Cloud & the Datacenter Flashcards by Tim Meyung

Virtual Servers

Multiple virtual instances exist on a single physical server.
Multiple Windows & Linux servers running simultaneously.
Considerable cost savings for an IT budget
Allows for consolidation of physical servers
Multiple NICs increase bandwidth available

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Hypervisor

Specialized software that enables virtualization to occur.
Hypervisor is the software that emulates the physical hardware.
Also called a VMM (Virtual Machine Monitor)

VMWare ESXi | VMWare Workstation
Hyper-V
Virtual Box

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SAN

Storage Area Network:
Specialized LAN designed for data transfer/storage
Transfers data at block level with special protocol

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SAN: Fibre Channel (FC)

Special purpose hardware providing 1-16Gbps

FCoE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet)
Removes need for specialized hardware
Runs over your Ethernet networks

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SAN: iSCSI

IP Small Computer System Interface:
Lower cost, built using Ethernet switches (<10Gbps)

Relies on configuration allowing jumbo frames over the network

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Infiniband (Virtualized Storage)

Switched fabric topology for high-performance computing.

Very high throughput (>600Gbps) with very low latency (0.5 microseconds)

Direct or switched connection between servers & storage system

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Virtual Firewalls & Routers

To fully virtualize your network, you need a firewall/router.

Virtualized firewall/routers provide the same features as their physical counterparts.

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Virtual Switches

Overcomes the problem of all virtual servers being on one broadcast domain.

Layer 2 control provides VLANs & trunking
Provides QoS & security

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Virtual Desktops

User’s desktop computer is run in a browser
Used from web, laptop, tablet, or phone
Easier to secure & upgrade for the admins

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SDN

Software-Defined Network:
Provides the admin with an easy-to-use front end to configure physical & virtual devices throughout the network

All the configurations are automatically done
Provides admin an overview of the entire network

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VoIP

Voice over IP:
Digitizes voice traffic so that it can be treated like other data on the network.

Uses SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) to setup, maintain, & tear down calls.

Can save a company money & provide enhanced services over a traditional PBX solution

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Virtual PBX & VoIP

Virtual Private Branch Exchange & VoIP:
Ability to outsource your telephone system

Utilizes VoIP to send all data to provider, then provider connects it to telephone system.

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Public Cloud | Private Cloud | Hybrid Cloud

Private: Systems & users only have access with other devices inside of the same private cloud or system.

Public: Systems & users interact with devices on public networks, such as the Internet & other clouds

Hybrid: Combination of private/public

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NaaS

Network as a Service:
Allows outsourcing of a network to a service provider
Hosted off-site at the service provider’s data center & the customer is billed for usage

Charged by hours, processing power, or bandwidth used like utility services.

Examples: Amazon’s VPC or Route 53

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IaaS

Infrastructure as a Service:
Allows outsourcing of the infrastructure of servers or desktops to a service provider.

Hosted off-site at the service provider’s data center & customer is billed for usage

Examples: AWS, Azure

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SaaS

Software as a Service:
User interacts with web-based application
Details of how it works are hidden from users

Examples: Google Docs, Office 365

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PaaS

Platform as a Service:
Provides a development platform for companies that are developing applications without the need for infrastructure.

Examples: OpenShift, Apprenda

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DaaS

Desktop as a Service:
Provides a desktop environment that is accessible through the internet in the form of a cloud desktop or virtual desktop environment.

VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure)

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Cloud Concepts: Elasticity

Attempts to match the resources allocated with the actual amount of resources needed at any given point in time

Focused on meeting the sudden increases/decreases in the workload

Cloud Concepts: Scalability

Handles the growing workload required to maintain good performance/efficiency for a given software/app

Elasticity: Short-term +/- of resources
Scalability: Long-term planning & adoption

Cloud Concepts: Vertical Scaling (Scaling Up)

Increasing the power of the existing resources in the working environment.

Cloud Concepts: Horizontal Scaling (Scaling Out)

Adding additional resources to help handle the extra load being experienced.

Vertical - Scalability
Horizontal - Elasticity

Cloud Concepts: Multitenancy

Allowing customers to share computing resources in a public/private cloud.
(Better storage/access, better use of resources, less overall cost)

May cause data to be hosted on the same physical server as another organization.
(May impose a security risk if one organization on same server fails to secure its virtual environment)

Cloud Concepts: VM Escape

When an attacker breaks out of one of the isolated VMs & begins to directly interact with the underlying hypervisor.

Host virtual servers on the same physical server as other VMs in the same network

IaC

Infrastructure as Code: Enables managing/provisioning of infrastructure through code instead of through manual processes (Virtual machines/devices, scripted automation/orchestration)

IaC: Orchestration

Process of arranging/coordinating the installation & configuration of multiple systems (Lower costs, speed up deployments, increase security)

IaC: Snowflake Systems

Any system that is different form the standard configuration template used within your organization's IaC architecture. Keeping things consistent & using carefully-developed & tested scripts

Cloud: Connectivity Options

VPN: Establishes a secure connection between on-premises network, remote offices, client devices, & provider's global network Ex: AWS Direct Connect Gateway Azure Private Link Private-Direct Connection: Extends preexisting, on-premise data center into the provider's network to directly connect to your virtual private cloud network (Cheaper than VPN)

Community Cloud

Collaborative effort where infrastructure is shared between several organizations from a specific community with common concerns

Private-Direct Connection

Extends preexisting, on-premise data center into the provider's network to directly connect to your virtual private cloud network

Datacenter 3-Tier Hierarchy: Core

1st Layer: Biggest, fastest, most expensive routers Backbone of network Merges geographically separated networks into one logical unit At least 2 routers operating in redundant configuration

Datacenter 3-Tier Hierarchy: Distribution/Aggregation

2nd Layer (Under Core): Boundary Definitions: Implements ACLs/Filters Define policies for network; Layer 3 switches Needs to ensure packets are properly routed between subnets

Datacenter 3-Tier Hierarchy: Access/Edge

``` 3rd Layer (Under Distribution): Used to connect to all endpoint devices ```

SDN Layers: Application Layer

Focuses on the communication resource requests or info about the network as a whole

SDN Layers: Control Layer

Uses the information from the applications & decides how to route a data packet on the network

SDN Layers: Infrastructure Layer

Contains the network devices that receive info about where to move the data & then perform those movements

SDN Layers: Management Plane

Used to monitor traffic conditions & the status of the network

Spine & Leaf Architecture

An alternative type of network architecture that focuses on the communication within the datacenter itself Can give fasters speeds/lower latency than the traditional 3-tiered hierarchy

Top-of-Rack Switching

Installing 2 switches in each server Switches physically installed at the top of the rack Each server on that rack will have a connection to both switches Switches = leaves in the Spine & Leaf Architecture

Traffic Flow: North-South

Traffic that enters/leaves the datacenter from a system physically residing outside the datacenter North: Exiting datacenter South: Entering datacenter

Traffic Flow: East-West

Refers to data flow within a datacenter

On-Premise Datacenter

A traditional, private data infrastructure usually located in the same building as the main offices All other offices = branch offices

Branch Office Datacenter

If you have slower connections with on-premise, you may need to host some of the datacenter in the branch offices too

Co-Located Datacenter

A datacenter environment owned by another company

NAS

Network Attached Storage: | Disk storage is delivered as a service over TCP/IP