Cloud Computing Explained

If you’re about to start your journey to the cloud, this post is right for you.

You probably might have heard someone talking or mentioning cloud computing, and you’re here to understand what cloud computing is. Let me give a little scenario, you have an organization, with a physical data center where you have servers, switches, storage devices, and networks all set up and ready for business. Imagine you do have an event that comes up once annually that will consume a lot of those resources which will require you to get either more servers or other resources to handle the services you will be providing and after the event those servers will be under use, from the narration you can see that you will have to spend more to handle a one-time service you needed to provide, this method of running software and hardware is what is referred to as On-Premises.

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud Computing means storing of your IT resources in the cloud and running them over the internet on a pay-as-you-go basis. I can then define cloud computing as the delivery of on-demand computing services which includes storage, servers, network, database, email, intelligence, analytics, and application over the internet on a pay-as-you-go basis.

The cloud is just a big data center (big building with servers) located at a different location and they are networked together and can also be accessed over the internet, they are owned by cloud providers, examples of these cloud providers are Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, VMware, IBM Cloud Services, Salesforce, etc.

If we try to connect this to the scenario I gave previously it simply means when you have an event that will require more services instead of buying new servers or storage devices, you can just pay for more resources when you need them, helping you scale your business need.

 

Type of Cloud Computing

When talking about types of cloud computing can be categorized into two:

The Deployment Model and Service Model can also be referred to as types of cloud and types of cloud services respectively.

 

Deployment Model (Types of Cloud)

I want to tell you a little story before talking about the types of cloud computing. I remember working in an organization in which I was required to come to the office every working day. I had different options for getting to the office depending on some conditions.

The first condition is if I really want to be comfortable and keep my things anyhow I want them then I always choose the option of driving myself to the office but the cons to me going to work with my private car was I spend extra on fuel and maintenance of my car so when I think about this I go with another option which is ordering a ride to come to pick me, this other option was good because I still have a bit of privacy to some extent and at the same time I don’t need to fuel the car and take care of the maintenance which is fair to me but also I have one other option which is cheaper compare to the previous option which is taking public transport but then the comfort can’t compare to previous options I mentioned but then I pay less and I don’t have to think about how the car is been maintained.

I will be explaining each of the deployment models but before I do you can always connect the first option I gave to the private cloud, the second option to the hybrid cloud, and the third option to the public cloud.

Private Clouds are reserved exclusively for one business or organization. It can be managed on-premises or off-premises by a third-party service provider.

Public Clouds are owned by cloud providers, they provide computing services to the public over the internet and are shared by multiple customers.

Hybrid Clouds are a combination of both the public cloud and private cloud services or functionalities. You choose which of the data are to be stored on the private cloud and which are to be stored on the public cloud based on organization needs.

 

Community Cloud is when a group of organizations shares similar services on a sub-private cloud that can be managed internally or by a third-party provider and is designed to meet a specific community need.

 

Service Model (Type of Cloud Services)

Now that we know what Cloud Computing has to do with delivering computing resources then we can now go ahead to see how they are been categorized.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): it typically provides IT infrastructure resources over the internet such as network, servers, and storage on a pay-as-you-go basis. The customers are responsible for managing the operating system, middleware, and application that runs on the IT infrastructure.

Platform as a Service: it provides services for developing, testing, and management of applications. The customer focus on just the coding and building of the application without the need to worry about the underlying infrastructure.

Software as a Service: It provides computing service through a software application over the internet, it is typically usually accessed through the web browser. It eliminates the need for the end-user to manage the underlying infrastructure and any other maintenance.

Benefits of Cloud Computing

Cost Saving: With the cloud, you can now pay for what you use which reduces the cost compared to buying IT resources required to set up an on-premises data center.

Security: Data stored in the cloud are secured, and the cloud provider ensures that data stored are kept secure with the use of their broad set of policies and technologies.

Scalability: It is easier to scale up and down your IT resources when needed without the stress of physical limitation, with this you can easily meet up with your business need as it changes.

 

 

5 thoughts on “Cloud Computing Explained”

Leave a Comment

We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. View more
Cookies settings
Accept
Decline
Privacy & Cookie policy
Privacy & Cookies policy
Cookie name Active

Who we are

Suggested text: Our website address is: https://abcofcloud.com.

Comments

Suggested text: When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection. An anonymised string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service Privacy Policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

Media

Suggested text: If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Cookies

Suggested text: If you leave a comment on our site you may opt in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year. If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser. When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select "Remember Me", your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed. If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Embedded content from other websites

Suggested text: Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

Who we share your data with

Suggested text: If you request a password reset, your IP address will be included in the reset email.

How long we retain your data

Suggested text: If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue. For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

What rights you have over your data

Suggested text: If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

Where your data is sent

Suggested text: Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.
Save settings
Verified by MonsterInsights