A View of Cloud Computing

CA485 Ray Walshe 2015

 Summary

• A View of Cloud Computing defines cloud

computing by contrasting the new cloud
applications and data centers with traditional
data centers. The authors emphasize that
feature of the cloud is the ability to scale on-
demand using a pay-as-you-go model.

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 What is the Cloud?
Cloud Computing:
• Both the applications delivered as services over the Internet
and the hardware and systems software in the data centers
that provide those services.
• IaaS: Infrastructure as a service (e.g. Amazon EC2, Linode, etc.)
• PaaS:Platform as a service (e.g. Google AppEngine, Windows
Azure, etc.)
• SaaS:Software as a service (e.g. GMail, iCloud, etc.)
Warning
The {I,P,S}aaS distinctions are not crisp as many
vendors have aspects of all three.
CA485 Ray Walshe 2015
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 • Public Cloud: Data center available to public in pay-as-you-
go manner. The service sold is utility computing.

• Cloud Provider Spectrum

Amazon EC2  Windows Azure Google AppEngine
Virtual hardware Intermediate framework  Application domain-specific platform

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 How is a Public Cloud different
from a traditional data center?
• Appearance of infinite computing resources
on demand
• Elimination of up-front commitment
• Ability to pay for resources on short-term
basis
• Higher utilization by multiplexing workloads
• Virtualization to simplify operation and
increase utilization
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 Why move to the Cloud?
• The economic motivation to move to the Cloud is very similar to why companies
will lease equipment rather than own it.
• Low-latency Leasing
• One difference from traditional leasing is that the the provisioning of resources is a matter of minutes and
there the contracts are at shorter intervals.

• Renting or leasing converts capital expenses into operating expenses.

– No up-front costs (capital can be redirected to core business investment).
– Pay for resources on short-term basis as needed.
– Elasticity and trasference of risk.
• Buy or Rent?
• When does it make sense to rent? When does it make sense to buy?

• Flexibility of resources.
– Can scale to demand.
– Many options for resources (amount of RAM, CPU, storage, etc.)
• No more, no less
• Why is the ability to scale important? Describe some side-effects of not being able to scale.
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 When does the Cloud make
sense?
• Demand for a service varies with time.
• Demand for a service is unknown in
advance.
• Batch analytics.

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 What's stopping the Cloud?
• Small Groups
– Identify three obstacles to wider adoption of the Cloud
and describe some possible solutions to these challenges.

Business continuity and service availability:

What happens when it rains in the cloud? Scalable Storage:
Data lock-in:
How can I export my data?
Data Confidentiality/Auditability:
Who has access to my data?
Data Transfer Bottlenecks:
How do I get my data to the Cloud?
Performance Unpredictability:
Why is instance A slower than instance B?
CA485 Ray Walshe 2015
Where do I put all this data?
Debugging Large-Scale Distributed Systems:
How do I debug my cloud application?
Scaling Quickly:
How to factor cost into scheduling?
Reputation Fate Sharing:
What if my neighbor is a jerk?
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