Cloud

Directly skip to section 2 to get started with the cloud. Continue reading from section 1 for easy comprehension of the concept.

1. General Outline

Cloud is all the hype these days. We frequently come across the term cloud without realizing what technology resides underneath. Cloud computing has hit the IT market with all its might. It is interesting to note that despite having heard the term Cloud, most people are not very proficient with the technology. The technical knowhow among the masses is in low percentage, so we planned to come up with this wiki to answer all your questions in this domain.

After reading this wiki, you will find out –

- What cloud computing means in simple terms
- How cloud works
- Cloud definition and examples to show you have been using cloud technology without even realizing.

2. What exactly is a cloud?

Cloud or cloud computing is the term nomenclated to an internet-operated service. In cloud computing, you upload your files to a server connected to the global network (internet). Since cloud computing is an internet-facilitated service, you can access your files everywhere internet is accessible.

3. Cloud vs Traditional Storage technologies

You must have a shared network of computers at school or may have heard of the term LAN. Files stored over your school’s network cannot be accessed at home or anywhere else. Put simply, the files are accessible as long as you are on the school’s own network. This restricts the accessibility of local networks. Imagine if you urgently needed a program from your school servers. Would you be able to download it from your home Wi-Fi? No.
All physical storage drives such as Compact Disks (CDs) and SSDs work similarly. Data on SSD server is available until the drive is plugged in to your computer.

4. Cloud vs servers

In a nutshell, cloud itself is a pool of servers. A server is a storage terminal with the ability to make files accessible as and when required.
The only difference between cloud servers and physical servers is the 24/7 availability of data. Much like your school’s network, physical servers aren’t accessible outside the native network. In layman’s terms, you can download data from the server when in the server’s own network.
However, things are a bit different with clouds. Even though the underlying servers are the same, the data is synced over the internet. Means, any user can fetch, upload and work on his data as long as he is connected to the internet.

5. How cloud works

The technology involved with cloud server is unlike any other technology in the domain of file storage. The working of cloud technology is summarized in the bullet points below –
- Setting up a data center
- Servers are connected with one another
- Internet lines are laid
- Resources (storage, RAM, CPU) from each server is pooled together to act like one.
- The resource thus made by combining all the servers together is divided into several sets. This concept is called virtualization.
- Each server is connected to the internet and a front end API is developed.
- The front end is the interface displaying files to end users.
- A gateway is established to retrieve files from the server and make it available online.

6. Cloud computing examples

It is quite likely that you are already in touch with clouds without having a clue of it. Following are the domains where you have perhaps used cloud technology –
WhatsApp – your chats and media files that get restored every time you reinstall WhatsApp is facilitated through clouds.
Google Cloud – when you sync contacts with Gmail, the same gets stored in Google drive, Google’s own cloud.
Facebook – photos you upload on Facebook, too, get stored in the cloud server.

7. Cloud types

Cloud can be classified in several ways, based on technology, mode of delivery.
Based on technology, cloud can assume the following types –
Public Cloud – public clouds are those that allow any number of individuals, irrespective of location and organization, to subscribe and leverage the resources to their advantage.
Private Cloud – private cloud userbase is confined and restricted to the entities of a single organization or a group. Your work network is an example of private cloud.
Hybrid Cloud – hybrid cloud comprises both public and private models and allows scaling one model at the cost of the other. Means, the public cloud can be shrunk to expand private cloud with the overall computing remaining the same all throughout.

Cloud computing can also be classified based on the service deliverables –

IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) – IaaS model delivers the entire cloud infrastructure to the business.
PaaS (Platform as a Service) – PaaS is aimed at delivering the launch-ready platform instead of the entire infrastructure. This is extremely helpful for software developers who need the right platform but aren’t up for the troubles of maintaining one themselves.
SaaS (Software as a Service) – software as a service or SaaS utilizes the delivery of ready to use software instead of the platform or the infrastructure. Gmail and Yahoo mail are the two biggest examples of SaaS.

Cloud Advantages –

You may have figured out by now how advantageous cloud computing is in the modern era. We shall, however, list some of them for you to have a better grasp of the same –
Accessibility – availability of the services over the internet alleviates its accessibility. With any other server, you would be confined to work from a particular work location. It is a no-brainer that cloud computing is a more convenient approach over all of its predecessor.
Cost – with cloud computing, you aren’t buying any hardware components and are only renting resources. This helps save enormous amounts of money, especially what you would have invested in acquiring resources first hand.
Uptime – when on local network if one of the underpinning servers fails, the entire network gets disrupted. With clouds, on the other hand, the vast network of servers allows the system to continue unabated. Hence, clouds offer a better uptime availability than any of the servers.

Takeway

Cloud is an advanced computing technology in which all the hardware and software you are using comes as a service provided by another company and accessed in a completely seamless manner over the Internet. Cloud computing is a computing process that relies on sharing a pool of physical and/or virtual private hosting resources instead of deploying personal hardware and software. Users can simply tap into a supply of computing resource and don’t have to deal with the management of resources required to generate it. Flexibility and scalability are two of the key characteristics of the Cloud Hosting. You can draw resources as and when needed from the cloud and pay according to usage, generally by the minute.