Basic Terminologies in AWS Cloud | Regions | Availability Zones | Edge Locations | Amazon Web Services - AWS Interview Questions

Region à A region is basically a geographical area. This is actually a physical location around the world where they cluster data centers. Each of these group of logical data centers are called as an Availability Zone. Each region consists of 2 (or more) availability zones.

Availability Zone à It is simply a data center. These AZs is one or more discrete (separate and distinct) data centers with redundant power, networking, and connectivity in an AWS Region. Each AWS Region consists of multiple, isolated, and physically separate AZs within a geographic area. AZs configured across multiple data center allows or provides customers the potential to operate production applications and databases that are more highly available, fault tolerant, and scalable than would be possible from a single data center.

What is Amazon Web Services (AWS)? | AWS Cloud Computing Summary

AWS (Amazon Web Services) is a comprehensive, evolving and secure cloud computing platform provided by Amazon that includes a mixture of infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and software as a service (SaaS) offering. AWS offers compute power, database storage, content delivery and other functionality to help businesses scale and grow. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a subsidiary of Amazon providing on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies and governments on a pay-as-you-go basis. 

Types of Cloud Computing

The different types of Cloud Computing are,

1. Hybrid Cloud Computing Deployment Model
2. Community Cloud Computing Deployment Model
3. Private Cloud Computing Deployment Model
4. Public Cloud Computing Deployment Model

ADVANTAGES OF CLOUD COMPUTING

Cloud computing offers numerous Advantages .Few of them are given below:

• Easy access to the information with lower initial investment  since we don’t have to spend much on the hardware, software or licensing fees  and more throughput since everyone(multiple staff can access, share folders and files) can access the cloud through internet  on standard web browsers anytime and can login from anywhere provided they have the required bandwidth.

• Instead of installing software on our computer directly cloud allows to access files and soft wares through internet. Both small and big companies can benefit from the cloud approach.

 

Hybrid Cloud Computing Deployment Model

Hybrid cloud is a composition of two or more clouds (private, community or public) that remain unique entities but are bound together, offering the benefits of multiple deployment models.

Hybrid Cloud are increasingly being used by corporations where there is a need to maintain some of their applications on their internal infrastructure because of regulatory compliance or due to sensitivity of data, but also need the scalability and cost benefits of the public cloud.The most correct definition of the term “Hybrid Cloud” is probably the use of physical hardware and virtualized cloud server instances together to provide a single common service.But in most cases hybrid cloud is a combination of private and public cloud.

By utilizing "hybrid cloud" architecture, companies and individuals are able to obtain services with fault tolerance combined with immediate usability without depending on the internet connectivity.Cloud bursting is the term normally used for this type of environment where internal applications are deployed on private cloud for normal usage while internet applications are deployed on the public cloud to handle variable loads.Hybrid cloud architecture requires both on-premises resources and off-site (remote) server-based cloud infrastructure.

Hybrid cloud provides the flexibility and security of in house applications with the fault tolerance and scalability of cloud based services.Two clouds that have been joined together are more correctly called as a “combined cloud”

Community Cloud Computing Deployment Model

A community cloud is shared among two or more organizations that have similar cloud requirements.If several organizations have similar requirements and is ready to share infrastructure to realize the benefits of cloud computing,then a community cloud can be established.

This type of cloud is specifically used for organizations that are shared like different government organizations.In this case, non-government organizations will not have access to this cloud.This form shares infrastructure between several organizations from a specific community with common concerns like higher level of security, policy compliance, stability, jurisdiction etc., whether managed internally or by a third-party and hosted internally or externally.

The cloud could be located in-house, or on public cloud based on the needs of the organization.This is a more expensive option as compared to public cloud as the costs are spread over only fewer users.

Private Cloud Computing Deployment Model

A private cloud is a cloud infrastructure operated/established solely for a single organization or specific group and limits access to just that group.A private cloud is a proprietary network or a data center that provides hosted services to a limited number of people/to an organization.

It consists of applications or virtual machines in a company’s own set of hosts.In this form, the cloud is deployed with in a corporate firewall and runs on IT infrastructure. It is deployed on a private network.When a service provider uses public cloud resources to create their private cloud, the result is called a virtual private cloud.This form provides more benefits to the corporate by capitalizing on the Data Security and Corporate Governance and thereby the administrators can have more control over the operating environment.

Undertaking a private cloud project requires a significant level and degree of engagement to understand the business environment, and to establish the cloud properly it is required  that the organization may have to re-evaluate decisions about existing resources.

The disadvantage of private cloud is that it is more expensive compared to the public cloud since the operating and bandwidth costs are to be maintained by the organization.But a big advantage of  this cloud is that it is more secure than the public cloud.If this type of cloud is established properly then, it can have a positive impact on business.

The benefits offered by Private Cloud is

• Utility computing
• More control over operating environment
• Shared hardware costs
• More secure than public cloud
• Ability to recover from failure
• Ability to scale up or down depending upon demand

Public Cloud Computing Deployment Model

A public cloud can be accessed by any subscriber with an internet connection and a device to access the cloud space.The name “public” in the public cloud comes from the fact that application is hosted on the Hosting Providers location that means vendors/service providers.A public cloud sells services to anyone on the Internet.Even though it is hosted in a shared system, each resource operates in business environment and encrypted securely.

In this type of cloud all the hosted resources and services are dynamically added and removed based on the usage.The applications, hardware, software,information and other resources are made available to the users through a service provider.Some services are free and other services are offered on a pay-per-use model.So,public cloud is more advantages for Small and Medium scale users or business enterprises since we are going to pay for the resources which we are going to use.Public cloud is a traditional way of cloud computing where resources are dynamically provided to users on a fine-grained,self-service and on-demand basis over the Internet or/and through or/and from an off-site third party provider.

The service providers operate the infrastructure and provide access to users only through internet(no direct connectivity is offered) The infrastructure part maintained by the service provider includes hardware and the bandwidth.

Examples of Public Cloud service providers in the market are Amazon Web Services(AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Apps.Currently,Amazon Web Services is the largest public cloud service provider.

Cloud Computing

The term Cloud Computing can be used for anything which involves delivering hosted services with easy access over the internet.Cloud computing is the use of computing resources (hardware and software) that are delivered as a service over a network (Internet). 

This technology uses the internet and central remote servers to maintain/hosting data and applications.This allows consumers and business enterprise to use applications without installation and access their personal files at any computer with internet access. The name came from the use of a cloud-shaped symbol to indicate the complex infrastructure that contains in system diagrams. The name cloud computing was inspired by the cloud symbol that's often used to represent the Internet in flowcharts and diagrams. 

Cloud computing provides remote services with a user's data, software and computation. This technology provides more efficient computing by centralizing data storage, processing and bandwidth.

Cloud Computing Certification Programs

Here are some of the best ranked and demanding cloud computing certification programs available today

• IBM Cloud Computing Certification 
• MicrosoftCloud Computing Certification
• Cisco Cloud Computing Certification
• VMware CloudComputing Certification
• 3Tera Cloud Computing Certification