BTMA 317 > Tech Guide 3 > Flashcards
Tech Guide 3 Flashcards
what is cloud computing
computing that delivers convenient, on demand, pay as you go access to a resource
what programs use cloud computing
servers, networks, storage, apps, and services
Stages of IT infrastructure
stand alone mainframes ->
mainframe and dumb terminals ->
standalone pcs ->
local area networks (LANS) ->
enterprise computing ->
cloud computing and mobile computing
What is stand alone mainframes:
initially used mainframe computers in engg and accounting, only MIS has accesss to it
What is mainframe and dumb terminals
Forcing users to go to wherever the mainframe was located was time consuming and inefficient. As a result, firms began placing so-called dumb terminals—essentially electronic typewriters with limited processing power—in user departments. This arrangement enabled users to input computer programs into the mainframe from their departments, a process called remote job entry
What is standalone personal computers:
In the late 1970s, the first personal computers appeared. The IBM PC’s debut in 1981 legitimized the entire personal computer market. Users began bringing personal computers to the workplace to improve their productivity—for example, by using spreadsheet and word processing applications. These computers were not initially supported by the firm’s MIS department. However, as the number of personal computers increased dramatically, organizations decided to support these devices, and they established policies as to which PCs and software they would support.
What is local area networks:
When personal computers are networked, individual productivity increases. For this reason, organizations began to connect personal computers to local area networks (LANs) and then connected these LANs to the mainframe, a type of processing known as client/server computing.
What is enterprise computing:
In the early 1990s, organizations began to use networking standards to integrate different kinds of networks throughout the firm, thereby creating enterprise computing. As the Internet became widespread after 1995, organizations began using the TCP/IP networking protocol to integrate different types of networks. All types of hardware were networked, including mainframes, personal computers, smartphones, printers, and many others. Software applications and data now flow seamlessly throughout the enterprise and between organizations.
What is cloud computing and mobile computing:
Today, organizations and individuals can use the power of cloud computing. As you will see in this Technology Guide, cloud computing provides access to a shared pool of computing resources, including computers, storage, applications, and services, over a network, typically the Internet.
what do most large firms still use today
mainframe computers (large servers to manage operations)
what did IT departments use before cloud computing
On-premise computing!
Why is on premise computing not ideal
because it incurs expenses , a lot of software, hardware, salaries
How does cloud competing provide on demand self service
customers can increase scale up or scale down the amount of computing they need
(depnding on business season)C
Cloud computing encompasses the characteristics of grid computing
this!
what is grid computing
pools various hardware and software compinents together into one shared resources environment
-> allows orgs to use resources more efficienctly
-> provides fault tolerance and redundancy
-> easy to scale up
-> easy to scale fown (Remove computers)
pros of cloud computing
-on demand self service
-encompass grid computing
-encompass utility computing
-uses broad netwrok access
-cloud computing pools computing resources
-cloud computing often occurs on virtualized servers
WHAT is utility computing?
a service provider makes resources available to customers as needed, charges customer based on usage not flat rate
how does cloud computing uses broad network access?
clouds computing resources are available over a network, accessed via a browser, so they can be used with any computing device
Cloud Computing Pools Computing Resources
The provider’s computing resources are available to serve multiple customers. These resources are dynamically assigned and reassigned according to customer demand
Cloud Computing Often Occurs on Virtualized Servers
Cloud computing providers have placed hundreds or thousands of networked servers inside massive data centres called server farms (see Figure TG 3.1). Recall that a server is a computer that supports networks, thus enabling users to share files, software, and other network devices. Server farms require massive amounts of electrical power, air-conditioning, backup generators, and security. They also need to be located fairly close to fibre-optic communications links
do orgs use all of their total computing capcity?
no! only 5-10%
but this is okay because they have extra in ncase useage spikes
Over a decade later, the city’s continuing efforts to develop a more advanced digital community had resulted in an increasing number of physical servers, with accompanying increases in power consumption. The rise in power usage was a particular problem as the city has a strong commitment to eco-friendliness.
To reduce hardware expenses, the city had been running multiple applications on a single physical server, an approach that sometimes caused server availability issues. To make the system more secure and stable, the city wanted to have an individual dedicated server for each application.
The city decided to implement a server virtualization solution and realized a number of benefits. First, the city reduced its number of physical servers from 12 to 4. This reduction led to decreases in power consumption, which has helped the city reduce its environmental impact. Second, each application now runs on a single virtual machine. This benefit means that server availability has markedly increased, each app runs more efficiently, and the entire system is more stable. Third, by virtualizing its data centre, the city is able to address future server resource needs without having to add additional physical servers.
With cloud computing, setting up and maintaining an IT infrastructure need no longer be a challenge for an organization. Businesses do not have to scramble to meet the evolving needs of developing applications. Cloud computing also reduces upfront capital expenses and operational costs, and it enables businesses to better use their infrastructure and to share it from one project to the next. In general, cloud computing eases the difficult tasks of procuring, configuring, and maintaining hardware and software environments. It also allows enterprises to get their applications up and running faster, with easier manageability and less maintenance. It also enables IT to adjust IT resources (e.g., servers, storage, and networking) more rapidly to meet fluctuating and unpredictable business demand.
Businesses are increasingly employing cloud computing for important and innovative work. Let’s take a look at Lionsgate’s (www.lionsgate.com) use of Amazon Web Services.
Lionsgate is a global entertainment corporation founded in Vancouver with a headquarter located in California. Lionsgate produces feature films and television shows, which it distributes worldwide. Its products include the television show Mad Men and the movie Hunger Games. Its productions appear in theatres, on TV, and online. As a successful media and entertainment company, Lionsgate faced IT challenges that included a need for additional IT infrastructure capacity, leading to increased costs; increasing enterprise application workloads; and faster time-to-market requirements.
As a result, the company turned to Amazon Web Services (AWS; http://aws.amazon.com) for development and test workloads; production workloads for enterprise applications; and backup, archive, and disaster recovery strategies. Lionsgate’s objectives were to reduce costs, increase flexibility, and increase operational efficiency. Lionsgate decided to use Amazon Simple Storage Service and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud.
Lionsgate has experienced many benefits from using AWS. The firm has reduced the time required to deploy infrastructure from weeks to days or hours. Furthermore, testing and development for its SAP applications also requires less time. AWS has increased the speed of building servers, improved disaster recovery and systems backup, and increased systems availability. The company avoided acquiring additional data centre space, saving an estimated US $1 million over three years. Overall, Lionsgate believes that moving to AWS saved the company about 50 percent compared with a traditional hosting facility.
These benefits have helped Lionsgate become more agile and more responsive to rapidly changing conditions in the marketplace. AWS has also contributed to helping the company maintain its systems security. Lionsgate is able to use its existing hardware policies and procedures for a secure, seamless, and scalable computing environment that requires few resources to manage.
In the next section, you learn about the various ways in which customers (individuals and organizations) can implement cloud computing. Specifically, you will read about public clouds, private clouds, hybrid clouds, and vertical clouds.
Over a decade later, the city’s continuing efforts to develop a more advanced digital community had resulted in an increasing number of physical servers, with accompanying increases in power consumption. The rise in power usage was a particular problem as the city has a strong commitment to eco-friendliness.
To reduce hardware expenses, the city had been running multiple applications on a single physical server, an approach that sometimes caused server availability issues. To make the system more secure and stable, the city wanted to have an individual dedicated server for each application.
The city decided to implement a server virtualization solution and realized a number of benefits. First, the city reduced its number of physical servers from 12 to 4. This reduction led to decreases in power consumption, which has helped the city reduce its environmental impact. Second, each application now runs on a single virtual machine. This benefit means that server availability has markedly increased, each app runs more efficiently, and the entire system is more stable. Third, by virtualizing its data centre, the city is able to address future server resource needs without having to add additional physical servers.
With cloud computing, setting up and maintaining an IT infrastructure need no longer be a challenge for an organization. Businesses do not have to scramble to meet the evolving needs of developing applications. Cloud computing also reduces upfront capital expenses and operational costs, and it enables businesses to better use their infrastructure and to share it from one project to the next. In general, cloud computing eases the difficult tasks of procuring, configuring, and maintaining hardware and software environments. It also allows enterprises to get their applications up and running faster, with easier manageability and less maintenance. It also enables IT to adjust IT resources (e.g., servers, storage, and networking) more rapidly to meet fluctuating and unpredictable business demand.
Businesses are increasingly employing cloud computing for important and innovative work. Let’s take a look at Lionsgate’s (www.lionsgate.com) use of Amazon Web Services.
Lionsgate is a global entertainment corporation founded in Vancouver with a headquarter located in California. Lionsgate produces feature films and television shows, which it distributes worldwide. Its products include the television show Mad Men and the movie Hunger Games. Its productions appear in theatres, on TV, and online. As a successful media and entertainment company, Lionsgate faced IT challenges that included a need for additional IT infrastructure capacity, leading to increased costs; increasing enterprise application workloads; and faster time-to-market requirements.
As a result, the company turned to Amazon Web Services (AWS; http://aws.amazon.com) for development and test workloads; production workloads for enterprise applications; and backup, archive, and disaster recovery strategies. Lionsgate’s objectives were to reduce costs, increase flexibility, and increase operational efficiency. Lionsgate decided to use Amazon Simple Storage Service and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud.
Lionsgate has experienced many benefits from using AWS. The firm has reduced the time required to deploy infrastructure from weeks to days or hours. Furthermore, testing and development for its SAP applications also requires less time. AWS has increased the speed of building servers, improved disaster recovery and systems backup, and increased systems availability. The company avoided acquiring additional data centre space, saving an estimated US $1 million over three years. Overall, Lionsgate believes that moving to AWS saved the company about 50 percent compared with a traditional hosting facility.
These benefits have helped Lionsgate become more agile and more responsive to rapidly changing conditions in the marketplace. AWS has also contributed to helping the company maintain its systems security. Lionsgate is able to use its existing hardware policies and procedures for a secure, seamless, and scalable computing environment that requires few resources to manage.
In the next section, you learn about the various ways in which customers (individuals and organizations) can implement cloud computing. Specifically, you will read about public clouds, private clouds, hybrid clouds, and vertical clouds.
what are the three MAJOR different types of clouds + 1 minor one
1) public clouds
2) privaate clouds
3) hybrid clouds
+1) vertical cloud
Public Clouds
shared, easily accessible, multicustomer (individual, groups, orgs)
Amazon Public cloud
Google Public cloud
What are private clouds
internal/corporate clouds
IT accessible by only one entity/group of related entitites
Private clouds (also known as internal clouds or corporate clouds) are IT infrastructures that can be accessed only by a single entity or by an exclusive group of related entities that share the same purpose and requirements, such as all of the business units within a single organization. Private clouds provide IT activities and applications as a service over an intranet within an enterprise. Enterprises adopt private clouds to ensure system and data security. For this reason, these systems are implemented behind the corporate firewall. As an example of a private cloud, let’s take a look at Hong Leong Bank, one of the largest banks in Malaysia (www.hlb.com.my).
Hong Leong Bank is an international bank with more than 300 branches across Malaysia and Cambodia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Vietnam. The bank has been experiencing unprecedented growth in recent years, mainly through the acquisition of other banks.
The bank has been seeking to transition many of the retail branch-based services to the Internet. However, the bank’s legacy systems (old computer systems that continue to be used, even though newer technology is available) had limited capabilities to accommodate the additional growth that the company was experiencing and still provide excellent customer service.
To respond to this new challenge, Hong Leong Bank implemented a private cloud environment by IBM, including on-premise hardware, software, network, and storage resources. This private cloud provides Hong Leong Bank’s IT department with the flexibility and data privacy levels that the bank desired, allowing it to quickly develop, test, and deploy new applications across the bank. One of the key features of the new private cloud is a console view for simplified systems management, bringing new banking applications faster to those who need them and at a lower annual cost.
What arae hybrid clouds
public and private clouds combined that are unique entities but TIGHTLY INTEGRATED
Hybrid clouds are composed of public and private clouds that remain unique entities, but are nevertheless tightly integrated. This arrangement offers users the benefits of multiple deployment models. Hybrid clouds deliver services based on security requirements, the mission-critical nature of the applications, and other company-established policies. For example, customers may need to maintain some of their data in a private cloud for security and privacy reasons while storing other, less-sensitive data in a public cloud because it is less expensive. Let’s examine an example of hybrid cloud computing in the city of Asheville, North Carolina.
Operating a disaster recovery (DR) facility is expensive, complex, and time consuming because an organization has to set up and maintain an entire backup information technology infrastructure. The new chief information officer of the city of Asheville, North Carolina, quickly noticed that Asheville had a DR facility, but it was located only two blocks from the city’s main data centre. This situation meant that there was not enough geographic dispersal for effective recovery from a disaster.
He turned to cloud computing to help Asheville obtain the necessary geographic dispersal for its DR efforts. He wanted to provide disaster recovery for the city’s on-premise applications in the public cloud. As a result, the city used CloudVelox (www.cloudvelox.com), a cloud vendor that offers automated cloud migration and disaster recovery software for deploying organizations’ applications and services to the cloud. The city’s apps remain in storage in the cloud, ready to be activated if and when they are needed. As the city operates its apps on its private cloud in its main data centre, the apps on the public cloud are automatically updated in real time.
Operating the city’s DR efforts in the cloud reduced the overall DR cost. Furthermore, the city’s financial results improved because the DR efforts are now an operating expenditure rather than a capital expenditure.
what is a vertical cloud
a set of cloud computing solutions that are made to be used in a particular business model or sector.
Cloud computing services- 3 models
1) infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
2) Platform as a service (PaaS)
3) Software as a service (SaaS)
what are 3 types of computing required by consumers
infrasturcutre, platforma, software!!
As you examine the figure from left to right, note that the customer manages the service less and less, and the vendor manages it more and more.
Although each model has its distinctive features, all three share certain characteristics. First, customers rent them instead of buying them. This arrangement shifts IT from a capital expense to an operating expense. Second, vendors are responsible for maintenance, administration, capacity planning, troubleshooting, and backups. Finally, obtaining additional computing resources—that is, scale from the cloud—is usually fast and easy. Examples are more storage from an IaaS vendor, the ability to handle more PaaS projects, and more users of a SaaS application.
yellow diagram
What is IaaS
-remotely accessible servers, networks, storage capcity
-To deploy their applications, IaaS users install their operating system and their application software on the cloud computing provider’s computers. They can deploy any software on this infrastructure, including different operating systems, applications, and development platforms. Each user is responsible for maintaining their operating system and application software. Cloud providers typically bill IaaS services on a utility computing basis—that is, the cost reflects the number of resources the user consumes.
who are customers of IaaS
tech companies with IT expertise, want access to computing power but dont want to be responsible for installing/maintaining it
example of IaaS
SHOPIFY! they have a platform that people can manage their online business on!!!
for a monthly rate they can use it all
What is PaaS
customers rent servers, operating systems, storage, database
customer runs both existing apps and to develop and test new apps
pros of PaaS
In the platform-as-a-service (PaaS) model, customers rent servers, operating systems, storage, a database, software development technologies such as Java and .NET, and network capacity over the Internet. The PaaS model allows the customer to both run existing applications and to develop and test new applications. PaaS offers customers several advantages, which include the following:
Application developers can develop and run their software solutions on a cloud platform without the cost and complexity of buying and managing the underlying hardware and software layers.
Underlying computing and storage resources automatically scale to match application demand.
Operating system features can be upgraded frequently.
Geographically distributed development teams can work together on software development projects.
PaaS services can be provided by diverse sources located throughout the world.
Initial and ongoing costs can be reduced by the use of infrastructure services from a single vendor rather than maintaining multiple hardware facilities that often perform duplicate functions or suffer from incompatibility problems.
For example, consider Twilio. Twilio (www.twilio.com) is a cloud-computing platform-as-a-service company that allows developers to produce software for a variety of communications functions, including making and receiving phone calls, sending and receiving text messages, and others. Twilio customers use the software to enable billions of connections among more than 1 billion devices. In fact, Twilio customers can build and deploy a call centre using only Twilio software. In that way, they do not have to buy expensive equipment and communications software.
Twilio connects to the global telecommunications network through 22 data centres in 7 regions and has agreements with most of the major carriers that allow it to deliver a message to almost any phone in the world. Let’s look at examples of Twilio software in use.
Twilio operates texts, alerts, and voice calls on the Uber app. When a driver and passenger call each other, they do so through a Twilio number that keeps their own phone numbers private.
Match.com links potential couples without revealing their phone numbers.
Airbnb sends rental notifications via Twilio.
ING (www.ing.com), a Netherlands banking company, used Twilio software to replace 17 hardware and software systems that it had been using in its global call centres.
Globo (www.globo.com) connects customers with translators around the world over the telephone. The company, which offers email, text, and document translations, connects the calls using Twilio software and routes them to appropriate translators, not only by language but also by area of expertise, such as medical, legal, technological, and other areas.
Marks & Spencer (www.marksandspencer.com) switched from its legacy switchboard to use Twilio to power its customer communications across its 640 locations and 13 call centres. When a customer calls any Marks & Spencer store, the company’s Twilio system immediately establishes what the customer is calling about and then routes the call to the correct destination. Accordingly, the retailer can now analyze customer intent in real time for more than 12 million customer interactions annually.
SaaS
With the software-as-a-service (SaaS) delivery model, cloud computing vendors provide software that is specific to their customers’ requirements. SaaS is the most widely used service model, and it provides a broad range of software applications. SaaS providers typically charge their customers a monthly or yearly subscription fee.
SaaS applications reside in the cloud instead of on a user’s hard drive or in a data centre. The host manages the software and the infrastructure that runs this software and stores the customer’s data. The customers do not control either the software, beyond the usual configuration settings, or the infrastructure, beyond changing the resources they use, such as the amount of disk space required for their data. This process eliminates the need to install and run the application on the user’s computers, thereby simplifying maintenance and support.
What differentiates SaaS applications from other applications is their ability to scale. As a result, applications can run on as many servers as is necessary to meet changing demands. This process is transparent to the user.
To reduce the risk of an infrastructure outage, SaaS providers regularly back up all of their customers’ data. Customers can also back up their data on their own storage hardware.
To understand how SaaS operates, consider Mary Kay (www.marykay.com). The cosmetics giant implemented Oracle’s Taleo cloud-based recruitment software in the United States, China, and Brazil. Before 2014, Mary Kay did not have an applicant tracking system. The company’s recruiting process was performed with Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and Access databases. Recruiters at Mary Kay lacked visibility on the manual system. If someone applied for a job in two different departments, a recruiter from each department would often call the applicant without realizing that the other recruiter had also contacted the applicant.
Taleo provides Mary Kay with a centralized repository for tracking internal and external job candidates. The software also automated processes such as job applications, onboarding, and forms. Taleo also integrates with LinkedIn, providing instant access to LinkedIn profiles and candidate records with a single click. Furthermore, Taleo can fill in forms with LinkedIn credentials.
For another example, consider the City Football Group (CFG; www.cityfootballgroup.com), which owns and operates football (soccer) clubs in England, Australia, New York City, and Japan. CFG employs approximately 1,000 people around the world.
In the past, CFG used paper for performance reviews and employees had to file paper forms for holidays or to update their human resource (HR) records. Such manual processes were designed only for the CFG and were not designed for an international business. As a result of these limitations and the rapid growth of the company, the CFG implemented SAP’s cloud-based, human resource management software-as-a-service product.
The SaaS product enabled CFG employees to complete their six-month performance and development reviews (PDRs) online, simplifying the previous paper-based process. As an additional benefit, managers knew who had not completed their reviews and the stage of those reviews.
After the employees loaded their goals into the software, they met with their managers to discuss their progress and complete narrative updates. Most CFG employees were responsible for between five and eight goals during performance periods. Prior to the SAP HR system, it took much longer to have employee PDRs complete and accurate.
what is a server farm
massive data centre
-> contains 100,000s netwroked servers and devices
-> use software based partitions to create multiple “virtual machines” on a single PHYSICAL server
