What is cloud computing

Completed
100 XP
3 minutes
Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services over the internet. Computing
services include common IT infrastructure such as virtual machines, storage,
databases, and networking. Cloud services also expand the traditional IT offerings
to include things like Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning (ML), and
artificial intelligence (AI).

Because cloud computing uses the internet to deliver these services, it doesn’t
have to be constrained by physical infrastructure the same way that a traditional
datacenter is. That means if you need to increase your IT infrastructure rapidly,
you don’t have to wait to build a new datacenter—you can use the cloud to rapidly
expand your IT footprint.

This short video provides a quick introduction to cloud computing.

Describe the shared responsibility model

Completed
100 XP
3 minutes
You may have heard of the shared responsibility model, but you may not understand
what it means or how it impacts cloud computing.

Start with a traditional corporate datacenter. The company is responsible for

maintaining the physical space, ensuring security, and maintaining or replacing the
servers if anything happens. The IT department is responsible for maintaining all
the infrastructure and software needed to keep the datacenter up and running.
They’re also likely to be responsible for keeping all systems patched and on the
correct version.

With the shared responsibility model, these responsibilities get shared between the
cloud provider and the consumer. Physical security, power, cooling, and network
connectivity are the responsibility of the cloud provider. The consumer isn’t
collocated with the datacenter, so it wouldn’t make sense for the consumer to have
any of those responsibilities.

At the same time, the consumer is responsible for the data and information stored
in the cloud. (You wouldn’t want the cloud provider to be able to read your
information.) The consumer is also responsible for access security, meaning you
only give access to those who need it.

Then, for some things, the responsibility depends on the situation. If you’re using
a cloud SQL database, the cloud provider would be responsible for maintaining the
actual database. However, you’re still responsible for the data that gets ingested
into the database. If you deployed a virtual machine and installed an SQL database
on it, you’d be responsible for database patches and updates, as well as
maintaining the data and information stored in the database.

With an on-premises datacenter, you’re responsible for everything. With cloud

computing, those responsibilities shift. The shared responsibility model is heavily
tied into the cloud service types (covered later in this learning path):
infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a
service (SaaS). IaaS places the most responsibility on the consumer, with the cloud
provider being responsible for the basics of physical security, power, and
connectivity. On the other end of the spectrum, SaaS places most of the
responsibility with the cloud provider. PaaS, being a middle ground between IaaS
and SaaS, rests somewhere in the middle and evenly distributes responsibility
between the cloud provider and the consumer.

The following diagram highlights how the Shared Responsibility Model informs who is
responsible for what, depending on the cloud service type.

Diagram showing the responsibilities of the shared responsibility model.

You’ll always be responsible for:

The information and data stored in the cloud

Devices that are allowed to connect to your cloud (cell phones, computers, and so
on)
The accounts and identities of the people, services, and devices within your
organization
The cloud provider is always responsible for:

The physical datacenter

The physical network
The physical hosts
Your service model will determine responsibility for things like:

Operating systems
Network controls
Applications
Identity and infrastructure

Define cloud models

Completed
100 XP
4 minutes
What are cloud models? The cloud models define the deployment type of cloud
resources. The three main cloud models are: private, public, and hybrid.

Private cloud
Let’s start with a private cloud. A private cloud is, in some ways, the natural
evolution from a corporate datacenter. It’s a cloud (delivering IT services over
the internet) that’s used by a single entity. Private cloud provides much greater
control for the company and its IT department. However, it also comes with greater
cost and fewer of the benefits of a public cloud deployment. Finally, a private
cloud may be hosted from your on site datacenter. It may also be hosted in a
dedicated datacenter offsite, potentially even by a third party that has dedicated
that datacenter to your company.

Public cloud
A public cloud is built, controlled, and maintained by a third-party cloud
provider. With a public cloud, anyone that wants to purchase cloud services can
access and use resources. The general public availability is a key difference
between public and private clouds.

Hybrid cloud
A hybrid cloud is a computing environment that uses both public and private clouds
in an inter-connected environment. A hybrid cloud environment can be used to allow
a private cloud to surge for increased, temporary demand by deploying public cloud
resources. Hybrid cloud can be used to provide an extra layer of security. For
example, users can flexibly choose which services to keep in public cloud and which
to deploy to their private cloud infrastructure.

The following table highlights a few key comparative aspects between the cloud
models.

Public cloud Private cloud Hybrid cloud

No capital expenditures to scale up Organizations have complete control over
resources and security Provides the most flexibility
Applications can be quickly provisioned and deprovisioned Data is not collocated
with other organizations’ data Organizations determine where to run their
applications
Organizations pay only for what they use Hardware must be purchased for startup
and maintenance Organizations control security, compliance, or legal requirements
Organizations don’t have complete control over resources and security
Organizations are responsible for hardware maintenance and updates
Multi-cloud
A fourth, and increasingly likely scenario is a multi-cloud scenario. In a multi-
cloud scenario, you use multiple public cloud providers. Maybe you use different
features from different cloud providers. Or maybe you started your cloud journey
with one provider and are in the process of migrating to a different provider.
Regardless, in a multi-cloud environment you deal with two (or more) public cloud
providers and manage resources and security in both environments.

Azure Arc
Azure Arc is a set of technologies that helps manage your cloud environment. Azure
Arc can help manage your cloud environment, whether it's a public cloud solely on
Azure, a private cloud in your datacenter, a hybrid configuration, or even a multi-
cloud environment running on multiple cloud providers at once.

Azure VMware Solution

What if you’re already established with VMware in a private cloud environment but
want to migrate to a public or hybrid cloud? Azure VMware Solution lets you run
your VMware workloads in Azure with seamless integration and scalability.

Describe the consumption-based model

Completed
100 XP
3 minutes
When comparing IT infrastructure models, there are two types of expenses to
consider. Capital expenditure (CapEx) and operational expenditure (OpEx).

CapEx is typically a one-time, up-front expenditure to purchase or secure tangible

resources. A new building, repaving the parking lot, building a datacenter, or
buying a company vehicle are examples of CapEx.

In contrast, OpEx is spending money on services or products over time. Renting a

convention center, leasing a company vehicle, or signing up for cloud services are
all examples of OpEx.

Cloud computing falls under OpEx because cloud computing operates on a consumption-
based model. With cloud computing, you don’t pay for the physical infrastructure,
the electricity, the security, or anything else associated with maintaining a
datacenter. Instead, you pay for the IT resources you use. If you don’t use any IT
resources this month, you don’t pay for any IT resources.
This consumption-based model has many benefits, including:

No upfront costs.
No need to purchase and manage costly infrastructure that users might not use to
its fullest potential.
The ability to pay for more resources when they're needed.
The ability to stop paying for resources that are no longer needed.
With a traditional datacenter, you try to estimate the future resource needs. If
you overestimate, you spend more on your datacenter than you need to and
potentially waste money. If you underestimate, your datacenter will quickly reach
capacity and your applications and services may suffer from decreased performance.
Fixing an under-provisioned datacenter can take a long time. You may need to order,
receive, and install more hardware. You'll also need to add power, cooling, and
networking for the extra hardware.

In a cloud-based model, you don’t have to worry about getting the resource needs
just right. If you find that you need more virtual machines, you add more. If the
demand drops and you don’t need as many virtual machines, you remove machines as
needed. Either way, you’re only paying for the virtual machines that you use, not
the “extra capacity” that the cloud provider has on hand.

Compare cloud pricing models

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services over the internet by using a
pay-as-you-go pricing model. You typically pay only for the cloud services you use,
which helps you:

Plan and manage your operating costs.

Run your infrastructure more efficiently.
Scale as your business needs change.
To put it another way, cloud computing is a way to rent compute power and storage
from someone else’s datacenter. You can treat cloud resources like you would
resources in your own datacenter. However, unlike in your own datacenter, when
you're done using cloud resources, you give them back. You’re billed only for what
you use.

Instead of maintaining CPUs and storage in your datacenter, you rent them for the
time that you need them. The cloud provider takes care of maintaining the
underlying infrastructure for you. The cloud enables you to quickly solve your
toughest business challenges and bring cutting-edge solutions to your users.

Knowledge check
200 XP
5 minutes
Choose the best response for each question. Then select Check your answers.

Check your knowledge

1. What is cloud computing?

Delivery of computing services over the internet.

Delivery of storage services over the internet.

Delivery of websites accessible via the internet.

2. Which cloud model uses some datacenters focused on providing cloud services to
anyone that wants them, and some data centers that are focused on a single
customer?
Public cloud

Hybrid cloud

Multi-cloud
3. According to the shared responsibility model, which cloud service type places
the most responsibility on the customer?

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Software as a Service (SaaS)

Platform as a Service (PaaS)