Cloud Computing- A Brief Walkthrough

History

With its footsteps in the 1960’s and 1970’s the concept of cloud computing has evolved through years and experiments. From concept of time-sharing to Virtual Private Network, Cloud computing has gone through various transformations. Algorithms were tested to optimize the infrastructure, platform and applications to prioritize CPUs and increase end user efficiency.

Inventions lead many creators and their outstanding outputs. Well known brands like Amazon, Google, Nasa, Microsoft, IBM , Oracle has contributed equally in shaping the roadmap of cloud and its functioning till date. The competition that you see is evolving and allows users to take the utmost benefit out of it. The technologies helps with minimum user involvement, reduce labor costs and in-turn reducing labor costs.

Introduction:

Cloud computing refers to on demand delivery of IT resources as service through internet. The concept of owning and maintaining physical data centers and servers, one can access technology services such as computing power, storage, and databases through many service providers available. Organizations of all types, size and industries have adopted this new technology for wide variety of used cases such as data backup, disaster recovery, virtual desktop, software development, big data analytics and customer facing web applications.

Comparing different types of Computing:

Cloud Computing vs. Utility Computing:

Comparison is like traditional vs. Digital. Utility Computing follows the standard practice where it works on cloud-like infrastructure and is purely a business model. This means the service provider provides the utilities that is been demanded and it ends there. Charges are not upfront and vary as per the usage. On the other hand, Cloud Computing is more robust, flexible and works on a virtual environment with array of options for programmers and developers.

Cloud computing vs. Grid computing:

These two computing resemble each other in many aspects as in terms of network technology, multitasking abilities. However, Grid computing is applying the resources of many computers in a network to store data which are called as Grids. Here the task managed are scattered as it is a collection of networks. On the other hand Cloud computing is an advanced system application which quests the resources and data through a service over the internet managed centrally reducing the overall cost

Cloud computing vs. Autonomic computing:

The Autonomic Computing System was initiated by IBM in order to make the computing system capable of counteract the complexity of the system and be self sufficient enough to monitor itself against any such risks or damages.

The architecture of Cloud Computing :

We have been talking so much about Cloud Computing and its advantages. So how it designed and what are the scenes behind in making an actual Cloud Computing system? We can look at this process; it is broadly classified into three major sections: the front end, the central system, and the back end.



They connect to each other through a network usually the Internet via a set of protocols. The front ends basically are the platform, computer user, or the client. The back end is the “cloud” section of the system. All these components together constitute the architecture of cloud computing.

The front end includes the client’s computer and the application that is required to access the cloud computing system. This could include services like accessing social networking accounts via web browsers, Salesforce (CRM application), Zuora (subscription business model), etc.

A central server administers the systems usually monitoring traffic and client demands for a smooth functioning. It follows a set of rules called protocols and uses integration software called Middleware. Middleware then allows networked computers to communicate with each other via other web services or REST APIs.

At the back end of the system are the various computers, servers, and data storage systems that create the “cloud” of computing services. In theory, a cloud computing system could include practically any computer program you can imagine, from data processing to video games. Usually, every application will have its own dedicated server.

So when a customer creates an account in the Salesforce system (front end application) the account details are sent to Middleware software like Mulesoft via a set of protocols. Next, the account details are pushed to end systems like CRM systems, cloud databases, etc.

Vendors who provide Cloud Services :

Amazon tops the list of cloud service providers, and are the first ones to provide true cloud computing resources with Amazon Web Services. AWS offers a wide variety of services to individuals and organizations. AWS dominates the service providers due to it highlights like flexibility, scalability and reliability. The user only pays for what he uses and there is no upfront cost associated with this.

Microsoft has its own cloud computing services named Azure. They have their own managed data center, a global network that is used mainly for building testing and managing the application.

Google Cloud Services are most sought after in the medium enterprise sectors as it allows secure storage and access. This feature has gained a huge impact on organization productivity increasing collaborative work. Google has launched its cloud computing offering named Apps engine.

IBM has its own cloud computing offering named Blue cloud. The major plus of this cloud feature is its speed and agility. This also has no specific barriers in comparison to some standard ones. It is also a cost effective service with optimum quality delivery.

Red Hat also provides cloud computing using Amazon Web Services on the open source Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system which uses instances of Red Hat Enterprise Linux running on the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) web service.

Services of Cloud Computing: These services usually range from complete applications, platforms for development, servers and storage and virtual desktops. The most commonly used services form the Cloud Computing Providers are:

Software as a Service (SaaS): In this type, the service is provided in the form of software that can be used by a customer as per his demand and choice. He can buy monthly, yearly or a life time subscription for the same. This application uses the public internet and web browsers for its operation.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): In this type of service, a platform is created by the developer using the internet and is managed by a third party provider or an enterprise. Here you can build a new platform or modify a previously built application.



Hardware as a Service (HaaS): This is similar to that of a service based models, where the services are managed through Grid computing where the user pays for the rent than purchase. The benefit of this service is that the users can manage licensing requirements.