Introduction

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is the use of computing resources (hardware and software) that are delivered as a service over a network (typically the Internet).

Cloud Deployment Models

Public cloud

Services are offered over the public internet and available to anyone who wants to purchase them. Cloud resources, such as servers and storage, are owned and operated by a third-party cloud service provider, and delivered over the internet.

Private cloud

A private cloud consists of computing resources used exclusively by users from one business or organization. A private cloud can be physically located at your organization's on-site (on-premises) datacenter, or it can be hosted by a third-party service provider.

Hybrid cloud

A hybrid cloud is a computing environment that combines a public cloud and a private cloud by allowing data and applications to be shared between them.

Cloud Service Models

Infrastructure as a Service, IaaS

  • This cloud service model is the closest to managing physical servers.

  • A cloud provider keeps the hardware up to date, but operating system maintenance and network configuration is left to the cloud tenant.

  • An advantage of this cloud service model is the rapid deployment of new compute devices. Setting up a new virtual machine is considerably faster than procuring, installing, and configuring a physical server.

For example, Azure virtual machines are fully operational virtual compute devices running in Microsoft's datacenters.

Platform as a Service, PaaS

  • This cloud service model is a managed hosting environment.

  • The cloud provider manages the virtual machines and networking resources, and the cloud tenant deploys their applications into the managed hosting environment.

For example, Azure App Services provides a managed hosting environment where developers can upload their web applications without having to deal with the physical hardware and software requirements.

Software as a Service, SaaS

  • In this cloud service model, the cloud provider manages all aspects of the application environment, such as virtual machines, networking resources, data storage, and applications.

  • The cloud tenant only needs to provide their data to the application managed by the cloud provider.

For example, Office 365 provides a fully working version of Office that runs in the cloud. All that you need to do is create your content, and Office 365 takes care of everything else.

Cloud-Native refers to an application designed to run in a cloud environment.

Cloud-native apps generally follow a microservices architecture and make use of such cloud technologies like containers.

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