Encyclopedia of Cloud Computing

San Murugesan, Irena Bojanova, San Murugesan, Irena Bojanova

• Publisher: Wiley-IEEE Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781118821978
• eBook ISBN: 9781118821961
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Electrical Engineering & Telecommunications
• Index: Technology & Engineering

The Encyclopedia of Cloud Computing provides IT professionals, educators, researchers and students with a compendium of cloud computing knowledge. Authored by a spectrum of subject matter experts in industry and academia, this unique publication, in a single volume, covers a wide range of cloud computing topics, including technological trends and developments, research opportunities, best practices, standards, and cloud adoption. Providing multiple perspectives, it also addresses questions that stakeholders might have in the context of development, operation, management, and use of clouds. Furthermore, it examines cloud computing's impact now and in the future.

The encyclopedia presents 56 chapters logically organized into 10 sections. Each chapter covers a major topic/area with cross-references to other chapters and contains tables, illustrations, side-bars as appropriate. Furthermore, each chapter presents its summary at the beginning and backend material, references and additional resources for further information.

Part I
Introduction to Cloud Computing

1
Cloud Computing: An Overview

San Murugesan¹ and Irena Bojanova^2*

¹ BRITE Professional Services and Western Sydney University, Australia

² National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), USA

1.1 Introduction

Cloud computing is receiving keen interest and is being widely adopted. It offers clients applications, data, computing resources, and information technology (IT) management functions as a service through the Internet or a dedicated network. Several converging and complementary factors have led to cloud computing’s emergence as a popular IT service-delivery model that appeals to all stakeholders. Considered as paradigm change in IT, it is being adopted for a variety of applications – personal, academic, business, government, and more – not only for cost savings and expediency but also to meet strategic IT and business goals. It is transforming every sector of society and is having a profound impact, especially on the IT industry and on IT professionals – application developers, enterprise IT administrators, and IT executives. Driven by advances in cloud technology, the proliferation of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, and use of a variety of applications supported by ubiquitous broadband Internet access, the computing landscape is continuing to change. There is an accompanying paradigm shift in the way we deliver and use IT.

Cloud computing is a radical new IT delivery and business model. Users can use cloud services when and where they need them and in the quantity that they need, and pay for only the resources they use. It also offers huge computing power, on-demand scalability, and utility-like availability at low cost.

Cloud computing is no longer hype. Individuals are using cloud-based applications, such as Web mail and Web-based calendar or photo-sharing Web sites (e.g., Flickr, Picasa) and online data storage. Small- and medium-sized enterprises are using cloud-based applications for accounting, payroll processing, customer relationship management (CRM), business intelligence, and data mining. Large enterprises use cloud services for business functions, such as supply-chain management, data storage, big data analytics, business process management, CRM, modeling and simulation, and application development. Research studies reveal that users give convenience, flexibility, the ability to share information, and data safety as major reasons for engaging in cloud computing activities.

As cloud computing is moving towards mainstream adoption, there is considerable excitement and optimism, as well as concerns and criticism. Many people have incomplete information or are confused about cloud computing’s real benefits and key risks, which matter to them. Given its transformational potential and significance, it is important that students, IT professionals, business managers and government leaders have an informed, holistic understanding of cloud computing and how they can embrace it.

In this chapter, we present an overview of cloud computing concepts, cloud services, cloud-hosting models, and applications. We also outline the benefits and limitations of cloud computing, identify its potential risks, and discuss the prospects for the cloud and what businesses and individuals can do to embrace cloud computing successfully. Finally, we discuss the prospects and implications of cloud computing for businesses, the IT industry, and IT professionals.

1.2 Cloud Computing

In its evolution since the mid-1970s, computing has passed through several stages – from mainframe computers to minicomputers to personal computers to network computing, client-server computing, and distributed computing. Now, coming full circle, computing is migrating outward to the clouds, to distant computing resources reached through the Internet.

Depending on how you view cloud computing, it can be described in different ways. There are several definitions, but the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) offers a classic definition that encompasses the key elements and characteristics of cloud computing (Mell and Grance, 2011):

Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) provides a similar definition, choosing to call cloud computing an “evolving paradigm”: “Cloud computing is a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand” (ISO/IEC DIS 17789:2014, 2014).

Gartner defines cloud computing in simplistic terms as “A style of computing where scalable and elastic IT-enabled capabilities are provided as a service to multiple customers using Internet technologies” (http://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/cloud-computing, accessed November 25, 2015).

Another definition encompasses several key characteristics of cloud computing and presents a broader and practical view of it (Vaquero et al., 2009):

Clouds [are] a large pool of easily usable and accessible virtualized resources such as hardware, development platforms and/or services. These resources can be dynamically reconfigured to adjust to a variable load (scale), allowing also for an optimum resource utilization. This pool of resources is typically exploited by a pay-per-use model in which guarantees are offered by the Infrastructure Provider by means of customized SLAs [service-level agreements].

1.2.1 Key Cloud Characteristics

Cloud computing has the following key distinguishing characteristics:

• on-demand self-service;
• broad network access;
• resource pooling;
• rapid elasticity and scalability;
• measured service;
• multitenancy.

These characteristics, briefly outlined in Table 1.1, differentiate cloud computing from other forms of traditional computing.

Table 1.1 Cloud characteristics

Cloud characteristic	Description
On-demand self-service	Computing capabilities (e.g. server time and network storage) can be unilaterally automatically provisioned as needed).
Broad network access	Capabilities are accessible through heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and workstations).
Resource pooling	Computing resources (e.g. storage, processing, memory, and bandwidth) are pooled to serve multiple consumers, and are dynamically assigned and reassigned according to demand. Customers have no control over the exact location of resources, but may be able to specify location (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).
Rapid elasticity	Capabilities can be elastically provisioned and released commensurate with demand. Available capabilities often appear to be unlimited.
Measured service	Resource use is automatically controlled and optimized through metering capabilities, appropriate to type of service (e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts).
Multitenancy	Cloud computing is a shared resource that draws on resource pooling as an import...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• About the Editors
• About the Authors
• Reviewers
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Part I: Introduction to Cloud Computing
• Part II: Cloud Services
• Part III: Cloud Frameworks and Technologies
• Part IV: Cloud Integration and Standards
• Part V: Cloud Security, Privacy, and Compliance
• Part VI: Cloud Performance, Reliability, and Availability
• Part VII: Cloud Migration and Management
• Part VIII: Cloud Applications and Case Studies
• Part IX: Big Data and Analytics in Clouds
• Part X: Cloud Prospects
• Index
• End User License Agreement