SaaS for their convenience and
handle the general public's information.

Mail Services - To handle the unpredictable number of users and load on e-mail
services, many e-mail providers offering their services using SaaS.

Advantages of SaaS cloud computing layer

1) SaaS is easy to buy
SaaS pricing is based on a monthly fee or annual fee subscription, so it allows
organizations to access business functionality at a low cost, which is less than
licensed applications.

Unlike traditional software, which is sold as a licensed based with an up-front cost
(and often an optional ongoing support fee), SaaS providers are generally pricing the
applications using a subscription fee, most commonly a monthly or annually fee.

2. One to Many

SaaS services are offered as a one-to-many model means a single instance of the
application is shared by multiple users.

3. Less hardware required for SaaS

The software is hosted remotely, so organizations do not need to invest in additional

hardware.

4. Low maintenance required for SaaS

Software as a service removes the need for installation, set-up, and daily
maintenance for the organizations. The initial set-up cost for SaaS is typically less
than the enterprise software. SaaS vendors are pricing their applications based on
some usage parameters, such as a number of users using the application. So SaaS
does easy to monitor and automatic updates.

5. No special software or hardware versions required

All users will have the same version of the software and typically access it through
the web browser. SaaS reduces IT support costs by outsourcing hardware and
software maintenance and support to the IaaS provider.

6. Multidevice support

SaaS services can be accessed from any device such as desktops, laptops, tablets,
phones, and thin clients.

7. API Integration

SaaS services easily integrate with other software or services through standard APIs.

8. No client-side installation

SaaS services are accessed directly from the service provider using the internet
connection, so do not need to require any software installation.
Disadvantages of SaaS cloud computing layer
1) Security

Actually, data is stored in the cloud, so security may be an issue for some users.
However, cloud computing is not more secure than in-house deployment.

2) Latency issue

Since data and applications are stored in the cloud at a variable distance from the
end-user, there is a possibility that there may be greater latency when interacting
with the application compared to local deployment. Therefore, the SaaS model is not
suitable for applications whose demand response time is in milliseconds.

3) Total Dependency on Internet

Without an internet connection, most SaaS applications are not usable.

4) Switching between SaaS vendors is difficult

Switching SaaS vendors involves the difficult and slow task of transferring the very
large data files over the internet and then converting and importing them into
another SaaS also.

Popular SaaS Providers

The below table shows some popular SaaS providers and services that are provided by them
–

Provider Services

Salseforce.com On-demand CRM solutions

Microsoft Office Online office suite

365

Google Apps Gmail, Google Calendar, Docs, and sites

NetSuite ERP, accounting, order management, CRM, Professionals Services

Automation (PSA), and e-commerce applications.

GoToMeeting Online meeting and video-conferencing software

Constant Contact E-mail marketing, online survey, and event marketing

Oracle CRM CRM applications

Workday, Inc Human capital management, payroll, and financial management.

Difference between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS

The below table shows the difference between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS -

IaaS Paas SaaS

It provides a virtual data It provides virtual platforms and tools It provides web software
center to store to create, test, and deploy apps. and apps to complete
information and create business tasks.
platforms for app
development, testing, and
deployment.

It provides access to It provides runtime environments and It provides software as a

resources such as virtual deployment tools for applications. service to the end-users.
machines, virtual storage,
etc.

It is used by network It is used by developers. It is used by end users.

architects.

IaaS provides only PaaS provides SaaS provides

Infrastructure. Infrastructure+Platform. Infrastructure+Platform
+Software.

How does cloud computing work

Assume that you are an executive at a very big corporation. Your particular
responsibilities include to make sure that all of your employees have the right
hardware and software they need to do their jobs. To buy computers for everyone is
not enough. You also have to purchase software as well as software licenses and then
provide these softwares to your employees as they require. Whenever you hire a new
employee, you need to buy more software or make sure your current software
license allows another user. It is so stressful that you have to spend lots of money.
But, there may be an alternative for executives like you. So, instead of installing a
suite of software for each computer, you just need to load one application. That
application will allow the employees to log-in into a Web-based service which hosts
all the programs for the user that is required for his/her job. Remote servers owned
by another company and that will run everything from e-mail to word processing to
complex data analysis programs. It is called cloud computing, and it could change
the entire computer industry.

In a cloud computing system, there is a significant workload shift. Local computers have no
longer to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to run applications. But cloud computing can
handle that much heavy load easily and automatically. Hardware and software demands on
the user's side decrease. The only thing the user's computer requires to be able to run is the
cloud computing interface software of the system, which can be as simple as a Web browser
and the cloud's network takes care of the rest.
What is cloud computing?

Simply put, 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. You typically pay only for cloud
services you use, helping lower your operating costs, run your infrastructure more efficiently and
scale as your business needs change.

Top benefits of cloud computing

Cost

Cloud computing eliminates the capital expense of buying hardware and software and setting up and
running on-site data centers—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.
Cloud Service Provider Companies
Cloud Service providers (CSP) offers various services such as Software as a
Service, Platform as a service, Infrastructure as a service, network
services, business applications, mobile applications, and infrastructure in the
cloud. The cloud service providers host these services in a data center, and users can
access these services through cloud provider companies using an Internet
connection.

There are the following Cloud Service Providers Companies -

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

AWS (Amazon Web Services) is a secure cloud service platform provided
by Amazon. It offers various services such as database storage, computing power,
content delivery, Relational Database, Simple Email, Simple Queue, and other
functionality to increase the organization's growth.

Features of AWS

AWS provides various powerful features for building scalable, cost-effective,

enterprise applications. Some important features of AWS is given below-

o AWS is scalable because it has an ability to scale the computing resources up or

down according to the organization's demand.
o AWS is cost-effective as it works on a pay-as-you-go pricing model.
o It provides various flexible storage options.
o It offers various security services such as infrastructure security, data encryption,
monitoring & logging, identity & access control, penetration testing, and DDoS
attacks.
 o It can efficiently manage and secure Windows workloads.

2. Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure is also known as Windows Azure. It supports various operating
systems, databases, programming languages, frameworks that allow IT professionals
to easily build, deploy, and manage applications through a worldwide network. It
also allows users to create different groups for related utilities.

Features of Microsoft Azure

o Microsoft Azure provides scalable, flexible, and cost-effective
o It allows developers to quickly manage applications and websites.
o It managed each resource individually.
o Its IaaS infrastructure allows us to launch a general-purpose virtual machine in
different platforms such as Windows and Linux.
o It offers a Content Delivery System (CDS) for delivering the Images, videos, audios,
and applications.

3. Google Cloud Platform

Google cloud platform is a product of Google. It consists of a set of physical devices,
such as computers, hard disk drives, and virtual machines. It also helps organizations
to simplify the migration process.
Features of Google Cloud
o Google cloud includes various big data services such as Google BigQuery, Google
CloudDataproc, Google CloudDatalab, and Google Cloud Pub/Sub.
o It provides various services related to networking, including Google Virtual Private
Cloud (VPC), Content Delivery Network, Google Cloud Load Balancing, Google Cloud
Interconnect, and Google Cloud DNS.
o It offers various scalable and high-performance
o GCP provides various serverless services such as Messaging, Data Warehouse,
Database, Compute, Storage, Data Processing, and Machine learning (ML)
o It provides a free cloud shell environment with Boost Mode.

4. IBM Cloud Services

IBM Cloud is an open-source, faster, and more reliable platform. It is built with a suite
of advanced data and AI tools. It offers various services such as Infrastructure as a
service, Software as a service, and platform as a service. You can access its services
like compute power, cloud data & Analytics, cloud use cases, and storage networking
using internet connection.
Feature of IBM Cloud
o IBM cloud improves operational efficiency.
o Its speed and agility improve the customer's satisfaction.
o It offers Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), as well as
Software as a Service (SaaS)
o It offers various cloud communications services to our IT environment.

5. VMware Cloud
VMware cloud is a Software-Defined Data Center (SSDC) unified platform for the
Hybrid Cloud. It allows cloud providers to build agile, flexible, efficient, and robust
cloud services.

Features of VMware
o VMware cloud works on the pay-as-per-use model and monthly subscription
o It provides better customer satisfaction by protecting the user's data.
o It can easily create a new VMware Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) cluster on
AWS cloud by utilizing a RESTful API.
o It provides flexible storage options. We can manage our application storage on a per-
application basis.
 o It provides a dedicated high-performance network for managing the application
traffic and also supports multicast networking.
o It eliminates the time and cost complexity.

6. Oracle cloud
Oracle cloud platform is offered by the Oracle Corporation. It combines Platform as
a Service, Infrastructure as a Service, Software as a Service, and Data as a Service with
cloud infrastructure. It is used to perform tasks such as moving applications to the
cloud, managing development environment in the cloud, and optimize connection
performance.

Features of Oracle cloud

o Oracle cloud provides various tools for build, integrate, monitor, and secure the
applications.
o Its infrastructure uses various languages including, Java, Ruby, PHP, Node.js.
o It integrates with Docker, VMware, and other DevOps tools.
o Oracle database not only provides unparalleled integration between IaaS, PaaS, and
SaaS, but also integrates with the on-premises platform to improve operational
efficiency.
o It maximizes the value of IT investments.
o It offers customizable Virtual Cloud Networks, firewalls, and IP addresses to securely
support private networks.

7. Red Hat
Red Hat virtualization is an open standard and desktop virtualization platform
produced by Red Hat. It is very popular for the Linux environment to provide various
infrastructure solutions for virtualized servers as well as technical workstations. Most
of the small and medium-sized organizations use Red Hat to run their organizations
smoothly. It offers higher density, better performance, agility, and security to the
resources. It also improves the organization's economy by providing cheaper and
easier management capabilities.

Features of Rad Hat

o Red Hat provides secure, certified, and updated container images via the Red Hat
Container catalog.
o Red Hat cloud includes OpenShift, which is an app development platform that allows
developers to access, modernize, and deploy apps
o It supports up to 16 virtual machines, each having up to 256GB of RAM.
o It offers better reliability, availability, and serviceability.
o It provides flexible storage capabilities, including very large SAN-based storage,
better management of memory allocations, high availability of LVMs, and support for
particularly roll-back.
o In the Desktop environment, it includes features like New on-screen keyboard,
GNOME software, which allows us to install applications, update application, as well
as extended device support.

8. DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean is the unique cloud provider that offers computing services to the
organization. It was founded in 2011 by Moisey Uretsky and Ben. It is one of the best
cloud provider that allows us to manage and deploy web applications.
Features of DigitalOcean
o It uses the KVM hypervisor to allocate physical resources to the virtual servers.
o It provides high-quality performance.
o It offers a digital community platform that helps to answer queries and holding
feedbacks.
o It allows developers to use cloud servers to quickly create new virtual machines for
their projects.
o It offers one-click apps for droplets. These apps include MySQL, Docker, MongoDB,
Wordpress, PhpMyAdmin, LAMP stack, Ghost, and Machine Learning.

9. Rackspace
Rackspace offers cloud computing services such as hosting web applications, Cloud
Backup, Cloud Block Storage, Databases, and Cloud Servers. The main aim to
designing Rackspace is to easily manage private and public cloud deployments. Its
data centers operating in the USA, UK, Hong Kong, and Australia.
Features of Rackspace
o Rackspace provides various tools that help organizations to collaborate and
communicate more efficiently.
o We can access files that are stored on the Rackspace cloud drive, anywhere, anytime
using any device.
o It offers 6 globally data centers.
o It can manage both virtual servers and dedicated physical servers on the same
network.
o It provides better performance at a lower cost.

10. Alibaba Cloud

Alibaba Cloud is used to develop data management and highly scalable cloud
computing services. It offers various services, including Elastic Computing, Storage,
Networking, Security, Database Services, Application Services, Media Services, Cloud
Communication, and Internet of Things.

Features of Alibaba Cloud

o Alibaba cloud offers a suite of global cloud computing services for both international
customers and Alibaba Group's e-commerce ecosystem.
o Its services are available on a pay-as-per-use basis.
o It globally deals with its 14 data centers.
o It offers scalable and reliable data storage.
Cloud models– Public vs Private
Types of Cloud
There are the following 4 types of cloud that you can deploy according to the
organization's needs-

o Public Cloud
o Private Cloud
o Hybrid Cloud
o Community Cloud

Public Cloud
Public cloud is open to all to store and access information via the Internet using the
pay-per-usage method.

In public cloud, computing resources are managed and operated by the Cloud
Service Provider (CSP).

Example: Amazon elastic compute cloud (EC2), IBM SmartCloud Enterprise,

Microsoft, Google App Engine, Windows Azure Services Platform.
Advantages of Public Cloud
There are the following advantages of Public Cloud -

o Public cloud is owned at a lower cost than the private and hybrid cloud.
o Public cloud is maintained by the cloud service provider, so do not need to worry
about the maintenance.
o Public cloud is easier to integrate. Hence it offers a better flexibility approach to
consumers.
o Public cloud is location independent because its services are delivered through the
internet.
o Public cloud is highly scalable as per the requirement of computing resources.
o It is accessible by the general public, so there is no limit to the number of users.

Disadvantages of Public Cloud

o Public Cloud is less secure because resources are shared publicly.
o Performance depends upon the high-speed internet network link to the cloud
provider.
o The Client has no control of data.
 o Public Cloud provides a shared platform that is accessible to the general
public through an Internet connection.
o Public cloud operated on the pay-as-per-use model and administrated by
the third party, i.e., Cloud service provider.
o In the Public cloud, the same storage is being used by multiple users at the
same time.
o Public cloud is owned, managed, and operated by businesses, universities,
government organizations, or a combination of them.
o Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Microsoft Azure, IBM's Blue Cloud, Sun
Cloud, and Google Cloud are examples of the public cloud.

Advantages of Public Cloud

There are the following advantages of public cloud -

1) Low Cost

Public cloud has a lower cost than private, or hybrid cloud, as it shares the same
resources with a large number of consumers.

2) Location Independent

Public cloud is location independent because its services are offered through the
internet.

3) Save Time

In Public cloud, the cloud service provider is responsible for the manage and
maintain data centers in which data is stored, so the cloud user can save their time to
establish connectivity, deploying new products, release product updates, configure,
and assemble servers.

4) Quickly and easily set up

Organizations can easily buy public cloud on the internet and deployed and
configured it remotely through the cloud service provider within a few hours.

5) Business Agility

Public cloud provides an ability to elastically re-size computer resources based on

the organization's requirements.
6) Scalability and reliability

Public cloud offers scalable (easy to add and remove) and reliable (24*7 available)
services to the users at an affordable cost.

Disadvantages of Public Cloud

1) Low Security

Public Cloud is less secure because resources are shared publicly.

2) Performance

In the public cloud, performance depends upon the speed of internet connectivity.

3) Less customizable

Public cloud is less customizable than the private cloud.

Private Cloud
Private cloud is also known as an internal cloud or corporate cloud. It is used by
organizations to build and manage their own data centers internally or by the third
party. It can be deployed using Opensource tools such as Openstack and Eucalyptus.

Based on the location and management, National Institute of Standards and

Technology (NIST) divide private cloud into the following two parts-

o On-premise private cloud

o Outsourced private cloud
Advantages of Private Cloud
There are the following advantages of the Private Cloud -

o Private cloud provides a high level of security and privacy to the users.
o Private cloud offers better performance with improved speed and space capacity.
o It allows the IT team to quickly allocate and deliver on-demand IT resources.
o The organization has full control over the cloud because it is managed by the
organization itself. So, there is no need for the organization to depends on anybody.
o It is suitable for organizations that require a separate cloud for their personal use and
data security is the first priority.

Disadvantages of Private Cloud

o Skilled people are required to manage and operate cloud services.
o Private cloud is accessible within the organization, so the area of operations is
limited.
 o Private cloud is not suitable for organizations that have a high user base, and
organizations that do not have the prebuilt infrastructure, sufficient manpower to
maintain and manage the cloud.

Private Cloud
o Private cloud is also known as an internal cloud or corporate cloud.
o Private cloud provides computing services to a private internal network
(within the organization) and selected users instead of the general public.
o Private cloud provides a high level of security and privacy to data through
firewalls and internal hosting. It also ensures that operational and sensitive
data are not accessible to third-party providers.
o HP Data Centers, Microsoft, Elastra-private cloud, and Ubuntu are the example
of a private cloud.

Advantages of Private cloud

There are the following advantages of Private Cloud -

1) More Control

Private clouds have more control over their resources and hardware than public
clouds because it is only accessed by selected users.

2) Security & privacy

Security & privacy are one of the big advantages of cloud computing. Private cloud
improved the security level as compared to the public cloud.

3) Improved performance

Private cloud offers better performance with improved speed and space capacity.

Disadvantages of Private Cloud

1) High cost

The cost is higher than a public cloud because set up and maintain hardware
resources are costly.
2) Restricted area of operations

As we know, private cloud is accessible within the organization, so the area of

operations is limited.

3) Limited scalability

Private clouds are scaled only within the capacity of internal hosted resources.

4) Skilled people

Skilled people are required to manage and operate cloud services.

Hybrid Cloud
Hybrid Cloud is a combination of the public cloud and the private cloud. we can say:

Hybrid Cloud = Public Cloud + Private Cloud

Hybrid cloud is partially secure because the services which are running on the public
cloud can be accessed by anyone, while the services which are running on a private
cloud can be accessed only by the organization's users.

Example: Google Application Suite (Gmail, Google Apps, and Google Drive), Office
365 (MS Office on the Web and One Drive), Amazon Web Services.
Advantages of Hybrid Cloud
There are the following advantages of Hybrid Cloud -

o Hybrid cloud is suitable for organizations that require more security than the public
cloud.
o Hybrid cloud helps you to deliver new products and services more quickly.
o Hybrid cloud provides an excellent way to reduce the risk.
o Hybrid cloud offers flexible resources because of the public cloud and secure
resources because of the private cloud.

Disadvantages of Hybrid Cloud

o In Hybrid Cloud, security feature is not as good as the private cloud.
o Managing a hybrid cloud is complex because it is difficult to manage more than one
type of deployment model.
o In the hybrid cloud, the reliability of the services depends on cloud service providers.

Hybrid Cloud
o Hybrid cloud is a combination of public and private clouds.
Hybrid cloud = public cloud + private cloud
o The main aim to combine these cloud (Public and Private) is to create a unified,
automated, and well-managed computing environment.
o In the Hybrid cloud, non-critical activities are performed by the public
cloud and critical activities are performed by the private cloud.
o Mainly, a hybrid cloud is used in finance, healthcare, and Universities.
o The best hybrid cloud provider companies are Amazon, Microsoft, Google,
Cisco, and NetApp.
Advantages of Hybrid Cloud
There are the following advantages of Hybrid Cloud -

1) Flexible and secure

It provides flexible resources because of the public cloud and secure resources
because of the private cloud.

2) Cost effective

Hybrid cloud costs less than the private cloud. It helps organizations to save costs for
both infrastructure and application support.

3) Cost effective

It offers the features of both the public as well as the private cloud. A hybrid cloud is
capable of adapting to the demands that each company needs for space, memory,
and system.

4) Security

Hybrid cloud is secure because critical activities are performed by the private cloud.

5) Risk Management

Hybrid cloud provides an excellent way for companies to manage the risk.
Disadvantages of Hybrid Cloud
1) Networking issues

In the Hybrid Cloud, networking becomes complex because of the private and the
public cloud.

2) Infrastructure Compatibility

Infrastructure compatibility is the major issue in a hybrid cloud. With dual-levels of

infrastructure, a private cloud controls the company, and a public cloud does not, so
there is a possibility that they are running in separate stacks.

3) Reliability

The reliability of the services depends on cloud service providers.

Community Cloud
Community cloud allows systems and services to be accessible by a group of several
organizations to share the information between the organization and a specific
community. It is owned, managed, and operated by one or more organizations in the
community, a third party, or a combination of them.

Example: Health Care community cloud

Advantages of Community Cloud
There are the following advantages of Community Cloud -

o Community cloud is cost-effective because the whole cloud is being shared by

several organizations or communities.
o Community cloud is suitable for organizations that want to have a collaborative cloud
with more security features than the public cloud.
o It provides better security than the public cloud.
o It provdes collaborative and distributive environment.
o Community cloud allows us to share cloud resources, infrastructure, and other
capabilities among various organizations.

Disadvantages of Community Cloud

o Community cloud is not a good choice for every organization.
o Security features are not as good as the private cloud.
o It is not suitable if there is no collaboration.
o The fixed amount of data storage and bandwidth is shared among all community
members.

Community Cloud
Community cloud is a cloud infrastructure that allows systems and services to be
accessible by a group of several organizations to share the information. It is owned,
managed, and operated by one or more organizations in the community, a third
party, or a combination of them.
Example: Our government organization within India may share computing
infrastructure in the cloud to manage data.

Advantages of Community Cloud

There are the following advantages of Community Cloud -

Cost effective

Community cloud is cost effective because the whole cloud is shared between
several organizations or a community.

Flexible and Scalable

The community cloud is flexible and scalable because it is compatible with every
user. It allows the users to modify the documents as per their needs and
requirement.

Security

Community cloud is more secure than the public cloud but less secure than the
private cloud.

Sharing infrastructure

Community cloud allows us to share cloud resources, infrastructure, and other

capabilities among various organizations.
Disadvantages of Community Cloud
There are the following disadvantages of Community Cloud -

o Community cloud is not a good choice for every organization.

o Slow adoption to data
o The fixed amount of data storage and bandwidth is shared among all community
members.
o Community Cloud is costly than the public cloud.
o Sharing responsibilities among organizations is difficult.

Difference between public cloud, private cloud, hybrid cloud,

and community cloud -
The below table shows the difference between public cloud, private cloud, hybrid
cloud, and community cloud.

Parameter Public Private Cloud Hybrid Cloud Community Cloud

Cloud

Host Service Enterprise (Third Enterprise (Third Community (Third

provider party) party) party)

Users General Selected users Selected users Community members

public

Access Internet Internet, VPN Internet, VPN Internet, VPN

Owner Service Enterprise Enterprise Community

provider
Cloud Computing
Technologies
A list of cloud computing technologies are given
below -

o Virtualization
o Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)
o Grid Computing
o Utility Computing

Virtualization
Virtualization is the process of creating a virtual
environment to run multiple applications and
operating systems on the same server. The virtual
environment can be anything, such as a single
instance or a combination of many operating
systems, storage devices, network application
servers, and other environments.

The concept of Virtualization in cloud computing

increases the use of virtual machines. A virtual
machine is a software computer or software
program that not only works as a physical
computer but can also function as a physical
machine and perform tasks such as running
applications or programs as per the user's
demand.
Types of Virtualization
A list of types of Virtualization is given below -

i. Hardware virtualization
ii. Server virtualization
iii. Storage virtualization
iv. Operating system virtualization
v. Data Virtualization

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) allows
organizations to access on-demand cloud-based
computing solutions according to the change of
business needs. It can work without or with cloud
computing. The advantages of using SOA is that it
is easy to maintain, platform independent, and
highly scalable.

Service Provider and Service consumer are the two

major roles within SOA.
Applications of Service-Oriented Architecture
There are the following applications of Service-
Oriented Architecture -

o It is used in the healthcare industry.

o It is used to create many mobile applications
and games.

o In the air force, SOA infrastructure is used to

deploy situational awareness systems.

The service-oriented architecture is shown below:

Grid Computing
Grid computing is also known as distributed
computing. It is a processor architecture that
combines various different computing resources
from multiple locations to achieve a common goal.
In grid computing, the grid is connected by parallel
nodes to form a computer cluster. These computer
clusters are in different sizes and can run on any
operating system.

Grid computing contains the following three types

of machines -
 1. Control Node: It is a group of server which
administrates the whole network.
2. Provider: It is a computer which contributes
its resources in the network resource pool.
3. User: It is a computer which uses the resources
on the network.

Mainly, grid computing is used in the ATMs, back-

end infrastructures, and marketing research.
Utility Computing
Utility computing is the most trending IT service
model. It provides on-demand computing
resources (computation, storage, and
programming services via API) and infrastructure
based on the pay per use method. It minimizes
the associated costs and maximizes the efficient
use of resources. The advantage of utility
computing is that it reduced the IT cost, provides
greater flexibility, and easier to manage.

Large organizations such

as Google and Amazon established their own
utility services for computing storage and
application.
Note: Grid computing, Cloud computing, as well as
managed IT services follow the concept of utility
computing.

Difference between Cloud

Computing and Grid
Computing
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing uses a client-server architecture
to deliver computing resources such as servers,
storage, databases, and software over the cloud
(Internet) with pay-as-you-go pricing.

Cloud computing becomes a very popular option

for organizations by providing various advantages,
including cost-saving, increased productivity,
efficiency, performance, data back-ups, disaster
recovery, and security.
Grid Computing
Grid computing is also called as "distributed
computing." It links multiple computing resources
(PC's, workstations, servers, and storage elements)
together and provides a mechanism to access
them.

The main advantages of grid computing are that it

increases user productivity by providing
transparent access to resources, and work can be
completed more quickly.
Let's understand the difference between cloud
computing and grid computing.
Cloud Computing Grid Computing

Cloud Computing follows client-server Grid computing follows a distributed computing

computing architecture. architecture.

Scalability is high. Scalability is normal.

Cloud Computing is more flexible than grid Grid Computing is less flexible than cloud
computing. computing.

Cloud operates as a centralized management Grid operates as a decentralized management

system. system.

In cloud computing, cloud servers are owned In Grid computing, grids are owned and
by infrastructure providers. managed by the organization.

Cloud computing uses services like Iaas, PaaS, Grid computing uses systems like distributed
and SaaS. computing, distributed information, and
distributed pervasive.

Cloud Computing is Service-oriented. Grid Computing is Application-oriented.

It is accessible through standard web It is accessible through grid middleware.

protocols.