What is the Cloud? (Part IV)

Posted on September 3, 2013 by The Author

In Part IV of my series, What is the Cloud?, I’d like to discuss the philosophy of cloud computing.

Cloud computing redefines our existing way of thought but only does so by erasing our previous definitions. Cloud computing is POST-modern…the next step in the philosophy of computing [and, by definition,] undefinable. 1

In spite of the fact that the cloud means different things to different people and that putting our finger on the sheer extent of its applications is difficult if not impossible, it is nonetheless imperative that we understand, more than anything else, that cloud computing is a philosophy.

Steps toward increased security and privacy

“Perhaps the biggest concerns about cloud computing are security and privacy.” 2

Authentication (user names and strong passwords) and authorization (only allowing users access to job-relevant data and applications) are steps toward increasing privacy and security. 3 This works concomitantly with the inherent, financially sound, legal and moral obligation of cloud hosting providers to offer clients security and data integrity.

Questions, questions

Questions currently being debated by law firms, companies and universities revolve around data and its ownership. Who owns the data? Is it owned by users or companies subscribing to cloud computing services? Can a cloud computing company (i.e., a cloud hosting provider) deny users access to their (i.e., the users’) data? 4 These questions literally open up a whole new field in law that will deal primarily with protecting ownership of data in fluid and elastic computing environments where it often “changes hands.” Moving from server to server, public to private cloud, and virtual environment to virtual environment makes for a maze of potential legal imbroglios.

Autonomic computing

The idea of a “self-managing” computing system could mean the elimination of “the need for many IT maintenance jobs.” 5 Cloud computing means that with the diminishing of front end needs (i.e., no longer needing hardware, software and IT specialists), responsibility for computing requirements will fall onto the back end, the shoulders of cloud, hosting providers. Simply put, many users transferring responsibility to fewer cloud hosting providers means less need for the unnecessary multiplication of private server rooms, hardware, purchased software and teams of in-house, IT engineers.

Big Data and Big Speed

Cloud computing ensures that our ability to analyze data and to extract business intelligence is not limited by capacity or computing power. The cloud gives us access to virtually limitless capacity, on-demand. In doing so, it lowers total cost, maximizes revenue and gets the work done faster at scale. 6

What once took ages and cost tons of money now takes seconds and costs infinitely less. This is because the processing power that once needed to be, or in fact was, in-house is now in the cloud.

“To process Big Data in the cloud, businesses can expand and contract their infrastructure resources [or, hosted instances] depending on how much they need at the present moment.” 7

(The end of Part IV)

Untitled, by Luba Rascheff

References

1 “The Philosophy of Cloud.” 2vcps and a Truck. Published on March 30, 2009. Accessed on September 3, 2013. http://www.2vcps.com/2009/03/30/the-philosophy-of-cloud/

2 Strickland, Jonathan. “How Cloud Computing Works.” howstuffworks. Accessed on September 3, 2013. http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cloud-computing/cloud-computing3.htm

3 Ibid.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 Varia, Jinesh. “Big Data Cloud Trends–Data-First Philosophy and the Cloud: Part 2 of 3.” Perspectives and Cerebrations. Published on January 20, 2012. Accessed on September 3, 2013. jinesh.varia.in/2012/01/big-data-clouds-trends-data-first-philosophy-and-the-cloud-part-2-of-3/

7 Ibid.

What is the Cloud? (Part III)

Posted on August 29, 2013 by The Author

The first two parts of What is the Cloud? mostly cover technical aspects of cloud computing, including the matter of security. In Part III, I’d like to discuss more terms associated with the Cloud and their meanings.

Software as a Service (SaaS)

SaaS means that you don’t need to buy software, hardware needed to run it, or worry about managing software. “All you have to do is connect [to your cloud hosting provider] and use it.” 1 Your software is in the Cloud; you can use it from any geographical location; and you only pay for what you use. 2 “Google, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr are all examples of SaaS….” 3

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

PaaS “…is a service model of cloud computing. In this model, the consumer creates the software using tools and/or libraries from the [cloud service] provider. The consumer also controls software deployment and configuration settings. The provider provides the networks, servers, storage, and other services.” 4 This is another way to describe hosted instances. (See, What is the Cloud? Part II)

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

“…IaaS is one of the three fundamental service models of cloud computing alongside Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS). As with all cloud computing services it provides access to computing resources in a virtualised environment, “the Cloud”, across a public connection, usually the internet.” 5 IaaS enables users to create “cost effective and easily scalable IT solutions where the complexities and expenses of managing the underlying hardware are outsourced to the cloud provider.” 6 [my emphasis] This is another way to describe hosted solutions. (See, What is the Cloud? Part II)

Hybrid cloud

A hybrid cloud combines public and private clouds. 7 “[It] is a cloud computing environment in which an organization provides and manages some resources in-house [i.e., privately] and has others provided externally [i.e., publically].” 8

(The end of Part III)

Untitled, by Luba Rascheff

References

1 Hurwitz, Judith; Bloor, Robin; Kaufman, Marcia; and Halper, Fern. “Cloud Computing Models. Part of the Cloud Computing Cheat Sheet.” For Dummies. Accessed on Tuesday, August 27, 2013. http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/cloud-computing-models.html?cid=embedlink

2 “What is Saas?” Interoute, from the ground to the cloud. Accessed on Tuesday, August 27, 2013. http://www.interoute.com/what-saas

3 Ibid.

4 “Platform as a service.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Accessed on Tuesday, August 27, 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platform_as_a_service

5 “What is IaaS?” Interoute, from the ground to the cloud. Accessed on Tuesday, August 27, 2013. http://www.interoute.com/what-iaas

6 Ibid.

7 Rouse, Margaret. “hybrid cloud.” TechTarget. Published on June 28, 2010. Accessed on Tuesday, August 27, 2013. http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/definition/hybrid-cloud

8 Ibid.

What is the Cloud? (Part II)

Posted on August 27, 2013 by The Author

In Part I of What is the Cloud?, I discussed the key concept of the separation of applications and operating systems from hardware. I explained how this separation permits elasticity, adaptability and ease of migration in the event of hardware failures in order to maintain a seamless user experience.

I also talked about redundancy, the replication of data; clustering, the multiplying of servers to balance web traffic load; virtualization; and web applications.

There are, however, more terms associated with cloud computing.

Hosted instances

Hosted instances are server images, applications, services and configurations that are already installed on a host. For example, you can create an instance of your operating system on Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) environment and only pay for what you use. You get space, transfer and RAM and can configure your server instance any way you like. 1

In hosted instances, network speed becomes an issue since your data is in the Cloud and needs to quickly move from there to you. To deal with this, Amazon, for example, has a main server and nine edge servers across the U.S. These edge servers (akin to “boosters”) are positioned in such a way as to provide users with the fastest access to their server images (i.e., server configurations of choice or, hosted instances). 2 You may already be using hosted instances without even realizing it. Google’s Gmail, for example, is in the Cloud. 3

Hosted solutions

“Hosted solutions are applications or services that are hosted by a company that provides you the service.” 4 There are many hosted solutions available on the Web. Instead of setting everything up by yourself (i.e., purchasing hardware, software, appropriate licenses and storage space), you can pay a small monthly fee to Vendhost, for example, and get a hosted, cloud solution.

Private vs. public cloud

Hosted instances are in the public cloud. If you’re interested, though, in combining the power of virtualization while retaining in-house control, you certainly can by way of private cloud. In private cloud, the hardware resides in your server room, not “somewhere out there” on the Internet. 5

What about security?

When it comes to the Cloud, security is a big question on everyone’s mind. You may be wondering, How secure is my data if it’s sitting somewhere out there in the Cloud? The first question you need to ask yourself, though, is How secure is my data right now? Most small businesses do not invest a large amount of money in order to have perfect firewall protection. They will, rather, pay an hourly fee to have viruses removed once stricken. 6 Furthermore, any time we interface with the Internet, we risk exposure to infection. Since it’s in the interest of cloud, hosting providers to provide excellent service, security, speed and data integrity (their very existence depends on it), it’s actually much safer to host your data in the Cloud as opposed to storing it locally. Furthermore, local, in-house servers are subject to destruction (e.g., from natural disasters) and/or theft. It makes much more sense (including economic sense) to have the minimal computing equipment in house necessary to interface with your cloud host. 7

(The end of Part II)

Cloud in nepali sky

Author: Krish Dulal

Source: Own work

References

1 elithecomputerguy. “Everyman IT, Introduction to Cloud Computing.” Everyman IT. Published on December 17, 2010 on Youtube. Accessed on August 21, 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYzJl0Zrc4M

2 Ibid.

3 Neal, Ryan W. “The Google Cloud Expands: Gmail, Drive and Google+ Now Unified with 15 GB Free Storage.” International Business Times. Published on May 14, 2013. Accessed on August 26, 2013. http://www.ibtimes.com/google-cloud-expands-gmail-drive-google-now-unified-15-gb-free-storage-1257917

4 elithecomputerguy. “Everyman IT, Introduction to Cloud Computing.” Everyman IT. Published on December 17, 2010 on Youtube. Accessed on August 21, 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYzJl0Zrc4M

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid.

What is the Cloud?

Posted on August 24, 2013 by The Author

In case you didn’t know, Forbes is running a series on cloud computing. In one of the articles, Apple founder Steve “the Woz” Wozniak partly defines cloud computing like this: “The cloud’s a vague term even to me. It can mean different things to different people.

“You don’t know where it is. Cloud computing is a specific hardware organization where resources can be assigned remotely and switched around easily and used more effectively. It saves a lot of physical labor, moving things around and lets people change their minds easily….” 1

Let’s get specific

In this article, I’d like to demystify the Cloud and let you see what’s inside this “vaporous mist.”

It’s like Legos

If you’ve ever played with Legos, you know that you build structures by “clicking” elements together. You also know that you can dismantle structures by “un-clicking” elements. In the case of cloud computing, it has to do with being able to separate operating systems and applications from physical pieces of hardware like servers in order to easily move the former around.

The reason for keeping hardware and software separate (via virtualization software, a component of cloud computing) is to be able to easily move operating systems and applications in the case of hardware failures. 2 Doing so enables systems to continue running and users to continue working, as if a crash hadn’t happened.

No longer dumb, but thin

In the old days, one mainframe used to be connected to several dumb terminals. The mainframe allocated a certain amount of computing power to each dumb terminal and users were happy as long as things worked. If the mainframe crashed, though, everything stopped. If a company had, for example, an internal e-mail service, a mainframe failure represented a stoppage of the e-mail service. 3

Today, in cloud computing, instead of individual mainframes and dumb terminals, we have Terminal Services Servers (TSSs) and thin clients (hardware or software). Virtual computing, which is a component of cloud computing, allows for the easy migration of operating systems and applications to different pieces of hardware. 4

Web applications

In cloud computing, using web applications means that you are using applications that reside on servers that don’t belong to you, that are outside of your computing environment. If you open a web application, it means that although a window will appear via your browser displaying the application you’re familiar with on a screen that resembles your desktop environment, the application, in fact, resides on a server external to your environment. You did not purchase the application and you don’t have to worry about repairing or replacing it if it fails; you’re simply using the application as if it were located on your laptop. This means that should your laptop crash, none of your work will be lost. You can just get up, move to a different laptop or computer, log in and continue where you left off. 5

Clustering, replication and load balancing

In the Cloud, you can (using virtualization software) group multiple servers with identical databases together in clusters. Data replication means that when Internet traffic increases to a server in a particular cluster, so much so that it risks breaking down said physical server, instead of crashing (with user services being interrupted), traffic will be redirected (i.e., the load will be balanced) to another server in the cluster.

If this, second, server comes close to being overloaded, traffic will be redirected to a third server in the cluster. This process is repeated allowing users to continue working seamlessly without interruption of services due to hardware crashes.

It’s not what you think or where you think

One of the key concepts to grasp regarding the Cloud is that what you’re using doesn’t reside where you think it does; nor is it what it looks like. This is because although what appears on your screen may look like your desktop, it isn’t your desktop; and the application that seems to be so close actually belongs to someone else and resides thousands of miles away! You never purchased the application nor did you install it on your machine. 6 This means that instead of taking twenty-four hours to recover from a hardware crash, it can take only one hour. This represents a great saving of time and effort.

Easy migration

In virtualization (client installed or using Hypervisor along with ESXI) the operating system “sits above the hardware” and, “using copy and paste,” you can move it to a new piece of hardware when needed.

(End of Part I)

Untitled, by Luba Rascheff

References

1 Orosco, Cesar. “Steve Wozniak: Apple, Cloud, Flash, Luck And Open Doors.” Forbes. Published on April 15, 2013. Accessed on August 21, 2013. http://www.forbes.com/sites/netapp/2013/04/15/steve-wozniak-interview/

2 elithecomputerguy. “Everyman IT, Introduction to Cloud Computing.” Everyman IT. Published on December 17, 2010 on Youtube. Accessed on August 21, 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYzJl0Zrc4M

3 Ibid.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

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