Different types of cloud computing

These are the three most common cloud migration approaches (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS)

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)

Some of the companies that provide infrastructure services are Google, IBM, Amazon.com etc. Managed hosting and development environments are the services included in IaaS. The user can buy the infrastructure according to the requirements at any particular point of time instead of buying the infrastructure that might not be used for months. IaaS operates on a “Pay as you go” model ensuring that the users pay for only what they are using. Virtualization enables IaaS providers to offer almost unlimited instances of servers to customers and make cost-effective use of the hosting hardware. IaaS users enjoy access to enterprise grade IT Infrastructure and resources that might be very costly if purchased completely. Thus dynamic scaling, usage based pricing, reduced costs and access to superior IT resources are some of the benefits of IaaS. IaaS is also sometimes referred to as Hardware as a Service (HaaS). An Infrastructure as a Service offering also provides maximum flexibility because just about anything that can be virtualized can be run on these platforms. This is perhaps the biggest benefit of an IaaS environment. For a startup or small business, one of the most difficult things to do is keep capital expenditures under control. By moving your infrastructure to the cloud, you have the ability to scale as if you owned your own hardware and data center.

By automatizing the building blocks of a world-class infrastructure, organisations at all levels maximise control of their costs, while simultaneously enjoying enhanced scalability and agility. By removing the need to deploy, manage and maintain on-premises infrastructure, organisations increase their freedom to innovate. With IaaS, businesses rent out IT infrastructure – such as computing power, storage and networking – from a cloud provider; but still oversees the management of their mission-critical applications, as well as their security systems, databases and operating systems.

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)

PaaS offers a development platform for developers. The end users write their own code and the PaaS provider uploads that code and presents it on the web. SalesForce.com’s Force.com is an example of PaaS. PaaS provides services to develop, test, deploy, host and maintain applications in the same integrated development environment. It also provides some level of support for the creation of applications. Thus PaaS offers a faster more cost effective model for application development and delivery. The PaaS provider manages upgrades, patches and other routine system maintenance. PaaS is based on a metering or subscription model so users only pay for what they use. Users take what they need without worrying about the complexity behind the scenes.

With PaaS, teams are able to manage and build, test and deploy their own applications on a cloud-based platform that is designed to benefit the user. Any underlying IT infrastructure – such as hardware, and middleware – is managed by a trusted cloud service provider. Without the need to maintain infrastructure, internal IT teams can focus on business needs relating to their data and applications, freeing them up to drive sustained business growth.

There are basically four types of PaaS solutions – social application platforms, raw compute platforms, web application platforms and business application platform. Facebook is a type of social application platform wherein third parties can write new applications that are made available to end users. The CRM solutions provided by the companies are examples of business application platform. Developers can upload and execute their applications on Amazon’s infrastructure which is an example of raw compute platform. While the Google provides APIs to developers to build web applications which is an example of web application platform.

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

is the service based on the concept of renting software from a service provider rather than buying it yourself. The software is hosted on centralized network servers to make functionality available over the web or intranet. Also known as “software on demand” it is currently the most popular type of cloud computing because of its high flexibility, great services, enhanced scalability and less maintenance. Yahoo mail, Google docs, CRM applications are all instances of SaaS.

This frees organisations of the need to purchase, install and update key software platforms, while ensuring their key tools are accessible to teams around the world. With SaaS, the user only has to worry about managing their own data within an application, the software is handled in the cloud by an external provider.

What is an SSL Certificate?

Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is a security protocol that provides encryption for data in transit on the Internet and authenticates the webserver. When you submit any sensitive information, SSL encrypts your data to ensure it is fully protected and secure and can only be understood by the intended recipient. SSL certificate is a digital certificate issued by Certificate Authorities to the websites, which ensures all the information exchanged between the user’s web browser and the webserver is encrypted. SSL certificate thus protects your data from malicious attempts to steal or corrupt it, such as eavesdropping, man-in-the-middle attacks.

Once the SSL Certificate is installed, the website protocol shifts from HTTP to secured HTTPS. In addition, a visual symbol of trust, a padlock, is added to the URL of your website, as seen in the above image. This assures visitors that they are communicating with a secure connection. SSL Certificate adds to the website’s user experience and helps improve its ranking on the Google Search Engine Result Pages. It also verifies the authenticity of the website.

You can check the SSL Certificate information by clicking on the padlock before the URL of the website in the address bar. It also contains information regarding the identity of the website. Following are the essential contents of the SSL Certificate:

• ‘Domain name’ for which the certificate was issued
• The organization, person, or device to which it was issued
• Name of the Certificate Authority issuing it
• Digital signature of the issuing CA
• The subdomains associated with it
• Date of issuing of the certificate
• Date of expiry of the certificate

The web browser communicates with the web server and uses this data file to verify the identity of the website and the status of the SSL Certificate.

After an SSL Certificate is installed on your web server, it is provided with a distinguished digital identification number in the form of a public and a private security key used for the server’s authentication. These keys are nothing but a long string of arbitrarily generated numbers. It also enables the server to encrypt and decrypt the sensitive information exchanged between the user and server.

1. When a visitor accesses your website, the user web browser tries to verify the validity of the SSL Certificate of your website as well as authentication of your server through a process known as Handshake.
2. The web server then sends a copy of its SSL Certificate along with the server’s public key.
3. The browser checks the SSL Certificate root against a list of trusted CAs, its date of expiry, and its authenticity.
4. Once the browser is assured that the SSL Certificate is valid and that your server is authenticated, it indicates this to the webserver.
5. Henceforth, a digitally signed acknowledgment is sent back to the browser to establish a safe encrypted path for information transfer between the web server and the user.
6. If the browser finds out that your SSL Certificate is not valid, an error message “Your connection is not private” is displayed to the user, and this causes your visitor to leave your website immediately.

According to your security requirements and budgets, you can buy SSL certificates from various choices available with many reputed Certificate Authorities (CAs) on the Internet. So, even if you have a small budget, it is crucial to secure your website with a valid, cheap SSL Certificate to win user trust and protect your brand’s reputation. Let us thus try to decipher the different types of SSL Certificates available.

Private, Public, or Hybrid? Which Cloud Services Should You Choose?

1.    Public Cloud

Public clouds are installed with a low cost of ownership and reduce the organisation’s upfront costs, ongoing IT labour costs, and tax liability. This model is suited for the public, SMEs, or large enterprises. A remote location provisions the infrastructure at the cloud data centre. Enterprises can choose whether they want to manage their public cloud infrastructure or outsource to a managed cloud service provider.

Public clouds offer automated deployments and greater reliability and are suitable for these application centers:

• Data storage
• Mission-critical, seasonal, or latency-intolerant web tiers
• Testing environments
• Data archival
• Application hosting
• Microsite on-demand hosting.
• Automatic scaling of larger applications.
• A particular computing need 
• Applications for IT and business processes

Advantages

• No investment for infrastructure deployment and maintenance 
• Flexible pricing based on SLA agreements
• High scalability for unpredictable workloads.
• Cost agility for following growth strategies

Drawbacks

• No cost control
• Least security

2.   Private Cloud

A private cloud is used by a single organisation and is a preferable option if some legacy applications are inoperable in the public cloud. A private cloud solution is in the on-premise datacenter or a third party data center with a virtualisation layer. The cloud is owned and operated by the organisation or a third-party vendor. The private cloud offers the greatest control and security, but its maintenance can be expensive for small or mid-sized organisations.

Private cloud is best suited for an organisation where:

• Application clusters are used and need dedicated infrastructure for compliance.
• High performance is needed to access a large file system.
• The application has predictable usage patterns and low storage costs.
• An application is unstable but gets lots of traffic.
• The engineering team is not equipped for migrating the application.
• Security, latency, adaptability, regulatory, flexibility, and privacy is demanded.
• The next-generation cloud data centre is installed.

Advantages

• Secured environments which other organisations cannot access.
• High SLA performance.
• Regulations compliance for running organisation protocols.
• Flexibility for any change in the infrastructure and business needs.

Drawbacks

• Expensive with a high ownership cost.
• Limited access for mobile users.
• Scalability issues to meet unforeseen demands with an on-premise cloud data centre.

3.  Hybrid Cloud

The hybrid cloud is a combination of public and private clouds and uses at least one private and public cloud. The private cloud can be on-premise or virtually located outside the organisation. The organisation has to handle several security platforms and ensure seamless communication between the cloud properties.

In a hybrid cloud, the public and private cloud support a single application. Often, enterprise architecture is so complex that a hybrid cloud is the best solution.

A hybrid cloud is suitable for:

• Big organisations where the mission-critical data is hosted on the private cloud, and application development and testing in the public cloud.
• Organisations serving business niches facing IT security  performance requirements
• Organisations serving vertical markets hosted in the public cloud while data is stored in the private cloud.
• Secured private networks SaaS offerings that improve existing cloud solutions security

Advantages

• Scalability of the public cloud without unveiling sensitive workloads reducing security risks.
• Policy-oriented deployment to administer workloads based on security, performance, and costs.
• Services across data centres ensure maximum reliability.
• Improved security and reduced costs

Drawbacks

• Multiple cloud infrastructures at different locations require compatibility and integration. This is a drawback with public cloud deployment, as the organisations cannot control the infrastructure.
• Expensive due to switching between public and private clouds
• Additional infrastructure increases complexity.

Private, Public, and Hybrid Cloud Comparison Points

Private Cloud	Public Cloud	Hybrid Cloud
A deployment model that operates solely for a single organization	A deployment model that renders services over a network for a public use	A composition of private and public clouds that offer benefits of multiple deployment models
Offers most security	Less secure	More secure than public cloud
Offers services to an organization	Offers services to the general public	Offers services to both private and public clous as it is a combination of both
Not very scalable because it can be scaled only with the capacity of internal hosted resources	Highly scalable – can be scaled up or down depending on the requirements	Provides scalability according to the public cloud scalability and private cloud scalability in it
More expensive	Requires a minimum cost	Cost effective than private cloud

Key Differences between On-Premises and Cloud Infrastructure

Factor	On-Premises	Cloud
Deployment	An on-premises infrastructure requires the deployment of hardware and software resources in-house or within the organisation. The organisation is responsible for monitoring, updating, and managing the servers and other infrastructure components. It also requires a skilled and dedicated IT team that looks after the infrastructure.	In a cloud infrastructure, a third-party cloud service provider hosts all the hardware and software resources. You only need to subscribe and pay for the services that you want to use. Cloud environment offers instant provisioning, as the software is pre-configured by your cloud service provider. This approach saves time and gives you the freedom to focus on other crucial areas.
Cost	On-premises infrastructure is costlier than cloud environments. It requires an organisation to purchase the hardware components, hire IT experts to monitor the servers, rent a bigger space to rack servers, etc.	Cloud infrastructure certainly has an edge when we consider cost. It is a pay-as-you-go model with little to zero upfront costs. A client only pays for services that they consume on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis. The cloud service provider bears the cost of purchasing the equipment and maintaining the infrastructure.
Control	An on-premises infrastructure gives complete control of data and security to the organisation. It is the reason why organisations with data security concerns hesitate to transition into the cloud infrastructure.	On the other hand, the cloud service provider keeps the data and encryption keys. If there is an outage or any other disaster activity, you may not be able to access that data until the cloud service provider regains control of the situation.
Security	The security of an on-premises infrastructure depends solely on the staff that maintains it.	Security is one of the barriers when you decide to leap into a cloud infrastructure. When you choose to host services on a third-party infrastructure, you make them in charge of all your personal and sensitive information. This approach increases the risk of unauthorised personnel access.
Compliance	Many organisations enforce policies such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to abide by the regulatory controls. This approach requires organisations to be aware of where the data is. Organisations can meet compliance if all the information is maintained in-house or within the organisation.	When you are hosting your software or services on third-party infrastructure, you must ensure that the cloud service provider meets all the regulatory mandates.

Types and benefits of Cloud Computing

Public Cloud: With the public cloud, systems and services can be easily accessible to the public. While this may seem like a benefit, the public cloud is often less secure than other types of hosting because you’re putting all your data right there for anyone with an Internet connection to potentially access.

Private Cloud: A private cloud allows for private networks that are maintained within an organization. This type of network is popular because it’s not open to the public.

Hybrid Cloud: This cloud is an effective blend of public and private resources, with each providing its specialties. In this cloud, vital tasks are handled by the private cloud, and the public cloud handles non-critical tasks.

Multi-Cloud: Multi-cloud is the one where a business would be able to access different public clouds from multiple vendors, instead of just one. This way, the company would have the ability to utilize various storage and computing resources from different providers, eliminating any redundancy issues that come from being dependent on one provider.

The benefits of cloud computing are numerous:

• Over the Internet, one may access apps as utilities.
• The applications can be manipulated and configured online at any moment.
• To access or operate cloud applications, you do not need to install any software.
• Cloud resources can be accessed across the network in a way that allows any sort of client to access them regardless of platform.
• Cloud computing allows the usage of services and resources on demand. This means that without interacting with the cloud service provider, the resources can still be utilized.