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Cloud Computing History
Cloud computing may seem like a novel concept, but its roots go back further than most people realize.
Scientists working on SAGE for air defense used cloud technology back in the 1950s to share resources more easily between systems; by 1980, AOL and CompuServe were providing email services and cloud solutions.
Cloud computing first gained mainstream awareness during the early 2000s when Amazon's EC2 allowed businesses to rent virtual servers from its data centers - this marked an expansion of cloud computing beyond simple website applications.
Cloud Computing - What is it?
Cloud computing provides computing resources on-demand for computers, mobile phones, and other devices via a network.
They are designed for flexibility and access from anywhere, anytime, using any device. Requiring minimal administrative work with service providers.
Characteristics
- Self-Service on Demand: Customers can obtain computer resources such as server time and network storage without contacting individual service providers directly.
- Access a variety of network capabilities: Access an assortment of network capabilities using standard procedures. This makes the capabilities accessible from mobile phones or laptops.
- Resource Pooling: Cloud computing offers businesses many benefits; one such benefit is resource pooling, where a provider's computer resources are combined to service multiple customers simultaneously. Physical and virtual resources are constantly assigned and allocated based on customer demand; furthermore, cloud computing enables easy expansion or contraction without upfront investments for extra computing capacity or storage needs.
- Flexibility: Cloud computing offers many flexible payment options for businesses to pay only for what they use through Pay-as-you-go billing. It provides cost savings by helping companies avoid overspending on services they don't require.
- Cost-Effectiveness: You can reduce costs by paying only for resources you use, and many cloud providers provide discounts with long-term agreements, making their services even more economical and accessible.
Cloud Computing Services
Cloud computing services come in all forms and shapes. Some of the more widely-known offerings are:
Infrastructure As A Service
Infrastructure As A Service (IaaS) is a type of cloud computing in which third-party providers deliver virtualized server infrastructure via platform virtualization environments, usually via software as a Service (SaaS) and Platform as a Service model.
IaaS cloud computing represents one of three primary categories - Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service, and Infrastructure as a Service - available today.
IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) allows customers to pay only what they use for infrastructure resources like storage, networks, and computing power without incurring upfront capital expenses or initial setup fees.
You only pay what you use.
IaaS has quickly become the go-to solution for companies that seek the agility, scalability, and cost benefits of cloud technology without managing or maintaining their infrastructure.
Service providers typically offer tailor-made offerings tailored to each customer.
Platform as a service
Platform as a Service (PaaS) is a cloud-based computing service that gives developers a platform for creating, running, and managing applications in an agile fashion.
PaaS platforms enable new app creation while acting as testing environments before being sent live into production environments.
PaaS services typically run in the cloud and allow users to access them from any location.
At the same time, PaaS providers handle Infrastructure and Platform management on behalf of their clients so that developers are free to focus solely on creating applications.
PaaS offers an expansive set of features and services, from development frameworks to application monitoring and management, offering seamless scalability between apps and other cloud services.
Software-as-a-Service
Software as a Service (SaaS), a rapidly increasing form of cloud computing, allows businesses to gain access to software over the Internet rather than installing or running it themselves - an incredibly convenient approach when they do not possess or wish to host an on-premise server system for installing applications or software installations.
SaaS applications can be accessed using any web browser and hosted on cloud servers, providing businesses with only what they use with subscription fees for SaaS subscriptions - no upfront licensing costs!
SaaS apps simplify life for multiple users by not requiring extensive training sessions or fees for services they only utilize, making SaaS an economical solution that can serve many needs, such as project management and CRM.
Storage as a service
Storage as a Service (SaaS) is an online data and file storage model that enables users to easily access their files online, with providers offering users different storage and pricing plans to find one suitable to them and their budgets.
SaaS providers manage storage infrastructure while users manage their files using tools and features vendors provide, like access control or encryption, for example.
Backup as a Service (BaaS).
Backup as a Service (BaaS) is a cloud backup solution designed to ensure business continuity while protecting data.
Flexible, scalable, and pay-as-you-go are some of its hallmark features.
- Cost-Efficient: Infrastructure BaaS reduces expenses related to in-house backup infrastructure by offering cloud backup.
- Agility: BaaS offers greater agility as organizations can quickly expand or contract backup storage capacity according to business needs.
- Protection: BaaS offers enhanced data protection by keeping data stored within an encrypted cloud-based environment.
- Improved reliability: Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure offer BaaS services via cloud providers such as IaaS providers and BaaS-Hosted Virtualization Platform.
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What Does "The Cloud" Mean? Why Is The Cloud Named As Such?
Cloud computing refers to Internet-based systems in which location and service details don't matter to most users; its name derives from old telecom network schematics where the public telephone system was represented as "cloud" to demonstrate it didn't matter much.
What Are The Main Benefits Of Cloud Computing?
Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG)
Computing solutions such as cloud computing offer an ideal alternative when servers are underused compared to anticipated.
Informed costs will be lower upfront while ongoing expenses become transparent - eliminating capital outlay for hardware and software, server rack space, and round-the-clock electricity to cool and power infrastructure. IT experts, as well as cooling experts, are no longer necessary!
Speed
Cloud computing offers on-demand self-service computing capacity that can be obtained quickly with just a few clicks, significantly increasing both the flexibility and capacity planning of businesses.
Elasticity
Cloud services' elastic scaling enables customers to rapidly and effortlessly scale IT resources up or down as necessary in response to demand, helping to meet it quickly and cost-efficiently.
Performance
Cloud computing relies upon an international network of data centers continuously upgraded with cutting-edge hardware to offer reliable online service to their users.
This data center offers many advantages over corporate data centers, including reduced network latency and more significant economies of scale.
Productivity
Data Centers require constant "racking and stacking," such as installing updates to software patches or performing other tedious IT duties that take up valuable resources in terms of time.
Cloud computing enables IT teams to focus on critical business goals such as transformation and growth by eliminating many mundane administrative duties.
What are the Cloud Computing Pitfalls?
Vendor Lock-In
By migrating an entire business onto the cloud, an increased reliance is created upon third-party service providers for business operations.
This may cause further dependence upon these vendors regarding support services provided for your enterprise.
Risk and Accountability
Cloud services transfer some risk management responsibilities, though only to third-party cloud service providers (CSPs).
Companies remain accountable for all real risks they encounter when employing cloud-based solutions.
Cybersecurity
With hackers having more access than ever to open and closed systems via the internet, organizations have implemented enhanced cybersecurity measures.
Nonetheless, corporate defenses continue to be breached at an alarming rate; cyber risk must, therefore, receive special consideration, and cyber security must become part of every organization's core strategy.
Compliance With Legal and Regulatory Requirements
Compliance with data laws can be overwhelming and complex, raising many challenging questions for businesses: Who owns data? Where should it be stored? Who has access? Cloud services or any online platforms where data resides are subject to local law.
They must respect this legislation when handling data storage there.
Cloud Computing: Interesting facts
Cloud computing uses an interconnected, remote server network located on the internet for storing, processing, and managing information.
Cloud storage offers more secure ways of keeping files safe; cloud computing makes this possible via its virtualization feature. Cloud storage services enable companies across industries and sizes to share files easily while creating opportunities for data sharing across sectors and sizes.
Many people use cloud computing and invest money to develop, upgrade, and manage their systems on this virtual infrastructure.
You may wonder what its popularity and cost are like; here are some facts about Cloud Computing:
Cloud is at the Heart of Banking
Mobile banking became widely accessible in 2013, PayPal became more commonly utilized, and crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter became popular, with payments for goods becoming almost unstoppable through these services.
Cloud computing will only continue growing as virtual currencies such as Bitcoin become mainstream.
Cloud Computing Is Being Utilized By Roughly Half Of Us Government Users
Agencies spend, on average, around two billion annually to build, maintain, and preserve cloud services.
Some experts consider them one of the world's biggest users; all branches use shared, commercial, and private clouds - often choosing private for security and control reasons.
Never Upgrade Again
Cloud-based solutions don't care what device or software you use - upgrades won't require updating the old IT infrastructure either; cloud computing companies take care of this so you can focus on your work or leisure without worry of upgrading again in real-time and automatically, keeping you always up to date.
Cloud Computing Is the Future
Cloud computing goes far beyond being just data storage solutions; its power can be harnessed for all sorts of research.
Intel studies how its cloud decodes brainwaves and interacts with software programs. Intel also investigates its ability to create water resource management strategies and develop models. Cloud computing makes data and businesses easier for everyone to use.
At the same time, opening doors to potential future technological breakthroughs that benefit humanity - for instance, unified communications strategies or Bring Your Device work environments need the cloud first as the initial step to attract talent while supporting mobile workforces.
Cloud Access Is Available in Different Ways
Cloud computing applications come in several varieties to fit the IT requirements of your business.
You have various solutions at your fingertips depending on which ones best suit you; external servers hosting data dedicated solely for you could be one such choice; shared community hosting might offer more significant savings, while universal or hybrid solutions allow public server space. Office 365 doesn't require moving all processes or storage to the cloud!
What Are The Types Of Cloud Computing Available?
Cloud computing does not follow one defined model. Clients' requirements differ, and many models, types, and services have emerged over time to meet them all.
Public Cloud
Public clouds are managed by third-party providers who offer computing services over the internet and are accessible and collected using web browsers.
They feature all necessary hardware, software, and supporting infrastructure managed by these service providers that provide computing.
Private Cloud
Private clouds (also called internal or corporate clouds ) provide cloud computing services only for use by one individual business or organization, similar to what public clouds offer.
Cloud computing comes in two varieties;
- On-Premises: Enterprises may opt to manage their own on-premises infrastructure. Private clouds offer greater privacy and security as they're hosted internally and protected by company firewalls - this guarantees sensitive information won't fall under third party's reach. IT departments must manage and pay for private clouds as part of their duties; staffing costs for management, oversight, and upkeep remain identical for these environments.
- Virtual: Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) hosting allows companies to pay third-party providers for hosting their private clouds. VPC customers have complete control of running code, storing data, and performing other functions that would typically occur on any cloud service provided via a VPN by their public service provider.
Hybrid Cloud
A hybrid cloud combines elements from both public and private clouds in one platform that enables data and application sharing between them.
This allows organizations to leverage hybrid solutions without breaking their budgets by sharing resources between cloud environments.
The enterprise version of the software provides enterprises with a means for managing sensitive or private information securely, providing greater control and minimizing third-party providers' involvement.
Hybrid Clouds combine the advantages and risks associated with Cloud Computing into one comprehensive offering - all while adding something different than standard clouds, such as infrastructure-as-a-service offerings.
Public components may provide infrastructure-as-a-service while processing, testing, and networking are performed through general processes in addition to processing storage capabilities. Hybrid clouds allow organizations to enjoy all these advantages with reduced risks associated with traditional Cloud computing environments.
Cloud Services Are Available In Different Types
Cloud computing services can be broadly classified into four categories: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Serverless computing solutions, and Software as a Service.
Cloud computing stacks refer to systems built layer by layer to use cloud services.
Infrastructure as a Service
IaaS or Infrastructure as a Service allows users to rent essential IT infrastructure components like servers, virtual machines, networks, storage space, and operating systems from service providers in a cloud computing model.
Companies looking to control and create applications should explore this as an excellent means of accomplishing both tasks simultaneously.
It is vital, though, that their staff possess sufficient technical know-how to administer services at this level effectively.
Platform as a Service
PaaS allows developers to easily develop mobile or web apps quickly without worrying about infrastructure management such as servers or storage networks.
Serverless Computing
The servers are out of sight! Serverless computing works similarly to PaaS; its goal is app development without the hassle of managing infrastructure or servers - cloud providers take care of that for you, leaving developers free to concentrate solely on writing code or designing apps.
Software as a Service
Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) refers to cloud computing's application-as-a-service model that most of us utilize daily.
SaaS providers manage and host software and infrastructure and handle upgrades and patches; users simply access it using a web browser or app access points - with prices determined primarily based on usage numbers.
Also Read: Cloud Computing Benefits And Challenges - Detail Guide
Cloud Computing Use cases
Production Migration
C migrating production services to the cloud is one of the more commonly practiced use cases for cloud services, and many businesses now host all or some of their infrastructure in this manner.
Cloud-Native Applications
With proper infrastructure management, developers can build, deploy, and scale applications quickly in web, mobile, and API environments.
Backup and Disaster Recovery
With public clouds' reliability and durability easing backup efforts, there's unlimited storage capacity and built-in policies designed for data lifecycle.
You can better protect your information cost-effectively over a larger area with lower expenses associated with larger-scale data protection solutions.
Testing and Development
Cloud servers allow for testing and development at any time you require them, with increased flexibility over managing computing resources if desired, including renting an advanced test server by the hour if costs associated with having such wide ranges in computing power become prohibitively expensive.
Traffic Burst
Demand can become highly high at certain seasons throughout the year; it is temporary.
Many online merchants experience an upswing in sales during certain parts of the year.
Traditional environments force organizations to pre-provision computing, storage, and network capacities so that they may expand as necessary - not an efficient or economical method of scaling that costs extra in infrastructure usage that only gets utilized occasionally throughout the year.
Cluting can help to handle traffic during peak times better. A public cloud can expand the capacity of your network to manage this additional traffic during busy seasons better; then, when traffic levels reduce again, you can stop using this infrastructure as needed and only pay when using your cloud infrastructure!
Hosting Scenarios
Hosting on Bare-Metal (single Tenant Physical Server) Other names for these servers are Managed Dedicated Servers, Single Tenant Physical Servers, or Managed Dedicated Servers.
A dedicated server has been customized specifically to suit one tenant; their requirements in terms of performance, reliability, and security can all be customized directly via operating systems installed onto them to enhance performance further.
Metal servers for single-tenant use are widely adopted among financial services, healthcare providers, retail businesses, and others looking for regulatory compliance, privacy, and security requirements.
While popular among these sectors, dedicated servers might provide more excellent performance and protection compared to bare metal servers; businesses not needing reliable solutions should opt instead.
Virtual Machines (VMs)
Virtual machines, commonly called an "emulation or virtual representation" of actual computers, often run within another physical computer called a "host." When they operate as guests, they're known as guests, while the host is the name given to that computer running the guest software.
Docker
Docker is an open-source toolkit developers use to package their apps into containers and deploy and manage them with ease.
Docker provides developers with an open platform enabling them to build, deploy, and update containers quickly using simple commands.
At first, it's essential to distinguish between containers and traditional virtual machines (VMs).
Hypervisors virtualize hardware for traditional virtualization on-premise or cloud. Each virtual machine includes an OS guest operating system and virtualized versions of required hardware; additionally, it contains applications, libraries, and any dependencies necessary for running those OSs.
Containers virtualize an operating system - often Linux - to only contain applications and their dependencies, making them lightweight, portable, and fast as there is no guest operating system present.
Containers can function independently from each other as they come equipped with their software, bits, and libraries.
In contrast, Docker containers do not run without external assistance from an engine.
Kubernetes
Kubernetes, an open source PaaS that automates deployment, scaling, and management of containerized apps, offering infrastructure as a service (IaaS); also provides infrastructure as a service with scale capabilities.
Kubernetes has quickly become the go-to cloud platform among developers due to its array of features, thriving open-source community, and compatibility with major cloud providers and Docker containers (although more complex).
Kubernetes itself consists of blocks or layers called primitives; as your application expands, more primitives are added.
Kubernetes utilizes an entity known as a pod to host containerized applications - similar to Docker containers - within their cluster.
Each pod stands on its own as an autonomous entity with its IP address.
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Conclusion
Cloud computing is predicted to continue its meteoric rise as digitization takes hold around the globe.
Below are several predictions regarding its use.
- Cloud services will become increasingly important to people and businesses for accomplishing tasks efficiently and successfully.
- Artificial Intelligence can make cloud computing smarter and better meet users' needs.
- As security concerns escalate, cloud providers will invest more heavily in safety features.
- Cloud services have become more affordable since the growth of the cloud market.
- Cloud computing will become more flexible. Containerization and serverless computing will make cloud computing even more flexible, making this form of technology more scalable, flexible, and adaptable than before.
