Chapter 1 from The Cloud at Your Service by Jothy Rosenberg and Arthur Mateos

What is cloud computing?

 

1.1. Five main principles that define cloud computing

Pooled computing resources

Virtualization of compute resources

Elasticity as resource demands grow and shrink

Automation of new resource deployment

Metered billing that charges only for what you use

1.2. Benefits that can be garnered from moving to the cloud

Economic benefits of the change from capital to operational expenses

Agility benefits from not having to procure and provision servers

Efficiency benefits that may lead to competitive advantages

Security stronger and better in the cloud

1.3. Evolution of IT leading to cloud computing

Origin of the “cloud” metaphor

Major computing paradigm shifts: mainframes to client-server to web

Housing of physical computing resources: data center evolution

Software componentization and remote access: SOA, virtualization, and SaaS

1.4. Classifying cloud layers: different types for different uses

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Software as a Service (SaaS) and Framework as a Service (FaaS)

Private clouds as precursors of public clouds

1.5. Summary