Chp 2:

Cloud Computing Fundamentals

Introduction
 Modern computing with our laptop or desktop or even with
tablets/smartphones using the Internet to access the data and details
that we want, which are located/stored at remote places/computers,
through the faces of applications like Facebook, e-mail, and YouTube,
brings the actual power of information that we need instantaneously
within no time.

 Even if millions of users get connected in this manner, from anywhere in

the world, these applications do serve what these users–customers
want.

 This phenomenon of supply of information or any other data and details

to all the needy customers, as and when it is asked, is the conceptual
understanding and working of what is known as cloud computing.
 Motivation for Cloud Computing
 Let us review the scenario of computing prior to the announcement and
availability of cloud computing:

 The users who are in need of computing are expected to invest money
on computing resources such as hardware, software, networking, and
storage;

 This investment naturally costs a bulk currency to the users as they have
to buy these computing resources, keep these in their premises, and
maintain and make it operational—all these tasks would add cost.

 And, this is a particularly true and huge expenditure to the enterprises

that require enormous computing power and resources, compared with
classical academics and individuals.
 On the other hand, it is easy and handy to get the required computing
power and resources from some provider (or supplier) as and when it is
needed and pay only for that usage.

 This would cost only a reasonable investment or spending, compared to

the huge investment when buying the entire computing infrastructure.

 This phenomenon can be viewed as capital expenditure versus

operational expenditure.

 As one can easily assess the huge lump sum required for capital
expenditure (whole investment and maintenance for computing
infrastructure) and compare it with the moderate or smaller lump sum
required for the hiring or getting the computing infrastructure only to
the tune of required time, and rest of the time free from that.
 Therefore, cloud computing is a mechanism of bringing–hiring or getting
the services of the computing power or infrastructure to an
organizational or individual level to the extent required and paying only
for the consumed services.

 One can compare this situation with the usage of electricity (its services)
from its producer-cum-distributor (in India, it is the state-/government-
owned electricity boards that give electricity supply to all residences and
organizations) to houses or organizations; here, we do not generate
electricity (comparable with electricity production–related tasks); rather,
we use it only to tune up our requirements in our premises, such as for
our lighting and usage of other electrical appliances, and pay as per the
electricity meter reading value.
 Therefore, cloud computing is needed in getting the services of
computing resources.

 Thus, one can say as a one-line answer to the need for cloud computing
that it eliminates a large computing investment without compromising
the use of computing at the user level at an operational cost.

 Cloud computing is very economical and saves a lot of money.

 A blind benefit of this computing is that even if we lose our laptop or due
to some crisis our personal computer—and the desktop system—gets
damaged, still our data and files will stay safe and secured as these are
not in our local machine (but remotely located at the provider’s place—
machine).
 Figure 2.1 shows several cloud computing applications. The cloud represents the Internet-based computing
resources, and the accessibility is through some secure support of connectivity
 It is a computing solution growing in popularity, especially among individuals
and small- and medium-sized companies (SMEs).

 In the cloud computing model, an organization’s core computer power resides
offsite and is essentially subscribed to rather than owned.

 Thus, cloud computing comes into focus and much needed only when we think
about what computing resources and information technology (IT) solutions are
required.

 This need caters to a way to increase capacity or add capabilities on the fly
without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing
new software.

 Cloud computing encompasses the subscription based or pay-per-use service

model of offering computing to end users or customers over the Internet and
thereby extending the IT’s existing capabilities
The Need for Cloud Computing
 The main reasons for the need and use of cloud computing are
convenience and reliability.

 In the past, if we wanted to bring a file, we would have to save it to

a Universal Serial Bus (USB) flash drive, external hard drive, or
compact disc (CD) and bring that device to a different place.

 Instead, saving a file to the cloud (e.g., use of cloud application

Dropbox) ensures that we will be able to access it with any
computer that has an Internet connection.

 The cloud also makes it much easier to share a file with friends,
making it possible to collaborate over the web.
 While using the cloud, losing our data/file is much less likely.

 However, just like anything online, there is always a risk that

someone may try to gain access to our personal data, and
therefore, it is important to choose an access control with a strong
password and pay attention to any privacy settings for the cloud
service that we are using.
 Defining Cloud Computing
 In the simplest terms, cloud computing means storing and accessing data and
programs over the Internet from a remote location or computer instead of our
computer’s hard drive.

 This so called remote location has several properties such as scalability,

elasticity etc., which is significantly different from a simple remote machine.

 The cloud is just a metaphor for the Internet.

 When we store data on or run a program from the local computer’s hard drive,
that is called local storage and computing.

 For it to be considered cloud computing, we need to access our data or

programs over the Internet.

 The end result is the same; however, with an online connection, cloud
computing can be done anywhere, anytime, and by any device.
NIST Definition of Cloud Computing

 The formal definition of cloud computing comes from the National

Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): “Cloud computing is a
model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access
to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks,
servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly
provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service
provider interaction.

 This cloud model is composed of five essential characteristics, three

service models, and four deployment models.

 It means that the computing resource or infrastructure—be it server

hardware, storage, network, or application software—all available from
the cloud vendor or provider’s site/premises, can be accessible over the
Internet from any remote location and by any local computing device.
 In addition, the usage or accessibility is to cost only to the level
of usage to the customers based on their needs and demands,
also known as the pay-as-you-go or pay-as-per-use model.

 If the need is more, more quantum computing resources are

made available ( provisioning with elasticity) by the provider.

 Minimal management effort implies that at the customer’s side,

the maintenance of computing systems is very minimal as they
will have to look at these tasks only for their local computing
devices used for accessing cloud-based resources, not for those
computing resources managed at the provider’s side.
Cloud Computing Is a Service
 The simplest thing that any computer does is allow us to store and
retrieve information.

 We can store our family photographs, our favorite songs, or even

save movies on it, which is also the most basic service offered by
cloud computing.

 Let us look at the example of a popular application called Flickr to

illustrate the meaning of this section.

 While Flickr started with an emphasis on sharing photos and

images, it has emerged as a great place to store those images.
 In many ways, it is superior to storing the images on your computer:

1. First, Flickr allows us to easily access our images no matter where we are
or what type of device we are using. While we might upload the photos of our
vacation from our home computer, later, we can easily access them from our
laptop at the office.

2. Second, Flickr lets us share the images. There is no need to burn them to a
CD or save them on a flash drive. We can just send someone our Flickr address
to share these photos or images.

3. Third, Flickr provides data security. By uploading the images to Flickr, we

are providing ourselves with data security by creating a backup on the web.
And, while it is always best to keep a local copy— either on a computer, a CD,
or a flash drive—the truth is that we are far more likely to lose the images that
we store locally than Flickr is of losing our images.
Cloud Computing Is a Platform
 The World Wide Web (WWW) can be considered as the operating
system for all our Internet-based applications.

 However, one has to understand that we will always need a local

operating system in our computer to access web based
applications.

 The basic meaning of the term platform is that it is the support

on which applications run or give results to the users.

 For example, Microsoft Windows is a platform. But, a platform

does not have to be an operating system. Java is a platform even
though it is not an operating system.
 Through cloud computing, the web is becoming a platform.

 With trends (applications) such as Office 2.0, more and more

applications that were originally available on desktop computers
are now being converted into web–cloud applications.

 Word processors like Buzzword and office suites like Google Docs
are now available in the cloud as their desktop counterparts.

 All these kinds of trends in providing applications via the cloud are
turning cloud computing into a platform or to act as a platform.
 5-4-3 Principles of Cloud computing
 Cloud computing has five essential characteristics which are shown in Figure 2.2.
 Essential, which means that if any of these characteristics is
missing, then it is not cloud computing:

1. On-demand self-service: A consumer can unilaterally provision

computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as
needed automatically without requiring human interaction with each
service’s provider.

2. Broad network access: Capabilities are available over the network

and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by
heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones,
laptops, and personal digital assistants [PDAs]).
3. Elastic resource pooling:
 The provider’s computing resources are pooled to serve multiple
consumers using a multitenant model, with different physical and
virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to
consumer demand.
 There is a sense of location independence in that the customer
generally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of the
provided resources but may be able to specify the location at a higher
level of abstraction (e.g., country, state, or data center).
 Examples of resources include storage, processing, memory, and
network bandwidth.
4. Rapid elasticity:
 Capabilities can be rapidly and elastically provisioned, in some cases
automatically, to quickly scale out and rapidly released to quickly scale in.
 To the consumer, the capabilities available for provisioning often appear to
be unlimited and can be purchased in any quantity at any time.

5. Measured service:
 Cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by
leveraging a metering capability at some level of abstraction appropriate
to the type of service (e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth, and active
user accounts).
 Resource usage can be monitored, controlled, and reported providing
transparency for both the provider and consumer of the utilized service.
Four Cloud Deployment Models
 Deployment models describe the ways with which the cloud
services can be deployed or made available to its customers,
depending on the organizational structure and the provisioning
location.

 One can understand it in this manner too: cloud (Internet)-based

computing resources—that is, the locations where data and
services are acquired and provisioned to its customers— can take
various forms.

 Four deployment models are usually distinguished, namely, public,

private, community, and hybrid cloud service usage:
1. Private cloud:
 The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a single
organization comprising multiple consumers (e.g., business units).
 It may be owned, managed, and operated by the organization, a third
party, or some combination of them, and it may exist on or off
premises.

2. Public cloud:
 The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for open use by the general
public.
 It may be owned, managed, and operated by a business, academic, or
government organization, or some combination of them.
 It exists on the premises of the cloud provider.
3. Community cloud:
 The cloud infrastructure is shared by several organizations and
supports a specific community that has shared concerns (e.g., mission,
security requirements, policy, and compliance considerations).
 It may be managed by the organizations or a third party and may exist
on premise or off premise.

4. Hybrid cloud:
 The cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or more distinct cloud
infrastructures (private, community, or public) that remain unique
entities but are bound together by standardized or proprietary
technology that enables data and application portability (e.g., cloud
bursting for load balancing between clouds).
Thank you…