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Cloud Computing and Library Services: Challenge & Issues

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 Cloud Computing and Library Services: Challenge & Issues

Surendra Kumar Pal

IISER LIBRARY
Indian Institute of Science Education & Research Thiruvananthapuram Kerala,India
Email: [email protected]/ [email protected]

Abstract: Cloud computing can help libraries collaborate with each other in a facile manner.
Every library has its own electronic data resources. If all electronic data resources are put together
in a single place which may be accessed by a group of libraries, the whole electronic data base will
become huge. This space which contains all the electronic data can be some cloud, say, a library
cloud. This library cloud will contain the digitized data of different libraries and hence, will help
libraries integrate their data. The need for maintaining and backing up the data will be no more the
responsibility of the libraries since all the data will be stored in the cloud which shall be managed
by some cloud provider. It will also help the libraries in scaling up or down their data capacity
whenever required. This scaling up or down is purely a function of need. Hence, the libraries would
be consuming exactly the required space. As a result, libraries will not have to predict their future
needs and buy space and infrastructure beforehand. This co adjuvant effort of the libraries will not
only increase the overall efficiency (since the data will be shared) but also open doors for
innovation, make libraries a lot more scalable and help save money as well. This model would let
libraries maintain more control over the applications and data stores that contain sensitive, private
information about patrons. Provisioning and maintenance of infrastructure for Web based digital
library present several challenges. In this paper we discuss the Cloud Computing in libraies, How
make effective library services by cloud computing, Issues, Challenges and Benifits of cloud
computing also.
Keywords: Cloud Computing, Cloud Computing in Libraries, Library Services through
Cloud Computing, Digital Library.

INTRODUCTION:
Cloud computing is a new computing paradigm, involving data and/or computation outsourcing,
with Infinite and elastic resource scalability, On demand “just-in-time” provisioning, No upfront
cost ... pay-as-you-go. That is, use as much or as less you need, use only when you want, and pay
only what you use, Cloud Computing is a completely new Information Technology and it is known
as the third revolution after Personel Computer and Internet in Information Technology. As it is still
an evolving paradigm, its definitions, use cases, underlying technologies, issues, risks, and benefits
will be refined in a spirited debate by the public and private sectors. According to the definition of
NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology), Cloud Computing is a model for enabling
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. To be more specific, Cloud
Computing is the improvement of Distributed Computing, Parallel Computing, Grid Computing2
and Distributed Databases.
In other words, by collecting large quantities of information and resources stored in personal
computers, mobile phones and other equipment, Cloud Computing is capable of integrating them
and putting them on the public cloud for serving users. Digital library is a development-oriented
hardware and software integration platform, through to technical and the product integration, each
kind of carrier digitization, carries on the effective deposit and the organization, provides the
network the effective service. After Digital library technology popularization, provided the high
grade information service but simultaneously also to expose all sorts of questions unceasingly,
because the zones of different the current economic condition limit presented the development

Figure1. Showing Cloud Computing

OVERVIEW: What is really a Cloud Computing
We see Cloud Computing as a computing model, not a technology. In this model “customers” plug
into the “cloud” to access IT resources which are priced and provided “on-demand”. Essentially, IT
resources are rented and shared among multiple tenants much as office space, apartments, or storage
spaces are used by tenants. Delivered over an Internet connection, the “cloud” replaces the company
data center or server providing the same service3. Thus, Cloud Computing is simply IT services
sold and delivered over the Internet. Cloud Computing vendors combine virtualization (one
computer hosting several “virtual” servers), automated provisioning (servers have software installed
automatically), and Internet connectivity technologies to provide the service. These are not new
technologies but a new name applied to a collection of older (albeit updated) technologies that are
packaged, sold and delivered in a new way. A key point to remember is that, at the most basic level,
your data resides on someone else’s server(s). This means that most concerns (and there are
potentially hundreds) really come down to trust and control issues. Do you trust them with your
data?
TYPES OF CLOUD
There are three major types of cloud services available4:
1. Software as a Service (SaaS)
Applications or software is delivered as a service to the customer who can access the program from
any online device. Some of these Web-based applications are free such as Hotmail, Google Apps,
Skype, and many 2.0 applications, while most business-oriented SaaS, such as SalesForce, is leased
on a subscription basis. There is usually little customization or control available with these
applications. However, subscribers benefit from low initial costs, have access to (usually 24/7)
support services, and needn’t worry about hosting, installing, upgrading, or maintaining the
software.

Figure2. Showing types of cloud computing

2. Platform as a Service (PaaS)
With PaaS, a computing platform is provided which supplies tools and a development environment
to help companies build, test, and deploy Web-based applications. Businesses don't need to invest in
the infrastructure required for building Web and mobile applications but can rent the use of
platforms such as Windows Azure, Google AppEngine, and Force.com. Applications which are built
using these provider’s services, however, are usually locked into that one platform.

3. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

This type of cloud computing is also sometimes referred to as HaaS or Hardware as a Service and it
involves both storage services and computing power. Amazon’s Web Services, one of the major
players in this area, offers two main products including the Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), which
provides computing resources, and Simple Storage Service (S3) for data storage.
Companies are using Amazon's Web Services to host or backup their websites, for content delivery,
to run high performance computing simulations, to host media collections, and much more. Most of
these cloud services are available on a pay-per-usage basis, differing from the SaaS subscription
model, enabling customers to scale up or down depending on their need at any given time and only
pay for what they’ve used.

CLOUD COMPONENTS:
In a simple, topological sense, a cloud computing solution is made up of several elements5:
clients, the datacenter, and distributed servers.
Each element has a purpose and plays a specific role in delivering a functional cloud based
application, We are discussing here in detail.
1. Internet
2. Datacenter
3. Client computers
4. Distributed servers

Clients
• Mobile devices include PDAs or smartphones, like a Blackberry, Windows Mobile Smartphone, or
an iPhone.
• Thin Clients are computers that do not have internal hard drives, but rather let the server do all the
work, but then display the information.
• Thick This type of client is a regular computer, using a web browser like Firefox or Internet
Explorer to connect to the cloud. Thin clients are becoming an increasingly popular solution,
because of their price and effect on the environment. Some benefits to using thin clients include
• Lower hardware costs Thin clients are cheaper than thick clients because they do not contain as
much hardware. They also last longer before they need to be upgraded or become obsolete.
• Lower IT costs Thin clients are managed at the server and there are fewer points of failure.
• Security Since the processing takes place on the server and there is no hard drive, there’s less
chance of malware invading the device. Also, since thin clients don’t work without a server, there’s
less chance of them being physically stolen.
• Data security Since data is stored on the server, there’s less chance for data to be lost if the client
computer crashes or is stolen.
• Less power consumption Thin clients consume less power than thick clients. This means you’ll
pay less to power them, and you’ll also pay less to air-condition the office.
• Ease of repair or replacement If a thin client dies, it’s easy to replace. The box is simply swapped
out and the user’s desktop returns exactly as it was before the failure.
• Less noise Without a spinning hard drive, less heat is generated and quieter fans can be used on
the thin client.

Datacenter
The datacenter is the collection of servers where the application to which you subscribe is housed. It
could be a large room in the basement of your building or a room full of servers on the other side of
the world that you access via the Internet. A growing trend in the IT world is virtualizing servers.
That is, software can be installed allowing multiple instances of virtual servers to be used. In this
way, you can have half a dozen virtual servers running on one physical server.
NOTE The number of virtual servers that can exist on a physical server depends on the size and
speed of the physical server and what applications will be running on the virtual server. Clients are,
in a cloud computing architecture, the exact same things that they are in a plain, old, everyday local
area network (LAN)6. They are, typically, the computers that just sit on your desk. But they might
also be laptops, tablet computers, mobile phones, or PDAs—all big drivers for cloud computing
because of their mobility. Anyway, clients are the devices that the end users interact with to manage
their information on the cloud. Clients generally fall into three categories:

Distributed Servers
But the servers don’t all have to be housed in the same location. Often, servers are in geographically
disparate locations. But to you, the cloud subscriber, these servers act as if they’re humming away
right next to each other. This gives the service provider more flexibility in options and security. For
instance, Amazon has their cloud solution in servers all over the world. If something were to happen
at one site, causing a failure, the service would still be accessed through another site. Also, if the
cloud needs more hardware, they need not throw more servers in the safe room—they can add them
at another site and simply make it part of the cloud.
Intranets and the Cloud
While your operation is not big as Amazon S3 cloud computing, you can use the same sorts of
principles within your organization to develop your IT infrastructure. By setting up thin clients to
run applications and services on a local server, rather than on their desktops, you ease the costs of
deployment and maintenance, as well as reducing power costs. Some organizations use cloud
computing to deliver their corporate intranet. Intranets are customarily used within an organization
and are not accessible publicly. That is, a web server is maintained in-house and company
information is maintained on it that others within the organization can access. However, now
intranets are being maintained on the cloud. To access the company’s private, in-house information,
users are having to log on to the intranet by going to a secure public web site.

Challenges of Cloud Computing:

Providing Support for both Service Users and Service Providers7:

Challenges of Cloud Computing:

1. Service Providers: Development Services, or Build and Test Services,
a. Software Engineering Methodologies and tools
b. How to manage clouds for Application Lifecycle Management
 c. The Cloud manager can limit projects to certain clouds, control costs, manage security, or
supplement resources during peak use
2. Service Users: easily usable clouds, hiding the deployment details from the user using
virtualization,
3. Security and privacy are the biggest concerns.
4. Cost accounting data , and usage tracking for Multiple Clouds

Challenges of Cloud Computing:

Examples of Current Support for IaaS
1. Apache Hadoop: A Java software framework that supports data-intensive distributed applications
and enables applications to work with thousands of nodes and large amounts of data8.
http://hadoop.apache.org/
2. Nimbus is an open-source toolkit that, once installed on a cluster, provides an infrastructure as a
Service cloud to its client via WSRF-based or Amazon EC2 WSDL web service APIs9.
http://www.nimbusproject.org/
Challenges of Cloud Computing:
Examples of Current Support for PaaS and IaaS10,
1. Sun Cloud is an on-demand Cloud computing service operated by Sun Microsystems. The Sun
Cloud Compute Utility provides access to a substantial computing resource over the Internet for
US$1 per CPU-hour.
2. The Rackspace Cloud is a web application hosting/cloud platform provider ("Cloud Sites") that
bills on a utility computing basis. It has branched out into cloud storage ("Cloud Files") and cloud
infrastructure ("Cloud Servers"), http://www.rackspacecloud.com/
3. Kaavo provides solutions for deploying and managing on-demand applications and workloads in
the cloud. http://www.kaavo.com/home

ISSUES:
1. Privacy: The cloud model has been criticised by privacy advocates for the greater ease in which
the companies hosting the cloud services control, thus, can monitor at will, lawfully or unlawfully,
the communication and data stored between the user and the host company. Instances such as the
secret NSA program, working with AT&T, and Verizon, which recorded over 10 million phone calls
between American citizens, causes uncertainty among privacy advocates, and the greater powers it
gives to telecommunication companies to monitor user activity.13 Using a cloud service provider
(CSP) can complicate privacy of data because of the extent to which virtualization for cloud
processing (virtual machines) and cloud storage are used to implement cloud service.14 The point is
that CSP operations, customer or tenant data may not remain on the same system, or in the same
data center or even within the same provider's cloud. This can lead to legal concerns over
jurisdiction.
Postage and delivery services company, Pitney Bowes launched Volly, a cloud-based, digital
mailbox service to leverage its communication management assets. They also faced the technical
challenge of providing strong data security and privacy. However, they were able to address the
same concern by applying customized, application-level security, including encryption.

2. Compliance: In order to obtain compliance with regulations including FISMA, HIPAA, and
SOX in the United States, the Data Protection Directive in the EU and the credit card industry's PCI
DSS, users may have to adopt community or hybrid deployment modes that are typically more
expensive and may offer restricted benefits. This is how Google is able to "manage and meet
additional government policy requirements beyond FISMA" and Rackspace Cloud or QubeSpace
are able to claim PCI compliance.

3. Legal: As with other changes in the landscape of computing, certain legal issues arise with cloud
computing, including trademark infringement, security concerns and sharing of propriety data
resources. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has criticized the United States government for
considering during the Megaupload seizure process that people lose property rights by storing data
on a cloud computing service15.

4. Open Source: Open-source software has provided the foundation for many cloud computing
implementations, prominent examples being the Hadoop framework and VMware's Cloud Foundry.
In November 2007, the Free Software Foundation released the Affero General Public License, a
version of GPLv3 intended to close a perceived legal loophole associated with free software
designed to be run over a network.

5. Security: As cloud computing is achieving increased popularity, concerns are being voiced about
the security issues introduced through adoption of this new model. The effectiveness and efficiency
of traditional protection mechanisms are being reconsidered as the characteristics of this innovative
deployment model can differ widely from those of traditional architectures. An alternative
perspective on the topic of cloud security is that this is but another, although quite broad, case of
"applied security" and that similar security principles that apply in shared multi-user mainframe
security models apply with cloud security16.

The relative security of cloud computing services is a contentious issue that may be delaying its
adoption. Physical control of the Private Cloud equipment is more secure than having the equipment
off site and under someone else’s control. Physical control and the ability to visually inspect the
data links and access ports is required in order to ensure data links are not compromised. Issues
barring the adoption of cloud computing are due in large part to the private and public sectors'
unease surrounding the external management of security-based services. It is the very nature of
cloud computing-based services, private or public, that promote external management of provided
services. This delivers great incentive to cloud computing service providers to prioritize building
and maintaining strong management of secure services. Security issues have been categorised into
sensitive data access, data segregation, privacy, bug exploitation, recovery, accountability, malicious
insiders, management console security, account control, and multi-tenancy issues. Solutions to
various cloud security issues vary, from cryptography, particularly public key infrastructure (PKI),
to use of multiple cloud providers, standardisation of APIs, and improving virtual machine support
and legal support17.

Cloud computing offers many benefits, but it also is vulnerable to threats. As the uses of cloud
computing increase, it is highly likely that more criminals will try to find new ways to exploit
vulnerabilities in the system. There are many underlying challenges and risks in cloud computing
that increase the threat of data being compromised. To help mitigate the threat, cloud computing
stakeholders should invest heavily in risk assessment to ensure that the system encrypts to protect
data; establishes trusted foundation to secure the platform and infrastructure; and builds higher
assurance into auditing to strengthen compliance. Security concerns must be addressed in order to
establish trust in cloud computing technology.

6. Sustainability: Although cloud computing is often assumed to be a form of "green computing",

there is no published study to substantiate this assumption. citing the servers affects the
environmental effects of cloud computing. In areas where climate favors natural cooling and
renewable electricity is readily available, the environmental effects will be more moderate. (The
same holds true for "traditional" data centers.) Thus countries with favorable conditions, such as
Finland, Sweden and Switzerland, are trying to attract cloud computing data centers. Energy
efficiency in cloud computing can result from energy-aware scheduling and server consolidation.
However, in the case of distributed clouds over data centers with different source of energies
including renewable source of energies, a small compromise on energy consumption reduction
could result in high carbon footprint reduction18.

7. Abuse: As with privately purchased hardware, customers can purchase the services of cloud
computing for nefarious purposes. This includes password cracking and launching attacks using the
purchased services. In 2009, a banking trojan illegally used the popular Amazon service as a
command and control channel that issued software updates and malicious instructions to PCs that
were infected by the malware.

8. IT governance: The introduction of cloud computing requires an appropriate IT governance

model to ensure a secured computing environment and to comply with all relevant organizational
information technology policies. As such, organizations need a set of capabilities that are essential
when effectively implementing and managing cloud services, including demand management,
relationship management, data security management, application lifecycle management, risk and
compliance management.

Advantages of Cloud Computing: Some of the Masor advantage are given bellow,
•Lower-cost computers for users: This point is one of the financial advantages of cloud
computing. There is no need to purchase powerful and expensive equipment to use cloud computing
since all the processing is not at your local computer but in the cloud. Since the application runs in
the cloud, not on the desktop PC, that desktop PC does not need the processing power or hard disk
space demanded by traditional desktop software.
•Better performance: Due to the fact that no programs or files are loaded on the local PC, users
will not experience delays when switching on/off their computers and also the internal network will
be much faster since no internal traffic will occur.
•Less IT infrastructure costs: The IT department of large organizations could experience
decreasing on the expenses in regards with infrastructure with the adoption of the cloud computing
technology. Instead of investing in larger numbers of more powerful servers, the IT staff can use the
computing power of the cloud to supplement or replace internal computing resources.
•Less maintenance costs: Maintenance costs also will be reduced using cloud computing since
both hardware and software maintenance for organizations of all sizes will be much less. For
example, fewer servers are necessary in the organization which means that maintenance costs are
immediately lowered. As to software maintenance, there is no software on the organization’s
computers for the IT staff to maintain.
•Lower software costs: Using cloud computing there is no need to purchase software packages for
each computer in the organization, only those employees actually using an application need access
to that application in the cloud.
•Automatic software updates: All the software’s need update and the great thing with cloud
computing is that you do not have to worry for any updates and also your organization will not have
any additional expenses when a new upgrade or update is necessary.
•Increased computing power: When using cloud computing, you can use the cloud computing
power since you are no longer limited to what a single desktop computer can do.
•Unlimited storage capacity: The cloud offers virtually limitless storage capacity but at any time
you can expand your storage capacity with a small additional charge on your monthly fee.
•Increased data safety: There is no point to worry for disk failures or a disaster at your office. All
the data is stored in the cloud.
•Anywhere access to your documents: When you are in the cloud, there is no need to take your
documents with you. Instead, you can access your actual PC from anywhere that there is Internet
access available.
•Latest version availability: One more thing in relation with documents is that when you edit one
document at the office and then you go somewhere else and open it, the latest version will be
displayed since as I already aforementioned all the work is done centrally in the cloud.
•Use your computer from anywhere: This is one of the biggest advantages of cloud computing.
Basically, when you use this technology, you are not limited to work on a single PC. You just use
your “cloud PC” from anywhere and any PC and your existing applications and documents follow
you through the cloud. Move to a portable device, and your applications and documents are still
available.
Disadvantages:
•Internet connection is required: It is impossible to work if your Internet connection is down.
Since you are using Internet to connect to your “cloud PC”, if there is no Internet connection simply
you cannot connect.
•Low-speed connections are not recommended: This is not a very important disadvantage since
everybody today has at least 1 Mbps connection at work and at home. However, it is important to
mention that cloud computing cannot work with slow Internet connections such as dial-up since
web-based applications often require a lot of bandwidth to download, as do large documents.
•Sometimes is slow: Also, with fast connections, sometimes you might experience delays since
web-based applications can sometimes be slower than accessing a similar software program on your
desktop PC. The reasons for that are because of the demanding upload and download bandwidth
that web applications need.
•Stored data might not be secure: Data is stored “in the cloud”. However, where exactly is the
cloud and is it really secure? These are questions arising for users that have confidential data.
•Your data is 100% in the cloud: All the data that you had until now on your local PC, it is stored
in the cloud. Theoretically, data stored in the cloud is safe since a cloud hosting company uses
several ways of backup in order ensure that on any case the data will not be lost. However, if your
data is missing (even one in a million), you have no physical or local backup of your data.
CONCLUSION:
Cloud computing has recently emerged as a compelling paradigm for managing and delivering
services over the Internet. The rise of cloud computing is rapidly changing the landscape of
information technology, and ultimately turning the long-held promise of utility computing into a
reality. However, despite the significant benefits offered by cloud computing, the current
technologies are not matured enough to realize its full potential. Many key challenges in this
domain, including automatic resource provisioning, power management and security management,
are only starting to receive attention from the research community. Therefore, we believe there is
still tremendous opportunity for library professionals to make groundbreaking contributions in this
field, and bring significant impact to their development in the library services. As the development
of cloud computing technology is still at an early stage, I hope this Chapter will provide a better
understanding of the Issues and challenges of cloud computing.

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