Cloud Computing Characteristics

   5. Characteristics of Cloud Computing

                    On-Demand Self Service

• No Human interaction Is needed for resource provisioning
• The resource can be provisioned with a click of a button
• Provisioning is available 24/7

                       Broad Network Access

• Resources can be accessed from Anywhere using the network
• Ideally high broadband
• No physical access is required 

                           Resource Pooling

• Physical resources are shared between customers
• The Cloud's backbone decides which physical resource  to allocate for a customer's virtual services
• Some advanced cloud services allow for physical resource separation

                             Rapid Elasticity

• Resources can be scaled up and down as needed automatically.
• No need to purchase resources for a one-time peak scenario 

                             Measured Service

• Payment is done only for resources actually used
• Server time/DB storage/ Function call etc.
• Measurement is usually done in high-resolution
• No need to invest in non-used resources

Types Of Cloud Services

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IaaS (Infrastructure as a service)

• The cloud provides the underlying platform
•   Compute
•   Networking
•   Storage
• The client handles and is responsible for all the rest
• Most common example: is Virtual machines
• The cloud provides the host machine, networking and disks
• The client creates the virtual machine, installs the software on it , patches it , maintains it etc.

 

PaaS (Platform as a Service)

• The cloud provides a platform for running apps
• Including Compute, networking, Storage, Runtime environment, Scaling, redundancy, security, updates, patching, maintenance, etc
• The client just needs to bring the code to run
•  Most common example:  web Apps
• The cloud  provides the runtime for running web apps
• The client uploads the code and it just runs
• The client has o access to the underlying virtual machines

 

SaaS (Software as a Service)

• A software running completely in the cloud
• The user doesn't to install anything on-premises or on his machine
• The provider of the software takes care of the updates, patches redundancy, scalability, etc.
• Common examples: salesforce, Office 365 etc.

 

Other common service types are

FaaS - Function as a Service

DBaaS- Database as a Service

IOTaaS - IOT as a Service

AIaaS - AI as a Service