IaaS services typically charge their clients based on Compute Usage, Data transfered in and out, Database requests, Storage used, and Storage requests and transfers. IaaS vendors include Amazon EC2 services ( based on XEN), Rackspace and Terremark (based on VMware's vSphere products). Google Apps is the latest entry into this field, and seems to have the most press lately - they offer a full office suite including the pre-existing mail (gmail) service. However, lots of other vendors offer SaaS products - Microsoft offers online versions of Exchange, Sharepoint and Dynamics CRM. Salesforce.com has their Salesforce CRM product, and IBM offers LotusLive, which is a hosted Domino environment. =============== Rob VandenBrink Metafore ===============
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Rob VandenBrink 579 Posts ISC Handler Feb 17th 2010 |
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Feb 17th 2010 1 decade ago |
It’s interesting that you bring up the definitions of Cloud computing. I was just having a discussion the other day with a few colleagues.
So what is “Cloud†computing any way? To me it seems to be the new buzz word for virtualization that’s been extremely overhyped. And in a nutshell, that’s all it really is, virtualization. “Cloud†and virtualization are really one in the same. Whether you’re vitalizing the entire infrastructure or just vitalizing a few apps, people today consider it “Cloud†computing in one form or another. To me, a real “Cloud†platform would be a site agnostic virtual datacenter that has no real location logistics. A true “Cloud†would not be in jeopardy of a single site failure. A true “Cloud†would mean that I can put my application into the “Cloud†and not ever worry about a single site outage or even a single continent outage for that matter. I’m sure that the “Cloud†will someday mature to this definition, but until then, today’s “Cloud†is really just a new name applied to virtualization technology that has been maturing for years and is available in almost every datacenter in the world. Someday, virtualization will exist outside of the single site topology and earn the right to actually be called a “Cloudâ€. |
Anonymous |
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Feb 17th 2010 1 decade ago |
One conspicuously missing variant in the list lies between colocation and IaaS.
The service provider simply rents an entire colocated physical machine to you. They install a bare OS configured for remote access, and you take over from there. They provide power and network and service the hardware on request. It's less flexible than virtualized services because every server order involves physical objects that have to be moved around by physical employees in the data centre. On the other hand, they tend to be cheaper for the performance you get, and you don't have the resource contention issues of a shared VM. You can run also your own virtualization layers on it. |
Anonymous |
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Feb 17th 2010 1 decade ago |
One conspicuously missing variant in the list lies between colocation and IaaS.
The service provider simply rents an entire colocated physical machine to you. They install a bare OS configured for remote access, and you take over from there. They provide power and network and service the hardware on request. It's less flexible than virtualized services because every server order involves physical objects that have to be moved around by physical employees in the data centre. On the other hand, they tend to be cheaper for the performance you get, and you don't have the resource contention issues of a shared VM. You can run also your own virtualization layers on it. |
Anonymous |
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Feb 17th 2010 1 decade ago |
I so disagree with this taxonomy, I had to search for my login everywhere ![]() To me, "Cloud Computing" is data outsourcing, period. Whether it's the [storage, processing, display, sharing, etc.] of your data does not matter. Plus, one should always associate the term "cloud computing" with the loss of physical security to one's data, thus including the risk of loss of pivacy. (Do I hear "facebook God-like password" in the back rows?) Strangely enough, outsourcing contracts, like banks / financial asset management contracts to information system ASP's will stay safe, as they can get the physical (and other types) of security audited. SAS70 comes to mind. So maybe we can further reduce cloud computing to say cloud computing is when you cannot audit the security and privacy of your data. My two bits... |
Anonymous |
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Feb 18th 2010 1 decade ago |
I agree with many of your points - now that this article sets the taxonomy down, look for an article on security issues in clouds this coming Monday.
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Rob VandenBrink 579 Posts ISC Handler |
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Feb 18th 2010 1 decade ago |
Look forward to Rob's article Monday. Also want to disagree w/ Protissimo's statements that 1) cloud computing should always be associated with the loss of physical security and 2) cloud computing is when you cannot audit the security and privacy of your data. Depending upon the provider and negotiated contracts and agreements, outsourced operations may be better managed and more secure than if you handled operations internally.
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Dean 135 Posts |
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Feb 18th 2010 1 decade ago |
NIST has a good document defining the Cloud.... http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/SNS/cloud-computing/
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Anonymous |
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Feb 18th 2010 1 decade ago |
I agree 100% with this definition: Cloud Computing is a set of Use Cases. It's not
the servers, networks or other wiz-bang gizmos that make an environment a Cloudy one - it's the use cases they enable. I am co-authoring an internal white paper on our company's Cloud strategy based on exactly this approach (a large defense contractor w/>100k employees) Prontissimo - you are a pessimist ;) |
Anonymous |
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Feb 19th 2010 1 decade ago |
I agree 100% with this definition: Cloud Computing is a set of Use Cases. It's not
the servers, networks or other wiz-bang gizmos that make an environment a Cloudy one - it's the use cases they enable. I am co-authoring an internal white paper on our company's Cloud strategy based on exactly this approach (a large defense contractor w/>100k employees) Prontissimo - you are a pessimist ;) |
Anonymous |
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Feb 19th 2010 1 decade ago |
I see the term Cloud Computing in a similar light to the term Web 2.0. It is used by many to mean many different things.
When I say out in the cloud, I usually mean a service provided somewhere in a network by a third party. I am clear on the service they provide, however have no knowledge of where or how the service is physically provisioned. The key to this is the lack of definition around location and physical implementation for me. I think there are lots of good comments and facts here. Mostly around the making of clouds rather than how they are seen by most IT folk who use them. |
Anonymous |
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Feb 20th 2010 1 decade ago |
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