1.1. Introduction
Speaking about the development of IT in the last few years, one cannot fail to note the share of Cloud solutions among others. Let's figure out what cloud solutions, technologies, etc. are.
Cloud computing (or cloud services) is a special set of tools and methods for logistics, storage and processing of data on remote computing resources, which include servers, data storage systems (DSS), data transmission systems (DTS).
When producing an IT product, be it a business card website, an online store, a high-load portal or a database system, there are at least two options for placing your product.
At the customer's premises (eng. - on-premise) or in the cloud. At the same time, it is impossible to say for sure which is more profitable in terms of money in the general case.
If you are using a server where you have a small database running that does not require fault tolerance and a simple website without much load - yes, ground-based hosting is your option. But as soon as your workload and needs increase, you should think about moving to the cloud.
1.2. Clouds among us
Before discussing exactly how clouds are provided, it is important to understand that the story about clouds is not about the big giants of the IT sphere and their internal services. We also use cloud computing every day.
Today, in 2019, it is difficult to find a person who would not use Instagram, email, maps and traffic jams on their phone. Where is all this stored and processed? Right!
Even if you, as an IT specialist in a company with at least a small branch network (for clarity), install storage systems in the infrastructure, then no matter how you give access to the resource, be it a web interface, ftp or samba, this is for your users the vault will be a cloud that is located... somewhere there. What can we say about such familiar things that we use at our fingertips several dozen times every day.
2.1. Types of Cloud Capacity Deployment
Okay, cloud. But it's not that simple. We also all come to work - sales people, IT specialists, managers. But this is a broad concept, each has a purpose and a certain classification. Itβs the same here. In general, cloud services can be divided into 4 types.
1.Public cloud is a platform that is publicly open to all users for free or with a paid subscription. Most often it is managed by a specific individual or legal entity. An example is a portal-aggregator of articles of scientific knowledge.
2. Private cloud - the exact opposite of point 1. This is a platform closed to the public, often intended for one company (or a company and partner organizations). Access is granted only to users by the system administrator. These can be internal services, for example an intranet network, an SD (service desk) system, CRM, etc. Typically, cloud or segment owners take the issue of information security and business protection very seriously, since information about sales, clients, strategic plans of companies, etc. are stored in private clouds.
3. Community cloud we can say that this is a private cloud distributed among several companies that have similar tasks or interests. It is often used when it is necessary to give rights to use an application resource to several people, departments from different companies.
4. Hybrid cloud This is a type of infrastructure that combines at least two types of deployment. The most common example is scaling a client data center using the cloud. This is done in order to save money, if it is impossible to move to the cloud 100%, or for security and compliance reasons.
2.2. Types of service
Super, the types of deployment are so different, but there must be something that unites them? Yes, these are service types, they are identical for all types of clouds. Let's look at the 3 most common ones.
IaaS (infrastructure as a service) β infrastructure as a service. With this option, you are provided with servers in the form of virtual machines (VMs), disks, network equipment, on which you can deploy the OS and environment you need, install services, etc. Despite the fact that I am now actively developing in the cloud from Yandex, I started my acquaintance with GCP (Google Cloud Platform), so I will give examples against its background, and in general I will talk about providers a little later. So, an example of an IaaS solution in GCP would be the Compute Engine element. Those. This is a simple ordinary BM for which you choose the operating system yourself, configure the software yourself and deploy applications. Let's look at an example. You are a python programmer and you want to make a website with a backend on the cloud, considering only the IaaS option. You need to take one VM on which the site will run, for this you need to install (in gcp it is selected at the stage of creating the instance) the OS, update the packer manager (why not), install the required version of python, nginx, etc... On three VMs create a failover database cluster (also manually). Provide logging, etc. It's cheap and long, but if you want maximum flexibility, this is your choice.
The next closest to simplicity and high cost is PaaS (platform as a service). Here you also get a VM, of course, but without the ability to change the configuration so flexibly, you donβt choose an OS, a set of software, etc., you get a ready-made environment for your product. Let's go back to the same example. You buy two App Engine instances in GCP, one of them will be in the role of a database, the second will be in the role of a web server. You don't need to configure any support programs; you can run a production environment right out of the box. It costs more, you must admit, the work must be paid, and the whole Script worked for you. But you get a ready-made platform to work with.
The third of the main options, standing above the rest - SaaS (Software as a Service). You don't fine-tune the VM, you don't configure it at all. You don't need to be an IT specialist, you don't need to write code, you don't need to do a backend. Is everything ready. These are ready-made, deployed solutions, such as GSuite (formerly Google Apps), DropBox, Office 365.
3.1. What's under the hood?
Got it in your head? Okay, let's move on. We bought a VM, worked with it, destroyed it and bought 10 more. We donβt buy hardware, but we know that it must be somewhere. When you introduced storage into your enterprise infrastructure, you probably installed it in a rack in the server room. So, cloud technology providers give you a part of their server room for rent, only of enormous size. The so-called DPC (data processing center). These are large complexes located almost throughout the planet. Construction is usually carried out near those places that can be a source of natural cooling at least part of the year, but some representatives can also be built in the Nevada desert. In addition to the fact that the provider places several hundred racks in a colossal hangar, he is also worried about heat transfer (do they still know that computers cannot be frozen and overheated?), about the security of your data, primarily at the physical level, so it is unlikely to get into the data center illegally will it work? At the same time, the methods of storing data in a data center differ among different providers; some make distributed records between different data centers, while others store them securely in one.
3.2. Clouds now and in retrospect. Providers
In general, if you dig into history, the first prerequisites for the creation of todayβs cloud platforms were back in the mid-70s of the last century, during the development and implementation of the ARPANET Internet prototype. Then the talk was that someday people would be able to receive all possible services through the network. As time passed, the channels became stable and more or less wide, and in 1999 the first commercial CRM system appeared, which is provided exclusively by subscription and is the first SaaS, copies of which are stored in a single data center. Later, the company allocated several divisions that provide PaaS by subscription, including the special case BDaaS (data base as a service). In 2002, Amazon released a service that allows you to store and process information, and in 2008 it presented a service in in which the user can create their own virtual machines, this is how the era of big cloud technologies begins.
Now itβs common to talk about the big three (although I see the big four in half a year): Amazon web services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform... Yandex Cloud. Itβs especially nice for the latter, because when compatriots quickly burst onto the world stage, a special pride runs through the skin.
There are also a lot of companies, for example Oracle or Alibaba, that have their own clouds, but due to certain circumstances they are not so popular among users. And of course, the hosting guys, who are also providers providing PaaS or SaaS solutions.
3.3. Pricing and Grants
I will not dwell too much on the pricing policy of providers, since otherwise it will be open advertising. I would like to note the fact that all large companies provide grants from $200 to $700 for a year or shorter periods so that you, as users, can experience the power of their solutions and understand what exactly you need.
Also, all the companies from the big three... or the four are about to... provide the opportunity to join the ranks of partners, conduct seminars and training, provide certification and benefits for their products.
Source: habr.com