Cloud Infrastructure: A Revolutionary Innovation

A company or any institution for that matter has to at some point of time invest in an IT infrastructure and sometimes for small or even medium companies this infrastructure is cost-prohibitive. A simple solution to this was the innovation of cloud infrastructure. Cloud infrastructure or cloud computing provided an on-demand availability of computer system resources without the user requiring to physically access a system or invest in the expensive hardware required for computing power.

Introduction

Cloud infrastructure constitutes 3 parts that together make up the cloud, namely:

1. Computing: Computing power made available to a user without requiring his hardware.
2. Networking: For an efficient flow of data and more streamlined workflows that enable a user to access data from anywhere with an internet connection.
3. Data Storage: To store data in data centers (dedicated spaces to house computer systems) that allow large volumes of data to be stored in a place with fast access.

Cloud computing basically comprises of these types of cloud-based infrastructures:

• Private
• Public
• Community
• Hybrid

Also the services that a cloud infrastructure offer are:

• IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service)
• PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service)
• SaaS (Software-as-a-Service)
• and some others as well.

In the present era, cloud computing is turning out to be a very effortless and growing component of technology, cloud computing service is flexible, it is safe and ensures data recovery, you never miss out on an update and the best part is that now travel isn’t a barrier to hinder any important work.

1. The Types of Cloud Infrastructures
2. What are the services provided by cloud computing architecture?
3. The merits of a Cloud Computing Architecture
4. Cloud Computing Security
5. The future of cloud computing architecture

1. The Types of Cloud Infrastructures

Cloud Infrastructures have these main types:

• Private Cloud Infrastructures: In a private cloud computing infrastructure, a single organization accesses the private cloud that has been hosted on a private server. This form of cloud-based architecture offers the highest security among the other types of cloud infrastructures.

• Public Cloud Infrastructures: When cloud services are provided by a third-party cloud infrastructure over the public internet are known as public cloud services. These services may be offered in the form of a paid subscription or free-of-charge. Due to the service based on the internet, there is a higher risk of vulnerability.

• Community Cloud: When a couple of organizations share a cloud because they share a common goal or if they fit into a specific community, it is known as a community cloud.

• Hybrid Cloud: When you combine the private cloud infrastructure with the public cloud infrastructure, you get a hybrid cloud computing infrastructure. A hybrid cloud architecture enables you to get the benefits of both securities from the private cloud architecture and cost-saving services from the public cloud architecture. An example would be a company dealing with sensitive information may choose to use the private cloud architecture for the sensitive information and the public cloud architecture for the less sensitive information, thus increasing efficiency.

2. What are the services provided by cloud computing architecture?

There are a few different service models offered by a cloud computing architecture:

• Infrastructure as a Services(IaaS): This is the most basic form of cloud-based services. IaaS allows you to rent computing resources and IT infrastructure on a pay-as-you-go basis.

• Platform as a service (PaaS): PaaS is designed to act as a creative environment for quick and efficient developing, managing, and delivering software applications. This means that a user can promptly create a mobile or web app without requiring an infrastructure of servers or storage.

• Software as a service (SaaS): In SaaS, an application is provided by the service provider through a web-based portal. This eliminates the need for the user having to install the application on a local hard drive and even allows different users to access the same content and alter it simultaneously.

3. The merits of a Cloud Computing Architecture

Cloud computing is a technological advancement that brings along with it it’s characteristics:

• It increases the agility of an organization by making it more flexible in terms of data storage and processing.
• Cloud computing infrastructure provides independence to the users by enabling them to access systems with a web browser regardless of their location.
• Increased productivity due to the prospect of several users working on the same task simultaneously.
• Ease in maintenance, enabling users to diagnose and fix problems remotely.
• Increased cloud computing security because of centralized data and increased security-focused resources.

4. Cloud Computing Security

A cloud-based architecture allows users to process and store data in third-party data centers. Cloud computing security concerns include security concerns faced by the cloud providers and the security concerns faced by the customers of these service providers. The responsibility of cloud computing security is shared by both the cloud service provider and the customer. The service provider must ensure that the customers’ data is safe and the customer must ensure that he maintains proper operation security to protect against any breaches in the cloud. Cloud computing architecture is efficient only if proper defensive measures against attacks are in place and controls are put to safeguard the system against attacks-

• Deterrent controls: These measures are in place which are like a warning saying that there will be adverse consequences if attackers proceed to exploit data.

• Preventive Controls: These controls strengthen the system against attackers by eliminating vulnerabilities. For example, asking users to use strong authentication.

• Detective Controls: These controls diagnose and report and react to any incidents if they happen to take place. They are responsible to find out discrepancies and fix them or take any appropriate reaction.

• Corrective Controls: These controls deal with the correction of any incidents by reducing the damages faced by curbing the damages. These help in restoring the system to rebuild it and get it running again.

What’s in it for me?

Cloud computing is an area with exponential developments taking place. The remarkable ability to access and process data from any location worldwide is a prospect that everyone must ponder upon. The number of possibilities of collaboration combined with the enormous computing power of systems is endless. Cloud computing infrastructure is a cost-effective solution that gives users access to scalable computing resources.

Some leading examples of cloud-based architectures are Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure.

5. The future of cloud computing architecture

Cloud computing is backed by technology that opens a plethora of opportunities and capabilities. Cloud computing can bring into the world employment, services, applications, and so much more. Many more vendors can get on board with cloud computing architecture and create better ways to endorse their products and sell them. This gives way to a lot of web designers, application developers, and many other people. Based on statistics and the growing knowledge of the importance of the cloud computing infrastructure, the future seems bright for Cloud…

If you are looking for an extensive course in Cloud Computing, then the 5.5-month online Postgraduate Certificate Program In Cloud Computing offered by Jigsaw Academy can be of help. This program helps interested learners become complete Cloud professionals.