What is Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing means you can store your data and other programs on the internet rather than storing it into the physical device or computer hardware. It means that you can share resources, software, and information through an internet network. Information can be stored on physical or virtual servers which are maintained and controlled by cloud computing solution providers like Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Ali Baba.
As we know that the future of computing is in the cloud, private and government companies are adopting cloud computing services in their organization. As per Gartner's report, the cloud computing market will be evolving in 2022 $354.6 Billion Dollars.
“Software as a service (SaaS) will remain the largest market segment, which is forecast to grow to $116 billion next year due to the scalability of subscription-based software.
The second-largest market segment is cloud system infrastructure services, or infrastructure as a service (IaaS), which will reach $50 billion in 2020. IaaS is forecast to grow 24% year over year, which is the highest growth rate across all market segments. This growth is attributed to the demands of modern applications and workloads, which require infrastructure that traditional data centers cannot meet.”
Service Models
Cloud computing today is enabling workloads, Companies are using and utilizing the resources from a very huge resource pool which is provided and managed by cloud service provider companies which include networks, servers, storage, applications, and other services. It can be easily deployed, operated, and automated with low efforts and at very low cost because prices are calculated on utilization, which means on a minute-by-minute basis.
First, we will discuss the Service models and then we will discuss deployment models. Generally, there are three types of cloud computing service models:
Service Models
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
- Platform as a Service (PaaS)
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Infrastructure as a Service (IAAS) is a type of cloud computing service which describes a model in which a cloud service provider provides the end user the ability to create and configure resources from the computing layer. It means the cloud provider hosts hardware, software, networks, servers, applications and many other infrastructure resources.
- The most popular IaaS resources in Azure contain virtual machines, virtual networks (internal and external), container services and storage.
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
Platform as a Service (PaaS) is a type of cloud computing service which describes a model in which cloud service provider delivers hardware and software tools to consumers. In simple words Platform as a Service gives the consumer an environment from the operating system upwards. So, the consumer is not responsible for the underlying IaaS infrastructure. Examples are operating systems, databases, or development frameworks.
- Microsoft Azure contains many PaaS resources such as SQL databases, Azure app services, or cloud services.
Software as a Service (SaaS)
Software as a Service (SAAS) is a type of cloud computing service which describes a model in which applications are hosted by cloud service provider and made available over the internet for customers use.
- Examples of SaaS applications are Office 365, Visual Studio Online, Outlook website, OneDrive, and even the Amazon website itself is a SaaS app with Amazon as its own consumer.
The below chart shows the comparison of Cloud Services Models,
Deployment Models
So, we have covered the Cloud Computing definition and Services model, now you can understand what cloud computing is and how it would benefit your business and which cloud services you can use in your business or company. Now we will discuss the Deployment models of cloud computing. There are multiple types of deployment models for cloud computing that need to be discussed which will cover all common cloud computing service providers scenarios.
Selecting the right cloud deployment model plays an important role in a business to make sure a business gets the performance, scalability, security, and price structure it needs.
There are mainly Four Cloud computing deployment models:
- Public Cloud
- Community Cloud
- Private Cloud
- Hybrid Cloud
Public Cloud
In a public cloud deployment model, cloud computing can be accessible by the public which includes individuals or companies. It means that services that are deployed on the public cloud are free and can be accessible for the public without any restrictions.
The public cloud deployment model is the most widely understood of the four models.
- Examples of a Public Cloud are Gmail, Microsoft 365, Dropbox, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon AWS.
Community Cloud
A community cloud is a cloud service model that is only accessible by a selected group or organization. In simple words, you can consider the community cloud as a semi-public cloud that can be only used by selected organizations.
- Examples of a Community Cloud are Microsoft Azure Germany (location) or Microsoft Azure Government (organization and compliance) for US Government authorities.
Private Cloud
A Private cloud is a cloud service model that is only used by one organization for internal use. It is not open for the public to use it. It's completely isolated for others.
- Examples are Microsoft Azure Stack, as well as OpenStack.
Hybrid Cloud
The Hybrid Cloud combines Private and Public Clouds. It combines a private cloud with one or more public cloud services. It is defined as a Private Cloud environment at the consumer's premises as well as Public Cloud infrastructure that the consumer uses.
- Examples are Azure VMs connected to an on-premises infrastructure via ExpressRoute or site-to-site VPN.