What Is Cloud Computing? Benefits Of Cloud Computing

Applications can be accessed online as utilities with cloud computing. Online application creation, configuration, and customization are made possible by it.

What is the cloud?

The term “cloud” describes an Internet or network. To put it another way, we can define the cloud as something that exists at a remote location. Through networks, the cloud can offer services on both public and private networks, such as WAN, LAN, or VPN.

Email, online conferencing, and customer relationship management (CRM) are examples of applications that operate in the cloud.

What is cloud computing?

Online manipulation, configuration, and application access are referred to as cloud computing. It provides applications, infrastructure, and online data storage.

Cloud computing solves platform dependency problems by eliminating the need for us to install applications on our own computer. As a result, our business application is becoming mobile and collaborative with cloud computing.

Essential Ideas

Cloud computing is made possible and available to end users by certain services and models operating in the background. These are the operational models for cloud computing:

• Deployment models
• Service models

Deployment Models

Deployment models specify how the cloud is located and what kind of access is possible. The four categories of cloud access are public, private, hybrid, and community.

Public Cloud

The Public Cloud makes it possible for the general public to easily access systems and services. However, public cloud services, like email, may be less secure due to their openness.

Private Cloud

Access to systems and services within an enterprise is made possible via the private cloud. Due to its private character, it provides greater security.

Community Cloud

The Community Cloud enables a collection of organizations to access systems and services.

Hybrid Cloud

Private and public clouds form the hybrid cloud. However, the private cloud handles critical jobs and the public cloud handles less important ones.

Service Models

Cloud computing is based on reference models called service models. These fall under the following three fundamental service models:

1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
2. Platform as a Service (PaaS)
3. Software as a Service (SaaS)

There are numerous more service models that might all resemble XaaS, or Anything as a Service. Network as a Service, Business as a Service, Identity as a Service, Database as a Service, and Strategy as a Service are some examples of this.

The most fundamental level of service is Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Every service model utilizes the underlying service model, meaning that each one inherits the management and security mechanisms from the underlying model, as illustrated in the figure below:

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Access to basic resources like virtual storage, physical computers, and more is made possible via IaaS.

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Tools for development and deployment, as well as the runtime environment for apps, are provided by PaaS.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

The SaaS model enables end users to use software applications as a service.

Cloud Computing history

The introduction of mainframe computers in 1950, which were reachable by thin/static clients, gave rise to the idea of cloud computing. From software to services, cloud computing has since changed from static clients to dynamic ones.

Cloud Computing advantages

Cloud computing offers many benefits. Listed below are a few of them:

• Through the Internet, one can access applications as utilities.
• You can change and set up the application online at any moment.
• No particular software needs to be installed in order to access or work with cloud applications.
• Cloud computing provides a Platform as a Service approach for programming runtime environments and online development and deployment tools.
• Any kind of client can access cloud resources through the network in a way that is platform neutral.
• Cloud computing provides self-service on demand. Utilizing the resources doesn’t need contacting the cloud service provider.
• Because it uses more resources and runs more efficiently, cloud computing is very cost-effective. All you need is an Internet connection.
• Cloud computing provides load balancing, which increases its dependability.

Risks

There are drawbacks to cloud computing even though it is a fantastic advancement in the field of computing. We go over a few of them below:

PRIVACY & SECURITY

It is the main worry regarding cloud computing. There is always a danger when giving sensitive data to third-party suppliers for cloud infrastructure and data management.

Cloud computing providers promise more secure password-protected accounts, but any indication of a security breach would cost them customers and organizations.

Lock-in

Customers find switching between Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) to be quite challenging. It leads to service dependence on a specific CSP.

Failure of Isolation

This risk consists of the isolation mechanism that divides the various storage, memory, and routing systems failing.

Interface compromise in management

When dealing with a public cloud provider, the customer management interfaces are available online.

Deletion of incomplete OR Insecure DATA

The data that has been asked to be removed might not actually be deleted. It occurs either as a result of disk destruction or the storage of additional copies of data that are unavailable or contain information from other tenants.

Features

The main features of cloud computing are as follows.

On-demand self service

Users can access web services and resources whenever they need them thanks to cloud computing. Websites are accessible at any moment by logging in.

Internet access mainly

Because cloud computing is entirely web-based, it is accessible at any time and from any location.

Pooling resources

Cloud computing makes it possible for several tenants to share a resource pool. It is possible to share a single physical instance of the database, hardware, and essential infrastructure.

Elasticity Rapidity

The resources can be scaled up or down at any time with ease.

Customers’ use of resources or those already assigned to them are automatically tracked. It makes it feasible.

Service measurements

Models of Service and Deployment The section above describes models.