written by gunther gerlach-2009
Cloud computing can describe services being provided at any of the traditional layers from hardware to application. In practice, cloud service providers tend to offer services that can be grouped into three categories: Software as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Infrastructure as a Service. These categories group together the various layers, with some overlap.
Software as a service (SAAS)
Software as a Service features a complete application offered as a service on demand. A single instance of the software runs on the cloud and services multiple end users or client organizations.
Gunther Gerlach
written by gunther gerlach-2009
Virtual servers in the cloud model. Basically they are providing Infrastructure as a Service. If you need to run your application, you can go to their site, configure your own server with your required configuration and software libraries and they will generate a server on the fly for you! Basically all this magic has come about thanks to virtualization technologies which allow you to create software servers independent of the hardware infrastructure running them. These VMs can be scaled and migrated depending on the need.
Gunther Gerlach
written by gunther gerlach-2009
Quick definition: Cloud Computing is an Internet based platform geographically distributed and developed to provide real-time scalable resources and provided “as a service” over the Internet to users who don’t need to have deep knowledge or expertise on technology infrastructure. The concept incorporates software as a service (SaaS), and other well-known technology trends.
Cloud computing services span a wide scope, from virtualized low-level computing and storage to full business services. Understanding the spectrum of cloud services and the characteristics of each service category is essential in determining when, where, how and why to apply cloud computing.
Gunther Gerlach
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
IaaS clouds make it very easy and affordable to provision resources such as servers, connections, storage, and related tools necessary to build an application environment from scratch on-demand. IaaS clouds are the underlying infrastructure of PaaS and SaaS clouds. A common characteristic of IaaS clouds is that they are more complex to work with but with that complexity comes a high degree of flexibility. So, these are generally lower level services in the grand scheme of things; not in a derogatory sense of course. You’ll be dealing with virtual machines, operating systems, patches, and various other issues. You’ll likely require some specialized help to make it all work well.
Gunther Gerlach
