Report on Cloud Computing

Submitted by: Santosh Timilsina Id: 11069922/1 Islington College

Abstract
This report gives the views on the Cloud Computing as a computing service for individual, small business or large enterprise. It describes its characteristics, types and deployment methodology being used and issues related to it with a view to give insight to the student and business executives about the recent trends of cloud computing, companies providing these services, types of Cloud Computing services, and some real scenario of event where different companies are turning to cloud computing. This report would help them to decide to change their current computing into Cloud Computing sooner or later.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 What is cloud Computing 1.2 How Cloud Computing Works 1.3 Key Beneficial Characteristics of Cloud Computing 1.4 Key Issues in Cloud Computing Chapter 2: Historical Development 2.1 History of Cloud Computing Chapter3: Analysis and Commentary 3.1 Comparison of Benefits 3.2 Analysis of Issues Chapter4: Conclusion 4.1 The Future of Cloud Computing

Chapter 1: Introduction
This section is the introduction to Cloud Computing on the basis of definition given by authorized organization and writers. It describes the characteristics, types and deployment methodology of clouding computing, its benefits and the key issues related to it.

1.1 What is cloud Computing

Clouds are hardware-based services offering compute, network and storage capacity where: Hardware management is highly abstracted from the buyer, Buyers incur infrastructure costs as variable OPEX, and Infrastructure capacity is highly elastic - McKinsey & Co. Report: Clearing the Air on Cloud Computing Cloud computing has the following characteristics: (1) The illusion of innite computing resources (2) The elimination of an up-front commitment by Cloud users (3). The ability to pay for useas needed UCBerkeley RADLabs Cloud computing is a pay-per-use model for enabling available, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of congurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. - U.S. Government's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Clouds are a large pool of easily usable and accessible virtualized resources (such as hardware, development platforms and/or services). These resources can be dynamically re-congured to adjust to a variable load (scale), allow-ing also for an optimum resource utilization. This pool of resources is typically exploited by a pay-per-use model in which guarantees are offered by the Infrastructure Provider by means of customized SLAs. Paper by Vaquero et. al.: A break in the clouds: towards a cloud dention

1.2 How Cloud Computing Works?

Figure1.1

The figure1.1 gives a general view of Cloud Computing working and structure. We can divide cloud computing system into two sections: the front end and the back end. They connect to each other through a network, usually the Internet as shown in the figure1.1. The front end is the side the computer user, or client, sees. The back end is the "cloud" section of the system. The front end includes the client's computer and the application required to access the cloud computing system. Not all cloud computing systems have the same user interface. Services like Web-based e-mail programs leverage existing Web browsers like Internet Explorer or Firefox. Other systems have unique applications that provide network access to clients. On the back end of the system are the various computers, servers and data storage systems that create the "cloud" of computing services. In theory, a cloud computing system could include

practically any computer program we can imagine, from data processing to video games. A central server administers the system, monitoring traffic and client demands to ensure everything runs smoothly. It follows a set of rules called protocols and uses a special kind of software called middleware. Middleware allows networked computers to communicate with each other. Accourding to the service being delivered, The National Institute of Standards and Technology ( NIST) catagorize Cloud Computing service into three service catagories 1. Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) provides the processing, storage and network capability to a user. 2.Platform as a service (PaaS) provides users with a development platform for the design and test of custom applications. 3. Software as a service (SaaS) provides applications to users through a centralized network allowing access over the internetor intranet. Furthur, The National Institute of Standards and Technology ( NIST) defines four deployment models: 1. Public cloud describes when a third party is providing the cloud service and does so on a multi-tenant basis such that different firms share the same infrastructure, platform or instance of the software application. 2. Private cloud describes a situation where the service is operated exclusively for one particular firm. This service can be provided either internally or externally, by a third party provider. 3. Hybrid clouds describe a situation where the service is delivered through a combination of both the public and private cloud. 4. Community Cloud describes the situation where the service is controlled and used by a group of organizations that have shared interests, such as specific security requirements or a common mission. The members of the community share access to the data and applications in the cloud.

1.3 Key Beneficial Characteristics of Cloud Computing

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) definition describes five essential characteristics of cloud computing. Rapid Elasticity: Elasticity is defined as the ability to scale resources both up and down as needed. To the consumer, the cloud appears to be infinite, and the consumer can purchase as much or as little computing power as they need. Measured Service: In a measured service, aspects of the cloud service are controlled and monitored by the cloud provider. This is crucial for billing, access control, resource optimization, capacity planning and other tasks. On-Demand Self-Service: The on-demand and self-service aspects of cloud computing mean that a consumer can use cloud services as needed without any human interaction with the cloud provider. Ubiquitous Network Access: Ubiquitous network access means that the cloud providers capabilities are available over the network and can be accessed through standard mechanisms by both thick and thin clients. Location-Independent Resource Pooling: Resource pooling allows a cloud provider to serve its consumers via a multi-tenant model. Physical and virtual resources are assigned and reassigned according to consumer demand. The location of the physical resources underneath the cloud infrastructure is not known to the consumer, and can change dynamically.

1.4 Key Issues in Cloud Computing

The major technological concerns which act as barriers to take-up of Cloud computing centre on security, trust and privacy; Lack of standardization and therefore supplier lock-in; Insufficient virtualization to provide real hiding of systems management (especially in resource sharing/failover); Data movement and management; Programming models to provide the required elasticity; Systems / services development methods.

Chapter 2: Historical Development

This section of the reports gives the overview of main events in development of the cloud computing which will be helpful to forecast the future development. On this basis, executives and student can make their decision.

2.1 History of Cloud Computing

The underlying concept dates back to 1960 when John McCarthy opined that "computation may someday be organized as a public utility"; indeed it shares characteristics with service bureaus which date back to the 1960s. Since 1960, cloud computing has developed along a number of lines, with Web 2.0 being the most recent evolution. However, since the internet only started to offer significant bandwidth in the nineties, cloud computing for the masses has been something of a late developer. One of the first milestones for cloud computing was the arrival of Salesforce.com in 1999, which pioneered the concept of delivering enterprise applications via a simple website. The services firm paved the way for both specialist and mainstream software firms to deliver applications over the internet. IBM extended these concepts in 2001, as detailed in the Autonomic Computing Manifesto -which described advanced automation techniques such as self-monitoring, self-healing, selfconfiguring, and self-optimizing in the management of complex IT systems with heterogeneous storage, servers, applications, networks, security mechanisms, and other system elements that can be virtualized across an enterprise. The next development was Amazon Web Services in 2002, which provided a suite of cloudbased services including storage, computation and even human intelligence through the Amazon Mechanical Turk.

Then in 2006, Amazon launched its Elastic Compute cloud (EC2) as a commercial web service that allows small companies and individuals to rent computers on which to run their own computer applications. "Amazon EC2/S3 was the first widely accessible cloud computing infrastructure service," said Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Bright cove, which provides its SaaS online video platform to UK TV stations and newspapers. 2007 saw increased activity, with Google, IBM, and a number of universities embarking on a large scale Cloud Computing research project, around the time the term started gaining popularity in the mainstream press. In August 2008, Gartner Research observed that "organizations are switching from companyowned hardware and software assets to per-use service-based models" and that the "projected shift to cloud computing will result in dramatic growth in IT products in some areas and in significant reductions in other areas." Another big milestone came in 2009, as Web 2.0 hit its stride, and Google and others started to offer browser-based enterprise applications, though services such as Google Apps. "The most important contribution to cloud computing has been the emergence of "killer apps" from leading technology giants such as Microsoft and Google. When these companies deliver services in a way that is reliable and easy to consume, the knock-on effect to the industry as a whole is a wider general acceptance of online services," said Dan Germain, chief technology officer at IT service provider Cobweb Solutions.

Companies Offering Cloud service Company Akamai Amazon.com AretiInternet Enki Fortress ITX Joyent Layered Technology Salesforce.com Terremark XCalibre Offering Application Performance Services Amazon Web Services Virtual Hosting Computing Utility DynamicGrid Accelerator for Applications GridLayer Force.com Infinistructure FlexiScale

Companies that can build Cloud Computing Environment for other

Company Dell

Offering Dell Data Center Solutions offers Dell Cloud Computing Solutions for creation, optimization and management of enterprise clouds. Blue Cloud is IBMs initiative to help enterprises, governments and educational customers build and deploy their own clouds AppLogic is a cloud infrastructure software offering. Network.com is Suns first foray into this space and the model upon which SunPS is architecting clouds today Helps enterprises leverage clouds

IBM 3Tera Sun RightScale

Chapter3: Analysis and Commentary

The applications of cloud computing are practically limitless. With the right middleware, a cloud computing system could execute all the programs a normal computer could run. Potentially, everything from generic word processing software to customized computer programs designed for a specific company could work on a cloud computing system. Some analysts say cloud computing represents a sea change in the way computing is done in corporations. Merrill Lynch (MER) estimates that within the next five years, the annual global market for cloud computing will surge to $95 billion. In a May 2008 report, Merrill Lynch estimated that 12% of the worldwide software market would go to the cloud in that period.

3.1 Comparison of Benefits

Cloud computing is often confused with grid computing ("a form of distributed computing whereby a 'super and virtual computer' is composed of a cluster of networked, loosely-coupled computers, acting in concert to perform very large tasks"), utility computing (the "packaging of computing resources, such as computation and storage, as a metered service similar to a traditional public utility such as electricity") and autonomic computing ("computer systems capable of self-management"). Some benefits are listed below

Clients would be able to access their applications and data from anywhere at any time. They could access the cloud computing system using any computer linked to the Internet. Data wouldn't be confined to a hard drive on one user's computer or even a corporation's internal network.

It could bring hardware costs down. Cloud computing systems would reduce the need for advanced hardware on the client side. You wouldn't need to buy the fastest computer with the most memory, because the cloud system would take care of those needs for you. Instead, you could buy an inexpensive computer terminal. The terminal could include a monitor, input devices like a keyboard and mouse and just enough processing power to run the middleware necessary to connect to the cloud system. You wouldn't need a large hard drive because you'd store all your information on a remote computer.

Corporations that rely on computers have to make sure they have the right software in place to achieve goals. Cloud computing systems give these organizations company-wide access to computer applications. The companies don't have to buy a set of software or software licenses for every employee. Instead, the company could pay a metered fee to a cloud computing company.

Servers and digital storage devices take up space. Some companies rent physical space to store servers and databases because they don't have it available on site. Cloud computing gives these companies the option of storing data on someone else's hardware, removing the need for physical space on the front end.

Corporations might save money on IT support. Streamlined hardware would, in theory, have fewer problems than a network of heterogeneous machines and operating systems.

If the cloud computing system's back end is a grid computing system, then the client could take advantage of the entire network's processing power. Often, scientists and researchers work with calculations so complex that it would take years for individual computers to complete them. On a grid computing system, the client could send the calculation to the cloud for processing. The cloud system would tap into the processing power of all available computers on the back end, significantly speeding up the calculation.

3.2 Analysis of Issues

The biggest concerns about cloud computing are security and privacy. The idea of handing over important data to another company worries some people. Corporate executives might hesitate to take advantage of a cloud computing system because they can't keep their company's information under lock and key. Some other questions regarding cloud computing are more philosophical. Does the user or company subscribing to the cloud computing service own the data? Does the cloud computing system, which provides the actual storage space, own it? Is it possible for a cloud computing company to deny a client access to that client's data? Several companies, law firms and universities are debating these and other questions about the nature of cloud computing.

How will cloud computing affect other industries? There's a growing concern in the IT industry about how cloud computing could impact the business of computer maintenance and repair. If companies switch to using streamlined computer systems, they'll have fewer IT needs. Some industry experts believe that the need for IT jobs will migrate to the back end of the cloud computing system.

Chapter4: Conclusion
Cloud Computing services have not yet reached their full potential and many of the capabilities associated with clouds are not yet developed and researched to a degree that allows their exploitation. Many aspects are still in an experimental stage where the long-term impact on provisioning and usage is as yet unknown. Furthermore, plenty of as yet unforeseen challenges arise from exploiting the cloud capabilities to their full potential, involving in particular aspects deriving from the large degree of scalability and heterogeneity of the underlying resource It is clear that cloud computing can bring enormous benefits for IT users. However, the bottom line for IT directors is that they will need to continue to manage their internal computing environments, whilst learning how to secure, manage and monitor the growing range of external resources residing in the cloud.

References:
J. Jeffery .The Future of CLOUD Computing - Report from EC CLOUD Computing Expert Group http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/SNS/cloud-computing/. Version 14 of the document, dated 6-1-09. 31 July 2009 5 Cloud Computing Use Cases White Paper Cloud Computing Use Cases-A white paper produced by theCloud Computing Use Case Discussion GroupVersion 4.0 2 July 2010 referenced at http://cloudusecases.org.
EC DG Information Society and Media, Software & Service Architectures and Infrastructures on 26 January 2010 in Brussels http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/ssai/events-20100126-cloudcomputing_en.html.