So let us learn more about the cloud computing definition below.
What is Cloud Computing Definition?
Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services. This is typically hosted on the Internet. Also, that it provides convenient, on-demand access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services). Of which that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.
What are the Cloud Computing Characteristics?
1. Abstraction:
Cloud computing relies on virtualization. Perhaps to provide the abstraction of physical resources. The use of virtualization technology also enables cloud providers to offer varying degrees of abstraction. Which is including complete virtual machines (VMs). As such, these can run customers’ own operating systems, to the logical resources offered. For instance by platforms like Google App Engine or Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).
2. On-demand self-service:
A consumer can unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as needed automatically without requiring human interaction with each service’s provider. The consumer can also deploy and use these capabilities in a matter of minutes to hours. Examples of this include Amazon EC2 or Google App Engine.
3. Broad network access:
Capabilities are available over the network and accessed through standard mechanisms. Besides, this promotes the use by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms. (e.g., mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and workstations).
Examples include a wide variety of platforms such as VMware server access from a range of devices using VMware View Client; RDP from a range of devices using Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Protocol; or Java/Swing from a Java-enabled browser using Sun Microsystems’ Java Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).
4. Resource pooling:
The provider’s computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to demand.
There is a sense of location independence in that the customer generally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of the provided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher level of abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).
Examples include Google App Engine Flexible Environment; Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2); or Microsoft Windows Azure platform.
Cloud Computing Works on Three Models
Software as a Service (SaaS):
The capabilities offered to the consumer are to use the provider’s applications running on a cloud infrastructure. The applications are accessible from various client devices through either a thin client interface, such as a web browser (e.g., web-based email), or a program interface.
Platform as a Service (PaaS):
The capabilities offered to the consumer are to deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquired applications. For instance, created using programming languages, libraries, services, and tools supported by the provider.
The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, or storage, but has control over the deployed applications and possibly configuration settings for the application-hosting environment provided by the cloud infrastructure provider.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS):
The capabilities offered to the consumer are to provision processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources. Besides, it is where the consumer can deploy and run arbitrary software, which can also include operating systems and applications.
The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage, deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networking components (e.g., host firewalls). Moreover, other cloud providers offer additional services like health monitoring of deployed VMs or enabling virtual machines to be cloned for backup purposes.
