Cloud Terminology Handbook

Cloud Terminology Handbook

Cloud Terminology Handbook 2 Cloud advocates love to argue over semantics. That s fine for them. But when it comes to procuring services, language shouldn t get in the way of function. Cloud Terminology Handbook There aren t many other technological shifts that have generated quite as much jargon as computing. Cloud has come to describe many things different technologies, configurations and services that at first appear similar, but are technically very different. As a user of technology, jargon is always secondary to utility. At a point, you just want the technology to work. So consider this a break-in-case-of-emergency primer to cut through the noise and get straight to the bones of what computing is and what it can do for you.

Cloud Terminology Handbook 3 Service Models Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Infrastructure as a Service is the most fundamental layer of computing. It delivers the building blocks of an IT system processing power, storage and networking as individual services, abstracted from their physical components. Typically, the user retains control over the operating systems and deployed applications, but might defer aspects of security and network controls to the provider. Platform as a Service (PaaS) Platform as a Service sits above the infrastructure layer, providing organisations with a -based development environment for the creation, testing and deployment of applications and software. Using browser-based development tools, development teams can test, deploy, host and maintain applications in one fully integrated environment. Though this environment is configured and controlled by the organisation, the underlying physical hardware is still managed by the service provider. Software as a Service (SaaS) Software as a Service enables organisations to forgo the outright purchase, installation, management and maintenance of the applications (and accompanying licenses) they use in favour of simply accessing those services from a provider. This is usually through a web browser. Typically, the user does not need to manage any aspect of the services they receive. Software as a Service Customer Data Platform as a Service Applications Each of these deployment models is capable of delivering a range of services which can be grouped under three overarching categories: Infrastructure, Platform and Software. Operating System, Network & Firewall Configuration, Platform, & Access Management Infrastructure as a Service Virtualisation Layer Foundation Services User Portals Catalogues Security Compute Storage Database Networking In simple terms, the Infrastructure tier delivers the raw resources of the underlying physical machines, the Platform tier provides the language and environment in which applications are developed and deployed, and the Software tier delivers the front-end applications themselves. Databarracks Datacentre Infrastructure

Cloud Terminology Handbook 4 Cloud Formations Public Public s are what most people imagine when they hear computing. They re shared pools of computing resources which exist on the premises of the provider, delivering a range of free and paidfor services and infrastructure. They are typically accessed on a self-service basis through a front-end portal, like a web-browser, by both individuals and organisations. Private Conversely, private s contain dedicated resources only accessible by a single organisation. They re deeply optimised, tightly controlled environments that are highly customisable. Hybrid Hybrid environments are a mix of public and private services, distinct from one another and often procured from multiple sources. Most organisations today possess very varied and complex needs from their services, only some of which will demand the customisability and control of private s. As such, organisations may choose to separate the services they procure depending on their individual requirements and divide them between public and private environments accordingly. Community Community s are similar to private s in that they re often highly customised. However the underlying infrastructure is shared by multiple occupants who have agreed on common requirements from their environment such as performance, security or regulation and compliance. As such, highly regulated industries like healthcare, financial, legal and the public sector are well placed to benefit from the shared resources (and in some cases, shared knowledge) community deployments deliver. The can be operated by either a third party provider or one or several internal parties. Consequently, organisations that plan sufficiently can tailor the environment very closely to their organisational needs, able to simultaneously save costs and instantly provision resources where they re needed most. However, they must be internally managed, which can be a costly and time-consuming process. Whilst they don t necessarily need to be on-premise (private s can exist off-site in 3rd party data centres and maintained through management portals), the organisation is still responsible for the configuration, maintenance and administration of their private environment, which can demand time commitments and new internal skillsets. Community Private Hybrid Public Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) can deliver these services via different methods, depending on the type of an organisation would like to use. Today there are generally accepted to be four types of deployment models: Public, Private, Hybrid and Community. Each model is best suited to different needs according to price, performance and security. Crucially, it s not the technology that determines these definitions, but your requirements.

Cloud Terminology Handbook 5 Virtualisation abstracts computing resources from the physical hardware used to deliver them. It s one of the fundamental concepts the is built on. Virtualisation Virtual Machines Hypervisor Virtualisation is the underlying concept that computing really relies on. It s not a new technology, but it s often what we talk about when we talk about. At its core, virtualisation is about getting the most out of your technology. At any one time, a physical server might only be using 10% of the potential resources its hardware is capable of delivering. Virtualisation creates a layer of abstraction between the underlying physical hardware and the operating systems they run. This enables several virtual machines to run on the same set of physical hardware, meaning cumulatively, the physical components (the CPU, storage and memory) are utilised to their full capacity. This is virtualisation in its most basic form the sharing of hardware resources amongst multiple instances of an operating system. A virtual machine (VM) is comprised of two components: the host VM and multiple guest VMs. The host VM is the central server on which the guest VMs reside, and is the only machine that directly accesses and interacts with the underlying physical hardware. Guest VMs are contained virtual instances of an individual operating system with adjoining applications and data. They can reside on either a single physical machine or exist as a component in a wider block of resources spanning multiple physical machines. Hypervisor The hypervisor is a piece of software that serves as the bridge between the host VM and the guest VMs. It both connects the guest VMs to the central physical hardware, and allocates the resources according to their needs and the available capacity. It s the hypervisor that enables multiple instances of an OS to share physical hardware without disrupting each other.

Cloud Terminology Handbook 6 Backup as a Service (BaaS) Using a managed backup solution from a service provider gives organisations access to nearlimitless levels of storage that can be grown out or scaled back according to needs. Further to this, managed backup solutions give organisations access to highly secure, high-performance environments that might not typically be available to them. However, some organisations may wish to retain control of the underlying hardware on which their backed-up data resides. In this case, they can procure a dedicated backup solution from a provider. Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) Disaster Recovery as a Service enables the recovery of systems from an onsite network or Private in the event of a failure or disruptive event. Failover of systems happens at an off-site public and can be immediately activated. Cloudbased disaster recovery removes the upfront CapEx costs of more traditional DR solutions, and provides users with a much more scalable recovery environment that s cheaper and easier to test. Multi-tenancy Multi-tenancy enables multiple organisations (or tenants ) to make use of the same software instance or physical infrastructure simultaneously. This could be at the storage, OS or application level and it s one of the central reasons computing can be so economical. Cloud Broker As organisations begin to procure more and different services from a range of providers, it s getting more important to integrate separate offerings into one overarching strategy. Customer Service Provider Backup Cloud Brokers are a new type of service provider that aggregate the multitudes of different technologies and vendor offerings and align them with your specific organisational need. Part procurement, part consultancy, part service manager, these companies will remove the complexity and management costs of computing and instead offer something resembling Cloud Computing as a Service. Replication Find out more So now we ve established the language of, how can we usefully employ it to ensure services deliver the most value? Our ebook, When the won t save your money (and why that s OK) is a good place to start. In it, we dispel the myth that the services are primarily a cost-saving technology, and instead show you how to extract and measure the value they deliver. Read Now

Cloud Terminology Handbook 7 About Databarracks Databarracks provides secure, Infrastructure as a Service, Backup as a Service and Disaster Recovery as a Service from UK-based, ex-military data centres. Databarracks is certified by the Cloud Industry Forum, ISO 27001 certified for Information Security and has been selected as a provider to the G-Cloud framework. Contact Databarracks.com 0800 033 66 33 info@databarracks.com Cloud Acronym Crib Sheet VM Virtual machine CSP Cloud service provider IaaS Infrastructure as a Service PaaS Platform as a Service SaaS Software as a Service DRaaS Disaster Recovery as a Service BaaS Backup as a Service RPO Recovery point objective RTO Recovery time objective ISO 9001 FS 574838 ISO 27001 IS 574839