We all hear the word Cloud every now and then but I am sure many of us aren’t exactly very sure about The Cloud and Cloud Computing. So first of all, it is important to understand, what is the cloud?
Cloud is just a metaphor for internet, when we say cloud, we are just referring to internet only and simply the services we use using internet – through our web browsers.
Our current model:
You own your PC, laptop, phone, netbook, etc. and it's software. You are responsible for all the hardware and software, the ISP and whichever plan you choose, and devoting the time and effort for purchase of software, it's updates and the machine's upkeep. You are responsible for backing up of data, it's storage and security as well as the software and hardware to maintain it.
When I use the term Cloud Computing there is no standard industry definition which defines cloud computing, given the fact that this is in a very early stage and only handful of companies are investing in cloud computing & virtualization which are often cited as the “future trend” .
In simple words:
Cloud Computing is more than the few internet based services which we access through our web browsers, it is the fundamental shift from the traditional client/server or n-tier architecture and it primarily focuses on the effective utilization of the IT INFRASTRUCTURE .
Most Cloud Service providers offer this service on the “pay as you go” model. Pay as you go model means that you pay only for the services you use and the amount of the resources you use. You are billed for only those services & resources that you consumed. In short, everything that is offered is actually a service which you use.
You must be thinking it’s just another computational model, so why should one have an interest in it?
Well here is the answer:
Features:
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Scalablity: These are highly scalable services than the traditional services that tend to reach a limit at a certain level but these are designed and managed to cater the needs of people around the world because these services are replicated at the data centers which have a very good geo-distribution. The security aspect is excellent, as well as the distribution of jobs to maintain and expand these centers.
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Automated Services management: Well, it simply means you don’t have to worry about the manpower, servers, software upgrades, hardware, etc. All are managed by the cloud services offering company. I will elaborate this in a future post on Windows Azure.
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High availability: These have almost 99.9999% up-time services because they have thousands of data centers across the globe and they have hundreds of instances which are replicated on them, so even if one server fails other jumps in to serve the client.
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Multi-tenancy: One Cloud has many tenants. That's the way most Cloud service providers effectively utilize underlying IT infrastructure. They have many clients whose services are running on the single data center.
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Virtualization: This actually is the most important aspect of it. Cloud service providers have data centers where they run thousands of servers run virtually using a hypervisor which increases effective utilization of the resources of mere 40-45% to around 85%.
So what it actually does:
It takes all the stress of managing your servers, databases, security patches, software upgrades, infrastructure etc. (in the case of public cloud) from you.
Next: Types of Clouds
Source: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/what-is-cloud-computing-an-introduction-for-beginners#ixzz1AdB8KeFO