Enabling Technologies and Technological Innovations Used to Construct Cloud-Computing Solutions - Assignment Example

Cloud Computing Name Class Unit Question1 (a) Provide a list of 6 enabling technologies and 3 technological innovations used to construct cloud-Computing solutions. 6 enabling technologies Broadband network and internet architecture Data centre technology (modern) Virtualisation technology Web technology Multitenant technology Service technology 3 technological innovations Clustering Grid computing Virtualisation (b) Briefly describe each technology and innovation in your list. Clustering A cluster is defined as a group of independent IT resources which forms a single system after interconnection. This helps in reducing the system failure rates while at the same time, availability and reliability are enhanced. This is due to fact that redundancy and failover features are very inherent in the cluster. The prerequisite of hardware clustering is the fact that component systems have almost identical hardware and operating system. This provides similar performance when a failed component is replaced with another. Through use of dedicated high speed communication links, the component devices that are part of the cluster are kept in synchronisation (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). Grid computing Computational grid is used to bring up a platform that is used in organising the computing resources into logical pools. The logical pools are coordinated collectively with an aim of providing a high performance distributed grid. This is referred as super virtual compute. The grid computing involves systems that are loosely coupled and distributed than clustering. Through use of grid computing, it is possible to involve computing devices that are heterogeneous and geographically dispersed. This is not possible with the cluster computing systems (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). Virtualisation Virtualisation involves a technology platform which assists in creation of the virtual instances of the information technology resources. Through use of a layer of the virtualisation software, it is possible to make physical IT resources provide their own self virtual images. This makes it possible for the underlying processes in these resources to be shared by different users (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). Broadband network and internet architecture All clouds are supposed to be connected to a network. This makes it vital for high dependence on the internetworking. Through use of internet, it becomes possible to have remote provision of the IT resources and support of the ubiquitous network access. The cloud consumers are able to access the cloud through use of private and dedicated network links (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). Data centre technology This involves grouping of the of the IT resources in close proximity with each other. This allows power sharing, increased efficiency in the IT resource usage and enhanced accessibility to the IT personnel. The data centre concept has been popularised by these concepts. The data centre is made up of virtualisation, automation, standardisation and modularity, high availability, computing hardware, storage hardware, network hardware and technical and business considerations among others. At the moment, the data centres appears as specialised IT infrastructure where centralised IT resources are housed including the servers, databases and software systems (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). Web technology Cloud computing is highly reliant on internetworking, ease of web service development and the web browser universality. This makes the web technology to be used as an implementation and management interface for the cloud computing services. The two main components of web are the web browser client and the web server. The technology architecture of the web is comprised of uniform resource locators, hypertext transfer protocol and mark up languages. The web resources are represented through use of hyper media instead of the hypertext which makes it possible to reference media including the video, plain text and URL in single document. In some cases, hypermedia cannot be rendered without use of additional software or plug-ins (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). Multitenant technology This is an application that is designed to enable multiple tenants access same logic application simultaneously. The tenant is able to view the application they are using and can customise and administer without being aware of the rest of the tenants using the same application. Through multitenant applications, the tenants are denied access to configuration and data which is not theirs. The features that can be customised individually are; user interface, business process, access control and data model. The architecture used in multitenant technology is usually more complex than the single tenant applications. The main characteristics of multitenant applications are; usage isolation, data security, recovery, application upgrade, scalability, metered usage and data tier isolation (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). Services technology Service technology is very vital in cloud computing and forms the basis of the delivery models. There are different services technologies that are used in realising and building on the cloud based environments which are; web services, REST services, service agents and service middleware (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). Virtualisation technology This is a process which involves converting the physical IT resource into a virtual IT resource. The IT resources that can be virtualised includes; servers, storage, power and network. For the server to be made virtual, use of virtualisation server is deployed. This starts with the allocation of the physical IT resources and installation of an operating system. The virtual servers have their own operating systems (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). Question.2 (a) Briefly describe the three general cloud delivery models? The three cloud delivery models are Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) This is a delivery model which is used to represent a self-contained IT environment which is made up of infrastructure centric IT resources which can be accessed through cloud based tools and interfaces. The environment can be made up of hardware, network, operating systems, connectivity and IT resources (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). Platform as a Service (PaaS) The PaaS delivery model is used to represent the predefined or ready to use environment. It is composed of deployed and configured IT resources. PaaS relies on usage of a ready-made environment which uses a set of pre-packaged products and tools. The products and tools are used in support of the entire delivery lifecycle on the custom applications (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). Software as a Service (SaaS) The typical profile of the SaaS offering consist of a software program which is positioned as a shared cloud service and availed as a generic utility or product. The SaaS delivery model makes it possible to make the reusable cloud service available to the cloud consumers. The cloud consumer has very limited control of the SaaS implementation (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). (b) What kinds of hardware and software computing problems can be solved using each of the cloud delivery models? Explain your answer. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) IaaS provides the consumers with great level of control and responsibility through configuration and utilisation. The users are given high level of control on the cloud based environment they want to create. A resource that is typical within an IaaS environment is the virtual server. The virtual servers are leased through specifying the hardware requirements including the hardware requirements, processor capacity needed, memory and the storage. Through the IaaS environment, a cloud consumer is capable of using the virtual server. This is provided through a set of contractual guarantees which includes capacity, performance and availability which are provided by the cloud providers (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). Platform as a Service (PaaS) PaaS environment can be used by consumers to extend on premise environment into the cloud. This is done for scalability and economic reasons. The consumer can also use the ready-made environment provided to substitute an on premise environment. Also, if a cloud consumer wants to become a cloud provider, they need the PaaS environment to make their cloud services available to other cloud consumers. The cloud consumer is spared the burden of coming up and maintaining a bare infrastructure IT through use of PaaS (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). Software as a Service (SaaS) SaaS helps the cloud users in accessing applications, security, availability and performance. Instead of installing and maintaining the software, one can access it over the internet. This ensures that the user is shielded from the complex software and hardware management. The users have no hardware or software to buy, install or maintain. Through SaaS, access to the application is easy since only internet connection is needed (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). Question.3 (a) List and briefly detail the 6 characteristics of a cloud computing system that are beneficial to an organisation when considering a cloud based application. Characteristics of cloud computing On demand usage The consumer of cloud computing can be able to access the cloud based IT resources in unilateral manner. This gives the cloud consumer the freedom to have self-supervision of these resources. When configured, the use of the self-provisioned IT resources can be easily automated. This implies that there will be no need for human involvement by both cloud consumer and provider. This leads to an on demand usage environment. This characteristic enables service based and usage driven features which are found in cloud computing (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). Ubiquitous access This involves the ability to access the cloud services widely. To set up ubiquitous access, there is need for range of devices which includes; transport protocols, interfaces and security technologies. The cloud service architecture has to be tailored to meet the particular need of the consumers for this access to be made possible (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). Multi-tenancy (resource pooling) This is a characteristic of the software that makes it possible for an instance of the program to have the capability to serve different customers who are isolated. Multi-tenancy models enable the cloud service providers to pool their IT resources to serve multiple customers relying on the virtualisation technologies. Through use of multi-tenancy, it becomes possible for the IT resources to be assigned and reassigned dynamically based on the consumer demands (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). Elasticity (and scalability) This characteristic refers to the automated ability of the cloud to carry out scaling of IT resources in a transparent manner. This is in response to the runtime conditions which are predetermined by the cloud consumer or provider (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). Measured usage This is the ability of the cloud platform to keep track of usage of its associated resources. This makes it possible for the cloud consumer to pay only for the IT resources actually used and the time frame of the access which was granted. It also helps in monitoring the usage of the IT resources (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). Resiliency This is a form of failover and is used in distributing the redundant implementation of IT resources in the physical locations. The IT resources can be pre-configured to make it possible that if one is deficient, the processing can be handled over to another. The cloud consumers can benefit from resiliency of cloud computing by increasing their reliability and availability (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). (b) In your opinion which characteristics are considered the most important and why? Based on my own opinion, resiliency, measured usage and elasticity are the most important. Elasticity is a major advantage of the cloud computing. This is due to fact that it leads to reduced investment and high cost benefit for the users. When the cloud providers have vast IT resources, customers are able to enjoy high range of elasticity. Resiliency ensures that cloud consumers have high level of reliability and availability on their cloud computing applications. Measured usage is vital since it ensures that the cloud consumer is not overcharged. It also ensures that the usage of the IT resources is well monitored. The cloud provider is able to charge the consumer accurately for only what they have utilised (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). (c) Provide 4 reasons why a cloud computing application is better than non-cloud application in solving an equivalent problem When solving an equivalent problem, cloud computing application is better than a non-cloud application. This is due to: high level of reliability, increased scalability, reduced investments and costs. When solving an equivalent problem, a cloud technology user enjoys a higher level of reliability. This implies that chances of failure are low. The providers of cloud technologies ensure that they are able to guarantee high level of reliability and availability. Through increased scalability, users of cloud technology are able to avoid unsolved problems which can occur when usage threshold are met. This is not possible with the non-cloud application. When solving the same problem with a non-cloud technology user, cloud technology user is able to benefit from reduced investments and costs. The cloud technology user is not required to spend in buying new hardware of software licensing compared to non-cloud user. When solving a similar problem, a cloud technology user is able to attain economies of scale compared to non-cloud technology user. The user of cloud technology is able to obtain results with few resources and people as compared to non-cloud technology user (WhatIsCloud.com, 2015). References WhatIsCloud.com, 2015, Home, Origins and Influences, Technology Innovations, Arcitura™ Education Inc. Retrieved 9th December 2015 from, http://whatiscloud.com/origins_and_influences/technology_innovations Read More