Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing Infrastructure and Development Tools



Contents

Introduction1

Cloud Computing1

Characteristics of Cloud Computing2

On-demand services and scalability2

User-Centric Interface2

Guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS)2

Pricing2

Components of Cloud2

Clients3

Data Centre3

Distributed Servers3

Deployment Models4

Public Cloud4

Private Cloud4

Hybrid Cloud5

Community Cloud5

Service Models6

Platform as a Service (PaaS)6

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)8

Development Tools10

Amazon10

Google App Engine10

IBM11

Salesforce.com11

Other Cloud Development Tools12

3Tera12

10gen12

Cohesive Flexible technologies12

Joyent12

Mosso13

Nirvanix13

Skytap13

StrikeIron13

Conclusion13

References15

Cloud Computing Infrastructure and Development Tools

Introduction

Cloud computing is a wide term. It has several definitions associated with it. In essence, it amounts to third-party hosting that is completely virtualized. Cloud computing is a computing model for allowing users to subscribe and then use resources of computers such as operating systems, servers, databases, storage, and applications that are available on the cloud network. A client or company rents a specific amount of server resources instead of renting all or part of a physical server from some company which is hosting it. This virtualized server executes inside a virtual container. This container can be moved from one to another without any type of interruption to the service. One container has the capacity of including many physical servers. This gives it the edge of limitless resources. There are various deployment models and services of cloud computing. Various development tools are also required by developers of cloud to develop web-based applications.

Cloud Computing

Cloud computing refers to a model for allowing on-demand, convenient and ubiquitous access to network of a shared pool of computing resources that are configurable (Mell & Gtrance, 2011, p.2). These resources include servers, networks, services, applications, storage and so forth. This access can be released and provisioned in a rapid manner with minimal interaction of service provider and reduced management and effort. In other words, cloud computing means both the applications transferred as a service over the internet and the systems software and hardware in the data centres that offer those services (Armbrust et.al, 2010, p.50).

Characteristics of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing includes novel features as compared to other computing solutions. These are described here briefly (Robet, 2009, p. 24):

On-demand services and scalability

Cloud computing offers services and resources for users as per demand. These resources are scalable over many data centres.

User-Centric Interface

Cloud computing interfaces are not dependent on location. They can be accessed by well-established interfaces, e.g. Internet browsers and Web interfaces.

Guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS)

Cloud computing guarantees Quality of Service for users in terms of CPU/hardware performance, storage capacity and bandwidth (Ostermann et.al, n.d., p. 123).

Pricing

Cloud computing does not require a client to invest in up-front cost. They pay for services as per their requirement of them.

Components of Cloud

An architecture of cloud computing consists of several elements. They are data centres, clients and distributed servers. Each of these elements plays a particular role in delivering an application that is a cloud-based one (Velte et.al, 2010, p. 7).

Clients

In architecture of cloud computing, clients play the same role as they do in the conventional local area networks (LANs). They are typically desktops, tablet computers, laptops, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), mobile phone and so forth. All these devices are large drivers of cloud computing due to the reason of their ...