AZ900 - Cloud Concepts

What is a private cloud?

A cloud that is owned and operated by the organization using the sources. Cloud environment is created in their own datacenter and provide self-service access to compute resources to users within their organization.

Three main cloud providers

Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

What is a virtual machine (VM)?

An emulation of a computer that includes an OS and hardware that appears to the user like a physical computer running Windows or Linux

Increased productivity.

Cloud eliminates the need for many tasks pertaining to hardware setup, software patching, and other time-consuming IT management chores

Security

Cloud offers a broad set of policies, technologies, controls, and expert technology skills that can provide better security than most orgs can achieve otherwise.

What is cloud computing?

Delivery of computing services (servers, storage, networking, etc.) over the cloud, enabling faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale

Common PaaS usage scenarios include...

Development framework and analytics or business intelligence

What is the consumption based model?

End users only pay for the resources that they use

Shared responsibility model

Ensures cloud workloads are run securely and in a well-managed way; cloud provider is responsible for some aspects, and the customer is responsible for some aspects

Hosting a website in the public cloud and linking it to a highly secure database hosted in a private cloud is an example of...

Hybrid cloud

Everything except compute, networking, and storage is managed by the organization with which service?

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Computing costs of OpEx includes...

Leasing software and customized features, scaling charges based on usage/demand instead of fixed hardware or capacity, and billing at the user or organization level

What is serverless computing?

Lets you run application code without creating, configuring, or maintaining a server. Application is broken into separate functions that run when triggered by some action.

Common SaaS usage scenarios include...

Microsoft 365, Skype, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

Common IaaS usage scenarios include...

Migrating workloads, test and development, website hosting, and storage, backup, and recovery

Advantages of public cloud

No CapEx, agile, consumption-based model, responsibility of hardware maintenance doesn't fall on organizations, and no deep technical skills are necessary

Advantages of SaaS

No CapEx, agile, pas as you go pricing model, and users can access the same data from anywhere

Advantages of PaaS

No CapEx, more agile than IaaS, consumption based model, no deep technical skills required, users can leverage the skills and expertise of the cloud provider, and users can be more productive as all platform management is handled by the cloud provider

Characteristics of SaaS includes...

No upfront costs, users not responsible for any maintenance, and cloud provider is responsible for provision, management, and maintenance of the application software

Between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS, which requires the least user management?

SaaS

Define customer latency capabilities.

The ability for cloud services to deploy resources in datacenters around the globe to avoid slowness when possible

What are predictive cost considerations?

The ability for users to predict the costs they will incur for a particular cloud service

Define elasticity.

The ability to automatically or dynamically increase or decrease resources as needed

Capital Expenditure (CapEx)

Up front spending of money on physical infrastructure, and then deducting that up front expense over time

Disadvantages of hybrid

Upfront CapEx, can be more expensive than just public or just private, deep technical skills are necessary, and orgs need to ensure clear guidelines to avoid confusion or complications

How does serverless differ from VMs and containers?

With serverless you only pay for the processing time used by each function as it executes

Benefit of CapEx

You plan your expenses at the start of a project or budget period. Your costs are fixed, so you know exactly how much is beign spent. Ideal for when you need to predict the expenses before a project starts due to a limited budget.

What are technical skill requirements and considerations?

Cloud services can provide and manage hardware and software for workloads so that you don't necessarily need IT teams to build and maintain a physical infrastructure

What is a hybrid cloud?

Combines public and private clouds, allowing you to run your apps in the most appropriate location

Benefits of OpEx

Companies wanting to try a new product or service don't need to invest in equipment and can pay whatever they want for the infrastructure as needed. Ideal if demand fluctuates or is unknown. Companies wanting to start a new business or grow their business do not have to incur up front costs to try out a new product or service.

Four most common services that all cloud providers offer is

Compute power, storage, networking, and databases

Between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS, which requires the most user management?

IaaS

Advantages of hybrid cloud

Most flexible option, can take advantage of economies of scale, still able to access resources in which they have total control, still able to access resources in which responsible for security, able to comply with compliance issues, and can support specific business scenarios

Advantages of IaaS

No CapEx, agile, consumption based model, no deep technical skills required, orgs can leverage the skills and expertise of the cloud provider, and is the most flexible cloud service

Chracteristics of IaaS includes...

No upfront costs (users pay only for what they consume), user is responsible for the purchase, installation, configuration, and management of their own software operating systems, middleware, and applications, and the cloud provider is responsible for ensuring that the underlying cloud infrastructure is available for the user

Benefits of a consumption based model include...

No upfront costs, no need to purchase and manage costly infrastructure that they may or may not use to its fullest, ability to pay for additional resources when they are needed, and the ability to stop paying for resources that are no longer needed. Also allows for better cost prediction.

Characteristics of PaaS includes...

No upfront costs, user is responsible for development of their own applications, and the cloud provider is responsible for opearting system management, and network and service configuration (CP's are typically responsible for everything apart from the application that a user wants to run)

Advantages of private cloud

Orgs have control over resources and security, possibly the only viable option if there are strict security/compliance/legal issues, and ideal for specific business scenarios

What is a public cloud?

Owned by the cloud services provider and provides resources and services to multiple organizations and users, who connect to the cloud service via a secure network connection, typically over the internet.

Everything except data & access and apps are managed by the cloud provider with which service?

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Disadvantages of PaaS

Possible platform limitations

Disadvantages of SaaS

Possible software limitations

An organization that has data that cannot be put in the public cloud (maybe for legal reasons or if it's medical data) would be an example of using what type of cloud deployment?

Private cloud

What is PaaS?

Provides an environment for building, testing, and deploying software applications. The goal is to help create an application as quickly as possible without having to worry about managing the underlying infrastructure.

The three different cloud deployment models are...

Public cloud, private cloud, and hybrid cloud

Deploying a web application or a blog site on hardware and resources that are owned by a cloud provider is an example of which cloud deployment?

Public cloud.

The characteristics of public cloud models include...

Resources are owned and operated by a 3rd party, multiple end users, public access, most common deployment model, connected over the internet using a web browser, and doesn't require a deep technical knowledge to set up and use its resources

Computing costs of CapEx includes...

Server costs, storage costs, network costs, backup and archive costs, organization continuity and disaster recovery costs, datacenter infrastructure costs, and technical personnel

Disadvantage of IaaS

Shared responsibility model applies: user manages and maintains the services they have provisioned, and the cloud provider manages and maintains the cloud infrastructure

What are containers?

Similar to VM's except they don't require a guest operating system. Provides a consistent, isolated execution environment for applications.

Everything except data & access is managed by the cloud provider with which service?

Software as a Service (SaaS)

What is SaaS?

Software that is centrally hosted and managed for the end customer and allows users to connect to and use cloud-based apps over the internet. Typically licensed through a monthly or annual subscription.

The characteristics of a hybrid cloud include...

Some resources are used for public and some are used for private, more leverage for cost, efficiency, and scale, organizations retain management control, and technical skills are still needed to maintain the private cloud and ensure both clouds can operate together

Disadvantages of public cloud

Specific security requirements may not be met with public cloud, potential governmental compliance issues, orgs don't own the hardware or services, and public cloud may not be ideal for specific business scenarios

Operational Expenditure (OpEx)

Spending money on services or products now and being billed for them now. No up front cost.

Define scalability.

The ability to increase or decrease resources for any given workload. Scaling out is adding additional resources to service a workload. Scaling up is adding additional capabilities to manage an increase in demand to the existing resource.

Define high availability.

The ability to keep services up and running for long periods of time, with very little downtime, depending on the service in question

Define global reach.

The ability to reach audiences around the globe

Define agility.

The ability to react quickly (allocate and deallocate resources quickly)

Define disaster recovery.

The ability to recover from an event which has taken down a cloud service

What is economies of scale?

The ability to reduce costs and gain efficiency when operating at a larger scale in comparison to operating at a smaller scale

Define fault tolerance.

The ability to remain up and running even in the event of a component (or service) no longer functioning

What is IaaS?

The most basic category of cloud computing services. You rent IT infrastructure and VMs, storage, networks, and operating systems from a cloud provider on a pay as you go basis

With on-prem (private cloud) everything is managed by...

The organization

Characteristics of the private cloud model includes...

The owner and user of the cloud are the same, the owner is 100% responsible for the hardware, users are limited to that organization, connected over a private secure network, no public access, and requires a deep technical knowledge to set up, manage, and maintain

Disadvantages of private cloud

Upfront CapEx, not as agile as public clouds, orgs responsible for maintenance, and requires in-house IT skills and expertise