Understanding THE CLOUD: a brief introduction.

????????????? ??On-Premises Data VS Cloud Computing.

On-Premises: data centre is technically regarded as the collection of computing infrastructure - servers, network and storage that is privately owned and controlled by the firm.

It is generally regarded as On-prem with full control of the infrastructure of the company that owns it. It is cost-efficient and can easily be either scale up and down without any form of locality restrictions and regulatory compliance.

Cloud Computing: the cloud data centre is controlled and operated by a third-party cloud services provider like AWS or IBM Cloud. There are two types of cloud data centres: public and private. With public cloud data centres, you share cloud computing resources with other enterprises, hence it’s a cheaper option. A private cloud data centre is expensive since your company doesn’t share cloud computing resources with other enterprises.?

Similarities

While cloud and on-premise data centres have some significant differences in how they operate, these solutions aim at reducing maintenance burdens and costs by implementing agile and modern IT infrastructure. Some of the major similarities include:

1. Flexible workload management – similar to cloud deployments, on-premise data centres can also use cloud computing to streamline workloads. For instance, they can test and run extra workloads on the cloud as a temporary solution depending on the requirements.
2. Access to modern technologies – both cloud and on-premise infrastructure relies on a combination of modern technologies to ensure security and efficiency. These technologies include a management platform, an operating system, and application programming interfaces (APIs), which work together to ensure the smooth running of the data centres.
3. High-level automation – IT infrastructure automation has been adopted on the cloud and on-premise environments. This helps free up manual and repetitive work while reducing cost and streamlining workload deployments.

Differences

Organizations that choose the cloud data infrastructure see significant differences from those that host and manage their data within the business premises. Some of the key differences lie with the following parameters:

1. Cost–on–premise data centres require considerable upfront investment while cloud deployments are relatively cheap, thanks to the user-oriented subscription services such as pay-as-you-go models.
2. Data security – On-premise data centres offer complete control over your data; hence, you can easily implement advanced security measures. However, depending on the cloud service type you've chosen, you may lose direct control over your data in cloud deployments. If you go for a shared responsibility model, ensure you understand your responsibilities and the requirements to keeping your data safe.
3. Deployment of resources – With on-premise, most of your resources are deployed within the business premises, while cloud data centres have most of their resources on a third-party server.
4. Scalability and flexibility of operations – on-premise deployments are less scalable and less flexible than cloud data centres.
5. Compliance issues – Most on-premise deployments align with the data compliance policies. However, cloud data centres, by default, violate data compliance policies due to the loss of direct control over one’s data.

Pros and Cons

For a better comparison and overview of the two data centre deployment options, here are some pros and cons to consider.

Advantages of Cloud Data Centres

• ??It reduces your IT staff’s responsibilities and headcount.
• ??It eliminates the need for substantial initial investments.
• ??You can adjust the services to your budget.
• ??It offers better data backup than on-premises deployments.

Disadvantages of Cloud Data Centres

• ??The quality of your internet connection determines the user experience.
• ??Little control over your data means data can be less secure.
• ??High-end scalability means cloud deployment costs can skyrocket if the operations are left unmanaged.

Advantages of On-Premise Deployments

Besides offering better control over your company data, on-premise data storage provides the following benefits:

• ??It allows for quick and convenient operation, even without internet access.
• ??It lowers monthly IT costs.

Disadvantages of On-Premise Data Storage

• ??It requires in-house IT support, increasing maintenance costs.
• ??A lack of sophisticated data security and backup strategy increases the risk of data loss.
• ??Less scalability means any future advancements or business relocation can be quite costly.

A brief Intro on the Cloud service models: SAAS, PAAS, IAAS

Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)

This is on-demand access to cloud-hosted physical and virtual servers, storage and networking - the backend IT infrastructure for running applications and workloads in the cloud. IaaS is on-demand access to cloud-hosted computing infrastructure - servers, storage capacity and networking resources - that customers can provision, configure and use in much the same way they use on-premises hardware. The difference is that the cloud service provider hosts manage and maintains the hardware and computing resources in its own data centres. IaaS customers use the hardware via an internet connection and pay for that use on a subscription or pay-as-you-go basis.

Benefits of IaaS include:

1. Higher availability: With IaaS a company can create redundant servers easily, and even create them in other geographies to ensure availability during local power outages or physical disasters.
2. Lower latency, improved performance: Because IaaS providers typically operate data centres in multiple geographies, IaaS customers can locate apps and services closer to users to minimize latency and maximize performance.
3. Improved responsiveness: Customers can provision resources in a matter of minutes, test new ideas quickly and quickly roll out new ideas to more users.
4. Comprehensive security: With a high level of security on-site, at data centres, and via encryption, organizations can often take advantage of more advanced security and protection they could provide if they hosted the cloud infrastructure in-house.
5. Faster access to best-of-breed technology: Cloud providers compete with each other by providing the latest technologies to their users, IaaS customers can take advantage of these technologies much earlier (and at far less cost) than they can implement them on-premises.

Platform as a service(PaaS)

This is on-demand access to a complete, ready-to-use, cloud-hosted platform for developing, running, maintaining and managing applications.PaaS provides a cloud-based platform for developing, running, and managing applications. The cloud services provider hosts manages and maintains all the hardware and software included in the platform - servers (for development, testing and deployment), operating system (OS) software, storage, networking, databases, middleware, runtimes, frameworks, development tools - as well as related services for security, operating system and software upgrades, backups and more.

Users access the PaaS through a graphical user interface (GUI), where development or DevOps teams can collaborate on all their work across the entire application lifecycle including coding, integration, testing, delivery, deployment, and feedback.

Benefits of PaaS include:

1. Faster time to market: PaaS enables development teams to spin up development, testing and production environments in minutes, vs. weeks or months.
2. Low- to no-risk testing and adoption of new technologies: PaaS platforms typically include access to a wide range of the latest resources up and down the application stack. This allows companies to test new operating systems, languages, and other tools without having to make substantial investments in them, or in the infrastructure required to run them.
3. Simplified collaboration: As a cloud-based service, PaaS provides a shared software development environment, giving development and operations teams access to all the tools they need, from anywhere with an Internet connection.
4. A more scalable approach: With PaaS, organizations can purchase additional capacity for building, testing, staging and running applications whenever they need it.
5. Less to manage: PaaS offloads infrastructure management, patches, updates and other administrative tasks to the cloud service provider.

Software as a service (SaaS)

It is on-demand access to ready-to-use, cloud-hosted application software.SaaS (sometimes called cloud application services) is cloud-hosted, ready-to-use application software. Users pay a monthly or annual fee to use a complete application from within a web browser, desktop client or mobile app. The application and all of the infrastructure required to deliver it - servers, storage, networking, middleware, application software, and data storage - are hosted and managed by the SaaS vendor.?

Benefits of SaaS include:

1. Minimal risk: Many SaaS products offer a free trial period, or low monthly fees that let customers try the software to see if it will meet their needs, with little or no financial risk.
2. Anytime/anywhere productivity: Users can work with SaaS apps on any device with a browser and an internet connection.?
3. Easy scalability: Adding users is as simple as registering and paying for new seats; customers can purchase more data storage for a nominal charge
4. IaaS, PaaS and SaaS are not mutually exclusive. Many mid-sized businesses use more than one, and most large enterprises use all three.