Cloud Concepts for Starters

Cloud Computing, Cloud Service Providers and AWS

Cloud Concepts for Starters

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is the practice of using network servers hosted on the internet to store, manage, and process data rather than a local server or a personal computer.

Evolution of Cloud Hosting

  1. Dedicated Server

  2. Virtual Private Server (VPS)

  3. Shared Hosting

  4. Cloud Hosting


Amazon

Amazon is an American multinational computer technology corporation headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos as an online bookstore.

Amazon Services

  • Amazon Web Services

  • Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Music, Twitch.tv

  • Amazon Store

  • AI and Satellites

  • Many many more.

Currently, the CEO of Amazon is Andy Jossy.


Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Founded in 2006 as a Cloud Service Provider (CSP). However, Simple Queue Service (SQS) existed before, i.e. was launched in 2004.

After that, Simple Storage Service (S3) and Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) were launched in March 2006 and August 2006 respectively.

Since April 2013, Amazon also started AWS Certification. Currently, the CEO of AWS is Matt Garman and the CTO of AWS is Werner Vogels.

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In November 2010, Amazon.com was migrated to AWS.

Cloud Service Providers (CSPs)

The company that provides multiple cloud services that can be chained together to create cloud architectures are called Cloud Service Providers.

All the features are accessible via a single unified API and utilize the metered billing (cost per usage). These providers also provide rich monitoring and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service).

Example: AWS

If the company does not meet most of the requirements, they are referred to as Cloud Platforms. For example; Twillio, Hashicorp, etc.

Landscape of CSPs

  1. Tier 1

    AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Alibaba Cloud

  2. Tier 2

    IBM Cloud, Oracle Cloud, Huawei Cloud, Tencent

  3. Tier 3

    Vultr, Digital Ocean, Akamai Connected Cloud (Linode)

  4. Tier 4

    OpenStack, Apache CloudStack


Common Cloud Services

S.N.ServiceAWS Service
1ComputeEC2 Virtual Machines
2StorageEBS Virtual Hard Drives
3DatabaseRDS SQL Database
4NetworkingVPC Private Cloud Network

AWS has 200+ cloud services such as; Analytics, Game Tech, Machine Learning, etc.


Evolution of Computing

  1. Dedicated

    Physical server utilized by a single customer.

  2. Virtual Machines

    Multiple virtual machines on one machine.

  3. Containers

    Multiple containers running on a virtual machine.

  4. Functions

    Serverless computing that runs only upon triggered.


Types of Cloud Computing

  • SaaS (Software as a Service)

    These types of services are managed by service providers. They are specifically designed for customers.

  • PaaS (Platform as a Service)

    These services focus on the deployment and management of the application in the cloud. These services are targeted for developers.

  • IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)

    This service provides access to the full architecture. These services are mostly targeted at admins and DevOps.


Cloud Computing Deployment Models

Public Cloud

  • Everything is built on the CSP

  • Also known as cloud-first or cloud-native

  • Suitable for startups, SaaS offerings

Private Cloud

  • Everything is built on the company's data center

  • Also known as on-premise

  • Suitable for banks, fintech companies

Hybrid

  • Using both, on-premise and CSPs

  • Suitable for large enterprises

Cross-Cloud

  • Using multiple CSPs at once

  • Also known as multi-cloud

  • Suitable for enterprises with distributed environment