Cloud For Beginners – Fundamental Knowledge
Cloud is not what we see on the sky, instead, Cloud can be understood as another person’s server in which we pay for “rent”.
When using Azure services, you are renting the server in the host database and host app of Microsoft. Similarly, with Google services, you are borrowing the server in the Google data center.
Basic Definitions in Cloud Computing
Speaking of Cloud Computing, we often hear of IAAS, PAAS, SAAS. These are 3 important definitions for those who want to learn about Cloud Computing.
In short, these are 3 models to offer the Cloud services.
IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service): Companies such as FPT Cloud, Azure, Google… will allow you to rent their infrastructures including servers, hard drive, and network to run code, manage the system, or whatever you want, as long as you pay the monthly charge based on usage.
PaaS (Platform as a Service): You will have platforms to develop applications from the OS (Windows or Linux) to Runtime (Docker, NodeJS, C#, Java) with your own codes.
SaaS (Software as a Service): This include software products that vendors provide as a service like Gmail, Dropbox, Salesforce…
Most technology/software companies will use IaaS or PaaS to deploy products. Startup firms and SMEs prefer IaaS or PaaS provided by Google, Amazon, or Azure to reduce IT expenses. Currently, most enterprises are utilizing SaaS for daily activities rather than self-developed software, including:
- Slack for internal communications.
- Jira to manage tasks.
- Confluence or Google Docs to manage documents.
- Microsoft Teams for online meetings and hosting webinars.
What is the difference between Cloud and Hosting or VPS?
It is not unexpected that Cloud has become a phenomenon in the digital era as there actually are “interesting” facts about Cloud that attract users.
Agility: With hosting, you normally rent from one host and pay monthly. You will need to wait until the end of the month or day to upgrade the host.
With Cloud, an abundant amount of resources are formed by numerous servers on the Cloud systems, creating extra resources for easy and quick upgrades.
Save expense: With the agility of Cloud, you can scale up, add machines during rush hours, and reduce machines during idle to save costs.
Availability of API: Cloud providers have API and SDK for you to integrate into the system and use. These APIs enable you to easily build tools to work with Cloud.
Diverse service: Compared with hosting, Cloud vendors offer much more services, ranging from Virtual Machine (VPS), Database, Message Queue, File Storage, and Load Balancer to Git Repo or tools for system profile management analytics.
Conclusion
If you are planning to explore DevOps career path or advance to higher positions such as Software Architecture, it is crucial to obtain Cloud expertise.