Cloud computing.

Evelyn Ita — Sat, 15 Apr 2023 06:52:40 +0000

In this blog post we will delve into cloud computing, the benefits of using the cloud over the typical on-premise solutions, cloud computing models and services.

Introduction

Cloud computing is a delivery model for enabling convenient, on-demand self service access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources. e.g networks, virtual machines, storage and applications that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.

In simple terms, it is the delivery of services over the internet. It hides away the complexity of technology from the users as well as details of how the service is generated.

Benefits

Low cost: There is significant reduction in infrastructure and operational cost.
Scalability: It gives us the opportunity to adjust our resources to meet our demand. We can scale up or scale down according to requirement.
High availability
Security Performance/Agility: It takes less time to provision resources when needed.

Cloud Models

Public Cloud: This is owned and controlled by cloud service providers and shared by multiple organizations. Customers pay for service consumed, thereby saving and reducing costs. Public cloud also has its disadvantages which includes it being multi tenant i.e resources, such as servers, storage, and network devices, are shared among multiple users or customers. Making it the least secured of all 3 cloud models.

Private cloud: A Private Cloud is a model of cloud computing where the infrastructure is dedicated to a single user organization. A private cloud can be hosted either at an organization’s own data center, at a third party colocation facility, or via a private cloud provider who offers private cloud hosting services and may or may not also offer traditional public shared multi-tenant cloud infrastructure.

Typically, the end-user organization is responsible for the operation of a private cloud as if it were a traditional on-premises infrastructure, which includes ongoing maintenance, upgrades, OS patches, middleware, and application software management.

Private Cloud Solutions offer organizations more control over and better security of private cloud servers, although it does require a much higher level of IT expertise than utilizing a public cloud.

Hybrid cloud: Hybrid Cloud refers to a cloud computing model that uses a combination of at least one private cloud and at least one public cloud, which works together to provide a flexible mix of cloud computing services.

Cloud Services

Infrastructure as a service(Iaas): The most flexible type of cloud service. It provides users with control and flexibility over their application. While the cloud provider manages the infrastructure, it is the responsibility of the user to manage the platform, application and data.

Platform as a service(Paas): It provides on-demand platform for developing, testing and managing software applications. it makes it easy for developers to quickly create an application without having to worry about underlying infrastructure. In Paas, the cloud provider maintains the physical infrastructure as well as the platform. While the user manages the application and data.

Software as a service(Saas): In this cloud service, the cloud provider hosts and manages the infrastructure, platform and application. This is the easiest to run cloud service.

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Creating an EC2 Virtual Machine on AWS Management console

Evelyn Ita — Fri, 07 Apr 2023 18:06:48 +0000

What is a virtual Machine?

A virtual machine is a digital emulation of a physical computer. It provides a complete virtual environment, that includes virtualized hardware such as CPU, memory, storage, network interfaces and other devices.
It runs independently of the host i.e. it operates as a physical computer.

Amazon web services(AWS), like other public cloud vendors enables you to build, manage and deploy applications that can be accessible over the internet using your favorite tools and services offered.
It provides services that enable you perform different functions, from running an existing application on virtual machines, saving backup files in cloud to creating and deploying.

To create a virtual machine on AWS we go through the following steps:
Step 1 - Create a free AWS account here

Step 2

Click on the services tab -> compute
Then click on EC2 to setup VM

Step 3 : We create an instance

Click on instances from the dropdown
Next you launch instance

Step 4

Set preferred name for your virtual machine
Select preferred operating system, server type and instance type
Create your key pair, input a unique key pair name.

Step 5 : We configure our network settings but if you have an existing network, that can be use. Else, we use the default preselected network. Then, select "Allow RDP traffic from".
Every other default setting remains the same, then we click on the "launch instance" button at the bottom right of our screen to deploy our virtual machine.

Select the preferred instance then click on connect

You might get a warning that says "we weren't able to connect to your instance". click on the RDP client tab
NB: if you are doing the setup on a macbook, you will need to download a remote desktop to avoid login difficulties.
But first, let's setup our unique password.
Click on get password
Upload the downloaded file generated when key pair was created.

Click on Decrypt password
Copy generated password Next, we download remote desktop file

We launch the downloaded remote desktop and it requests for a password. We input the copied password from the previous step...
And Voila our Virtual Machine is up and running.

To terminate a resource so as not to incur unexpected charges:

Return to the instances tab
Select the Virtual machine to terminate
Click on the instance state dropdown, the you terminate instance.