esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.

eg

Chapter (2)
Overview of Cloud Computing
The popular trend in today's technology driven world is ‘Cloud Computing’. Cloud
computing can be referred to as the storing and accessing of data over the internet rather than
your computer's hard drive. This means you don't access the data from either your computer's
hard drive or over a dedicated computer network (home or office network). Cloud computing
means data is stored at a remote place and is synchronized with other web information. Cloud
Computing provides us means of accessing the applications as utilities over the Internet. It
allows us to create, configure, and customize the applications online.
One prominent example of cloud computing is Office 365 which allows users to store, access,
‫ﺍﺳﺮﺍﺀ ﺍﺣﻤﺪ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺪ ﺑﺪﻳﺮ‬

edit their MS Office documents online (in browser) without installing the actual program on
their device.

2.1 What is Cloud?

The term Cloud refers to a Network or Internet. In other words, we can say that Cloud is
something, which is present at remote location. Cloud can provide services over public and
private networks, i.e., WAN, LAN or VPN. Applications such as e-mail, web conferencing,
customer relationship management (CRM) execute on cloud.

2.2
2023/2024
What is Cloud Computing?
2023/2024 2023/2024

Cloud Computing refers to manipulating, configuring, and accessing the hardware and
software resources remotely. It offers online data storage, infrastructure, and application.

Figure 2. 1 Cloud Computing

Cloud computing offers platform independency, as the software is not required to be installed
locally on the PC. Hence, the Cloud Computing is making our business applications mobile
and collaborative.

16
 esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg
Chapter (2)

2.3 Cloud Computing Components

The three major components of Cloud Computing are: Clients, Data Center, and
Distributed Servers
‫ﺍﺳﺮﺍﺀ ﺍﺣﻤﺪ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺪ ﺑﺪﻳﺮ‬

Figure 2. 2 Major Components of Cloud Computing

Clients
They are the devices which are used by end-users to manage their resources in cloud;
these devices could be desktop, laptop, smartphone, iPad, and so on. The clients
can be divided into three types (Thin Clients, Mobile, and Thick Clients). Thin
Client does not need to have a high-speed processor and big data storage; it needs to
be able to run a web browser such as (Google Chrome, Firefox, and so on).
Data Center
The applications which are used by the Clients of Cloud Computing are hosted in
many numbers of servers; it could be a building or a room which it is not necessary to
2023/2024 2023/2024 2023/2024
be in your place but must be accessible by the Internet.
Multiple Virtual Machine (VM) can be run together on a single physical server
known as a host; the number of VM will be limited to many factors such as type of
the applications that are run on virtual server, speed, and size of physical server.
Distributed Servers
In order to provide the reliability and availability to servers, the cloud has
distributed the servers in the different geographic area. In the case of failure in the
specific server, then the other server will take the action, on the other hand, to
increase the scalability when an extra server is needed then simply the new one will
be added to the existing one.

#for reading
2.4 History of Cloud Computing
The concept of Cloud Computing came into existence in the year 1950 with implementation
of mainframe computers, accessible via thin/static clients. Since then, cloud computing has
been evolved from static clients to dynamic ones and from software to services.

17
 esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg
Overview of Cloud Computing

Figure 2. 3 The Evolution of Cloud Computing

‫ﺍﺳﺮﺍﺀ ﺍﺣﻤﺪ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺪ ﺑﺪﻳﺮ‬

2.5 Benefits of Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing has numerous advantages. Some of them are listed below -
 One can access applications as utilities, over the Internet.
 One can manipulate and configure the applications online at any time.
 It does not require installing software to access or manipulating cloud application.
 Cloud Computing offers online development and deployment tools, programming
runtime environment through PaaS model.
 Cloud
2023/2024 resources are available over 2023/2024
the network in a manner that 2023/2024
provides platform
independent access to any type of clients.
 Cloud Computing offers on-demand self-service. The resources can be used without
interaction with cloud service provider.
 Cloud Computing is highly cost effective because it operates at high efficiency with
optimum utilization. It just requires an Internet connection
 Cloud Computing offers load balancing that makes it more reliable.

Figure 2. 4 Cloud Computing Benefits

18
 esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg
Chapter (2)

2.6 Risks related to Cloud Computing

Although cloud Computing is a promising innovation with various benefits in the world of
computing, it comes with risks. Some of them are discussed below:
Security and Privacy
It is the biggest concern about cloud computing. Since data management and
infrastructure management in cloud is provided by third-party, it is always a risk to
handover the sensitive information to cloud service providers.
Although the cloud computing vendors ensure highly secured password protected
accounts, any sign of security breach may result in loss of customers and businesses.
Lock In
It is very difficult for the customers to switch from one Cloud Service Provider (CSP)
‫ﺍﺳﺮﺍﺀ ﺍﺣﻤﺪ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺪ ﺑﺪﻳﺮ‬

to another. It results in dependency on a particular CSP for service.

Isolation Failure
This risk involves the failure of isolation mechanism that separates storage, memory,
and routing between the different tenants. tenants=users
Management Interface Compromise
In case of public cloud provider, the customer management interfaces are accessible
through the Internet.
Insecure or Incomplete Data Deletion
It is possible that the data requested for deletion may not get deleted. It happens
because either of the following reasons
2023/2024 2023/2024 2023/2024
Extra copies of data are stored but are not available at the time of deletion
Disk that stores data of multiple tenants is destroyed.

2.7 Characteristics of Cloud Computing (5)

There are four key characteristics of cloud computing. They are shown in the following
diagram:

Figure 2. 5 Cloud Computing characteristics

19
 esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg
Overview of Cloud Computing

On Demand Self Service

Cloud Computing allows the users to use web services and resources on demand. One
can logon to a website at any time and use them.
Broad Network Access (anywhere anytime)
Since cloud computing is completely web based, it can be accessed from anywhere
and at any time.
Resource Pooling
Cloud computing allows multiple tenants to share a pool of resources. One can share
single physical instance of hardware, database and basic infrastructure.
Rapid Elasticity (scaling)
It is very easy to scale the resources vertically or horizontally at any time. Scaling of
‫ﺍﺳﺮﺍﺀ ﺍﺣﻤﺪ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺪ ﺑﺪﻳﺮ‬

resources means the ability of resources to deal with increasing or decreasing demand.
The resources being used by customers at any given point of time are automatically
monitored.
Measured Service (control service)
In this service cloud provider controls and monitors all the aspects of cloud service.
Resource optimization, billing, and capacity planning etc. depend on it.

2.8 Cloud Computing Planning

Before deploying applications to cloud, it is necessary to consider your business
requirements.
2023/2024 Following are the issues one2023/2024
must consider: 2023/2024

 Data Security and Privacy Requirement

 Budget Requirements
 Type of cloud - public, private or hybrid
 Data backup requirements
 Training requirements
 Dashboard and reporting requirements
 Client access requirements
 Data export requirements
To meet all of these requirements, it is necessary to have well-compiled planning. The
various planning phases, which must be practiced by an enterprise before migrating the entire
business to cloud, will be discussed.

20
 esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg
Chapter (2)

Figure 2. 6 Cloud Computing Planning Phases

2.8.1 Strategy Phase

‫ﺍﺳﺮﺍﺀ ﺍﺣﻤﺪ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺪ ﺑﺪﻳﺮ‬

In this phase, we analyze the strategy problems that customer might face. There are two steps
to perform this analysis:
 Cloud Computing Value Proposition
 Cloud Computing Strategy Planning

 Cloud Computing Value Proposition

In this, we analyze the factors influencing the customers when applying cloud computing
mode and target the key problems they wish to solve. These key factors are:

2023/2024 ◦ IT management simplification

2023/2024 2023/2024

◦ Operation and maintenance cost reduction

◦ Business mode innovation
◦ Low cost outsourcing hosting
◦ High service quality outsourcing hosting.
All of the above analysis helps in decision making for future development.

 Cloud Computing Strategy Planning

The strategy establishment is based on the analysis result of the above step. In this step, a
strategy document is prepared according to the conditions a customer might face when
applying cloud computing mode.

2.8.2 Planning Phase

This step performs analysis of problems and risks in the cloud application to ensure the
customers that the cloud computing is successfully meeting their business goals. This phase
involves the following planning steps:
 Business Architecture Development
 IT Architecture development

21
 esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg
Overview of Cloud Computing

 Requirements on Quality of Service Development

 Transformation Plan development

 Business Architecture Development

In this step, we recognize the risks that might be caused by cloud computing
application from a business perspective.

 IT Architecture Development
In this step, we identify the applications that support the business processes and the
technologies required to support enterprise applications and data systems.
‫ﺍﺳﺮﺍﺀ ﺍﺣﻤﺪ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺪ ﺑﺪﻳﺮ‬

 Requirements on QoS Development

Quality of service refers to the non-functional requirements such as reliability,
security, disaster recovery, etc. The success of applying cloud computing mode
depends on these non-functional factors.

 Transformation Plan Development

In this step, we formulate all kinds of plans that are required to transform current
business to cloud computing modes.

2023/2024 2023/2024 2023/2024

2.8.3 Deployment Phase
This phase focuses on both of the above two phases. It involves the following two steps:
 Selecting Cloud Computing Provider
 Maintenance and Technical Service

 Selecting Cloud Computing Provider

This step includes selecting a cloud provider on basis of Service Level Agreement (SLA),
which defines the level of service the provider will meet.

 Maintenance and Technical Service

Maintenance and Technical services are provided by the cloud provider. They need to
ensure the quality of services

2.9 Cloud Computing Architecture

Cloud Computing, which is one of the demanding technologies of the current time and which
is giving a new shape to every organization by providing on demand virtualized
services/resources. Starting from small to medium and from medium to large, every

22
 esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg
Chapter (2)

organization use cloud computing services for storing information and accessing it from
anywhere and anytime only with the help of internet. In this article, we will know more about
the internal architecture of cloud computing.
Transparency, scalability, security and intelligent monitoring are some of the most important
constraints which every cloud infrastructure should experience. Current research on other
important constraints is helping cloud computing system to come up with new features and
strategies with a great capability of providing more advanced cloud solutions. Figure 2.6
represents an internal architectural view of cloud computing. The cloud architecture is
divided into 2 parts i.e. Frontend and Backend.
‫ﺍﺳﺮﺍﺀ ﺍﺣﻤﺪ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺪ ﺑﺪﻳﺮ‬

Figure 2. 7 Architecture of Cloud Computing

Architecture
2023/2024 of cloud computing is the 2023/2024
combination of both SOA 2023/2024
(Service Oriented
Architecture) and EDA (Event Driven Architecture). Client infrastructure, application,
service, runtime cloud, storage, infrastructure, management and security all these are the
components of cloud computing architecture.

2.9.1 Frontend
Frontend of the cloud architecture refers to the client side of cloud computing system. Means
it contains all the user interfaces and applications which are used by the client to access the
cloud computing services/resources. For example, use of a web browser to access the cloud
platform.
Client Infrastructure
Client Infrastructure is a part of the frontend component. It contains the applications and
user interfaces which are required to access the cloud platform. In other words, it provides
a GUI (Graphical User Interface) to interact with the cloud.

2.9.2 Backend
Backend refers to the cloud itself which is used by the service provider. It contains the
resources as well as manages the resources and provides security mechanisms. Along with
this, it includes huge storage, virtual applications, virtual machines, traffic control
mechanisms, deployment models, etc.

23
 esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg esraa.31057552@ics.tanta.edu.eg
Overview of Cloud Computing

Application
Application in backend refers to a software or platform to which client accesses.
Means it provides the service in backend as per the client requirement.
Service
Service in backend refers to the major three types of cloud based services like SaaS,
PaaS and IaaS. Also manages which type of service the user accesses.
Runtime Cloud
Runtime cloud in backend provides the execution and Runtime platform/environment
to the Virtual machine.
Storage
Storage in backend provides flexible and scalable storage service and management of
‫ﺍﺳﺮﺍﺀ ﺍﺣﻤﺪ ﻋﻠﻰ ﺍﻟﺴﻴﺪ ﺑﺪﻳﺮ‬

stored data.
Infrastructure
Cloud Infrastructure in backend refers to the hardware and software components of
cloud like it includes servers, storage, network devices, virtualization software etc.
Management
Management in backend refers to management of backend components like
application, service, runtime cloud, storage, infrastructure, and other security
mechanisms etc.
Security
Security in backend refers to implementation
2023/2024 2023/2024
of different security mechanisms
2023/2024
in the
backend for secure cloud resources, systems, files, and infrastructure to end-users.

2.9.3 Internet
Internet connection acts as the medium or a bridge between frontend and backend and
establishes the interaction and communication between frontend and backend.

2.10 Cloud Computing Infrastructure

Cloud computing refers to providing on demand services to the customer anywhere and
anytime irrespective of everything where the cloud infrastructure represents the one who
activates the complete cloud computing system. Cloud infrastructure has more capabilities of
providing the same services as the physical infrastructure to the customers. It is available for
private cloud, public cloud, and hybrid cloud systems with low cost, greater flexibility and
scalability.
Cloud infrastructure consists of servers, storage devices, network, cloud management
software, deployment software, and platform virtualization.

24