How Cloud Computing Works

How Cloud Computing Worksby Jonathan Strickland

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A typical cloud computing system. See more computer networking pictures.MORE COMPUTING

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Curiosity Project: What is ubiquitous computing?

Let's say you're an executive at a large corporation. Your particular responsibilities include making sure

that all of your employees have the right hardware and software they need to do their jobs.

Buying computers for everyone isn't enough -- you also have to purchase software or software

licenses to give employees the tools they require. Whenever you have a new hire, you have to buy more

software or make sure your current software license allows another user. It's so stressful that you find it

difficult to go to sleep on your huge pile of money every night.

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Soon, there may be an alternative for executives like you. Instead of installing a suite of software for each

computer, you'd only have to load one application. That application would allow workers to log into a

Web-based service which hosts all the programs the user would need for his or her job. Remote

machines owned by another company would run everything from e-mail to word processing to complex

data analysis programs. It's called cloud computing, and it could change the entire computer industry.

In a cloud computing system, there's a significant workload shift. Local computers no longer have to do all

the heavy lifting when it comes to running applications. The network of computers that make up the cloud

handles them instead. Hardware and software demands on the user's side decrease. The only thing the

user's computer needs to be able to run is the cloud computing system's interface software, which can

be as simple as a Web browser, and the cloud's network takes care of the rest.

There's a good chance you've already used some form of cloud computing. If you have an e-mail account

with a Web-based e-mail service like Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail or Gmail, then you've had some experience

with cloud computing. Instead of running an e-mail program on your computer, you log in to a Web e-mail

account remotely. The software and storage for your account doesn't exist on your computer -- it's on the

service's computer cloud.

What makes up a cloud computing system? Find out in the next section.


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I COMPUTED LONELY AS A CLOUDAlthough cloud computing is an emerging field of computer science, the idea has been around for a few years. It's called cloud computing because the data and applications exist on a "cloud" of Web servers.

Cloud Computing Architecture

When talking about a cloud computing system, it's helpful to divide it into two sections: the front endand

the back end. They connect to each other through a network, usually the Internet. 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 (or computer network) 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.


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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 you can imagine, from data processing to video games. Usually, each application will

have its own dedicated server.

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. Most of

the time, servers don't run at full capacity. That means there's unused processing power going to waste.

It's possible to fool a physical server into thinking it's actually multiple servers, each running with its own

independent operating system. The technique is called server virtualization. By maximizing the output of

individual servers, server virtualization reduces the need for more physical machines.

If a cloud computing company has a lot of clients, there's likely to be a high demand for a lot of storage

space. Some companies require hundreds of digital storage devices. Cloud computing systems need at

least twice the number of storage devices it requires to keep all its clients' information stored. That's

because these devices, like all computers, occasionally break down. A cloud computing system must

make a copy of all its clients' information and store it on other devices. The copies enable the central

server to access backup machines to retrieve data that otherwise would be unreachable. Making copies

of data as a backup is called redundancy.

What are some of the applications of cloud computing? Keep reading to find out.


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WHO'S WHO IN CLOUD COMPUTINGSome of the companies researching cloud computing are big names in the computer industry. Microsoft, IBM and Google are investing millions of dollars into research. Some people think Apple might investigate the possibility of producing interface hardware for cloud computing systems.

Cloud Computing Applications

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.




Why would anyone want to rely on another computer system to run programs and store data? Here are

just a few reasons:

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.

While the benefits of cloud computing seem convincing, are there any potential problems? Find out in the

next section.


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PRIVATE EYES ARE WATCHING YOUThere are a few standard hacker tricks that could cause cloud computing companies major headaches. One of those is called key logging. A key logging program records keystrokes. If a hacker manages successfully to load a key logging program on a victim's computer, he or she can study the keystrokes to discover user names and passwords. Of course, if the user's computer is just a streamlined terminal, it might be impossible to install the program in the first place.

Cloud Computing Concerns

Perhaps 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

underlock and key.

The counterargument to this position is that the companies offering cloud computing services live and die

by their reputations. It benefits these companies to have reliable security measures in place. Otherwise,

the service would lose all its clients. It's in their interest to employ the most advanced techniques to

protect their clients' data.

Privacy is another matter. If a client can log in from any location to access data and applications, it's

possible the client's privacy could be compromised. Cloud computing companies will need to find ways to

protect client privacy. One way is to use authentication techniques such as user names and passwords.

Another is to employ an authorization format -- each user can access only the data and applications

relevant to his or her job.

Some 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.

Another area of research in the computer science community is autonomic computing. An autonomic

computing system is self-managing, which means the system monitors itself and takes measures to

prevent or repair problems. Currently, autonomic computing is mostly theoretical. But, if autonomic

computing becomes a reality, it could eliminate the need for many IT maintenance jobs.

To learn more about cloud computing and other related topics, see the links on the next page.

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How Cloud Storage Worksby Jonathan Strickland

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A typical cloud storage system architecture includes a master control server and several storage servers.

HowStuffWorks 2008RELATED ARTICLES

Cloud Computing

Google Apple Cloud Computer

Curiosity Project: Ultimate Cloud Computing Quiz

Comedian George Carlin has a routine in which he talks about how humans seem to spend their lives

accumulating "stuff." Once they've gathered enough stuff, they have to find places to store all of it. If

Carlin were to update that routine today, he could make the same observation

about computerinformation. It seems that everyone with a computer spends a lot of time acquiring data

and then trying to find a way to store it.


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For some computer owners, finding enough storage space to hold all the data they've acquired is a real

challenge. Some people invest in larger hard drives. Others prefer external storage devices like thumb

drives or compact discs. Desperate computer owners might delete entire folders worth of old files in order

to make space for new information. But some are choosing to rely on a growing trend: cloud storage.

While cloud storage sounds like it has something to do with weather fronts and storm systems, it really

refers to saving data to an off-site storage system maintained by a third party. Instead of storing

information to your computer's hard drive or other local storage device, you save it to a remote database.

The Internet provides the connection between your computer and the database.

On the surface, cloud storage has several advantages over traditional data storage. For example, if you

store your data on a cloud storage system, you'll be able to get to that data from any location that has

Internet access. You wouldn't need to carry around a physical storage device or use the same computer

to save and retrieve your information. With the right storage system, you could even allow other people to

access the data, turning a personal project into a collaborative effort.

So cloud storage is convenient and offers more flexibility, but how does it work? Find out in the next

section.

Cloud Storage Basics

There are hundreds of different cloud storage systems. Some have a very specific focus, such as storing

Web e-mail messages or digital pictures. Others are available to store all forms of digital data. Some

cloud storage systems are small operations, while others are so large that the physical equipment can fill

up an entire warehouse. The facilities that house cloud storage systems are called data centers.

At its most basic level, a cloud storage system needs just one data server connected to the Internet. A

client (e.g., a computer user subscribing to a cloud storage service) sends copies of files over the Internet

to the data server, which then records the information. When the client wishes to retrieve the information,

he or she accesses the data server through a Web-based interface. The server then either sends the files

back to the client or allows the client to access and manipulate the files on the server itself.

Cloud storage systems generally rely on hundreds of data servers. Because computers occasionally

require maintenance or repair, it's important to store the same information on multiple machines. This is

calledredundancy. Without redundancy, a cloud storage system couldn't ensure clients that they could

access their information at any given time. Most systems store the same data on servers that use

different power supplies. That way, clients can access their data even if one power supply fails.

Not all cloud storage clients are worried about running out of storage space. They use cloud storage as a

way to create backups of data. If something happens to the client's computer system, the data survives

off-site. It's a digital-age variation of "don't put all your eggs in one basket."

What are some examples of cloud storage systems? Keep reading to find out.

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These servers store Electronic Health Records (EHR) for the Military Health System, allowing doctors to access health records of patients instantly.

David S. Holloway/Getty Images

Examples of Cloud Storage

There are hundreds of cloud storage providers on the Web, and their numbers seem to increase every

day. Not only are there a lot of companies competing to provide storage, but also the amount of storage

each company offers to clients seems to grow regularly.

You're probably familiar with several providers of cloud storage services, though you might not think of

them in that way. Here are a few well-known companies that offer some form of cloud storage:

Google Docs allows users to upload documents, spreadsheets and presentations to Google's data

servers. Users can edit files using a Google application. Users can also publish documents so that other

people can read them or even make edits, which means Google Docs is also an example of cloud

computing.




Web e-mail providers like Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail store e-mail messages on their own servers.

Users can access their e-mail from computers and other devices connected to the Internet.

Sites like Flickr and Picasa host millions of digital photographs. Their users create online photo albums by

uploading pictures directly to the services' servers.

YouTube hosts millions of user-uploaded video files.

Web site hosting companies like StartLogic, Hostmonster and GoDaddy store the files and data for client

Web sites.

Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace allow members to post pictures and other content.

All of that content is stored on the respective site's servers.

Services like Xdrive, MediaMax and Strongspace offer storage space for any kind of digital data.

Some of the services listed above are free. Others charge a flat fee for a certain amount of storage, and

still others have a sliding scale depending on what the client needs. In general, the price for online

storage has fallen as more companies have entered the industry. Even many of the companies that

charge for digital storage offer at least a certain amount for free.

Is there enough of a demand for storage to support all the companies jumping into the market? Some

people think that if there's space to be filled, someone will fill it. Others think the industry is destined to

experience a crash not unlike the dot-com bubble burst in 2000. We'll have to wait and see.

What are some potential cloud storage problems? Find out in the next section.


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DATA CENTER DESIGN

Physical security is just as important as network security. Data servers are valuable not only because the machines themselves are expensive, but also because the data stored on them could include sensitive information. Malicious hackers don't rely solely on cracking into a computer system electronically -- sometimes they try to infiltrate a system by gaining access to its physical computers.




A single data server's power requirements aren't very taxing. But when a data center has hundreds of servers, it's crucial that the center's electric wiring can support the workload.

Like all computers, data servers generate heat. Too much heat can impair or damage servers, so the data center needs an effective cooling system to prevent such problems.

Concerns about Cloud Storage

The two biggest concerns about cloud storage arereliability and security. Clients aren't likely to entrust

their data to another company without a guarantee that they'll be able to access their information

whenever they want and no one else will be able to get at it.

To secure data, most systems use a combination of techniques, including:

Encryption , which means they use a complexalgorithm to encode information. To decode the encrypted

files, a user needs the encryption key. While it's possible to crack encrypted information,

most hackers don't have access to the amount ofcomputer processing power they would need to decrypt

information.

Authentication processes, which require to create a user name and password.

Authorization practices -- the client lists the people who are authorized to access information stored on

the cloud system. Many corporations have multiple levels of authorization. For example, a front-line

employee might have very limited access to data stored on a cloud system, while the head of human

resources might have extensive access to files.

Even with these protective measures in place, many people worry that data saved on a remote storage

system is vulnerable. There's always the possibility that a hacker will find an electronic back door and

access data. Hackers could also attempt to steal the physical machines on which data are stored. A

disgruntled employee could alter or destroy data using his or her authenticated user name and password.

Cloud storage companies invest a lot of money in security measures in order to limit the possibility of data

theft or corruption.

The other big concern, reliability, is just as important as security. An unstable cloud storage system is a

liability. No one wants to save data to a failure-prone system, nor do they want to trust a company that

isn't financially stable. While most cloud storage systems try to address this concern through redundancy

techniques, there's still the possibility that an entire system could crash and leave clients with no way to

access their saved data.

Cloud storage companies live and die by their reputations. It's in each company's best interests to provide

the most secure and reliable service possible. If a company can't meet these basic client expectations, it

doesn't have much of a chance -- there are too many other options available on the market.

To learn more about cloud storage systems and related topics, follow the links on the next page.

5 Ways to Keep Your Information Secure in the Cloudby Wesley Fenlon

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Computer Image Gallery

The beauty of cloud computing lies in the easy access you have to your data using any Internet-connected device. But without proper security precautions, you could be leaving yourself open to trouble.

©iStockphoto.com/Thinkstock

In 2011, hacking groups like Lulzsec and Anonymous provoked an Internet firestorm by hacking major

Web sites like Fox.com and online services like Sony's PlayStation Network. Millions of user accounts

were compromised. Usernames, passwords, home addresses and credit card information -- lax Web site

security often allows hackers easy access to boatloads of personal information. We can blame

corporations for poor security and hackers for maliciously attacking Web sites, but there's a third party

often at fault in these attacks: ourselves, the users.

No, it's not our fault Web sites get hacked. But poor Web safety habits put us at risk when we shouldn't

be. How often do you use the same username and password? Every time you create a new profile? If

someone hacked your Facebook account, could they just as easily get into your e-mail inbox? Reusing

passwords -- or using weak passwords -- makes you an easy target for identity theft. Remembering

multiple passwords can be a pain, but there are Web services that can help. We'll talk about one of the

most popular options later in this article.

Internet cloud services -- services that store your data on a server rather than on your hard drive so you

can access it from any Internet-enabled device -- are more powerful than ever before. Backing up

photographs and important documents has never been easier. Google Docs and Gmail can take the

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place of Microsoft Word and Outlook Express. Banking sites take the place of expensive finance

applications. All we have to do is be safe while we use them. Here are some simple safety tips for

keeping your data secure in the cloud. First up: making your passwords as tough to crack as Fort Knox.

Is your password something that could be easily guessed, like a pet's name or -- heaven forbid -- the word "password"? If so, change it immediately.

Hemera/Thinkstock

Passwords are designed to keep our information safe from prying eyes. They're like locks. A hacker may

force the door and break your lock, but most of the time a strong lock keeps people out. But let's be

honest: Passwords are annoying. Remembering them is a pain, so we often take the easy way out and

use simple passwords that we won't forget. But if they're easy to remember, they're also easy to guess.

When the site RockYou.com was hacked in 2009, a security firm examined the 32 million compromised

passwords and found that thousands upon thousands of users relied on the same basic phrases. The

password "123456" took first place with 290,731 hits; "12345," "123456789," "Password" and "iloveyou"

rounded out the top five most-used passwords [source: Tom'sHardware]. If you use one of those

passwords, change it. The more complicated your password is, the safer your data will be. It's true,

complex passwords won't be as easy to recall. Find a safe place to record your passwords if you can't

remember them.

The best passwords combine letters, numbers and symbols into an unusual configuration. Don't take the

easy route and capitalize the first letter of the word or use the numeral "1" in place of the letter "l" or a

zero in place of the letter "O." Throw in a few random numbers or characters like a plus sign (+) or

underscore (_) and you'll be far better off than anyone relying on "password123" or "qwerty" to keep them

safe. Once you have a good password, what you do next is just as important: Don't spread it around.

The annoyance of remembering passwords strikes again. It's bad enough that we tend to use simple,

easy-to-remember passwords for our Web logins -- we also tend to pick one or two passwords and use

them again and again for our e-mail, banking, Facebook and everything else. That's bad. In fact, that's

really bad. If your password is compromised, someone could easily gain access to your e-mail account.

And change that password. And then go to every site you're registered on and change those passwords --

the replacement passwords are always sent to your e-mail address.

Use different passwords for different sites. At the very least, change up letters, symbols and capitalization

if you plan to use the same word or phrase across multiple sites. Make absolutely sure you don't repeat a

password across sites that have your credit card information or social security number. Your e-mail

password is the most important. Keep it secure and don't use it for any other sites.

One last password tip: Don't tell other people your passwords. Even if you trust them, it's not a particularly

good idea. The more people who know your passwords, the greater the chances that those passwords

could be accidentally compromised. All these password rules make our online lives more secure, but they

don't make them easier. Next up: a tool for taking some of the inconvenience out of password

management.

If you wish you only needed one password for all of your cloud computing needs, a password management tool like LastPass can help.

©iStockphoto.com/pagadesign

LastPass is a password management utility that locks all of your unique passwords behind one master

password. That means you can create separate logins for e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, cloud storage and

everything else you do online, but still access those accounts by memorizing one single password. Web

browsers will remember passwords for you, but LastPass can synchronize your information across

multiple browsers and devices and fill in forms with a single click.

LastPass will even help you create randomized passwords that no one will ever crack. The service is free,

but for a $1 per month premium account you gain access to the mobile version of LastPass for iOS,

Android and most other mobile operating systems. What if LastPass gets hacked? That's possible,

but LastPasshasprotocolsinplace to encourage users to change their master passwords in the event of a

breach. More importantly, validation tools like IP and e-mail address verification make it difficult for an

impostor to log in to your LastPass account.

LastPass is just one example of a cloud-based service that makes managing data on the Web easier.

When it comes to preserving your important pictures and files, finding the right backup services is key.

If there's one piece of advice the tech savvy have been espousing for years and years, it's this: Back up

your data. A power surge, faulty hard drive platter, robbery or other unexpected system failure could

happen when you least expect it, and if your data isn't backed up you'll beat yourself up over it for weeks.

Years ago, backing up data was an arduous task. Hard drive storage was costly, but floppy disks only

held a paltry amount of data. Eventually, ZIP disks and CD burners offered enough space to facilitate

backups, and DVDs and cheap hard drives made them easier still. But now we have something even

better: the cloud.

Cloud storage solutions come in all shapes and sizes. Dropbox offers only a couple gigabytes of free

storage, but its interface is incredibly simple to use. It creates a folder on your hard drive that's linked to

the Web -- all you have to do to upload files is drag them into the folder. WindowsLiveSkydrive is

designed to make it easy to view and edit Office documents in the cloud. Amazon's Cloud Drive offers 5

gigabytes of free storage and a Web interface for uploading your files. Other services,

like SugarSync and Mozy, focus more on automatically backing up your important data and storing it,

rather than making it easily accessible online.

Here's the smartest way to backup your data: Don't rely on one service. Store files you access frequently

in Dropbox and back up more in a free service like Amazon Cloud Drive. Keep a local backup on a

secondary hard drive or on an automated backup drive like Apple'sTimeCapsule. With your data securely

backed up and your passwords uncrackable, there's only one thing left to be concerned about: your

browsing habits.

Internet hazards like viruses are, for the most part, easy to avoid. Shady Web sites usually look shady; e-

mail attachments from spam addresses are never worth opening. Antivirus software is always a smart

precaution, but smart browsing is an even greater ally. What does this have to do with protecting your

data in the cloud? The same rules apply when it comes to buying online or creating accounts on new Web

sites: Make sure the site is trustworthy.

If you're buying from a retailer you've never heard of, do a little research on them first. They could have

notoriously lax security and have a history of losing customer credit card information to hacking breaches.

Finally, be aware of what computers you're logged into. Browsers will often ask to save your login

information and keep a login session alive as long as the browser is open. If you log in to Facebook or

your e-mail account on a friend's laptop and then leave, you'll likely still be logged in to those sites. If

they're trustworthy, that may not be a problem. But what if you're using a public computer? Stay logged in

to one of those and anyone could gain access to your account. Yep, that would be bad. Unless you're

using your own computer, remember to log out and never save your password and user information.

Browse safe, and with a little luck, you'll never have to worry about anyone finding a single one of your

online passwords.

5 Signs Your Facebook Post Will Land You on FailbookFailbook is set up to showcase all the wins, fails and facepalms that haunt the spidery halls of Facebook (and other social networks). So what is a "fail," and how do you know if you're committing one? Read more »

Lots More Information

Top 10 Things You Should Not Share on Social Networks

How Encryption Works

Top 5 Internet Security Videos

How to Back Up a Hard Drive

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Cloud Networks: The Next Chapter In The Open Cloud

8

Filed in PRODUCT & DEVELOPMENT

on October 30th, 2012 by Jamey Meredith

inShare69

Wow! 2012 has been a great year for the open cloud at Rackspace. Actually, it’s been the year of

the open cloud for us and our customers. Over the past few months, our vision of what the open

cloud can mean has really gained momentum — we’ve launched Cloud Databases, Cloud Servers

powered by OpenStack, Cloud Monitoring and a new Cloud Control Panel. Also, just last week, we

made Cloud Block Storage available to all of our customers. And we’re not done yet.

We plan to drive this momentum by continuing to leverage open technology to bring solutions to

market that truly help solve our customers immediate business needs. With that said, we’d like to

mark the culmination of 2012 with another great announcement.

http://www.rackspace.com/blog?author=257

Today, we make an exciting new feature available on our next-generation Cloud Servers: Cloud

Networks!

What is Cloud Networks?

Cloud Networks allows you to create isolated, multi-tiered networks on our Cloud Servers powered

by OpenStack, all with the click of a button. It greatly simplifies networking in the cloud. Cloud

Networks allows you to:

Enhance the network security for your Cloud Servers by running web application and database

servers on an isolated network to filter illegitimate traffic from your web server(s).

Increase the agility of complex applications by controlling and managing your application

tiers.Cloud-aware applications can now not only control compute and storage resources, they can

create networks and add resources to secure networks as needed.

Improve the scalability and ensure the higher availability of your servers by building clusters

with broadcast and multicast – supported by Cloud Networks

Best of all, we’ve placed no restrictions on your isolated networks. With Cloud Networks, you’re free

to design virtual networks that look like traditional Layer 2 networks in both architecture and function,

without restrictions to capabilities such as broadcast and multicast.

What is the technology behind Cloud Networks?

Historically, the networking architecture for the Rackspace Cloud has provided access to the Internet

via PublicNet and inter-server communication through a “private” network called ServiceNet.

ServiceNet allows you to access services like Backup, Storage and Monitoring. Like most other

cloud hosting providers using traditional networking, this type of architecture (called a flat network)

doesn’t allow for network segmentation or the ability to completely isolate mission-critical data from

external threats.

By leveraging Open vSwitch managed by Nicira’s Network Virtualization Platform, we replaced

traditional network bridges in our cloud network architecture and enabled software-defined

networking for enhanced network security in the cloud.

Creating an isolated network

You will be able to create an isolated network by simply clicking the “Create Network” button when

provisioning a next generation Cloud Server in the Cloud Control Panel:

You’ll then have the opportunity to name your network and create it together with your new server

instance (or just select one if you have previously created it).

When can I get it?

We are gradually phasing in the availability of Cloud Networks across our cloud

infrastructure to avoid performance degradation and to maintain an appropriate level of service and

Fanatical Support. If you don’t have access to it today, you definitely will in the near future. However,

if you’re as excited as we are about Cloud Networks and just can’t wait to have it rolled out to your

environment, you can request access now by visiting https://www.iwantcloudnetworks.com/and

completing the simple request form. We will review your request and provide you with access as

soon as possible.

Please note that Cloud Networks is currently only available for next-generation Cloud Servers

at creation time. We’re actively working to enable Cloud Networks for existing, next-generation

Cloud Servers and anticipate availability soon. In the meantime, if you are a next-generation Cloud

Servers customer and you would like to use Cloud Networks for an existing server, you can simply

create a snapshot of your server and then build a new server from that snapshot. Be aware that your

server IP address will change during this process.

What’s next?

Now, where it gets really exciting is when we take Cloud Networks to the next level by adding virtual

appliances and allowing you to create advanced, networking configurations spanning multiple

regions.

This is only the beginning for the open cloud at Rackspace. Stay tuned!

To learn more about Cloud Networks and how you can use them in your environment, check back

soon for a post that takes a deeper dive into the use cases for Cloud Networks.

In the cloud computing - a beginner's tutorial

Page 1 of 3

What is cloud computing? Cloud computing has become the new buzz word driven largely by marketing and service offerings from big corporate players like Google, IBM and Amazon. Cloud computing is the next stage in evolution of the Internet. Cloud computing provides the means through which everything — from computing power to computing infrastructure, applications, business processes to personal collaboration — can be delivered to you as a service wherever and whenever you need.

A brief history of client-server applications

Those of you who have been in the trenches of IT for one decade or two, would remember that the first type of client-server application that was popular is the mainframe and terminal application. At that time, storage and CPU was very expensive and the mainframe pooled both types of resources and served them to thin-client terminals. With the advent of the PC revolution, which brought mass storage and cheap CPUs to the average corporate desktop, the file server gained in popularity as way to enable document sharing and archiving. True to its name, the file server served up storage resources to clients in the enterprise, while the CPU cycles needed to do productive work with those resources were all produced and consumed within the confines of the PC client.

In the early 1990s, the budding Internet finally had enough computers attached to it that academics began thinking seriously about how to connect those machines together to create massive, shared pools of storage and compute power that would be much larger than what any one institution could afford to build. This is when the idea of "the grid" began to take shape.

The term "grid" is misinterpreted as a synonym for "cloud" as they both are made up with the addition of lots of computers connected. However they are two different things:

Grid computing requires the use of software that can divide and farm out pieces of a program as one large system image to several thousand computers. One concern about grid is that if one piece of the software on a node fails, other pieces of the software on other nodes may fail. This is alleviated if that component has a failover component on another node, but problems can still arise if components rely on other pieces of software to accomplish one or more grid computing tasks. Large system images and associated hardware to operate and maintain them can contribute to large capital and operating expenses.

Cloud computing evolves from grid computing and provides on-demand resource provisioning. Grid computing may or may not be in the cloud depending on what type of users are using it. If the users are systems administrators and integrators, they care how things are maintained in the cloud. They upgrade, install, and virtualize servers and applications. If the users are consumers, they do not care how things are run in the system.

The difference between grid computing and cloud computing is hard to grasp because they are not always mutually exclusive. In fact, they are both used to economize computing by maximising existing resources.

However, the difference between the two lies in the way the tasks are computed in each respective environment. In a computational grid, one large job is divided into many small portions and executed on multiple machines. This characteristic is fundamental to a grid; not so in a cloud.

The computing cloud is intended to allow the user to avail of various services without investing in the underlying architecture.

Cloud services include the delivery of software, infrastructure, and storage over the Internet (either as separate components or a complete platform) based on user demand.

Advantages of cloud computing:

The most effective transition to a cloud computing approach enables organizations to yield the following benefits:

On demand service provisioning: by using Self-service provisioning customers can easily get cloud services without going through a lengthy process. The customer simply requests an amount of computing, storage, software, process, or other resources from the service provider.

Elasticity: that is simple to add more stuff. Cloud computing provides the ability to scale up and down when additional users are added and when the application requirements change.

Cost reduction: As a matter of fact, companies are often challenged to increase the functionality of IT while minimizing capital expenditures. By purchasing just the right amount of IT resources on demand the organization can avoid purchasing unnecessary equipment.

Application programming interfaces (APIs): accessibility to software that enables machines to interact with cloud software in the same way the user interface facilitates interaction between humans and computers. Cloud Computing systems typically use REST based APIs.

What is the landscape of cloud computing ?

there are mainly three forms of cloud computing:

Public Cloud: IT resources offered as a service and shared across multiple organizations, managed by an external service provider Private Cloud: IT resources dedicated to a single organization and offered on demand Hybrid Cloud: a mix of private and public clouds managed as a single entity to extend capacity across clouds as neededWhich areas of the IT can you leverage with cloud computing ? basically three areas, which are known as the cloud models :

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is the delivery of computer hardware (servers,networking technology, storage, and data center space) as a service. It may also include the delivery of operating systems and virtualization technology to manage the resources. Benefits: makes the acquisition of hardware easier. Makes instant provisioning of hardware resources in a cheap way.Examples:The Platform as a Service layer (Paas) offers development environments that IT organizations can use to create cloud-ready business applications. A PaaS is ultimately a contract between an hosted environment and user-provided extensions.

The Software as a Service (Iaas) layer offers purpose-built business applications In practical terms, this is the piece of cloud you are likely to build.Example:You might wonder if it's possible that some services can be both defined as Platform and as Software: the answer is,of course yes! Take for example Facebook. We might define Facebook both as Platform where various services can be delivered and also as business applications (Facebook Api) which are developed by the end user.<

Cloud security

IT security is a very complicated area of cloud computing. From one point of view, security could improve due to centralization of data,increased security-focused resources. On the other hand concerns can persist about loss of control over certain sensitive data, and the lack of security for stored kernels. In other words you will be trusting your security to the cloud provider. If that provider hasn’t done a good job securing its own environment, you could be in trouble. Measuring the quality of a provider’s approach to security is difficult because many cloud providers don’t expose their infrastructure to customers.

Neil MacDonald, vice president at Gartner, explains that security must be an integral, but separately configurable part of the private cloud fabric, designed as a set of on-demand, elastic and programmable services. To achieve this, cloud security must display six different attributes:1. On-Demand Elastic Services

Security needs to be delivered as a service rather than as a set of products siloed within physical appliances. Like other cloud services, it needs to be delivered ‘on demand’ to protect data and projects when and where protection is needed.

2. Programmable Infrastructure

The security services that are applied across the cloud must be open to being programmed. With programmable security infrastructure, the services should be accessible using RESTful APIs that are programming language and framework independent.

3. Logical Security Policies

As security services are deployed in virtualized data centers and then private clouds, security policies need to be cut away from physical infrastructure and related to logical rather than physical attributes. By removing static security policies (associated with static attributes) the security assessments will be delivered quicker as well.

4. Adaptive Trust Zones

By creating trust zones or logical groups of workloads a better and more efficient security

can be delivered.This is in contrast to a security infrastructure where policies are applied on a VM-machine by VM-machine basis.

5. Configurable Security Policy Management

You should be able to configure security levels as your applications move from on-premise to private clouds. Software controls need to be maintained when they are virtualized, the separation of duties assigned to the software should also be maintained.

6. ‘Federatable’ Policies

Though there are no established standards at the moment, it would be required that as private clouds will be applied incrementally, security polices would be applicable not only to private clouds, but also to the remaining infrastructure, both virtualized and physical, and would be intelligently able to cooperate.

Conclusion

That was an introduction to cloud computing, depicting just the basic concepts. In the next tutorial we will see what are the JBoss' solutions as far as it concerns cloud computing. Stay tuned!

How Cloud Computing Works

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