8 key characteristics of cloud computing

Cloud entails an ever-expanding list of tools and techniques, however the key characteristics of cloud computing stay the same.

AWS was the primary to popularize cloud computing as an alternate to on-premises infrastructure once it began marketing computing resources and storage instances in 2006. Google and Microsoft followed shortly after. Today, the feature of cloud computing extend from infrastructure to software-as-a-service models and everything in between, as well as AI, containers, serverless computing, databases, IoT, dedicated networking, analytics, business apps and far more.

Every set has its own advantages and challenges, however many core cloud computing options underpin all of them. Explore these eight key characteristics of cloud computing that justify why it's the go-to destination for building and deploying fashionable applications.

1. On demand computing and self-service provisioning:

AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and different public cloud platforms build resources out there to users at the clicking of a button or API call. With knowledge centers everywhere the world, these vendors have immense amounts of calculation and storage assets at the ready. This represents a radical departure for IT groups at home with an on-premises procurance method that can take months to complete.

Rather than waiting for new servers to be delivered to a personal knowledge center, developers will choose the resources and tools they have generally through a cloud provider' self-service portal and build right away. associate admin sets policies to limit what IT and development groups can run, however among those guardrails, workers have the liberty to build, check and deploy apps as they see fit.

2. Resource pooling:

Public cloud suppliers deem multi-tenant architectures to accommodate additional users at identical times. Customers' workloads are abstracted from the hardware and underlying computer code that serve multiple customers on the same host. Cloud suppliers more and more deem custom hardware and abstraction layers to enhance security and speed users' access to resources.

3. Measurability and speedy snap:

Resource pooling permits scalability for cloud providers and users as a result of compute, storage, networking and different assets will be additional or removed as needed. This helps enterprise IT groups optimize their cloud-hosted workloads and avoid end-user bottlenecks. Clouds will scale vertically or horizontally, and repair providers supply automation software to handle dynamic scaling for users.

Traditional, on-premises architectures can't scale as easily. Typically, enterprises have to be compelled to arrange for peak capability by buying servers and different infrastructure assets; those additional resources sit idle throughout lulls in activity.

whereas measurability tends to explain longer-term cloud infrastructure plans, speedy snap is an addition of a short-run characteristic. Once demand unexpectedly surges, properly designed cloud applications and services instantly and mechanically add resources to handle the load. Once the demand abates, services come back to original resource levels.

4. Pay-per-use evaluation:

This cloud computing characteristic shifts IT payment from Capex to Opex, as suppliers offer per-second billing. Although this could typically be seen as a positive, IT groups should use caution since their resource desires seemingly aren't static. VMs ought to be right-sized, turned off whereas not in use or scaled down as conditions dictate. Otherwise, organizations waste cash and may find themselves with sticker shock once the monthly bill arrives.

This evaluation model was once the sole thanks to get hold of cloud, however vendors have since added varied pricing plans that always offer cheaper prices in exchange for longer-term commitments.

5. Measured service:

measuring service usage is beneficial for each cloud supplier and its clients. The provider and therefore the customer monitor and report on the employment of resources and services, corresponding to VMs, storage, process and bandwidth. That knowledge is employed to calculate the customer' consumption of cloud resources, and feeds into the pay-per-use model. The cloud provider, meanwhile, can perceive however customers utilize its resources and probably improve the infrastructure and services offered.

6. Resiliency and accessibility:

Cloud suppliers use a variety of techniques to protect against downtime, such as minimizing regional dependencies to avoid single points of failure. Users may extend their workloads across availability zones that have redundant networks connecting multiple knowledge centers in comparatively shut proximity. Some higher-level services mechanically distribute workloads across accessibility zones.

Of course, these systems aren't foolproof. Outages occur and enterprises should have contingency plans in place. For some, which means extending workloads across isolated regions or maybe totally different platforms, although which will escort a hefty tag and inflated complexity.

7. Security:

To date, there are no celebrated breaches of the underlying resources of the main cloud platforms. And whereas several enterprises balked at migrating workloads thanks to security fears, those issues have mostly subsided, part because of the advantages of the on top characteristics of cloud computing. Cloud vendors use a number of the most effective security consultants within the world and are typically higher equipped to handle threats than most in-house IT teams. In fact, some of the most important money corporations in the world say the cloud could be a security asset.

8. Broad network access:

A giant part of the cloud utility is its ubiquity. Users will access data or transfer data to the cloud from anyplace with an online connection. As a result of most enterprises having a combination of operational systems, platforms and devices, the cloud is a beautiful option.

Cloud suppliers preserve that broad network access by observance and making certain varied metrics that replicate however customers access cloud resources and data: latency, access time, data throughput, and so forth These issues into quality of service needs and service-level agreements.

IT management responsibilities in cloud:

However, this doesn't absolve users of their duties. Public cloud suppliers follow the shared-responsibility model; they have a tendency to the safety of the platform and users handle their own apps that sit on top. Failure to fully grasp those delineations has light emitting diode to some embarrassing, high-profile exposures of sensitive company knowledge.