What is cloud?
Talking about the pre-cloud era, when we had to buy the complete architecture, we had to host a website or maybe an application. However, there were certain cons to it when you are buying the full architecture, you have to spend a lot of time in pre-planning in such a way that it meets all your needs. But buying these servers were costly and maintaining it was a huge task. So, these were some of the short coming in pre-cloud era.
So, what did cloud do differently? First, it provided us with a huge space online, which was a collection of servers that were orchestrated in a very good way. What makes it easier is, we can rent these services and use them only for the time duration we want.
Let’s now see how cloud computing comes into play.
If suppose, you are staying in India and your data resides in UK you can have access to data by sitting in India. That means we can store data or apps on remote servers that we can process and even access those from anywhere across the globe.
So, that is the flexibility that cloud gives us and the process of carrying out these computations on cloud is called as cloud computing.
Cloud computing has two types of models, they are deployment model and service model. Under deployment model there are three types of models, they are public cloud, private cloud and hybrid cloud.
Briefly speaking on the deployment models, imagine you are traveling to work, you have three options to choose from, that is, one you have buses which represents public cloud, in this case the cloud infrastructure is available to the public over the internet. Two, you have option of using your
own car this represents the private cloud, with the private cloud the infrastructure is exclusively operated by a single organization. Finally, you have an option to hail a cab this represents the hybrid cloud, which is a combination of the functionalities of both public and private clouds.
What is a service model?
The aim is to cater to your individual or particular need. But our needs are
not limited to one, so those needs are serviced by providing us with a customized or packaged approach towards those needs. These are nothing but a cloud service.
There are three kinds of service models that helps in catering our various needs. These are also called as different cloud computing service models. They are: SaaS, PaaS and IaaS.
SaaS: Software as a Service
SaaS is one of the popular and commonly used services alongside PaaS and IaaS. They allow users to connect and use a cloud-based application, because service providers manage all the aspects of these applications.
In a nutshell, it is a method of delivering software and applications over the internet through a subscription model. Example, Gmail, which is completely hosted by google as a cloud service provider. Other examples could be MS office, Adobe CC, even music streaming services, and providing productivity apps over the internet.
On the other hand, we also have storage services such as Dropbox and One Drive. SaaS is also used in a wide variety of business operations such as communication and collaboration, customer relationship management and billing etc.
PaaS: Platform as a Service
It is a cloud computing model, in which a third-party provider delivers hardware and software tools usually those needed for application development to users over the internet. For better understanding, PaaS is like renting a car, we are not investing time and money or customizing it into like we would do on our car of our own but we are the one who is still driving it and paying for the gas.
PaaS frees developers from installing in-house hardware and software or running a new application, but it doesn’t typically replace a business’s entire IT or infrastructure. Instead, it usually incorporates various cloud infrastructure components like operating system, servers, databases, networking, equipment and storage services all owned and operated and maintained by the service provider, not the business.
PaaS usually operates on per-use basis, but some providers charge a flat monthly fee. They mostly used for mobile app, cross-platform app development as well as DevOps tools.
IaaS: Infrastructure as a Service
IaaS is a method of cloud computing that offers and manages instant computing infrastructure over the internet. In this model, a third-party host servers, software, hardware and infrastructure components for users. It also handles system maintenance and system backups to decrease downtime and to quickly restore in case of an outage.
Additionally, IaaS model are scalable and can be adjusted to meet demand as it arises. IaaS is used in web application, hosting websites, testing, big data for mining large data. With the help of IaaS there is faster innovation, security, reduced cost and disaster recovery.
Therefore, with cloud computing the business can be more agile, reduce cost, instantly scale and deploy globally in minutes. It also gives you instant access to a broad range of technologies so you can build anything you can imagine