The expression "have access to the cloud" has gradually become more and more general meaning: the word "cloud" is in...
The expression "have access to the cloud" has gradually become more and more general meaning: the word "cloud" is in fact merely to indicate something displaced, with no fixed physical location, still far from enough to express the type of service to which it refers.
Although the average user - so far removed from the enterprise sector - takes for granted that a cloud represents only a web space for data storage, services (and related infrastructure) based on the so-called cloud are numerous.
Even the "simple" storaging is part of the family of cloud services (DaaS type, data as a service), but this is definitely not the only cloud computing mode exists on the scene, indeed.
The uses of the cloud - which, at this point, we will define as an easy way to operate across the network - can be many and range from the scope consumer sphere enterprise.
SO, WHAT IS THE CLOUD?
Cloud computing is the foundation of grid computing paradigm (grid computing) used for wide needs for power calculations, paradigm that sees the collaboration of different types of hardware resources in different locations throughout the globe, coordinated through specific software mechanisms: the idea is to use multiple disks, processors, memory and so on, and make them look at the highest level - the abstraction - as a single "machine."
Cloud computing is an information technology field is constantly growing: in fact, today some operating systems (the most striking example is Chrome OS) rely almost entirely its own operation on cloud services, There is, as I have already said, a very precise shape of the cloud as it is possible to distinguish an infinity of different scenarios of use of the common cloud services nowadays, we go to categorize into five different types (but connected to each other), so as to better understand what is cloud in all its various forms.
HAAS, HARDWARE-AS-A-SERVICE.
The HaaS type cloud services make available to the hardware resources required buyers to meet their own needs, usually in the form pay-to-use. The interaction between user and the service is usually done through the network.
The best known example is the private hosting: the service provider provides the user with a set of resources (usually an entire physical machine, or a cluster battery in the case of expandable hosting or even a set of resources virtual hardware) that, thanks to a service, the user can configure as a whole from above operating system.
SAAS, SOFTWARE-AS-A-SERVICE.
The SaaS-type cloud services provide the user with a particular application that will process - thanks to the server where the application is installed - the data provided and it will return a result based on applying the same objectives.
The interaction between user and service is done through the network. The SaaS cloud services may be in pay-to-use and free of charge. The best known example to date are the so-called Google Apps: Gmail, Drive, Maps, are individually usable applications and - normally - without the need to install additional software.
PAAS, PLATFORM-AS-A-SERVICE.
The type of PaaS cloud services offer the user - in software and hardware - entire platforms for the management of its tasks. The interaction between users and services via the network. An example would be Launchpad, collaborative platform dedicated to Ubuntu for the development of open source applications or Moodle, Git and many others.
DAAS, DATA-AS-A-SERVICE.
The DaaS type cloud services provide the user with operating panels and targeted hardware resources for the preservation of their documents. immediate examples are Dropbox, MEGA, OneDrive or Google Drive.
IAAS, INFRASTRUCTURE-AS-A-SERVICE.
The type of IaaS cloud services represent a kind of "expansion" of PaaS services: no platforms this time but entire related infrastructure, often scalable, designed to increase user productivity by minimizing costi.Solitamente the IaaS cloud services are fit pay- to-use and interaction between users and services via the network. A striking example of IaaS cloud service could be Microsoft Office 365, offering simultaneously:
web access to applications belonging to the suite;
ability to store and edit directly storing documents on Microsoft servers (ie using a cloud DaaS service);
ability to manage collaborative groups integrating all via ActiveSync;
more.
IN CONCLUSION…
You will have now found that cloud computing encompasses a lot of different services.
And 'imperative, however, to know that even the infrastructure, platforms, individual services or anything else that might be offered on the cloud have the base a great job: a cloud environment is not down from anything, in fact, exist a' infinity of applications that allow you to manage, configure and scale in both directions at the base of the hardware infrastructure in question.
Distributed file system (eg Ceph, DFS or Lustre), the basic levels for operating systems (OpenStack) and orchestration suites (Juju, FCO, BPEL, MSCO) are the basis of the deployment of any cloud service.
