In today’s world, the trend of cloud computing is going through a modification from network driven process to system driven substance. Once the units that were controlled by registering and warehousing assets by inaccessible server farms, are now coming up with the data storage, data mining, applications, recreation, social interaction, process finance and data exercises by distributing computing technology. In 2011, Apple developed a system called iCloud to grasp favorable information about music, films, features and personal information. Now with the help cloud computing, services are available beforehand with the individual gadgets such as laptops, tablets, smart phones and many more which earlier restricted the employees to stay in particular workstations to complete their work. But now with the advancement of cloud computing, they can move any place and work just with the connection of internet.
Cloud service providers proficiently store petabytes of information from their clients from across the world. The recognition of the cloud service providers has been earned through their control over the servers. Thus it has seen that Amazon is the pioneer in IaaS where Google entirely focuses on the areas of SaaS and PaaS models. For private cloud Eucalptus [269], Open Nebula, Nimbus and OpenStack are some of the world known distributors.
SaaS has been provided with a wide array of cloud service providers where the users have the direct access to those services in the unaffected manner. The common diagram figures out the services of Google with Gmail, Google Calender, Google Docs, Google teams and Microsoft and Picasa. In case of IaaS the service providers stresses on infrastructure and services in order to avoid any kind of server failure or other technical problems. Amazon is the world known provider of IaaS.
On the other hand Paas provides the platform with the simple infrastructure and database where the service providers have to take the entire responsibility for the server maintenance and infrastructure up gradation. In PaaS, the users are not allowed to customize the programs. Earlier Google App Engine, Force.com and Microsoft Azure emphasized on the traditional data storage management design by Salesforce.com. PaaS helps in the development, deployment and testing of application instantly and of course in the cost effective manner. With the help of this technology the enterprise operators or the third party providers are able to manage OSes, servers, networking storage and the PaaS software itself.
The cloud customers and the cloud service providers are highly benefited with these 3 types of cloud service platforms. While in SaaS the customers has to depend on the interface of the cloud model, the IaaS users are responsible in managing application, data, middleware, runtime and OSes. Still cloud service providers manage servers, virtualization, storage, hard drives and networking. The main advantage of IaaS is that here the users can access in the infrastructure from where they can install their required platform. In case of new versions also the consumers have to take the responsibility to update the system in accordance with the advancement of technology.
In today’s mobile industry, cloud computing is considered as one of the most well accepted subjects. For any size of the industry- smaller or bigger, it is essential to understand cloud computing thoroughly as there are possibilities of risk factors associated with the cloud. Today more or less most of the companies prefer to choose hybrid cloud in order to gain maximum advantages of its infrastructure. The design of hybrid cloud facilitates its users with minimizing errors and maximizing efficiency of its infrastructure.
In this article, we will focus on how far hybrid cloud can be considered as the best solution for different sizes of companies in mobile computing.
A quick look through Hybrid Cloud
Whenever, the discussion about cloud computing arises, till now the general tendency of the people to refer to the public cloud where hundreds of thousands of customers from all around the world share and store their data. The service providers of public cloud sell storage space along with computing power and bandwidth to several companies in comparatively cheaper price than actual price of the physical servers. Now when the companies are getting facilities of cost effectiveness, they are required to compromise with certain factors such as security, accessibility and availability.
Due to this reason, most of the companies ponder over several times before sharing any crucial and sensitive data on the public clouds. In such cases, they prefer private cloud where the server is exclusively dedicated for their own usages. These clouds perform in the same way as the public cloud. But the problem of these private clouds are that these are highly expensive. As the entire server is being dedicated for the company and no other company will share it, the cost will be inevitable quite high which may be a problem of the small and middle sized companies to afford.
That’s why with the perfect mingling of these two clouds, a new type of cloud company is now available in the industry that ensures the most of the positive aspects of these two clouds into one cloud. Hybrid cloud indicates the maximum benefits with minimum investments. Thus hybrid cloud builds a new infrastructure for the companies who do not wish to enter into the world of cloud in the big way.
Let’s have a look on the advantages on hybrid cloud.
Advantages of Hybrid Clouds
One of the best advantages of hybrid cloud is its design that helps to scale the needs of the company very fast. As there are numerous standardized processes running together in order to gain utmost harmony between different types of clouds, it is designed in such a way to load heavy projects that the in-house servers of different companies cannot handle single-handed. That’s why hybrid cloud facilitates the company from investing extra amount of money on purchasing private servers.
The operation on hybrid cloud is so easy that it is accessible anytime, from any part of the world. Thus the companies gain a global reach that will help their businesses to expand beyond any geographical boundaries. Additionally, the infrastructure of hybrid cloud ensures quite reliable connectivity.
Undoubtedly, hybrid cloud is emerging so fast as the future of cloud computing. It is the combination of best features from public and private clouds.
From both the private and public cloud, similar kind of advantage can be acquired in addition to the features of self-service and scalability. It is generally presented with a proprietary architecture. Public cloud is generally offered to multiple organizations. However, facility of private cloud can be delivered to a single organization exclusively. Best option for the business organization is offered through private cloud. Direct control over the operation can be maintained with this cloud system naturally.
Huge range of difference can be noticed between an option of private and public cloud. Public Cloud can be acquired in the form of Google Compute Engine and Amazon Web Service. Infrastructure of computing is shared in due course. It can be shared easily by different types of users. However, facilities of public cloud can be utilized by some of the business organizations. In order to maintain security level of sensitive data, business organization likes to select Private cloud.
Basic platform of both the cloud system is quite same. Features of convenience and scalability can be observed with these forms of clouds naturally. Modification in the resources of computer is largely seen based on the demand. For a complex job of computing, diverse range of device can be utilized. Based on the usage, payment options are presented by the service provider.
From the platform of private cloud, hosting services can be made available. It is generally delivered to specific number of clients. Presence of a firewall can be seen with this system in order to safeguard data as much as possible. Security and privacy of data can be maintained in the due course. Different kinds of techniques are used with the private cloud to ensure security. Direct control over the data can be achieved with this cloud computing system.
IT footprint within an organization can be reduced easily. It shows an excellent effect on the economy. Through an amalgamation of private and public cloud, benefits of cloud system can be obtained. Scaling of the data can be done in best possible way with the utilization of cloud. Perfect capability of managing data is known as cloud bursting.
Features of private cloud are considered close to the traditional model. Therefore, it can be equated with the LAN network. Benefits of cloud can be accessed in due course with the element of virtualization.
Due to access of private cloud by a single organization, it can be configured and managed in most convenient fashion. Tailor made service can be created according to the requirement of cloud. In order to control the system more prominently, some of the economical benefits can be lost in the process. Centralized hardware for the purpose of perfect management can be produced with cloud.
Allocation of budget can be done in best possible way through cloud. In terms of price, it is little higher than public cloud. However, it can be considered as an affordable platform quite naturally. Through effective use of private cloud, requirement of LAN system can be minimized to some extent.
Through Cloud Computing, programs and data can be accessed with the assistance from internet connection. Instead of the hard drive, data can be saved in a remote location. Cloud has been considered as a metaphor for internet. Both the presentations and flowcharts can be seen with the common infrastructure of hard drive. However, information can be flown in a perfect structure with the cloud.
Connection with the hard drive cannot be seen with the cloud computing. Presence of the local storage system can be observed with the use of the hard drive. Physical closeness of the data can be felt with utilization of hard drive. However, cloud has managed to offer data in a fast and effective way. Previously, hard drive is used for the purpose. Function of the industry has changed due to application of the cloud naturally.
Over a network connection, computing resources are transferred. Both the virtual and physical resources can be shared in the due course. Deployment of software and hardware can be observed with cloud. Therefore, similarity can be noticed with the utility computing. Instead of managing equipments, resources are tapped perfectly for effective result. In order to run the generator from the electrical supply, similar methods have been obtained by the consumer.
Flexibility is considered as one of the main characteristics of cloud computing. Complete scalability can be achieved with cloud technology. Most of the business organization has been turning to cloud rapidly for it effective result. In case of an increased workload, spaces within the server can be enhanced naturally. Therefore, cloud system can be considered an apt system for the small business in addition to large conglomerates. Provisioning of the resources can be seen automatically in due course. According to the demand, resources are supplied quite naturally. Through this feature of the cloud, it is possible to create a distinction with the other systems. Cloud services are generally offered at a fixed price. Payment for the service is usually done by the end user. Cost for the service is decided according to use of resources. Therefore, additional expenses can be avoided quite easily.
In addition to flexibility, there are some other advantages of cloud computing. Business enterprises can be benefitted hugely with the use of cloud system. Similar environment of a large conglomerate can be enjoyed by a small enterprise in this way. Therefore, platform for the business can be retained at the same periphery. Possibility of system failure is not observed due to use of multiple servers at a single time.
A level of security is added to the enterprise with cloud computing. In case data is damaged due to a flood or an accident even then data can be accessed from the remote server without any problem. In this way, financial losses can be covered quite naturally. According to requirement of the business, choice can be made from different kinds of deployment models such as private, public and hybrid cloud.
Each cloud deployment comes with its unique advantage. Data can be secured and managed perfectly in the process.
A public cloud is best known for helping companies achieve economy of scale that allows them to “pay as you go”. Computing resources such as applications, memory and storage are shared between multiple users on an on-demand basis allowing the user to save on cost.
Software such as the operating system, virtualization software and hardware components such as computers, servers and storage respectively forms the infrastructure of a cloud system required to deliver the services.
The infrastructure set up of a cloud differs from that of a traditional physical data center setup in that the files are stored and accessed remotely over a network and is built on a object-based storage platform.
Today, IT managers are looking for cost effective utilization of infrastructure. Virtualization is one technological innovation that has helped cloud computing.
When deciding to go to cloud, an enterprise has to consider securing multi-tenancy, autonomic computing, storage efficiency, scalability and/or chargeback system and integrated data protection.
The company may not want to get involved with the logistical concerns that involve maintaining and supporting a cloud, in which case it may contract a service provider who will administer the cloud for a fee on pay-per-use basis. This model of renting infrastructure services on demand is known as Infrastructure as a service (IaaS). The ownership of the equipments remains with the service provider and both parties sign contract that define the terms of usage.
Managing a physical data center in-premise is labor-intensive and costs lot of money. Additionally, it is not energy efficient. Infrastructure can be In-premise, Outsourced or Converged. The decision is taken by the CIO on which model would best serve the needs of his organization. Virtualization provides a layer of abstraction between computing resources, storage and networking hardware and applications running on it. It adds to the complexity of the environment and if not managed well, then opting for a cloud will not yield results. Hence the CIOs need to understand if they would want to use a public cloud and if so, then which of its services should be moved and which should be retained in-house. Yet, the deployment of virtual infrastructure is non-disruptive since the user experience remains largely unchanged/unaffected. It allows administrators to manage a set of pooled resources across the enterprise, allowing the IT managers to be more responsive, dynamic and increases ROI.
What are the components of the public cloud?
Servers: Physical servers act as “host” for numerous Virtual machines. Hypervisors (virtual machines) run those virtual machines allocating resources like CPU, memory dynamically.
Storage: Data archiving, backing up, redundancy to ensure business continuity, data transfer to another cloud all use SAN, NAS (network attached storage) and unified systems.
Network: Switches, routers, connect LANs, WANs. In addition firewall protection and load balancing will be required.
Managing the infrastructure requires orchestrating the server, network, storage, monitoring the performance, configuration management, resource allocation and management and usage metering. Also, disaster recovery mechanisms must be in place.
Cloud computing is ubiquitous in our daily life. But most of us aren’t aware that we are using it. Web based email services like Gmail, Yahoo, etc. that all of us use for communicating in our daily life is an example of public cloud services.
Cloud services have been segregated by the way the service is provided. Public cloud is the most popular of the three types. Companies like Google, AWS and Azure offer public cloud services.
Private cloud service providers customize the public cloud for better security and control. Organizations like banks and financial service providers that need to store and process sensitive data prefer a private cloud. Financial organizations want to leverage the distributed computing nature or the on demand availability of resources that the cloud computing platform affords them but at the same time do not want to put out confidential data in the public domain. VMware and OpenStack are private cloud providers.
Private cloud will have these features listed below:
Better security and privacy: Through use of firewalls and resource pooling with restricted access, dedicated leased networks, and internal hosting of services private clouds provide greater security and privacy.
Enhanced control: A private cloud is custom created to serve a single organization. The organization concerned configures and manages a networked solution to meet their needs.
Cost efficient: An organization can achieve dynamic allocation of resources based on demand with a private cloud. A private cloud affords its user flexibility. However, it is not as cost effective in comparison with a public cloud due to smaller economy of scale and increased ongoing management cost. They offer better use of resources than a traditional LAN in terms of bandwidth utilization. A private cloud being energy efficient, it reduces an organization’s carbon footprint too.
Compliance: Organizations that need to comply with HIPAA, Sarbanes Oxley, PCI use private cloud for their deliverance.
Increased uptime: Clouds allow enterprises to leverage the benefits that virtualization offers. Computing resources such as memory, processing power are hosted and managed internally by some users of private clouds through their data centers; use of virtualized operating system builds resilience into the private cloud. At times, the cloud may be hosted by a third party, in which case the failure of one server allows the enterprise to leverage the services of unaffected ones, thus providing an uninterrupted computing environment.
On the other hand, public clouds make use of a shared computing environment that includes the network infrastructure. That makes it unsuitable for enterprises that work on mission critical data, have security concerns or higher uptime requirements.
The disadvantages of using a private cloud are that with an in-premise data center, the company still has to bear the staffing, management and administration, capital expenditures as in a traditional data centre setup. That is quite not in keeping with the idea behind using a cloud in the first place, reduce Capex. In addition, you are unable to achieve the economies of scale that you can with a public cloud.