The Cloud and Virtual Worlds - Cloud & Virtualization Basics

IT On-Demand: Defining the Cloud (computing services over the internet)

Cloud Computing is the on-demand delivery of IT resources and services over the internet with pay-as-you-go pricing. Instead of buying, owning, and maintaining your own physical servers and data centers, you can access technology services, such as computing power, storage, and databases, from a cloud provider like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud.

The core idea is a shift from Capital Expenditure (CapEx)—spending a lot of money upfront on hardware—to Operational Expenditure (OpEx)—paying only for the resources you actually consume, like a utility bill.

Key characteristics of the cloud include:

• On-Demand Self-Service: You can provision computing resources like servers and storage as needed without human intervention.
• Broad Network Access: Services are available over the network and can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection.
• Resource Pooling: The provider's resources are pooled to serve multiple customers, with resources dynamically assigned according to demand.
• Rapid Elasticity: You can quickly and easily scale your resources up or down to match your needs. For example, a retail website can instantly add more servers to handle Black Friday traffic and then scale back down when the rush is over.
• Measured Service: Resource usage is monitored, controlled, and reported, providing transparency for both the provider and the consumer.