Amazon Web Services Basic Cloud Concepts: Cloud Computing Overview

Name: Amazon Web Services Basic Cloud Concepts: Cloud Computing Overview
Author: Demetria Crawford

Learn the business use of cloud computing

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Hello, my name is Demetria Crawford. In this lesson, we will review the benefits of cloud computing. In order to identify the benefits, we first have to define, what is cloud computing? Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery of computation, storage, applications, database, and other IT resources via the internet. With cloud computing, the upfront cost of provisioning hardware is minimized to a pay-as-you-go model. You can access as many resources as you need within minutes and only pay for what you use. To properly understand this concept, we have to take a look at the on-premise design. Let's take a look at a simple on-premise design. On-premise refers to software or hardware located within an organization's physical location, such as a data center or applications installed on company-owned equipment. Devices such as routers, firewalls, servers and backup systems are standard for many data centers. All equipment is owned or leased by the organization and maintained by hired staff. The cost from an on-premise design includes the cost of the building space used to house equipment, the hardware, which is considered as capital expense, software licensing, maintenance contracts, power consumption, physical security, such as your security guards and badged access, and the administrative staff required to manage the data center. This model of operation has a high cost to implement and it requires extensive time to build and maintain. Multi-tenancy and resource pooling from shared AWS data centers provides lower cost to its customers. Instead of paying full price for hardware, we only pay for a fraction of the cost based on what we use. AWS provides on-demand, self-service, which can be accessed from the AWS Console, as shown. We can also access AWS from the CLI, which is the Command Line Interface. And if you're a developer, you might use the SDK, Software Development Kit. As we activate various AWS services, we'll see more activity on the AWS Console homepage. AWS has data centers located around the world which provides global reach for its customers. If you go to the top right corner where you see the label North Virginia, click the down arrow. Keep in mind that depending on where you are, you might see a different location. This will display a list of all regions AWS provides its services from. On the left, we see the region, and on the right of the region is the availability zone. For exam purposes, you may see this named AZ. Each region contains multiple availability zones. Think of a region as a large part of a country or a section of a country, such as east, west, north, south, and an availability zone as cities with multiple data centers in each zone. This company allows us to design cloud solutions with high availability, as we are able to balance our services across multiple availability zones and in some cases, across regions. AWS provides over 60 Cloud services, which provides organizations the ability to move from on-premise to either a hybrid solution of both in the cloud and on-premise, or a full cloud model for its infrastructure. In the top left corner, click on Services to view all of the AWS categories of services provided. Additional benefits from AWS Cloud includes scalability and elasticity. For example, let's say you have a small company who just received a $50 million contract, and it requires 10 servers running at all times to fulfill the contract. In an on-premise design, we have to get approval for the purchase of the new hardware. We have to select which hardware we want and order it. Once it's ordered, we have to wait for it to be shipped. Once received, someone has to build it. All of this takes time, and in some cases, months to complete. Also, the full cost of the hardware is paid prior to the actual start of the contract. With AWS, we have several services to implement a cloud infrastructure within a day. For example, from the list of services provided, click on Compute. This is a list of AWS services we can use to build our servers. Click EC2 from the list. EC2 provides virtual instances of which we determine the number of resources such as RAM or storage required for each instance. Think of an EC2 as a virtualized server. We can define how much resources we need, such as RAM or storage. We can define how secure each instance should be by creating security groups. We can take snapshots of our instances to use as backups or create an image of the instance to model all new instances from. This is called an Amazon Machine Image or an AMI. We also have the ability to provide automation to the management of our instances. Let's type in auto in our search bar. You should see AWS Auto Scaling as the first option. Select AWS Auto Scaling. AWS Auto Scaling enables you to scale out the number of instances that you have based on your defined requirements or auto scale in when less instances are required. Auto scaling removes unnecessary resources to avoid overspending while adding resources when a defined criteria is no longer met. For example, let's use our contract here, our $50 million contract that requires 10 servers at all times. If one of the instances is no longer functioning as it should, auto scaling will automatically create a new instance for you so that you always have 10. Let's say that same server is now working and we have 11. Well, only 10 are required. So one is now removed to scale back in so that we're not spending more on services that we do not need. So based on our example, auto scaling will create an additional instance anytime the number of instances available falls below 10, which meets the requirements of the contract. In an on-premise environment, we can provide a similar solution. However, the cost to provide a solution could include more hardware, software licenses, and additional IT staff to maintain. Now that we have compared on-premise data centers to AWS Cloud and reviewed two AWS services, let's review the benefits. AWS Cloud benefits include security, reliability, high availability, scalability, pay-as-you-go pricing and an expanded global reach. Thank you for watching. Stay tuned for the next lesson where I will review the business value of cloud computing.

Beginner Provider : Demetria Crawford 3 Lessons · 23m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Urdu, Chinese

Course Description

The cloud provides beneficial features which increases economies of scale for businesses. High availability, unlimited capacity, on-demand scalability, and cost savings are just a few of the benefits of the cloud. The purpose of these lessons is to introduce cloud computing, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and what AWS offers. By understanding the options available, businesses can gain the freedom to develop applications and manage their websites without the burden or expense of on-premises data centers. AWS provides platform options for every business need with the ability to increase or decrease service as circumstances and needs change. One of the best benefits is that all this can be done on a pay-as-you-go basis, so no huge budgetary payouts up front for hardware are required. In these AWS Cloud Computing Overview lessons, you will discover the benefits of cloud computing, the business value of cloud computing, and the general cloud platform types.

What You'll Learn

Recognize the business value of cloud computing
Identify aspects of cloud economics
Define the general cloud platform types
Describe the key benefits of cloud computing
Explain what Amazon Web Services (AWS) offers businesses

Key Takeaways

The cloud provides benefits such as high availability, unlimited capacity, on-demand scalability, and cost savings.
AWS lets businesses develop applications and manage websites without the burden or expense of on-premises data centers.
AWS provides platform options for every business need, with the ability to increase or decrease service as needs change.
AWS services can be used on a pay-as-you-go basis, avoiding large upfront budget payouts for hardware.
The cloud increases economies of scale for businesses.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this course?

These lessons introduce cloud computing and Amazon Web Services (AWS), covering the benefits of cloud computing, the business value of cloud computing, and the general cloud platform types.

What topics do the lessons cover?

The course includes three lessons: Benefits of Cloud Computing, Business Value of Cloud Computing, and Cloud Platform Types.

What are the learning objectives of this course?

By the end, you should be able to recognize the business value of cloud computing, identify aspects of cloud economics, and define the cloud platform types.

What skills does this course help develop?

The course addresses skills in Amazon Web Services, AWS CloudFormation, Cloud Applications, Cloud Computing, Cloud Services, and Cloud Technologies.

How does the cloud benefit businesses?

The cloud increases economies of scale and offers high availability, unlimited capacity, on-demand scalability, and cost savings, letting businesses develop applications and manage websites without the burden or expense of on-premises data centers on a pay-as-you-go basis.