Cloud Computing Fundamentals
Cloud computing delivers shared pools of compute, storage, and networking on demand over the internet. Instead of buying hardware, organizations provision resources programmatically, pay for what they use, and scale capacity up or down as workloads change.
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Intro
Cloud Computing Fundamentals
Cloud computing gives you computing resources as network-accessible services. You request capacity when you need it, release it when you do not, and measure what you use.
That changes the delivery model for IT. A team can provision compute, storage, networking, platforms, or complete applications without buying and installing every underlying system first. The provider operates some layers. You still own the outcomes and the responsibilities assigned to you.
Cloud is not a synonym for someone else's server. The useful distinction is the operating model. NIST defines five essential characteristics that separate cloud services from ordinary hosted infrastructure.
The five characteristics
Use these characteristics as a test for a cloud service:
- On-demand self-service: You provision capabilities without waiting for manual action from the provider.
- Broad network access: You reach capabilities over a network through standard mechanisms.
- Resource pooling: The provider pools resources for multiple consumers and assigns them according to demand.
- Rapid elasticity: Capacity can expand or contract quickly. To the consumer, available capacity can appear effectively unlimited.
- Measured service: The system meters usage so the provider and consumer can monitor and control it.
Virtualization can help a provider pool resources, but virtualization alone is not cloud computing. A fixed virtual machine that requires a ticket and has no usage measurement may be hosted infrastructure without the full cloud operating model.
Choose the service boundary
A service model describes the capability you receive and the portion of the technology stack you control.
Infrastructure as a service
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Sources
- https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/145/final
Supports
- Cloud-computing definition and operating model
- Five essential characteristics and their meanings
- IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS control boundaries
- Public, private, community, and hybrid deployment models
- https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/legacy/sp/nistspecialpublication500-292.pdf
Supports
- Vendor-neutral cloud reference architecture
- Consumer, provider, carrier, broker, and auditor roles
- Role relationships and use in assigning responsibility and risk
- https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.500-322.pdf
Supports
- Evaluation of whether a capability exhibits cloud characteristics
- Virtualization alone does not establish all cloud characteristics
- Service-model comparison based on consumer requirements and provider capabilities
- Multi-tenancy as shared but logically isolated use of a resource
- https://csrc.nist.gov/pubs/sp/800/144/final
Supports
- Public cloud moves data, applications, or infrastructure outside the organization
- Governance, compliance, trust, architecture, identity, data protection, availability, and incident-response considerations
- Security and privacy assessment before outsourcing to a public cloud
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/describe-cloud-compute/
Supports
- Beginner learning path through cloud concepts and deployment models
- Shared responsibility and consumption-based pricing as foundational topics
- Public, private, and hybrid use-case comparison
- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/security/fundamentals/shared-responsibility
Supports
- Provider and consumer duties vary across IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS
- Consumer responsibility for data, identities, accounts, access, and configuration
- Provider responsibility for physical infrastructure
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/global-infrastructure/latest/regions/aws-regions-availability-zones.html
Supports
- Regions as separate geographic areas and zones as independent locations within regions
- Regional and zonal resource scope
- A single-zone placement remains exposed to failure in that location
- Cross-region replication is not automatic for every resource
- https://docs.cloud.google.com/docs/overview
Supports
- Cloud capabilities exposed as services
- Regions, zones, and global, regional, and zonal resource scopes
- Placement effects on redundancy, latency, and resource interaction
- Projects as organization and billing boundaries for resources
- https://docs.cloud.google.com/compute/docs/regions-zones/global-regional-zonal-resources
Supports
- Resources spread across zones and regions can address different failure domains
- Resource scope determines accessibility and placement behavior
- Multi-location design requires deliberate resource distribution