UNIT – 1 Introduction to Cloud Technologies

➢ Cloud Computing
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.

Fig. Cloud Computing

• Cloud Computing provides an alternative to the on-premises datacenter.

• With an on-premises datacenter, we have to manage everything, such as purchasing and installing
hardware, virtualization, installing the operating system, and any other required applications, setting up
the network, configuring the firewall, and setting up storage for data.
• After doing all the set-up, we become responsible for maintaining it through its entire lifecycle.
• But if we choose Cloud Computing, a cloud vendor is responsible for the hardware purchase and
maintenance.
• They also provide a wide variety of software and platform as a service.
• We can take any required services on rent.
• The cloud computing services will be charged based on usage.
• The cloud environment provides an easily accessible online portal that makes handy for the user to
manage the compute, storage, network, and application resources.

➢ Characteristics (Features) of Cloud Computing

The five essential characteristics of cloud computing:

1. On-demand self-service: A consumer can separately provision computing capabilities, such as server
time and network storage, as needed automatically without requiring human interaction with each
service 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,
tablets, laptops and workstations).
3. Resource pooling: The provider's computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a
multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned
according to consumer demand. There is a sense of location independence in that the customer has no

BY: Vidhi B Chaudhari 1

 control or knowledge over the exact location of the provided resources but may be able to specify location at
a higher level of abstraction (e.g., country, state or datacenter). Examples of resources include storage,
processing, memory and network bandwidth.
4. Rapid elasticity: Capabilities can be elastically provisioned and released, in some cases automatically, to
scale rapidly outward and inward matching with demand. To the consumer, the capabilities available for
provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can be appropriated 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 the provider and consumer.

➢ Advantages of Cloud Computing

• Cost: It reduces the huge capital costs of buying hardware and software.
• Speed: Resources can be accessed in minutes, typically within afew clicks.
• Scalability: We can increase or decrease the requirement of resources according to the business
requirements.
• Productivity: While using cloud computing, we put less operational effort. We do not need to apply
patching, as well as no need to maintain hardware and software. So, in this way, the IT team can be
more productive and focus on achieving business goals.
• Reliability: Backup and recovery of data are less expensive and very fast for business continuity.
• Security: Many cloud vendors offer a broad set of policies, technologies, and controls that strengthen
our data security.

➢ Disadvantages of Cloud Computing

• Requires good speed internet with good bandwidth: To access your cloud services, you need to have a
good internet connection always with good bandwidth to upload or download files to/from the cloud
• Downtime: Since the cloud requires high internet speed and good bandwidth, there is always a
possibility of service outage, which can result in business downtime. Today, no business can afford
revenue or business loss due to downtime or slow down from an interruption in critical business
processes.
• Limited control of infrastructure: Since you are not the owner of the infrastructure of the cloud, hence
you don’t have any control or have limited access to the cloud infra.
• Restricted or limited flexibility: The cloud provides a huge list of services, but consuming them comes
with a lot of restrictions and limited flexibility for your applications or developments. Also, platform
dependency or ‘vendor lock-in’ can sometimes make it difficult for you to migrate from one provider to
another.
• Ongoing costs: Although you save your cost of spending on whole infrastructure and its management,
on the cloud, you need to keep paying for services as long as you use them. But in traditional methods,
you only need to invest once.
• Security: Security of data is a big concern for everyone. Since the public cloud utilizes the internet, your
data may become vulnerable. In the case of a public cloud, it depends on the cloud provider to take care
of your data. So, before opting for cloud services, it is required that you find a provider who follows
maximum compliance policies for data security.

BY: Vidhi B Chaudhari 2

 • Vendor Lock-in: Although the cloud service providers assure you that they will allow you to switch or
migrate to any other service provider whenever you want, it is a very difficult process. You will find it
complex to migrate all the cloud services from one service provider to another. During migration, you
might end up facing compatibility, interoperability and support issues. To avoid these issues, many
customers choose not to change the vendor.
• Technical issues: Even if you are a tech whiz, the technical issues can occur, and everything can’t be
resolved in-house. To avoid interruptions, you will need to contact your service provider for support.
However, not every vendor provides 24/7 support to their clients.

➢ Difference between Conventional Computing and Cloud Computing

Conventional Computing Cloud Computing
In conventional computing environment more time Once the cloud computing environment is set up
is needed for installation, set up, and configuration. initially, you can gain access faster than conventional
Computing
Cost must be paid in advance Pay-as-you-go
Cost is fixed Cost is variable
Economic to scale for all organization Economic to scale for large organization only
For Scaling manual effort is needed Scaling can be elastic and automatic
Environment is mix of physical and virtualized Usually environment is virtualized

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 of 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:
o 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.
o 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.
o In 2009, Google Apps also started to provide cloud computing enterprise applications.
o Of course, all the big players are present in the cloud computing evolution, some were earlier and
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.

BY: Vidhi B Chaudhari 3

 ➢ Cloud Orchestration
• Cloud Orchestration is a way to manage, co-ordinate, and provision all the components of a cloud
platform automatically from a common interface.
• It orchestrates the physical as well as virtual resources of the cloud platform.
• Cloud orchestration is a must because cloud services scale up arbitrarily and dynamically, include
fulfillment assurance and billing, and require workflows in various business and technical domains.
• Orchestration tools combine automated tasks by interconnecting the processes running across the
heterogeneous platforms in multiple locations.
• Orchestration tools create declarative templates to convert the interconnected processes into a single
workflow.
• The processes are so orchestrated that the new environment creation workflow is achieved with a single
API call.
• Creation of these declarative templates, though complex and time consuming, is simplified by the
orchestration tools.
• Cloud orchestration includes two types of models:
1. Single Cloud model
2. Multi-cloud model
• Single cloud model, all the applications designed for a system run on the same IaaS platform (same cloud
service provider).
• Applications, interconnected to create a single workflow, running on various cloud platforms for the
same organization define the concept of multi-cloud model.
• IaaS requirement for some applications, though designed for same system, might vary. This results in
availing services of multiple cloud service providers.
• For example, application with patient’s sensitive medical data might reside in some IaaS, whereas the
application for online OPD appointment booking might reside in another IaaS, but they are
interconnected to form one system. This is called multi-cloud orchestration.
• Multi-cloud models provide high redundancy as compared to single IaaS deployments.
• This reduces the risk of down time.

➢ Elasticity in Cloud
• Elasticity covers the ability to scale up but also the ability to scale down.
• The idea is that you can quickly provision new infrastructure to handle a high load of traffic.
• But what happens after that rush? If you leave all of these new instances running, your bill will skyrocket
as you will be paying for unused resources.
• In the worst case scenario, these resources can even cancel out revenue from the sudden rush.
• An elastic system prevents this from happening. After a scaled up period, your infrastructure can scale
back down, meaning you will only be paying for your usual resource usage and some extra for the high
traffic period.
• The key is that this all happens automatically.
• When resource needs meet a certain threshold (usually measured by traffic), the system “knows” that it
needs to de-provision a certain amount of infrastructure, and does so.
• With a couple hours of training, anyone can use the AWS web console to manually add or subtract
instances.
• But it takes a true Solutions Architect to set up monitoring, account for provisioning time, and configure
a system for maximum elasticity.
BY: Vidhi B Chaudhari 4
 ➢ Cloud Service Options / Cloud Service Models / Cloud Computing Stack

FACEBOOK,GMAIL,PINTREST,OFFICE365

SALESFORCE,NETSUIT,MULESOFT

AWS,GOOGLE,MICROSOFT,ZUMASYS,
RACKSPACE

Fig. : Cloud Services

• 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.
• cloud computing majorly divided into three broad service categories:
1. Infrastructure as a Service(IAAS),
2. Platform as a Service (PAAS),
3. Software as a Service (SAAS)

1. Infrastructure as a Service (IAAS)

• Infrastructure as a Service (IAAS) is a form of cloud computing that provides virtualized computing
resources over the internet.
• In an IAAS model, a third party provider hosts hardware, software, servers, storage and other
infrastructure components on the behalf of its users.
• IAAS providers also host users’ applications and handle tasks including system maintenance backup and
resiliency planning.
• IAAS platforms offer highly scalable resources that can be adjusted on-demand which makes it a well-
suited for workloads that are temporary, experimental or change unexpectedly.
• Other characteristics of IAAS environments include the automation of administrative tasks, dynamic
scaling, desktop virtualization and policy based services.
• Technically, the IaaS market has a relatively low barrier of entry, but it may require substantial financial
investment in order to build and support the cloud infrastructure.
• Mature open-source cloud management frameworks like OpenStack are available to everyone, and
provide strong a software foundation for companies that want to build their private cloud or become a
public cloud provider.

IAAS- Network:
• There are two major network services offered by public cloud service providers:
1. load balancing and
2. DNS (domain name systems).

BY: Vidhi B Chaudhari 5

 • Load balancing provides a single point of access to multiple servers that run behind it. A load balancer is
a network device that distributes network traffic among servers using specific load balancing algorithms.
• DNS is a hierarchical naming system for computers, or any other naming devices that use IP addressing
for network identification – a DNS system associates domain names with IP addresses.

2. Platform as a Service (PAAS)

• Platform as a Service (PAAS) is a cloud computing model that delivers applications over the internet.
• In a PAAS model, a cloud provider delivers hardware and software tools, usually those needed for
application development, to its users as a service.
• A PAAS provider hosts the hardware and software on its own infrastructure. As a result, PAAS frees users
from having to install in-house hardware and software to develop or run a new application.
• PAAS doesn’t replace a business' entire infrastructure but instead a business relies on PAAS providers for
key services, such as Java development or application hosting.
• A PAAS provider, however, supports all the underlying computing and software, users only need to login
and start using the platform-usually through a Web browser interface.
• PAAS providers then charge for that access on a per-use basis or on monthly basis.
• Some of the main characteristics of PAAS are :
1) Scalability and auto-provisioning of the underlying infrastructure.
2) Security and redundancy.
3) Build and deployment tools for rapid application management and deployment.
4) Integration with other infrastructure components such as web services, databases, and LDAP.
5) Multi-tenancy, platform service that can be used by many concurrent users.
6) Logging, reporting, and code instrumentation.
7) Management interfaces and/or API.

3. Software as a Service (SAAS)

• Software as a Service (SAAS) is a software distribution model in which applications are hosted by a
vendor or service provider and made available to customers over a network, typically the Internet.
• SAAS has become increasingly prevalent delivery model as underlying technologies that support Web
services and service- oriented architecture (SOA) mature and new development approaches, such as
Ajax, become popular.
• SAAS is closely related to the ASP (Application service provider) and on demand computing software
delivery models.
• IDC identifies two slightly different delivery models for SAAS which are
1) the hosted application model and
2) the software development model.
• Some of the core benefits of using SAAS model are:
1) Easier administration.
2) Automatic updates and patch management.
3) Compatibility: all users will have the same version of software.
4) Easier collaboration, for the same reason.
5) Global accessibility.

BY: Vidhi B Chaudhari 6

 ➢ Issues of SaaS
Permanent Internet connection
• Employees using SaaS software services must be permanently connected to the Internet.
• Working offline is no longer an option in this situation.
• We all know an Internet connection is not a problem anymore nowadays for those working in offices or
home.
• Companies needing assurance that their employees always have a connection to their SaaS provider
should consider redundant high speed Internet connections.
• Are you using mobile devices or travelling constantly? The best solution might be Software plus Service.

Data security
• When it comes to migrating traditional local software applications to a cloud based platform, data
security may be a problem.
• When a computer and application is compromised the SaaS multi-tenant application supporting many
customers could be exposed to the hackers.
• Any provider will promise that it will do the best in order for the data to be secure in any circumstances.
• But just to make sure, you should ask about their infrastructure and application security.

Data control
• Many businesses have no idea how their SaaS provider will secure their data or what backup procedures
will be applied when needed.
• To avoid undesirable effects, before choosing a SaaS vendor, managers should research for providers
with good reputations and that the vendor has backup solutions which are precisely described in the
Service Level Agreement contract.

Data location
• This means being permanently aware where exactly in the world your data is located.
• Although the Federal Information Security Management Act in the USA requires customers to keep
sensitive data within the country, in virtualized systems, data can move dynamically from one country to
another.
• Ask about the laws for your customers data in respect to where they are located.

➢ Cloud Deployment Models

Following are the four types of Cloud Deployment Models identified by NIST.

1. Private Cloud
2. Community Cloud
3. Public Cloud
4. Hybrid Cloud

BY: Vidhi B Chaudhari 7

 1. Private Cloud

Fig.: Private Cloud

• The cloud infrastructure is operated solely for an organization.
• Contrary to popular belief, private cloud may exist off premises and can be managed by a third party.
Thus, two private cloud scenarios exist, as follows:

On-site Private Cloud

• Applies to private clouds implemented at a customer’s premises.

Outsourced Private Cloud

• Applies to private clouds where the server side is outsourced to a hosting company.

Examples of Private Cloud:

• Eucalyptus, Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud - UEC (powered by Eucalyptus), Amazon VPC (Virtual Private
Cloud), VMware Cloud Infrastructure Suite, Microsoft ECI data center etc.

2. Community Cloud

Fig. Community Cloud

BY: Vidhi B Chaudhari 8

 • 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).
• Government departments, universities, central banks etc. often find this type of cloud useful.
• Community cloud also has two possible scenarios:

On-site Community Cloud Scenario

• Applies to community clouds implemented on the premises of the customers composing a community
cloud.

Outsourced Community Cloud

• Applies to community clouds where the server side is outsourced to a hosting company.

Examples of Community Cloud:

• Google Apps for Government, Microsoft Government Community Cloud, etc.

3. Public Cloud

Fig. : Public Cloud

• The most ubiquitous, and almost a synonym for, cloud computing.
• The cloud infrastructure is made available to the general public or a large industry group and is owned
by an organization selling cloud services.

Examples of Public Cloud:

• Google App Engine, Microsoft Windows Azure, IBM Smart Cloud, Amazon EC2, etc.

4. Hybrid Cloud

Fig. : Hybrid Cloud

• The cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or more clouds (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).

Examples of Hybrid Cloud:

• Windows Azure (capable of Hybrid Cloud), VMware vCloud (Hybrid Cloud Services), etc.

BY: Vidhi B Chaudhari 9

 ➢ Eucalyptus
• Eucalyptus is an open source software platform for implementing Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) in a
private or hybrid cloud computing environment.
• The Eucalyptus cloud platform pools together existing virtualized infrastructure to create cloud
resources for infrastructure as a service, network as a service and storage as a service.
• The name Eucalyptus is an acronym for Elastic Utility Computing Architecture for Linking Your Programs
to Useful Systems.
• Eucalyptus was founded out of a research project in the Computer Science Department at the University
of California, Santa Barbara, and became a for-profit business called Eucalyptus Systems in 2009.
• Eucalyptus Systems announced a formal agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) in March 2012,
allowing administrators to move instances between a Eucalyptus private cloud and the Amazon Elastic
Compute Cloud (EC2) to create a hybrid cloud.
• The partnership also allows Eucalyptus to work with Amazon’s product teams to develop unique AWS-
compatible features.

Eucalyptus features
• Supports both Linux and Windows virtual machines (VMs).
• Application program interface- (API) compatible with Amazon EC2 platform.
• Compatible with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Simple Storage Service (S3).
• Works with multiple hypervisors including VMware, Xen and KVM.
• Can be installed and deployed from source code or DEB and RPM packages.
• Internal processes communications are secured through SOAP and WS-Security.
• Multiple clusters can be virtualized as a single cloud.
• Administrative features such as user and group management and reports.

Business Concerns in the Cloud

Security
• Due to the nature of cloud computing services and how they involve storing data without knowing its
precise physical location, data security remains a concern for both prospective adopters of the
technology and existing users.
• However, the security concerns associated with storing things in the cloud are more nuanced than
merely not being able to see where data is stored. A number of data breaches involving cloud systems
made the headlines in 2017, including the story of financial giant Deloitte having its cloud data
compromised.
• These combined with the natural carefulness of trusting third parties with data makes information
security a persistent challenge in cloud computing. However, with each breach comes enhanced security
in cloud systems designed to ensure similar breaches never happen again. Improvements include the use
of multi-factor authentication, implemented to ensure users are who they claim to be.
• Truth be told, security for most cloud providers is watertight, and breaches in the cloud are rare—when
they do occur, though, they get all the headlines. To minimize risk, double-check that your cloud
provider uses secure user identity management and access controls. It’s also important to check which
data security laws your cloud provider must follow. On the whole, cloud data security is as safe, if not
safer, than on premise data security.

BY: Vidhi B Chaudhari 10

 Outages
• Performance is a consistent challenge in cloud computing, particularly for businesses that rely on cloud
providers to help them run mission-critical applications. When a business moves to the cloud it becomes
dependent on the cloud provider, meaning that any outages suffered by the cloud provider also affect
the business.
• The risk of outages in the cloud is not negligible—even the major players in cloud computing are
susceptible. In February 2017, an AWS Amazon S3 outage caused disruptions for many websites and
applications, and even sent them offline.
• There is a need, therefore, for some kind of site recovery solution for data held in cloud-based services.
Disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS)—the replication and hosting of servers by a third party to provide
failover in the event of a man-made or natural catastrophe—is a way companies can maintain business
continuity even when disaster strikes.

Expertise
• The success of any movement towards cloud adoption comes down to the expertise at your disposal.
The complexity of cloud technology and the sheer range of tools makes it difficult to keep up with the
options available for all your use cases.
• Organizations need to strike a balance between having the right expertise and the cost of hiring
dedicated cloud specialists. The optimum solution to this challenge is to work with a trusted cloud
Managed Service Provider (MSP). Cloud MSPs have the manpower, tools and experience to manage
multiple and complex customer environments simultaneously. The MSP takes complete responsibility for
cloud processes and implementing them as the customer desires. This way, organizations can stay
focused on their business goals.

Cost Management
• All the main cloud providers have quite detailed pricing plans for their services that explicitly define costs
of processing and storage data in the cloud. The problem is that cost management is often an issue
when using cloud services because of the sheer range of options available.
• Businesses often waste money on unused workloads or unnecessarily expensive storage, and 26 percent
of respondents in this cloud survey cited cost management as a major challenge in the cloud. The
solution is for organizations to monitor their cloud usage in detail and constantly optimize their choice of
services, instances, and storage. You can monitor and optimize cloud implementation by using a cloud
cost management tool such as CloudHealth or consulting a cloud cost expert.
• There are also some practical cost calculators available which clarify cloud costs, including Amazon’s
AWS Simple Monthly Calculator, and NetApp’s calculators for both AWS and Azure cloud storage.

Governance
• Cloud governance, meaning the set of policies and methods used to ensure data security and privacy in
the cloud, is a huge challenge. Confusion often arises about who takes responsibility for data stored in
the cloud, who should be allowed use cloud resources without first consulting IT personnel, and how
employees handle sensitive data.
• The only solution is for the IT department at your organization to adapt its existing governance and
control processes to incorporate the cloud and ensure everyone is on the same page. This way, proper
governance, compliance, and risk management can be enforced.

BY: Vidhi B Chaudhari 11

 Cloud Optimization Strategy
• Finding the right strategy for cloud adoption is another important challenge. Many businesses moved to
the cloud using a segmented approach in which isolated use cases, projects, and applications were
migrated to cloud providers. The problem then for many companies is a lack of any holistic organization-
wide cloud strategy.
• Finding the right strategy for cloud adoption comes back to the issue of cloud governance. With
everyone on the same page thanks to robust cloud governance and clear policies, organizations can
create a unified and optimized strategy for how they use the cloud.

BY: Vidhi B Chaudhari 12