n this article, we will discuss the concept of 

Cloud Computing and its essential terms associated with the bank exams.
The term Cloud computing is used to describe the data centres available for users over the Internet where they can save
their databases and files. This data can easily be accessed over the internet anytime and anywhere.
Since the Computer section in major Bank exams has been combined with the Reasoning Ability section of the Mains phase
of the exam. 7-10 questions are expected to be asked in this section and questions from Cloud computing may also be
included in this.
Apart from cloud computing, there are various other important topics which need to be prepared for the Computer
Awareness section. The table given below mentions a few of such topics

What is Cloud Computing?

In cloud computing, we can manipulate, configure and access the hardware and software remotely. In general, cloud
computing is accessing and storing the files and databases over the internet instead of accessing it on your computer’s hard
drive.
Cloud computing offers platform independence, the software is not required to be installed on any PC. There is portability in
cloud computing.
Applications that execute on a cloud are over email or through web conferencing.

Basic Concepts of Cloud Computing

To make cloud computing feasible and accessible to the end users, there are certain services and models:

1. Deployment Models
2. Service Models

Deployment Models

There are four types of access in the cloud:

 Public
 Private
 Hybrid
 Community
 Public Cloud
Public cloud is easily accessible to the general public. A private cloud is operated by the organisation it serves. Public cloud
is inexpensive. There are no wasted resources because you pay for what you use.

 Private Cloud
Private cloud only allows systems and services to be within an organisation. Private cloud is the best for business with
dynamic or unpredictable computing needs because they will have control over the environment of the cloud.

 Hybrid Cloud
Hybrid Cloud is a cloud service which includes both private and public clouds. Hybrid cloud is best for heavy workload
because it combines both public cloud and private cloud.

 Community Cloud
In the Community cloud, the resources are shared between several organisations. It allows several companies to work
together on the same platform, where they can share their resources.
2. Service Models
There are three service models:
  Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) – Here users are responsible for managing data, applications and runtime. In
IaaS, providers manage virtualisation, servers, hard drives, storage, and networking.
Example: (AWS) Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure.

 Platform-as-a-service (PaaS) – PaaS is used for development. With PaaS, one can develop and customise
applications. PaaS makes it easy to for development, testing, and deployment of applications.
Example: Apparenda

 Software-as-a-service (SaaS) – As it is a service based cloud, the cloud provider delivers a complete software to
the client. It provides pre-configured hardware resources through a virtual interface. It does not include any
Operating System. It allows access to the software only.
Example: Google Apps, Salesforce, Workday.

History of Cloud Computing

The evolution of cloud computing started in 1950 with mainframe computing. Here multiple users are allowed to access a
mainframe.
After 20 years around 1970, the concept of virtualisation came. Virtualisation software made it possible to execute one or
more operating systems simultaneously in an isolated environment.

Benefits of Cloud Computing

 Applications and utilities can be accessed over the internet.

 Applications can be modified and manipulated via the internet at any instance of time
 To access, manipulate and modify, you don’t have to download or install any software.
 Cloud is platform independent, as it is available over the internet, one can access it anytime, whenever they want.
 It is more reliable because cloud computing offers load balancing.
 n some cloud’s data
management and infrastructure management is provided only by the third party, so it’s very risky to handover any valuable
information to the service providers.
It becomes challenging to switch from one cloud service provider to another.
Sometimes data deletion request is made and it may not get deleted, as backup files are not available at the time of deletio

Frequently Asked Questions on Basics of Cloud Computing

Q 1. What is Cloud Computing?
Ans. Cloud Computing is uploading data files and images over the centers available for users over the
Internet.

Q 2. What are the characteristics of Cloud Computing?

Ans. Characteristics of Cloud Computing:

 Easily accessible
 Minimum charges
 On-Demand Network
 Resource Pooling
 Adequate Storage

Q 3. What are the examples of cloud computing?

Ans. Given below are a few examples of cloud computing:

 Google Cloud
 Adobe Creative Cloud
 Creatio
  Salesforce
 Microsoft 365
 Microsoft Power BI

Q 4. Why is cloud computing important?

Ans. Cloud computing ensures that a person can easily store large amount of data and then have
convenient access to the same.

Q 5. What is the benefit of Cloud Computing?

Ans. It is more reliable because cloud computing offers load balancing and applications can be modified
via the internet any time.