Cloud Computing - Local Development Agency, Computer Shop Ltd - Case Study Example

Cloud Computing Contents Introduction 4 Use of Cloud Services 4 Positive Impact on CSL 6 Negative Impact on CSL 7 Recommendations 7 Computer Recommendations 7 Printer Recommendations 9 Network Hardware Recommendations 9 Broadband Internet Connection Recommendations 12 References 12 Appendix 13 CPU Specifications 13 Printer Specifications 13 Network Hardware 14 Broadband Comparison 14 Introduction This report is intended for the Local Development Agency (LGA). It provides a brief overview about usage of cloud services in Computer Shop Ltd. (CSL) and gives recommendations for the computer, printer, network hardware and broadband connection. Use of Cloud Services The umbrella term ‘cloud computing’ refers to those computational resources (both hardware and software) which are offered as services over the Internet. These services are hosted on the service provider’s infrastructure and the clients can access and use them to fulfil their computational needs, data storage or other software requirements (KPMG 2012). CSL Requirements: CSL has the following requirements related to the company’s data: Management of an online sale site from the shop as well as the office compound. Ensure the site is available 24/7. Availability and storage of order related data at a place which is accessible in the shop and by all the relevant staff members. Storage and sharing of office routine data in the office compound. Storage, synchronized and a-synchronized sharing of lecture data in the lecture hall. Available Cloud Services: Three most common cloud services include (KPMG, 2012): Infrastructure as a service: The cloud vender rents out services such as access to computational power and storage over the Internet. Software as a service: The cloud provider rents out access to software in the form of a web-accessible service. The client does not have to install the software in his/her machine. The bas Platform as a service: The cloud provides the clients with all the necessary tools, environment, databases and languages required to develop and host bespoke software products. As these services are available through the Internet, they are ubiquitous and are accessible from anywhere in the world. As the service provider shares the computing resources between many users, the resources are not left idle and so the utilization rate of the resources increases. Most of the cloud computing services follow the utility computing model. So the services are in fact commodities which are charged according to their usage. There are companies that charge the services on the basis of customer subscriptions. CSL and Cloud Services: CSL can use IaaS to fulfil its data storage requirements. Microsoft Skydrive is one solution. Dropbox is another solution where the files in a local directory can be synchronized with the corresponding directory on the cloud. For managing online orders and generating or reading documents, CSL can use SaaS. Microsoft’s Web Apps is an effective option in this regard. It provides the basic functionalities of all the Office applications. For creating, hosting, managing and publishing the online site, CSL can use PaaS. Creative Cloud by Adobe is one option in this regards. Cloud Deployment: Cloud computing deployment is in the form of public clouds or private clouds. The hybrid or community clouds are combinations of these two basic cloud types (KPMG, 2012). In a private cloud, the services offered are for a single client or organization. The internal IT team or some third-party manages the infrastructure of these services either internal or external to the client’s organization. These clouds are generally more secure but are more costly as the cloud services are not rented out. A public cloud is an extended version of the private cloud. Public clouds are less expensive as the infrastructure and data storage services are available to enterprises at lower costs. A third-party manages the service infrastructure. A hybrid cloud is an optimized usage of cloud computing. An organization uses a public cloud to host most of its applications. These applications can then use the applications hosted on a private cloud to get access to confidential data. A community cloud is a customized usage of both the private and public clouds. The services are available on a common private cloud for only the related clients or organizations. CSL and Cloud Deployment: CSL would deploy a hybrid cloud setting. The PaaS, SaaS would be on public clouds while the data content related to office or sales would be on a private cloud. Positive Impact on CSL There are a few strengths associated with employing cloud services for CSL: Cost Saving: As in cloud computing, the service providers manage the entire infrastructure (hardware and software), CSL can take these services on rent without having to plan, procure, build, configure or maintain an infrastructure of its own. Thus by utilizing cloud services, CSL would be free from investing a capital to arrange for its own resources. High Availability: Since the private and public cloud services are available over the Internet, they are constantly available which is required by CSL. The cloud vendors implement advance mechanisms of ensuring uninterrupted service to clients. So in cases where a system hosting a service crashes, the alternative server takes over without interrupting the flow of service. Improve productivity: CSL would be free from looking after the maintenance, update or purchase of new technology. The cloud vendor is responsible for that. So CSL would only focus on its productivity. Scalable Business: Since the demand on resources may vary and is unpredictable, with the cloud service, it would be easier for CSL to upgrade or downgrade the requested resources on a public or private cloud. Easy Deployment: When the product is available on a public or private cloud, it is easy to deploy an application as it does not require installation at CSL computers. The installed resources (hardware or software) are available and shared online for instant usage. Easy Management: For cloud services a very limited IT workforce can manage all CSL operations. Negative Impact on CSL The negative impacts of cloud computing on CSL would include (KPMG, 2012): Compromise on Security and Privacy: When a client completely relies on a cloud service, managed by a third-party, without knowing the internal working, it compromises the system’s transparency. As CSL would rely on and trust the cloud vendor to look after the aspects of security and privacy, system’s transparency would be compromised. Limited Innovation: Since the cloud vendor manages the infrastructure, CSL would have limited rights to bring innovation to the internal processes. CSL would have to settle with what the cloud vendor offers. Speed and Latency Issues: Since in public clouds the pooling of services occurs between the clients, speed issues can surface. The cloud vendor computing devices too can cause delays if not fast enough to handle multiple clients. Limited Independence: In case a cloud (managed by a third-party) suddenly becomes unavailable due to a system crash, CSL would not be able to restore the service’s availability. Recommendations With a view to the space, hardware and staff requirements, there are a few recommendations for CSL. Computer Recommendations Software Requirements: CSL needs computers to access the cloud services. Identifying the software requirements first will help choose the required hardware that would support the needed software. The software requirements include: An operating system to operate the computer A browser to access the cloud services Ubuntu, an open source and free distribution of Linux, is the recommended operating system for the computers. The desktop version of Ubuntu provides a user friendly graphical interface and requires a recommended size of 512MB RAM and 5GB hard disc (Ubuntu Help 2013). The choice of browser is Firefox which is one of the most widely used, popular, reliable and free web browser. Additionally, Ubuntu supports Firefox. Thus, software installations would not cost CSL. Hardware Requirements: Since nearly all the major computing and data storage needs would be handled in the cloud, CSL would require hardware that supports the above mentioned software. Therefore, the basic computer hardware requirements are as follows: A hard disc of minimum 5GB to install the operating system. An additional 2 GB space for storing any data for local usage would be enough. A 700 MHz processor can run Ubuntu. Dual core processors are fast enough to fulfil all the basic requirements. A RAM of 512MB to load the operating system along with the other programs e.g. the browser or cloud client. Sound and VGA card (capable of 1024x768 screen resolution) The input devices would be a USB keyboard and USB mouse A coloured monitor of any resolution would be acceptable. A USB drive to install the operating system on each computer Suggested Hardware: A custom made CPU costs approximately £227 VAT inclusive (see Appendix for specifications). The table below shows a listing of the selected hardware and the overall estimated costs of computer systems. Hardware Description Price Quantity Total CPU Custom Made (See Appendix) £227 37 £8399 Headset Creative Headset HS-430 with Detachable Mic £26 20 £520 Mouse Logitech Mouse M100 1000 dpi optical USB Mouse £11 37 £407 Keyboard Logitech K200 thin profile Wired USB Keyboard £13 37 £481 Monitor 18.5 Inch Widescreen LCD 1366 x 768 Full HD Monitor in black £85 37 £3145 USB Drive 16GB Corsair Flash Voyager USB 3.0 pen drive £19 1 £19 The prices could vary in cases where CSL is able to cut deals with the seller. Printer Recommendations CSL requires three printers; High quality A3 colour printer for the office compound High speed black and white printer for the office compound Low cost black and white printer for the warehouse All these printers need to be accessible by the computers installed in the surrounding area. Since CSL would use a wired net as mobility is not a requirement, all the printers selected should support Ethernet networking. Printer 1: HP Officejet 7500A Wide Format e-All-in-One with 2 year warranty, support Ethernet connectivity and prints low-cost, professional-quality colour up to A3+. Also includes additional features of copy, scan and fax. Price of this printer is £149 VAT inclusive (see Appendix for detail). Printer 2: Dell B1265dnf Multifunction Laser Printer is high-speed black and white printer that prints with a speed of 28ppm. The printer has a year’s warranty and supports Ethernet connectivity and is compatible with Ubuntu. The printer is heavy duty and is able to print up to 20000 pages per month. The printer costs £203 (see Appendix for detail). Printer 3: HP LaserJet Pro M1212nf Multifunction Printer is an economical, fast black and white printer that not only prints but can also scan, copy and fax. It has an intuitive control panel, a 150-sheet input and 100-sheet output tray. It prints with a speed of up to 18 ppm A4 and prints average of up to 8000 pages monthly. The printer costs £165 VAT inclusive. Network Hardware Recommendations In view of the network requirements, CSL can be divided into four areas; 1. The shop 2. The workshop 3. The office compound 4. The lab Currently, only the shop at CSL has low bandwidth Internet connectivity. A reliable network will have to be set up in the warehouse, office compound and the lab. Secondly, an Internet café type facility supporting 6 extra computers would be a part of the new network. The network would be designed while considering the following CSL requirements: The warehouse, office and the lab would have separate subnets. A network connection would be present between the shop and the complex to allow switching between the ISP lines. Considering that the major network id CSL buys is 192.168.1.0/24, the total number of hosts available is 254. This satisfies the requirement of CSL which is of 40 IPs. But in this setting, the shop, office, warehouse and the lab would be in the same network while CSL requires a separate subnetwork for each. The shop needs 7 IPs, the office needs 10 IPs, and warehouse needs 3 IPs while the lab needs 20 IPs. With the classful address subnetting, each subnet is of the same size, which wastes lots of IP addresses (allocating 254 IP addresses, wasting over 85% of subnet address space, utilizing 100% of the network address space). Variable length subnetting is the best approach for creating CSL subnets. With this approach, 64 IP addresses become available, wasting only 27% of the subnetted address while utilizing only 28% of the network’s address space. Subnet Name Needed Size Allocated Size Address Mask Dec Mask Assignable Range Broadcast Lab 20 30 192.168.1.0 /27 255.255.255.224 192.168.1.1 - 192.168.1.30 192.168.1.31 Office 10 14 192.168.1.32 /28 255.255.255.240 192.168.1.33 - 192.168.1.46 192.168.1.47 Shop 7 14 192.168.1.48 /28 255.255.255.240 192.168.1.49 - 192.168.1.62 192.168.1.63 Warehouse 3 6 192.168.1.64 /29 255.255.255.248 192.168.1.65 - 192.168.1.70 192.168.1.71 Figure 1 shows the network topology of the system. In this configuration, by simply connecting the switch the router, the shop can be connected to the network with the high bandwidth connection. Figure 1 Network Topology To setup the above network, CSL would require the following hardware (see Appendix for extra details): Hardware Specification Price Quantity Total Router Netgear Dual Band WNDR3700 Router £109.99 1 £109.99 Switch TP-Link 8 Port 10/100 Network Switch £24.99 1 £24.99 16 and 24-Port 10/100 Network Switches £39.99 2 £79.8 TP-Link 5-Port 10/100 Network Switch £19.99 1 £19.99 Cat5 Cable CAT5e Flat Network Cable 20m £7.99/20m 100m £39.95 Broadband Internet Connection Recommendations Since all the data storage operations are cloud based and there are can be nearly 40 simultaneous connections online at a time, CSL requires a high bandwidth broadband connection where the download is unlimited. After comparing the top broadband connections in the UK, Virgin Media seems to be the most appropriate choice of broadband connection for CSL (see Appendix for comparison). Virgin Media not only offers the highest bandwidth which is 30MB but also there is no download limit. The connection demands no line rent as Virgin Media does not require a phone connection to install the broadband connection. The connection only requires a monthly fee of £17.50 which forms a total of £235 per month. References KPMG. 2012. Modelling the Economic Impact of Cloud Computing. Australian Information Industry Association [Online]. Available at < http://www.kpmg.com/AU/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Documents/modelling-economic-impact-cloud-computing.pdf > [Accessed on 27 April 2013] SIIA. 2011. Cloud Computing: Benefits - Economic Growth. Guide to Cloud Computing for Policymakers. Available at < http://siia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=797:cloud-computing-benefits-economic-growth&catid=163:public-policy-articles > [Accessed on 27 April 2013] Ubuntu Help. 2013. Meeting Minimum Hardware Requirements [Online]. Available at < https://help.ubuntu.com/lts/installation-guide/i386/minimum-hardware-reqts.html > [Accessed on 27 April 2013] Appendix CPU Specifications The site, http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/ provides service of making a custom CPU. Case: PCS Hush! Silent Mini-ITX Case + 80W PSU Processor (CPU): Intel® Atom™ Processor N2800 (1M Cache, 2.13 GHz) Motherboard: INTEL® DN2800MT: INNOVATION SERIES, ATOM N2800, MINI-ITX, DDR3 Memory (RAM): 2GB SAMSUNG 1066MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 2GB) Graphics Card: INTEL(R) GRAPHICS MEDIA ACCELERATOR 3650 Memory - 1st Hard Disk 250GB SERIAL ATA II 2.5" HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (5,400rpm) Sound Card: ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD) Network Facilities: 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs USB Options: 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD Operating System: NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED Office Software: NO OFFICE SOFTWARE Anti-Virus: NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE Warranty: 3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) Delivery: STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI) Build Time: Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days Printer Specifications For further details about printer 1 visit the following link: http://h20386.www2.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=ECC_BUNDLE_3876113&opt=&sel=PRN For details about printer 2, visit the link: http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/dell-b1265dnf-printer?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs For details about printer 3, visit link: URL: http://h20386.www2.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=CE841A&opt=B19&sel=PRN Network Hardware For details about CAT5e Flat Network Cable 20m, visit the link: http://www.maplin.co.uk/cat5e-flat-network-cable-20m-599950 For details about TP-Link 5-Port 10/100 Network Switch, visit the link: http://www.maplin.co.uk/tp-link-5-port-10-100-network-switch-27844 For details about the 16 and 24-Port 10/100 Network Switches, visit the link: http://www.maplin.co.uk/16-and-24-port-10-100-network-switches-222535 For details about the TP-Link 8 Port 10/100 Network Switch, visit the link: http://www.maplin.co.uk/tp-link-8-port-10-100-network-switch-222534 For details about the Netgear Dual Band WNDR3700 Router, visit the link: http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/9130658.htm Broadband Comparison Table below shows a comparison of the most popular broadband connections in UK. The survey is available at the link: http://www.money.co.uk/broadband.htm Connection Download Speed Download Limit Contract Length Line Rental Broadband Monthly Charges EE Broadband & off peak calls 7Mb (EE/T-Mobile/Orange mobile customers only) 7Mb unlimited 12 months £14 £5 £198 EE Broadband & off peak calls (EE/T-Mobile/Orange mobile customers only) 14Mb unlimited 12 months £14 £5.00 £198 O2 The Basics + Evening and Weekend calls (customers > 2 years) 16Mb 20GB 12 months £13 £4.25 £207 Plusnet Essentials + Talk Evening & Weekend 16Mb 10GB 12 months £13.99 £2.99 £209.75 Plusnet Essentials + Talk Evening & Weekend (Outside low cost area) 16Mb 10GB 12 months £13.99 £2.99 £209.75 O2 The Basics (mobile customers only) 16Mb 20GB 12 months £13 £4.25 £210 Tesco Broadband Broadband & Evening and Weekend Calls 14Mb unlimited 12 months £14.90 £3 £214.80 TalkTalk Unlimited Broadband + Phone - Essentials 14Mb unlimited 12 months £14.95 £3.25 £218.40 Be Value + Evening and Weekend Calls (12 months) 10Mb unlimited 12 months £10 £17 £222 Primus Broadband   Phone and Broadband Saver 14Mb 40GB 18 months £15.19 £2.99 £223.11 Virgin Media Broadband: 30Mb + Phone M 30Mb unlimited 18 months £14.99 free £226.88 EE Broadband & off peak calls 14Mb unlimited 12 months £14 £10 £228 Plusnet Unlimited + Talk Evening & Weekend 16Mb unlimited 12 months £13.99 £4.99 £233.75 Plusnet Unlimited + Talk Evening & Weekend (Outside low cost area) 16Mb unlimited 12 months £13.99 £4.99 £233.75 Sky Unlimited + Talk Weekends 14Mb unlimited 12 months £14.50 £10 £234 Virgin Media Broadband: 30Mb 30Mb unlimited 12 months £0 £17.50 £235 Plusnet Essentials + Talk Evening & Weekend (Outside low cost area) 16Mb 10GB 12 months £13.99 £6.49 £251.75 Post Office Broadband Standard + Home Phone 8Mb 5GB 12 months £13.25 £21.40 £256.80 Plusnet Essentials + Talk Anytime (Outside low cost area) 16Mb 10GB 12 months £13.99 £6.99 £257.75 Plusnet Essentials + Talk Anytime 16Mb 10GB 12 months £13.99 £6.99 £257.75 Read More