Cloud Computing | Sue Brandreth's Learning Resources

CIS017-6 Distributed and Parallel Architecture

Lecture Notes – PowerPoint – CIS017-6_Week 12 Grid and Cloud Computing – April 2016

Cloud computing vs grid computing
(http://www.electronicproducts.com/Computer_Systems/Servers/Cloud_computing_vs_grid_computing.aspx)

Exploring the differences between the two popular resource sharing systems…..

Cloud computing and grid computing are often mistaken for one another, but the fact is that they’re nowhere close to the same thing. This article explains both systems, and how they differ from one another.

What is the Grid? A Three Point Check List
Ian Foster (2002) Argonne National Laboratory and University of Chicago

The recent explosion of commercial and scientific interest in the Grid makes it timely to revisit the question: What is the Grid, anyway? I propose here a three-point checklist for determining whether a system is a Grid. I also discuss the critical role that standards must play in defining the Grid.

Download PDF

Cloud Computing and Grid Computing 360-Degree Compared
Ian Foster, Yong Zhao, Ioan Raicu, Shiyong Lu (2008)

Abstract – Cloud Computing has become another buzzword after Web 2.0. However, there are dozens of different definitions for Cloud Computing and there seems to be no consensus on what a Cloud is.
On the other hand, Cloud Computing is not a completely new concept; it has intricate connection to the relatively new but thirteen-year established Grid Computing paradigm, and other relevant
technologies such as utility computing, cluster computing, and distributed systems in general. This paper strives to compare and contrast Cloud Computing with Grid Computing from various angles
and give insights into the essential characteristics of both.

Download PDF

Expert insight: Cloud computing defined
SearchCloudComputing.com EGuide

Download PDF

Cloud computing: How you can unleash the benefits in your business (2015)
Best Practice Guide (Cintra)

Make your business more agile and customer-centric by creating an IT environment that genuinely
supports these goals. This guide will explore the benefits of the Oracle cloud, help you understand
how to start your cloud journey in a low-risk way and overcome the biggest challenges.

Download PDF

Hybrid cloud gives me unparalleled agility, precisely when I need it.

Where is cloud heading?
Your guide to making the right choice for the future

In the stampede to the cloud, organisations have had two distinct models to choose from: private or public. Making those decisions has been something of a balancing act, with potential adopters weighing up the trade-off between budgets, security and scalability. Private clouds typically delivered enhanced security but with a price tag and scalability lag attached. On the other hand, public
clouds can be much more cost-effective and, given their on-demand capabilities, deliver rapid scalability too.

Download PDF

10 Way the Cloud Can Improve Your Business (Sage)
Cloud Infographic

Download PDF

How Grid Computing Works (http://computer.howstuffworks.com/grid-computing1.htm/printable)

In a basic grid computing system, every computer can access the resources of every other computer belonging to the network. A scientist studying proteins logs into a computer and uses an entire network of computers to analyze data. A businessman accesses his company’s network through a PDA in order to forecast the future of a particular stock. An Army official accesses and coordinates computer resources on three different military networks to formulate a battle strategy. All of these scenarios have one thing in common: They rely on a concept called grid computing.

How Cloud Computing Works
(http://computer.howstuffworks.com/cloud-computing/cloud-computing.htm/printable)

Let’s say you’re an executive at a large corporation. Your particular responsibilities include making sure that all of your employees have the right hardware and software they need to do their jobs. Buying computers for everyone isn’t enough — you also have to purchase software or software licenses to give employees the tools they require. Whenever you have a new hire, you have to buy more software or make sure your current software license allows another user. It’s so stressful that you find it difficult to go to sleep on your huge pile of money every night.

A typical cloud computing system. See more computer networking pictures. Soon, there may be an alternative for executives like you. Instead of installing a suite of software for each computer, you’d only have to load one application. That application would allow workers to log into a Web-based service which hosts all the programs the user would need for his or her job. Remote machines owned by another company would run everything from e-mail to word processing to complex data analysis programs. It’s called cloud computing, and it could change the entire computer industry.

In a cloud computing system, there’s a significant workload shift. Local computers no longer have to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to running applications. The network of computers that make up the cloud handles them instead. Hardware and software demands on the user’s side decrease. The only thing the user’s computer needs to be able to run is the cloud computing system’s interface software, which can be as simple as a Web browser, and the cloud’s network takes care of the rest.

There’s a good chance you’ve already used some form of cloud computing. If you have an e-mail account with a Web-based e-mail service like Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail or Gmail, then you’ve had some experience with cloud computing. Instead of running an e-mail program on your computer, you log in to a Web e-mail account remotely. The software and storage for your account doesn’t exist on your computer — it’s on the service’s computer cloud.

The Grid: A New Infrastructure for 21st Century Science
Ian Foster

Download PDF

Cloud Computing Vs Grid Computing
Seyyed Mohsen Hashemi, Amid Khatibi Bardsiri (2012)

Abstract – Cloud computing emerges as one of the hottest topic in field of information technology. Cloud computing is based on several other computing research areas such as HPC, virtualization, utility computing and grid computing. In order to make clear the essential of cloud computing, we propose the characteristics of this area which make cloud computing being cloud computing and distinguish it from other research areas. The service oriented, loose coupling, strong fault tolerant, business model and ease use are main characteristics of cloud computing. Grid computing in
the simplest case refers to cooperation of multiple processors on multiple machines and its objective is to boost the computational power in the fields which require high capacity of the CPU. In grid computing multiple servers which use common operating systems and software have interactions with each other. Grid computing is hardware and software infrastructure which offer a cheap, distributable, coordinated and reliable access to powerful computational capabilities. This paper strives to compare and contrast cloud computing with grid computing from various angles and give insights into the essential characteristics of both.

Download PDF

Fundamentals of Grid Computing
Viktors Berstis (2002) IBM Redbooks paper

The purpose of this IBM Redpaper is to provide discussion material about grid computing, concepts, use, and architecture. Grid computing represents unlimited opportunities in terms of business and technical aspects. The audience for this paper are all hungry minds looking for a collection of facts and data about this new and exciting realm.
The following major topics will be introduced to the readers:
What grid computing can do
Grid concepts and components
Grid construction
The present and the future
What the grid cannot do

Download PDF

The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing (September, 2011)
The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing – Recommendations of the National Institute of Standards and Technology
Peter Mell and Timothy Grance

Download PDF

NIST Cloud Computing Synopsis and Recommendations (May, 2012)
Recommendations of the National Institute of Standards and Technology
Lee Badger Tim Grance, Robert Patt-Corner Jeff Voas

Download PDF

IBM What is Cloud Computing?
(https://www.ibm.com/cloud-computing/what-is-cloud-computing)

Computing as a service over the Internet

Cloud computing, often referred to as simply “the cloud,” is the delivery of on-demand computing resources—everything from applications to data centers—over the Internet on a pay-for-use basis.

Elastic resources—Scale up or down quickly and easily to meet demand
Metered service so you only pay for what you use
Self service—All the IT resources you need with self-service access

With Saas, you no longer have to purchase, install, update and maintain the software. Software as a service (SaaS)
Cloud-based applications—or software as a service—run on distant computers “in the cloud” that are owned and operated by others and that connect to users’ computers via the Internet and, usually, a web browser.

The benefits of SaaS

You can sign up and rapidly start using innovative business apps
Apps and data are accessible from any connected computer
No data is lost if your computer breaks, as data is in the cloud
The service is able to dynamically scale to usage needs

Deploy and migrate applications to both public and private clouds. Platform as a service (PaaS)
Platform as a service provides a cloud-based environment with everything required to support the complete lifecycle of building and delivering web-based (cloud) applications—without the cost and complexity of buying and managing the underlying hardware, software, provisioning, and hosting.

The benefits of PaaS

Develop applications and get to market faster
Deploy new web applications to the cloud in minutes
Reduce complexity with middleware as a service

Get up and running more quickly while cutting costs. Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
Infrastructure as a service provides companies with computing resources including servers, networking, storage, and data center space on a pay-per-use basis.

The benefits of IaaS

No need to invest in your own hardware
Infrastructure scales on demand to support dynamic workloads
Flexible, innovative services available on demand

Flexibility to access the resources you need, when you need them. Public cloud
Public clouds are owned and operated by companies that offer rapid access over a public network to affordable computing resources. With public cloud services, users don’t need to purchase hardware, software, or supporting infrastructure, which is owned and managed by providers.

Key aspects of public cloud

Innovative SaaS business apps for applications ranging from customer resource management (CRM) to transaction management and data analytics
Flexible, scalable IaaS for storage and compute services on a moment’s notice
Powerful PaaS for cloud-based application development and deployment environments

The additinal level of security you want with the benefits of cloud. Private cloud
A private cloud is infrastructure operated solely for a single organization, whether managed internally or by a third party, and hosted either internally or externally. Private clouds can take advantage of cloud’s efficiencies, while providing more control of resources and steering clear of multi-tenancy.

Key aspects of private cloud

A self-service interface controls services, allowing IT staff to quickly provision, allocate, and deliver on-demand IT resources
Highly automated management of resource pools for everything from compute capability to storage, analytics, and middleware
Sophisticated security and governance designed for a company’s specific requirements

Freedom to have your apps, data and services where they are most effective and deliver value faster. Hybrid cloud
A hybrid cloud uses a private cloud foundation combined with the strategic integration and use of public cloud services. The reality is a private cloud can’t exist in isolation from the rest of a company’s IT resources and the public cloud. Most companies with private clouds will evolve to manage workloads across data centers, private clouds, and public clouds—thereby creating hybrid clouds.

Key aspects of hybrid cloud

Allows companies to keep the critical applications and sensitive data in a traditional data center environment or private cloud
Enables taking advantage of public cloud resources like SaaS, for the latest applications, and IaaS, for elastic virtual resources
Facilitates portability of data, apps and services and more choices for deployment models

The Cloud Tutorial
(http://www.thecloudtutorial.com/)

This site provides tutorials related to cloud computing. TheCloudTutorial explains various concepts related to cloud computing like cloud computing standards, Hadoop, multitenancy, virtualization, Force.com platform, Cloud computing and SOA. TheCloudTutorial also has overview of leading cloud computing vendors, and interview with cloud computing leaders.

TheCloudTutorial has tutorials on Hadoop, force.com development platform, Virtualization, Multitenancy, Cloud Computing and SOA,Cloud Computing Types and technologies related to Cloud computing. The site has interviews with leaders of cloud computing vendors – Marc Benioff (Salesforce), Rick Jackson (VMWare) and Raju Vegesna (Zoho invoicing software) and with authors George Reese, Michael Miller, Tim Mather and Toby Volte. Also included is analysis of cloud computing vendors, free cloud computing applications, online storage space providers.

Cloud Computing makes computer infrastructure and services available “on-need” basis. The computing infrastructure could include hard disk, development platform, database, computing power or complete software applications. To access these resources from the cloud vendors, organizations do not need to make any large scale capital expenditures. Organization need to “pay per use” i.e. organization need to pay only as much for the computing infrastructure as they use. The billing model of cloud computing is similar to the electricity payment that we do on the basis of usage. In the description below vendor is used for cloud computing service provide and organization is used for user of cloud computing services.

What is Cloud Computing?

From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing

Cloud computing, also on-demand computing, is a kind of Internet-based computing that provides shared processing resources and data to computers and other devices on demand. It is a model for enabling ubiquitous, on-demand access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications and services), which can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort. Cloud computing and storage solutions provide users and enterprises with various capabilities to store and process their data in third-party data centers. It relies on sharing of resources to achieve coherence and economy of scale, similar to a utility (like the electricity grid) over a network.

Advocates claim that cloud computing allows companies to avoid upfront infrastructure costs, and focus on projects that differentiate their businesses instead of on infrastructure.^[4] Proponents also claim that cloud computing allows enterprises to get their applications up and running faster, with improved manageability and less maintenance, and enables IT to more rapidly adjust resources to meet fluctuating and unpredictable business demand. Cloud providers typically use a “pay as you go” model. This can lead to unexpectedly high charges if administrators do not adapt to the cloud pricing model.

The present availability of high-capacity networks, low-cost computers and storage devices as well as the widespread adoption of hardware virtualization, service-oriented architecture, and autonomic and utility computing have led to a growth in cloud computing. Companies can scale up as computing needs increase and then scale down again as demands decrease.

Cloud computing has become a highly demanded service or utility due to the advantages of high computing power, cheap cost of services, high performance, scalability, accessibility as well as availability. Some cloud vendors are experiencing growth rates of 50% per year, but being still in a stage of infancy, it has pitfalls that need to be addressed to make cloud computing services more reliable and user friendly.

Contents