How Does Cloud Computing Work

What is Cloud Computing?

In simple words, cloud computing is a computer resource such as hardware and software services provided through the network. Python and Java are the best languages to use for cloud computing.

Most of the current cloud is actually a very large data center, where thousands of servers are arranged, spending millions of dollars to keep them cool. But with thousands of these servers, many complex problems of clients are solved very easily.

How many types of cloud computing are there?

There are three main types of cloud computing services.

·       Software-as-a-Service (SaaS): Software-as-a-Service is a model for software distribution and the customers access the software over the internet via a standard web browser. A simple example of SaaS is Gmail and some well-known examples of SaaS are – Netflix, Google Apps, and Cisco WebEx etc.

·       Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS): Infrastructure-as-a-Service is the basic layer in the cloud computing model. It is a public cloud environment. It is a service model that delivers computer infrastructure based on an outsource. Popular examples of IaaS are – Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), etc.

·       Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS): Platform-as-a-Service is a computing platform including operating system, programming language execution environment, web server, database, etc. Some examples of PaaS are – Windows Azure, Heroku, and Apache Stratos, etc.

Three main cloud deployment models are there-

·       Public Cloud: Systems and services are easily accessible to the public in public clouds. Some examples of public cloud are – Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, Google, etc. Public cloud has low cost than the private or hybrid cloud. It provides a large number of resources to the customer so it is reliable. Public cloud is easily combined with the private cloud because it has flexibility. It is accessible through the internet. But as the resources are shared publicly so it doesn’t give you high-level security.

·       Private Cloud: Private cloud gives you the ability to access the system and services within the organization. Third-party will also be able to manage it internally. It gives you high security. It’s very difficult to propagate private clouds globally and also it is very costly.

·       Hybrid Cloud: Hybrid cloud is the combination of public cloud and private cloud. It has both of the features of public and private cloud. It gives you security and it is cost-effective. As the hybrid cloud is the combination of public and private cloud its networking becomes complex.

How cloud computing works?

Cloud computing is a method where software, resources, and information are shared with the help of network. Physical servers which are maintained and controlled by the providers of cloud computing, store the information. With the help of an internet connection, users can access the stored information.

The presence of these three main components is required for the proper working of cloud computing which is mentioned below. Cloud computing architecture is formed with these three components.

·       Front-end: Front-end refers to the side which the computer user or client sees. Front-end includes the client’s or user’s computer or mobile device and the application required to access the cloud computing system. The web browser is the most required application, but other systems may require any other special applications.

·       Backend: This is the computer infrastructure used by service providers. It includes various servers, computers, operating systems, virtual machines and data storage facilities which are combined and form the cloud technology. Backend is also known as Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS). Monitoring the traffic and client demands and run everything efficiently are done by the central server.

·       Network: This is the most valuable component because nothing can be done without networking. It allows the connection between front-end and backend via the internet.

Why you use cloud computing?

Surely a question arises in your mind that why will you use cloud computing? I’ll answer you. Cloud computing is cost-effective. You don’t have to make huge investments to access the cloud. It is a constantly improving process. It improves its features every day to be faster. Cloud computing gives you the feature of backup and recovery. If any disaster may happen you will be able to recover the data saved in cloud storage. Cloud computing gives you security. The data saved in cloud storage is not stolen or publish but one drawback is that it can be viewed. As cloud computing has so many excellent features you can easily use clouds.

Some benefits of cloud computing are given below-

1.    Flexibility: Cloud computing gives a flexible approach to users or consumers.

2.    Cost-effectiveness: Cloud computing is cost-effective because it doesn’t need any huge investment.

3.    Scalability: Cloud has a feature called scalability. The number of users can be increased or decreased as much as required with the change of time.

4.    Fast implementation: Cloud computing is a constantly improving process. It is a very faster and less complex process.

5.    Access anywhere: Cloud applications are easily accessible and it gives you the security to access the cloud applications from anywhere or from any other device.

6.    Maintenance-free: Patching, upgrading and testing none of these are required for cloud applications because all of these are handled on the cloud.

7.    Better security: Cloud computing gives you better security. It gives you a back-up and recovery feature. In case of any data, loss users can easily recover the data from cloud storage.

Some disadvantages of cloud computing are-

·      As cloud computing is an internet-based service so services outrage may occur for any reason.

·      Sometimes, unfortunately, the cloud provides less security and privacy.

·      As the cloud is an online process it suffers from online server attacks.

·      Vendor lock-in is another disadvantage of cloud computing.

Conclusion:

Cloud computing is accepted globally. The great features of cloud computing make it very popular all over the World and the use of this technology increasing rapidly. In the UK, cloud-based service companies have grown rapidly from 48% in 2010 to 88% in 2017 and most of the users expect to increase their adoption of cloud services. So, it is expected that cloud computing will widely expand in India very quickly. 

Contributed by - Swagata Chakraborty (Regent Education And Research Foundation)