Cloud Computing

1. A
SEMNIOR REPORT
ON
CLOUD COMPUTING
BY
VISHNUVARUNAN.T
12PCA058
FINAL-MCA
TO
T.S.VENKATESWAREN
PROFESSOR OF MCA DEPT
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE – PG
K.S.RANGASAMY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCE
(AUTONOMOUS)
TIRUCHENGODE - 637 215
[2012-2015]

2. CLOUD COMPUTING
Abstract
A common understanding of “cloud
computing” is continuously evolving, and
the terminology and concepts used to define
it often need clarifying. Press coverage can
be vague or may not fully capture the extent
of what cloud computing entails or
represents, sometimes reporting how
companies are making their solutions
available in the “cloud” or how “cloud
computing” is the way forward, but not
examining the characteristics, models, and
services involved in understanding what
cloud computing is and what it can become.
This white paper introduces internet-
based cloud computing, exploring the
characteristics, service models, and
deployment models in use today, as well as
the benefits and challenges associated with
cloud computing. Also discussed are the
communications services in the cloud
(including ways to access the cloud, such as
web APIs and media control interfaces) and
the importance of scalability and flexibility
in a cloud-based environment.
Also noted for businesses desiring to
start using communication services, are the
interface choices available including Web
2.0 APIs, media control interfaces, Java
interfaces, and XML based interfaces,
catering to a wide range of application and
service creation developers.
Introduction to Cloud Computing
When you store your photos online
instead of on your home computer, or use
webmail or a social networking site, you are
using a “cloud computing” service. If you
are an organization, and you want to use, for
example, an online invoicing service instead
of updating the in-house one you have been
using for many years, that online invoicing
service is a “cloud computing” service.
Cloud computing refers to the
delivery of computing resources over the
Internet. Instead of keeping data on your
own hard drive or updating applications for
your needs, you use a service over the
Internet, at another location, to store your
information or use its applications. Doing so
may give rise to certain privacy
implications.
For that reason the Office of the
Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) has
prepared some responses to Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQs). We have also
developed a Fact Sheet that provides
detailed information on cloud computing
and the privacy challenges it presents.
What is Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is the delivery of
computing services over the Internet. Cloud
services allow individuals and businesses to
use software and hardware that are managed
by third parties at remote locations.
Examples of cloud services include online
file storage, social networking sites,
webmail, and online business applications.
The cloud computing model allows access to
information and computer resources from
anywhere that a network connection is
available. Cloud computing provides a
shared pool of resources, including data
storage space, networks, computer
processing power, and specialized corporate
and user applications.

3. The 5 essentialcharacteristicsof
cloud computing!
 On-demand self-service
 Broad network access.
 Resource pooling.
 Rapid elasticity.
 Measured service.
On-demand self-service. This is where
you can provision computing capabilities
based on your needs. Our needs may change
from time to time. This is why it’s called
“on-demand”. It’s based on your needs. The
cool thing is that, all these provisioning
processes don’t need human intervention!
Broad network access. By using cloud,
you have the option on whether to burden
the end users laptop or in another word, thin
or thick client. Thin client is where users
have to download a small size file and they
can access to all the resources and features
available. For thick client, users will have to
download a big size of files to their
workstations before using the features. In
another word, it’s about how much you rely
on the cloud and workstation.
Resource pooling. This is another
cool thing about cloud computing. Resource
pooling is about assigning computing
resources to multiple customers
dynamically. It is something that can change
from time to time based on users demands.
Rapid elasticity. For me, this is the
coolest characteristic in cloud computing.
Imagine you are hosting a web site and your
average hit per day is 100. Suddenly, you
are launching a project and for a particular
day, a lot of users will be signing in online
at the same time. Your hit for that particular
time may rise to 10,000 in a day. For this
type of scenario, during a normal day, the
cloud will assign you let’s say, 1 server and
during peak time, it will rise to 5 servers and
back to 1 server during normal hour. The
best thing is that, you only pay for how
much you use! If you are hosting it yourself,
you’ll need to purchase 5 servers to prepare
for the peak hours which only will occur
once in a blue moon. During the rest of the
time, the other 4 servers will just sit there
doing nothing. Waste of resources.
Measured service. Since cloud is a
pay-as-you-go type, you will be charged
based on the amount of resources you use
only. Cloud provides usage metering.
Service Models
Once a cloud is established, how its
cloud computing services are deployed in
terms of business models can differ
depending on requirements. The primary
service models being deployed (see Figure
1) are commonly known as:
• Software as a Service (SaaS)—
Consumers purchase the ability to access
and use an application or service that is
hosted in the cloud. A benchmark example
of this is Salesforce.com, as discussed
previously, where necessary information for
the interaction between the consumer and
the service is hosted as part of the service in
the cloud.

4. • Platform as a Service (PaaS)—
Consumers purchase access to the platforms,
enabling them to deploy their own software
and applications in the cloud. The operating
systems and network access are not
managed by the consumer, and there might
be constraints as to which applications can
be deployed.
• Infrastructure as a Service
(IaaS)— Consumers control and manage the
systems in terms of the operating systems,
applications, storage, and network
connectivity, but do not themselves control
the cloud infrastructure.
Also known are the various subsets
of these models that may be related to a
particular industry or market.
Communications as a Service (CaaS) is one
such subset model used to describe hosted
IP telephony services. Along with the move
to CaaS is a shift to more IP-centric
communications and more SIP trunking
deployments. With IP and SIP in place, it
can be as easy to have the PBX in the cloud
as it is to have it on the premise. In this
context, CaaS could be seen as a subset of
SaaS.
Deployment Models
Deploying cloud computing can
differ depending on requirements, and the
following four deployment models have
been identified, each with specific
characteristics that support the needs of the
services and users of the clouds in particular
ways (see Figure 2).
• Private Cloud— The cloud
infrastructure has been deployed, and is
maintained and operated for a specific
organization. The operation may be in-house
or with a third party on the premises.
• Community Cloud— The cloud
infrastructure is shared among a number of
organizations with similar interests and
requirements. This may help limit the capital
expenditure costs for its establishment as the
costs are shared among the organizations.
The operation may be in-house or with a
third party on the premises.
• Public Cloud— The cloud
infrastructure is available to the public on a
commercial basis by a cloud service
provider. This enables a consumer to
develop and deploy a service in the cloud
with very little financial outlay compared to
the capital expenditure equirements
normally associated with other deployment
options.
• Hybrid Cloud— The cloud
infrastructure consists of a number of clouds
of any type, but the clouds have the ability
through their interfaces to allow data and/or
applications to be moved from one cloud to
another. This can be a combination of
private and public clouds that support the
requirement to retain some data in an
organization, and also the need to offer
services in the cloud.

5. Why cloud services are popular
Cloud services are popular because
they can reduce the cost and complexity of
owning and operating computers and
networks. Since cloud users do not have to
invest in information technology
infrastructure, purchase hardware, or buy
software licences, the benefits are low up-
front costs, rapid return on investment, rapid
deployment, customization, flexible use, and
solutions that can make use of new
innovations. In addition, cloud providers
that have specialized in a particular area
(such as e-mail) can bring advanced services
that a single company might not be able to
afford or develop.
Some other benefits to users include
scalability, reliability, and efficiency.
Scalability
means that cloud computing offers unlimited
processing and storage capacity. The cloud
is reliable in that it enables access to
applications and documents anywhere in the
world via the Internet. Cloud computing is
often considered efficient because it allows
organizations to free up resources to focus
on innovation and product development.
Another potential benefit is that
personal information may be better
protected in the
cloud. Specifically, cloud computing may
improve efforts to build privacy protection
into technology from the start and the use of
better security mechanisms. Cloud
computing will enable more flexible IT
acquisition and improvements, which may
permit adjustments to procedures based on
the sensitivity of the data. Widespread use of
the cloud may also encourage open
standards for cloud computing that will
establish baseline data security features
common across different services and
providers. Cloud computing may also allow
for better audit trails.
Benefits
The following are some of the
possible benefits for those who offer cloud
computing-based services and applications:
• Cost Savings— Companies can
reduce their capital expenditures and use
operational expenditures for increasing their
computing capabilities. This is a lower
barrier to entry and also requires fewer in-
house IT resources to provide system
support.
• Scalability/Flexibility—
Companies can start with a small
deployment and grow to a large deployment
fairly rapidly, and then scale back if
necessary. Also, the flexibility of cloud
computing allows companies to use extra

6. resources at peak times, enabling them to
satisfy consumer demands.
• Reliability— Services using
multiple redundant sites can support
business continuity and disaster recovery.
• Maintenance— Cloud service
providers do the system maintenance, and
access is through APIs that do not require
application installations onto PCs, thus
further reducing maintenance requirements.
• Mobile Accessible— Mobile
workers have increased productivity due to
systems accessible in an infrastructure
available from anywhere.
Challenges
The following are some of the
notable challenges associated with cloud
computing, and although some of these may
cause a slowdown when delivering more
services in the cloud, most also can provide
opportunities, if resolved with due care and
attention in the planning stages.
• Security and Privacy— Perhaps
two of the more “hot button” issues
surrounding cloud computing relate to
storing and securing data, and monitoring
the use of the cloud by the service providers.
These issues are generally attributed to
slowing the deployment of cloud services.
These challenges can be addressed, for
example, by storing the information internal
to the organization, but allowing it to be
used in the cloud. For this to occur, though,
the security mechanisms between
organization and the cloud need to be robust
and a Hybrid cloud could support such a
deployment.
• Lack of Standards— Clouds have
documented interfaces; however, no
standards are associated with these, and thus
it is unlikely that most clouds will be
interoperable. The Open Grid Forum is
developing an Open Cloud Computing
Interface to resolve this issue and the Open
Cloud Consortium is working on cloud
computing standards and practices. The
findings of these groups will need to mature,
but it is not known whether they will address
the needs of the people deploying the
services and the specific interfaces these
services need. However, keeping up to date
on the latest standards as they evolve will
allow them to be leveraged, if applicable.
• Continuously Evolving— User
requirements are continuously evolving, as
are the requirements for interfaces,
networking, and storage. This means that a
“cloud,” especially a public one, does not
remain static and is also continuously
evolving.
• Compliance Concerns— The
Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) in the US and
Data Protection directives in the EU are just
two among many compliance issues
affecting cloud computing, based on the
type of data and application for which the
cloud is being used. The EU has a legislative
backing for data protection across all
member states, but in the US data protection
is different and can vary from state to state.
As with security and privacy mentioned
previously, these typically result in Hybrid
cloud deployment with one cloud storing the
data internal to the organization.

7. What are the drawbacks of cloud
computing?
Clouds pose more than just legal
problems; there are technical ones, too,
according to Bob Laliberte, analyst at
Enterprise Strategy Group.
"We say about virtualization that it's
hard to manage an environment where your
applications are playing hide and seek and
your hardware is lying to you," Laliberte
says. "It's even more with clouds. You're
having to try to manage someone else's
hardware that's lying to you."
There is no single "cloud" involved
in cloud computing, Laliberte says. All the
SaaS and infrastructure-services providers
use different technology and different
standards, meaning every vendor
relationship will be different. You can't just
tool up one application or business process
for "the cloud" and be ready to go.
You also can't just move applications
to the cloud and expect them to run, even
with the best virtualization technology,
according to James Staten, data-center
analyst for Forrester Research.To move any
significant corporate processing into a cloud
environment requires at least the same
amount of work IT would have to do to
move the same workload from its existing
servers to new virtual or physical servers,
including reconfiguring connections to
network and storage resources, Wolf says.
Keeping track of what happens after
the workloads move often means using a
completely different set of management
applications that integrate imperfectly, if at
all, with a company's existing management
applications, Laliberte says. IBM, HP, BMC
and other data-center systems-management
vendors are adding cloud-management
functions as quickly as possible in order to
try to appeal to customers who have never
dealt with them before, Laliberte says.
A lot of CIOs are interested in
internal clouds, but they're leery of the
performance issues and security inherent in
the cloud environment," he
says.Virtualization leader VMware is also
leaping into clouds, basing much of its
technology strategy on the idea that
companies should be able to virtualize all
their IT assets into "internal clouds" that will
interoperate seamlessly with external clouds
also based on VMware virtualization
software.Both that capability and customers'
willingness to go along with it are still in
question, Wolf and Laliberte agree. The best
use of clouds would be to be able to move
specific workloads from internal servers to a
cloud provider when you expect a spike in
demand, take advantage of the cloud
provider's additional capacity, move it back
when the rush is over and pay only for the
resources you used, Staten says."We're a
long way from being able to do that," Staten
says. (See Busting the Nine Myths of Cloud
Computing).CIOs on the leading edge of
cloud adoption say using an external cloud
can make sense, but that metrics and strict
controls are even more important in a cloud
environment than in a normal internal IT
environment, specifically because there are
so few controls inherent in cloud-computing
relationships. They recommend this
checklist of issues to go through before
deciding whether and why to use cloud

8. services, which to use, and how. Though the
intent of cloud computing is simple, the
impact and mechanisms for delivery are
often far more complex."There's a lot more
to it than people often admit," Staten says.
Risks of Cloud Computing Model
• Data mobility – Most SaaS or
cloud vendors have some ability for
customers to download and store data, but
the cost of using someone else's application
is often that you can't get all your data out of
it in a way that's usable in a different
vendor's software.
• Privacy – Most cloud contracts
include privacy language that promises a
customer's data is secure and private. But
with cloud-monitoring and management
software still in its infancy, a customer's
ability to know for sure who's looking at
what data — especially who within their
own organizations is using it — is limited.•
Service levels – Cloud computing
isn't entirely one-size-fits-all; there is some
ability to customize the applications and
services each customer gets. But the ability
to tailor service-level requirements to the
specific needs of a business is far less than
with internal data centers where IT's whole
purpose is to further the company's business
goals.
• Interoperability – The highly-
customized internal applications that many
companies rely on most heavily are often
incompatible with generic IT infrastructures
available within the cloud. That may be fine
with many companies, which would prefer
to use only relatively generic applications
outside their own firewalls.
Merits & Demerits:
Merits:
Cloud enabler technologies like
utility computing, Grid Computing, RTI,
web infrastructure and others are cloud
enabled.
1. Infrastructure service providers
are taking advantage of the Cloud services.
2. Information services,
entertainment-oriented services such as
video on demand, simple business services
such as customer authentication or identity
management and contextual services such as
location or mapping services are positioned
well by using the service.
3. Other services, such as corporate
processes (for example, billing, deduction
management and mortgage calculation) and
transactional services (for example, fiscal
transactions), would take longer to reach the
cloud and the mainstream.
4. Cloud computing infrastructures
allows efficient use of their IT hardware and
software investments
5. A cloud infrastructure can be a
cost efficient model for delivering
information services, reducing IT
management complexity.
6. The Cloud makes it possible to
launch Web 2.0 applications quickly and to
scale up applications as much as needed
when needed.
Demerits:
1.Stored data might not be secure:
With cloud computing, all our data is stored
on the cloud. The unauthorized users gain
access to our confidential data.

9. 2.Dependent on internet
connection:Internet connectivity isn’t
completely stable and reliable.
It’s not platform agnostic:Most clouds force
participants to rely on a single platform or
host only one type of product.
3.Can be slow:Even on a fast
connection,web based application scan
sometimes be slower than accessing a
similar software program on our desktop
PC.
Many companies are delivering
services from the cloud. Some
notable examples as of 2010 include
the following:
• Google — Has a private cloud that
it uses for delivering many different services
to its users, including email access,
document
applications, text translations, maps, web
analytics, and much more.
• Microsoft — Has Microsoft®
Sharepoint® online service that allows for
content and business intelligence tools to be
moved into
the cloud, and Microsoft currently makes its
office applications available in a cloud.
• Salesforce.com — Runs its
application set for its customers in a cloud,
and its Force.com and Vmforce.com
products provide developers with platforms
to build customized cloud services.
Conclusions
To summarize, the cloud provides
many options for the everyday computer
user as well as large and small businesses. It
opens up the world of computing to a
broader range of uses and increases the ease
of use by giving access through any internet
connection. However, with this increased
ease also come drawbacks. You have less
control over who has access to your
information and little to no knowledge of
where it is stored. You also must be aware
of the security risks of having data stored on
the cloud. The cloud is a big target for
malicious individuals and may have
disadvantages because it can be accessed
through an unsecured internet connection.
If you are considering using the
cloud, be certain that you identify what
information you will be putting out in the
cloud, who will have access to that
information, and what you will need to make
sure it is protected. Additionally, know your
options in terms of what type of cloud will
be best for your needs, what type of provider
will be most useful to you, and what the
reputation and responsibilities of the
providers you are considering are before you
sign up.