What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is an IT term which we get to hear constantly nowadays. It is a technology which is based virtually; it makes use of remote servers to manage, access and store all the data online.

The functions of large clouds mostly are distributed over various locations, each and every location is considered as a data center. This may also lead to unexpected operating expenses. To overcome these expenses we can make use of the pay-as-you-go model.

If you want to take advantage of various services you can access the technology with cloud computing. This provides a large number of services over cloud or you can say Internet. Which means you can make use of servers remotely to access and store data rather than depending on private data centers and local hard drives. Cloud computing came into existence on August 9, 2006.

Previously people used to buy their own servers, data centers but this has been made pretty much easier by cloud computing. It is increasing it’s pace because of it’s large list of benefits.

Types of cloud computing

There are four different types of Cloud which can be used by different firms according to their need:

Public Cloud

Basically Public cloud is public and is open to all to store and access the data through internet using pay-per-usage method.

Public Cloud is considered to be lower in cost than Hybrid and Private Cloud. There is no need to worry for it’s maintenance as it is maintained by Cloud service providers, it’s location is not dependent and is highly scalable.

There is no control of clients over Public Cloud which is the disadvantage, security is less as the resources are shared publicly, it’s performance is based on the speed of the Internet.

Private Cloud

Private Cloud is also called Corporate Cloud or Internal Cloud. Many organizations use this to manage and build their own centers of data by third party or may be internally. It is divided into two parts: outsourced private cloud and on-premise private cloud.

The security of Private Cloud is high, the performance of Private Cloud with high speed and space capacity.

There is full control of the firm as they only manage their server, this is favorable for the firms who need high data security.

There is a need for skilled people so that they can manage and operate cloud services. It is accessible in the organization itself, they do not have sufficient manpower so is not suitable for the firms having high user base.

Community Cloud

The Community Cloud system works on several organizations to share the data between the organization or a specific community. This cloud is managed, owned and operated by one or more than one organization in the community.

It is cost effective, suitable for organizations who need tight security, it’s security is better than public cloud, it’s environment is productive, distributive and collaborative.

Every organization cannot go with community cloud, security features of private cloud is better than this cloud, collaboration is needed.

Hybrid Cloud

Hybrid Cloud is a combination of public and private cloud but this one is more secure than public cloud as this includes the features of private cloud as well.

Helpful for firms who need more security, latest products and services are delivered quickly by Hybrid Cloud, the chance of risk is minimal, and resources are flexible.

Compared to private cloud it is lacking in security features, it is complex to handle hybrid cloud because it becomes difficult to handle more than one type of deployment model.

Service models of cloud

Cloud includes three service models:

Software as a Service(SaaS)

“On-Demand Software is also known as SaaS”. It is a kind of Software in which a cloud server provider hosts the application. These applications can be easily accessed by users with the help of an internet connection.

SaaS is managed from a central location, it’s services are purchased on pay-as-per-use basis and is hosted on a server remotely.

Platform as a Service(PaaS)

PaaS is a service for the programmers to test, run, develop and manage the applications. It supports many different frameworks and languages.

One individual application can be accessed by various users, and given the “auto-scale” ability, it becomes easy for resources to scale up and down as needed.

Infrastructure as a Service(IaaS)

Hardware as a service(HaaS) is also known as IaaS. It is highly beneficial to avoid complexity of purchasing, cost, managing servers which are physical.

It’s services are scalable, flexible, dynamic, it’s tasks are automated and administrative, it’s resources are available as service. Access of IaaS is based on GUI and API.

Cloud service providers

There are various companies providing cloud services, cloud offers Network Services, Software Services, Infrastructure Services, Mobile Applications Services.

All of these services are hosted by cloud service providers in a data center and the users can take the advantage of services through their internet connection.

The companies offering cloud services are:

Google Cloud Platform

The cloud platform of Google offers the performance which is high and scalable, it also provides Boost Mode with a free cloud shell environment.

It serves various services related to network, big data like; Google CloudDataProc, Google Cloud Pub, Google Virtual Private Cloud(VPC), Google Cloud DNS etc.