Forem: Oluwanifemi Loveth

A Beginner’s Guide to Docker

Oluwanifemi Loveth — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 05:34:57 +0000

As a toolbox is to a mechanic, so is Docker to a developer or engineer. Are you a beginner in the world of Docker and Containerization? Or are you a software engineer, developer, or devOps engineer, etc., who requires an understanding of Docker to deploy pipelines and manage containers at scale?
This article will explain to you in simple terms what the concept of Docker is all about. Let’s dive in.

What is Docker?

Docker is a software platform that allows developers to build, test, and deploy their applications quickly by using containers. It is known worldwide as an open-source container service provider as it provides a standardized way to package, ship, and run applications in containers.

A Docker container is a packaging system that packages an application's code and dependencies in a standard format that allows it to run quickly and reliably across computing environments.

Docker containers are usually lightweight and contain everything needed to run an application. These include libraries, system tools, code, and runtime.

Docker Versus Virtual Machines

Virtual machines and Docker containers are both virtualization technologies, but they differ in their approach and resource usage. The differences between them include the following.

Virtual machines	Docker
Virtual machines have a hypervisor layer	Docker works by a Docker engine layer.
The memory usage is very high because of its additional layers.	In Docker environments, the memory usage is very low.
As you add more software, performance decreases.	Performance is always good because of its light-weight architecture.
Portability is difficult.	Portability is easier
Boot-up time is slow.	Boot-up time is fast.
Running multiple virtual machines in a single environment can lead to instability and performance issues.	Docker is designed to run multiple containers in the same environment.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Docker

Just like any software or technology, Docker also has it good and bad sides. Let’s talk about the advantages and disadvantages of Docker.

Advantages

Docker is the most popular containerization tool, with a market share of 82.84%. It offers a lot of advantages, some of which are:

It offers a fast and consistent delivery of applications: It streamlines the development lifecycle, ensuring that your applications run the same way through standardized environments.
Docker containers allow for highly portable workloads as they can be easily moved and deployed on different environments such as a developer’s local laptop, virtual or physical machines, cloud providers, etc.
Docker containers are lightweight, thus making it a better option than hypervisor-based virtual machines.
Its portability and lightweight also make it easy to manage workloads, scaling up or tearing down applications as the need arises.

Disadvantages of Docker

The disadvantages of Docker include:

Improper configuration and management of containers can potentially cause issues such as instability and resource contention.
Docker containers are more efficient than virtual machines, but they may not be optimal for resource-intensive allocations.
Because Docker containers share the host kernel, a vulnerability in one container can affect the entire system.
Managing multiple containers and orchestrating them can be quite complex and may require specialized knowledge.
It can be difficult to manage large configurations with Docker, as it usually requires additional configuration and management.

Why Should You Use Docker

As a developer or devOps engineer, you can use Docker to create images that include everything your application needs. Docker also allows you to run these images as containers, isolating your application and its dependencies. You can also share Docker images with others or store them in registries (like Docker Hub) for easy distribution and reuse.

In addition to that, Docker gives you the tool and platform for managing the lifecycle of your containers. Its isolation and security let you run many containers simultaneously on a given host.

Docker Architecture, Terms, and Tools

Docker Host: A Docker host is a physical or virtual machine which runs the docker engine.
Docker Image: A Docker image is a read-only template that contains the instructions for creating a Docker container. You can create your images or use those created by others and published in a registry.
Docker Registry: A Docker registry is where Docker images are stored.
Docker Hub: Docker Hub is a public registry where anyone can look to get a Docker image. By default, Docker looks for images on Docker Hub.
Docker Engine: Docker Engine is a client/server application that supports containers on various Windows and Linux operating systems. A Docker engine consists of the Docker daemon, a Docker API that interacts with the daemon, and a command-line interface (CLI) that talks to the daemon.
Docker Daemon: This serves as the control center for Docker implementation. Docker daemon is a service that creates and manages Docker images using commands from the client.
Docker Objects: Docker objects are components of Docker, such as images, containers, networks and plug-ins that help to package and distribute applications.

How to Install Docker on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

Here, I will install Docker on my Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. You can choose to install the Docker Desktop on your Windows OS or Mac directly here. The former has higher performance and uses fewer resources.

Step 1: Update your existing list of packages
sudo apt update

Step 2: Then, install a few prerequisite packages that let apt use packages over HTTPS
sudo apt install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl software-properties-common

Step 3: Add the GPG key for the official Docker repository to your system
curl -fsSL https://download.Docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/Docker-archive-keyring.gpg
Step 4: Add Docker repository to APT sources
echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/Docker-archive-keyring.gpg] https://download.Docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/Docker.list > /dev/null

Step 5: Again, update your existing list of packages for the addition to be recognized
sudo apt update

Step 6: Ensure you install from the Docker repo instead of the default Ubuntu repo
apt-cache policy Docker-ce
Step 7: You will see an output like the one below, meaning that Docker is not installed but the candidate for installation is from the Docker repository for Ubuntu.

Step 8: Install Docker
sudo apt install Docker-ce

Step 9: Check that its running
sudo systemctl status Docker

The output should be something like this;

Congrats, you have successfully installed Docker and it is now running.

Basic Docker Commands

To show the installed Docker version on your system
Docker - - version

To start the Docker daemon
systemctl start Docker

To download or pull an image from Docker hub
Docker pull ‘image name’

To start an existing container
Docker start ‘containerID or name’

To remove a Docker image
Docker rm ‘imageID or name’

To remove a Container
Docker rm ‘ContainerID or name’
To list all images on your machine
Docker images

To run an image
Docker run ‘imagename’
To stop an image/container
Docker stop ‘containerID or name’
If you get stuck
Docker -–help

Whoosh! We have come to the end of this article. I hope this was helpful to you. Do have a good time working with Docker.

To hone your skills as a Cloud Engineer, knowledge of networking is a must-have. Read up in this article the basics of networking. This will equip you to handle your tasks more effciently and also give you a basis to further deepen your understanding.

Oluwanifemi Loveth — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 08:40:58 +0000

Oluwanifemi Loveth

Apr 7 '25

Fundamentals of Networking for Cloud Engineers

#networking #cloud #cloudcomputing #network

Comments

4 min read

Fundamentals of Networking for Cloud Engineers

Oluwanifemi Loveth — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 08:36:25 +0000

Honing your skills as a cloud engineer requires a good knowledge of various concepts, tools, and technologies, and networking is not excluded.
In this article, I covered the fundamentals of Networking to get you started. Let’s dive in.

What is Networking?

Networking is the interconnection of devices such as computers, servers, and hardware to share resources, exchange data, and communicate efficiently through various communication protocols and technologies.
Networks are classified based on size, purpose, and architecture, but the common types include;

Personal Area Network (PAN): This is the smallest network, typically for personal use such as a Bluetooth, hotspot, etc.
Local Area Network (LAN): This covers a small area, like a home, office, or school, such as Wi-Fi in a Cafe.
Wide Area Network (WAN): This connects multiple LANs over large distances such as the Internet.
Metropolitan Area Network (MAN): This spans a larger geographical area, such as a city or Campus.
Virtual Private Network (VPN): This secures a network connection over a public network.

Before we dive deeper, let's look at why an understanding of Networking is essential for Cloud Engineers

Why Cloud Engineers Need an Understanding of Networking

Networking is important for Cloud Engineers because cloud environments rely heavily on network infrastructure for connectivity, security, and performance. Cloud services, whether public, private, or hybrid, require robust networking to enable communication between virtual machines, containers, databases, and other resources.

A solid grasp of networking fundamentals - IP addressing, DNS (Domain Name System), Subnetting, and routing is essential for designing, securing, and optimizing cloud solutions.
So, as a Cloud engineer, the understanding of these things is a must-have.

Key Concepts in Networking

IP address

An IP address (Internet Protocol address) is a unique numerical label assigned to each device connected to a computer network. It acts as a unique identifier for each device, allowing them to communicate with each other over the internet or across networks.

There are two versions of IP addresses;
IPv4: This is the older version. It uses a 32-bit address system. It is usually written in dotted decimal notation eg, 192.168.1.1.
IPv6: This is the newer version. It uses a 128-bit address system. It is usually written in hexadecimal format, separated by colons eg, 2001:0db8:85a3:8a2e:0370:7334.

Subnet

A subnet is a smaller division or segment of a large IP network that has its own unique IP address range. It is also called a subnetwork, and the process of dividing a larger IP network into smaller, more manageable subnetworks is called subnetting.

Types of subnets

1. Private subnet: A private subnet does not have a direct route to the internet gateway, so resources within it cannot access the public internet, except with the aid of a NAT device. (NAT - Network Address Translation)

2. Public Subnet: A public network has a direct route to the internet gateway, allowing resources within it to access the internet.
These are the main types of subnet, but others include;

Regular subnets
VPN-only subnets
Isolated Subnets

Benefits of Subnetting

It improves network performance and speed by ensuring that traffic remains within its designated network. This reduces network congestion and load on individual subnets.
Subnetting enhances security by enabling administrators to control which devices or users can access specific parts of the network.
It simplifies network management by helping network administrators group devices and resources, making it easier to manage and troubleshoot network issues.
It promotes network security and reduces network risks by allowing the isolation of vulnerable, compromised networks.
It facilitates scalability and expansion of the network as it allows for the creation of new subnets as needed.

CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) or Supernetting

CIDR is a method used in networking to allocate IP addresses more efficiently. Before the introduction of CIDR, IP addresses were often divided into fixed classes: A, B and C. This method became inefficient and led to the rapid exhaustion of the IPv4 addresses.
CIDR removes these fixed classes and allows networks to be defined more flexibly using subnet masks written as “/number” after an IP address eg, 192.168.1.0/24.
The part before the slash is the IP address, and the part after the slash (24 in this case) is the subnet mask represented in CIDR notation. The /24 indicates that the first 24 bits of the IP address are used for the network address, and the remaining 8 bits are used for the host address.
CIDR transmits data quickly by enabling routers to organize IP addresses into multiple subnets.

What is a CIDR block?

A CIDR block is a range of IP addresses grouped using CIDR notation. e.g. 10.0.0.0/16 represents 65,536 IP addresses i.e 10.0.0.0 to 10.0.255.255).

Why use CIDR blocks?

Efficient IP address allocation: It prevents wastage. Better network segmentation: It divides large networks into smaller subnets.
Simplifies routing: It reduces the number of routing table entries.

Ports

In networking, ports are like doors that allow data to enter and exit a device over a network. They help computers and servers distinguish between different types of networks and traffic.
Common Port numbers
Ports are identified by numbers from 0 to 65,535. Some common ones include:
Port 80: HTTP (web browsing)
Port 443: HTTPS (secure web browsing)
Port 22: SSH (secure remote login)
Port 25: SMTP (email sending)
Port 53: DNS (domain name resolution)

How Ports Work

Every device connected to a network has an IP address. Ports act as specific channels within an IP address to handle different types of communication. When data is sent over a network, it includes both an IP address (destination) and a port number (service or application).

Ports help to direct network traffic efficiently, ensuring different applications can communicate without interference.

Final Words

With the basic knowledge of networking provided here, I believe you are now equipped to handle simple tasks more efficiently as a cloud engineer, and it also gives you a basis to further deepen your understanding of networking.
Thank you for reading.

Cloud vs DevOps Engineering: All You Need to Know

Oluwanifemi Loveth — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 12:04:49 +0000

Not long after I began my career in Cloud Engineering, I began to hear about DevOps. Yes, we know that things are changing quite rapidly, but what is DevOps when I haven't even mastered Cloud? I wondered.

I decided to investigate their differences, similarities, and connections and documented my findings in this article.
Are you also curious about this? Keep reading.

Before we go on to the full details, let’s define what they each mean.

What is Cloud Engineering?

Cloud Engineering is the act of designing, building, and maintaining cloud infrastructure, making sure they are scalable, reliable, and secure, by leveraging cloud technologies like virtualization, storage, and networking.

A cloud engineer is responsible for designing and managing cloud solutions that help an organization operate with greater efficiency, security, and attention to detail using platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.

What is DevOps Engineering?

DevOps Engineering is the practice of bridging the gap between software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops) to create a more streamlined and efficient software delivery lifecycle, ultimately leading to faster and more reliable software releases.
DevOps is a combination of the words ‘development’ and ‘operations’.

DevOps Engineers focus on improving the process of building, testing and releasing software quickly and efficiently primarily through automation.

How did DevOps and Cloud come to be?

In times past, after software developers build an application or product, they were often faced with the hassle of getting the product out to customers or users quickly and efficiently. The process was often long, tedious, and filled with errors. DevOps emerged as a set of practices to foster collaborations between the Development and Operations teams, and automate processes to accelerate software development and deployment cycles, before it has now evolved into a full-time role.

Cloud Computing, on the other hand, emerged to solve the issue of organizations having physical data centres and served as a way to deliver computing resources (servers, storage, networking) over the internet, offering benefits such as scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness.

Differences between Cloud and DevOps Engineers

Cloud and DevOps engineering are two different but intricately connected fields. Cloud engineers focus on designing, implementing, and managing cloud infrastructure, while devOps engineers focus on bridging the gap between software development and the IT operations team, ensuring that applications are developed, tested, and released quickly and reliably.

While DevOps engineers focus on automating the software development process, Cloud engineers, on the other hand, are responsible for designing and managing the infrastructure on which those applications run.

In the long run, they both work toward improving system performance and efficiency, howbeit from different perspectives.

Responsibilities

Cloud Engineer	DevOps Engineer
Design and implement cloud solutions	Automate software delivery pipeline
Manage and maintain cloud infrastructure	Develop and maintain CI/CD pipelines to enable frequent and reliable software releases
Ensuring the security and reliability of cloud environments	Monitor applications after deployment
Optimize cloud resources for performance and cost-effectiveness	Facilitate team collaborations between Development, Operations, and Quality assurance Teams
Troubleshoot and resolve issues with cloud systems	Manage and provision infrastructure through code, enabling repeatable and scalable deployments

Skills

Cloud Engineer	DevOps Engineer
Cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, Google Cloud)	Proficiency in programming languages such as Python and JavaScript
Virtualization technologies	Software and network security
Networking and storage technologies	Cloud computing
Scripting and automation tools	Scripting and automation tools
Cloud security principles and practices	Continuous Integration and deployment tools

Tools and Technologies

Cloud Engineer	DevOps Engineer
Virtualization: VMware, Hyper-V, etc.	Version Control Tools: GitHub, BitBucket,etc.
Cloud Platforms: AWS, Azure, Google Cloud	CI / Deployment Automation tools eg. Jenkins
Containerization: Docker, Kubernetes	Containerization: Docker, Kubernetes
Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Terraform, Ansible, etc.	Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Terraform, Ansible, etc.
Monitoring and Logging: Prometheus, ELK Stack, etc	Monitoring and Logging: Prometheus, ELK Stack, etc

Some skills, tools, and technologies are common to both job roles, but they are used in different ways.

Salary Range

The salary range of a DevOps and cloud engineer is quite close. According to Indeed, the average base salary of a DevOps Engineer in the united states is $127, 282 while that of a cloud engineer is #130,041.
In the same vein, According to Glassdoor’s July 2024 data, The average DevOps engineer salary is $106,517 while the average cloud engineer salary is similar at $114,544.
However in some cases, the salary of a DevOps engineer is higher than a cloud engineers'.

Certifications

Both job roles have different certifications, but some tools-specific certifications are common to both.

Cloud Engineering

Cloud Provider Specific Certifications such as AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate, Google Associate Cloud Engineer, Azure Administrator Associate etc.
Industry-Recognized Certifications such as CompTIA Cloud+, Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) etc.

DevOps Engineering

Cisco Certified DevNet Specialist—DevOps
Microsoft Certified DevOps Engineer Expert credential
AWS Certified DevOps Engineer - Professional
HashiCorp Certified Terraform Associate

Similarities between a DevOps and Cloud Engineer

We have spoken about their differences, let’s also speak about the similarities and connection between them.

Both roles require a good understanding of cloud computing concepts and technologies
Both roles often work in office settings such as large technology firms where they may collaborate as part of an IT Team to complete projects.
Automation is an integral part of both roles. DevOps Engineers automate the software build, test, and deployment processes, while Cloud Engineers use automation to provision and manage cloud resources efficiently.
Both roles work collaboratively with cross functional teams that include developers, system administrators, network engineers etc.
Both roles require skills in programming, scripting, and familiarity with DevOps tools and technologies.

Cloud-Native DevOps

Cloud-native DevOps originated from the combination of Cloud and DevOps Engineering where applications and Infrastructure are designed and deployed specifically for cloud environment.

Final Words

Cloud technologies are becoming more widespread and companies are hiring engineers with skills in both fields. There is now an overlap of these roles, for instance DevOps Engineers now work with cloud platforms to ensure seamless integration between development pipelines and cloud infrastructure. Similarly, Cloud Engineers are often responsible for automating infrastructure provisioning and setup.

This has led to new job titles and roles that combine skills from both disciplines, reflecting the need for engineers who can manage both software deployment and cloud infrastructure.
If you're a DevOps engineer, its quite easy to switch to cloud engineering and vice versa.
Keep learning and stay updated.

Identity and Access Management in AWS: How to Create an IAM User, User Group, and Attach Policy to User Group in AWS

Oluwanifemi Loveth — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 15:26:43 +0000

As I promised in a previous post, I will be sharing another thing I have learnt and practiced from the AWS 12 Weeks workshop.

AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a web service in AWS that allows you to securely control access to AWS resources. When you first create an AWS account, it comes with a single sign-in identity that has complete access to AWS services and resources in the account. This is called the root user.

With AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), you can specify who can access your AWS services and resources and under what conditions they can do so.
IAM is a feature of your AWS account and is offered at no additional charge.

Key Components of AWS IAM

Below are the key components of AWS Identity and Access Management

IAM user: An IAM user is an entity you create in your AWS account to interact with your AWS resources. It consists of a name and credentials. It is strongly recommended not to use the root user for everyday tasks, hence the need for an IAM user.
IAM user group: An IAM user group is a collection of IAM users. User groups allow you to specify permissions for multiple users, making it easier to manage permissions for those users. For instance, you could have a user group called Admin, and assign the Administrator permissions to it, any member of that group automatically has the Admin group permissions. A user group can contain many users, and a user can belong to multiple user groups.
IAM roles: A role is an IAM identity that you can create in your AWS account with specific permissions. Unlike IAM user, a role is not uniquely associated with one person, it is intended to be assumable by anyone who needs it. You can use roles to delegate access to users, applications, or services that don't normally have access to your AWS resources.
IAM policies: A policy is an object in AWS that defines its permissions when associated with an identity or resource. You can manage access in AWS by creating policies and attaching them to IAM identities (users, groups, or roles). There are six policy types in AWS;

Identity-based policies
Resource-based policies
Permissions boundaries
Organizations SCPs
Access control lists (ACLs)
Session policies

How to Create an IAM User, User Group, and Attach Policy to User Group in AWS

In this article, I will show you how to create an IAM User, and User group and attach a policy to the User group in AWS.
This is a summary of what I did.

I first created an IAM policy.
Then, I created an IAM User group and attached the policy to it.
Lastly, I created an IAM user and placed it in the User group that was created.

Let's get started with the full details.

Step 1
I logged into my AWS account as an IAM user. You can log in as either a root user or an IAM user.

Step 2
After logging in, I typed ‘IAM’ in the searched space and searched, then clicked on it as highlighted below.

Step 3
This opened up to the IAM dashboard page. On the left-hand side, I scrolled down to ‘Policies’ and clicked on it.
A policy defines the AWS permissions that you can assign to a user, group, or role. You can create and edit a policy in the visual editor and using JSON.

Step 4
Next, I clicked on the ‘Create Policy’ button at the top right-hand corner.

When defining policy for the AWS permissions, you can create and edit in Visual Editor or JSON. In this guide, l used the JSON method. So, I clicked the ‘JSON’ button.

Step 5
I got my policy and pasted it into the space provided for it. The policy I used in this guide allows all actions for EC2 tagged as Env-dev. Also, it allows describe-related actions for all EC2 instances. But it denies the create and delete tags action to prevent users from modifying tags arbitrarily.

Step 6
After pasting the policy, I clicked the “Next” button as you can see below;

Step 7
Then, I filled in the details of the policy; policy name, description and clicked on ‘Create Policy’ at the end.

Now, my policy has been created successfully, and I will find it in the list of policies.
To create an IAM User,
On the IAM dashboard showing at the left side panel, I clicked on ‘User group’.

Then, I clicked the ‘Create group' button placed at the top of the right corner.

Step 9
I input the group name, and selected dev-policy (the policy I just created) in the “Attach permissions policies - Optional section.” Adding users to the group is optional. Then, I clicked on the “Create User group” button.

That's all for creating a user group. Now, to create a user.

Step 10
I clicked Users on the left side of the page, and then on ‘Create users' button.

I typed dev-user as the username and allowed two access type both Programmatic access and AWS Management console access. Then, I selected a Custom password and typed in the password that I wanted.

Finally, I unchecked the required password reset function for quick action. In the real world, it is recommended to activate the password reset.

Next: I clicked on the ‘Permissions’ button.

Step 11
To set permissions, I selected “Add user to group”, and below it, I chose the dev-group that was created earlier.

Under ‘Review and Create User’, I clicked ‘Create User’

Now my user has been created successfully, I copied the console sign-in URL to log in and downloaded the .csv file as well. You can also use the username and custom password that you set to log in.

And then I signed in as the new user.

Step 12
To log in using the custom username and password, type the IAM username and password that you just created into the sign-in page to enter into the AWS management console. (aws.amazon.com)

And that is all. You will be able to sign in as the new user successfully.

I believe you were able to learn a thing or two from this. Share your thoughts with me in the comments. I look forward to reading them.

How to Deploy a Server and Launch a Website using Amazon EC2

Oluwanifemi Loveth — Fri, 18 Oct 2024 15:13:39 +0000

In the first week of the AWS workshop, I learnt about AWS compute services. I learnt that whether I am building an enterprise, cloud-native or mobile apps, or running massive clusters to drive analysis workloads, it all starts with compute.
AWS computing services gives you right compute for your workload, offers built-in security, flexibility to optimize costs and provides compute resource where you need it.

Amazon EC2

In AWS cloud, amazon EC2 provides scalable computing capacity. It helps to develop and deploy applications faster, launch virtual servers, configure security and networking and to manage storage.

I tried my hands on the EC2 Linux hands on lab and I'll be showing you how I deployed a server and launched a website on Amazon EC2.

Getting started

I already have an AWS account, so I logged in, created an IAM user, and granted it an AdministratorAcess. Then, I logged in to the IAM user's account.

Step 1
I logged in into my AWS account, and confirmed that I was in the desired region. In this case, it was Europe (Stockholm) Region.
So I clicked on 'EC2', as seen below;

Step 2
Under Network and Security, I clicked on 'Key Pair', and then on 'Create Key Pair' in the top right corner as seen below;

Step 3
Then I typed in my key pair name, key type and file format which is .ppk as a windows user and clicked on 'Create key pair button' at the end.
The key pair was successfully created and the file was downloaded and saved to my local drive.

Step 4
To launch an Amazon Linux 2 instance and install a basic web page that will display information about my instance, I clicked on EC2 dashboard on the top left corner and then on launch instances.

Step 5
I filled in the details of my instance appropriately;
I put in the instance name:

Then for Amazon Machine Image, I selected Amazon 2023 Linux AMI

Then I selected 64-bit (x86) architecture and t3. Micro instance type

Then, for the key pair, I chose the key pair I created earlier. Under Network settings, I clicked on 'Edit' to set the space where EC2 will be located.

I edited the network settings as follows;

I checked default VPC and subnet. Auto-assign public IP was set to 'Enable'. Right below it, I clicked 'Create Security groups' to act as a network firewall.

Then I edited the security group rules as follows;

I also added a second security group rule for HTTP, TCP, *80, and set source type as ‘My IP’.

Under ‘Configure Storage’, I went with the default settings, and clicked on ‘Advance Details’.

I scrolled down to the bottom of the page, clicked the 'Meta Data version' dropdown and select V2 only (token required).

I entered this code (used in the hands on Lab I followed) in the User data field and selected Launch instance.

And my instance was launched successfully.

Step 6
I clicked the 'View Instances' button in the lower right hand portion of the screen to view the list of EC2 instances. Once your instance has launched, you will see your Web Server as well as the Availability Zone the instance is in, and the publicly routable DNS name.
Then, I clicked the checkbox next to your web server to view details about my EC2 instance.

Step 7
After my instance has passed the Status Checks. I opened a new browser tab and browsed the web server by entering the EC2 instance’s Public DNS name into the browser.
The EC2 instance’s Public DNS name can be found in the console by reviewing the Public IPv4 DNS name line highlighted above.

Hurray! I just deployed a server and launched a website in a matter of minutes.

Note that if you are using the Chrome web browser, when you paste the Public IPv4 DNS value to the web browser, if it does not run, https may be automatically added in front of the DNS value, so it may not run. Therefore, you should enter http://.

Cleaning Up

I had to clean up resources to avoid incurring costs.
I went ahead to delete the instance I created.
I selected the instance I created, and from the instance state menu, I selected 'Terminate Instance'

There was a pop up window, asking if I was sure I wished to terminate this instance. And since I was very sure, I clicked 'Terminate'.
And that was the end of the lab.

I hope this was helpful to you. Will you also try it out? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section.

My 12 Weeks AWS Workshop Cloud Journey

Oluwanifemi Loveth — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 15:53:04 +0000

To help me gain expertise in AWS, I have decided to participate in this 12 weeks workshop challenge created to help cloud enthusiasts like me gain deep hands-on expertise on AWS.

The sweetest thing is that the workshops are self-paced and range from beginner to advanced level. I look forward to gaining practical skills, techniques, and concepts that I can use to solve business problems and strengthen my resume to showcase my cloud skills.

I'll be documenting my learning here detailing the steps I followed to complete the workshop and my other experiences.

Are you also interested in this? Check it out at here and let's learn together.

A Comprehensive Overview of Cloud Computing

Oluwanifemi Loveth — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 14:01:37 +0000

Cloud computing has become a huge part of our everyday lives, from saving our files and documents on Google drive, and streaming a movie on Netflix, to using various cloud-based apps, cloud computing has come to make life easier and better.

It is of immense benefit not only to individuals but also to organizations in different industries such as healthcare and fintech companies, developers, and researchers. There are enormous advantage and possibilities that cloud technology offers.

Are you new to the world of cloud computing and wondering what it is all about? Dive into this article that introduces you to the world of cloud and what it entails.

What is Cloud Computing?

In simple terms, Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computing services such as servers, databases, storage, networking, infrastructure, etc, over the internet. The aim of this is to offer flexible resources, faster innovation, and economies of scale.

Cloud computing is also known as Internet-based computing; a system where resources are provided as a service through the internet to the user. These services are stored on a physical server and managed by a cloud service provider.

Small and large businesses, companies and organizations rather than spending heavily on having their own physical data centers to host their severs, databases, storage etc, cloud computing allows them to save time, space and money by renting IT.
It relieves businesses and individuals the stress of managing their resources by themselves as it allows them only pay for what they use. It also offers flexibility and faster innovation. Use cases for cloud computing include file storage, disaster recovery, softwware testing and development, etc.

History of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing can be traced back to the early 1950s with mainframe computing (when universities and companies rented out computation time on mainframe computers). Then, renting was one of the only ways to access computing resources as computing technology was too large and expensive to be owned or managed by individuals.

In the early 1960s, computer scientists like Dr. Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider, an American computer scientist and psychologist known as the "father of cloud computing", and John McCarthy began to propose ideas that anticipated some of the major features of cloud computing today.

Cloud computing became a thing in the early 2000s with Amazon Web Services which started cloud-based storage and computing services in 2002. In 2006, it introduced Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and Simple Storage Service (S3).
That same year, Google introduced the Google Apps suite (now called Google Workspace), a collection of SaaS productivity applications. In 2009, Microsoft started its first SaaS application, Microsoft Office 2011.

Moving forward, new SaaS products and businesses also emerged based on the novel opportunities of these cloud providers, such as Netflix’s streaming services in 2007, Spotify in 2008, Dropbox in 2009, Zoom in 2012, and Slack in 2013.

Today, cloud-based IT infrastructure and cloud-based applications have become a popular choice for both businesses and individual users and their market share is expected to grow.

Other Cloud service providers that also came up were Google Cloud Platform in 2008, Alibaba Cloud in 2009, Windows Azure (now Microsoft Azure) in 2010, IBM’s SmartCloud in 2011, and DigitalOcean in 2011.
And its not going to end there, according to Gartner, worldwide end-user spending on public cloud will total 679 billion USD and has been predicted to exceed 1 trillion USD in 2027.

How does Cloud Computing Work?

Before the advent of cloud computing, people (indivuduals and businesses) used to buy and maintain the software and hardware that they needed to use, using on-premises data centres (physical centres). They are involved in the management of all the required applications throughout their entire life cycle.

Now, with the presence of cloud-based services, they now have access to a stream of on-demand computing resources accessible through the internet, and are able to scale up or down as demanded. This happens through the use of remote network servers that are hosted on the internet. But if we choose Cloud Computing, a cloud vendor is responsible for the hardware purchase and maintenance.

What is a Cloud Service Provider

A cloud service provider is a company that provides computing resources such as storage, servers etc to individuals and businesses who need them on a pay-as-you-go model. They provide a variety of software and platforms as a service. They are also responsible for the management of physical infrastructure at data centers.
Leading Cloud service provides in Nigeria include;

Amazon Web Services (aws),
MicrosftAzur,
Google cloud services, etc.
IBM cloud
DigitalOcean
VMware

Cloud Computing Service Deployment Models

Public Cloud: This is the process by which a cloud provider provides computing services such as applications, storage and services, to a customer over the internet. The IT infrastucture of is managed by the cloud provider and available to different tenants.
Private Cloud: These are computing resources provided for excusive use by a single enterprise. It may be managed by the organization itself or by a cloud provider. A private cloud provides the highest level of security and control.
Hybrid Cloud: This is a combination of both the public and private cloud models. This happens when an organization uses a mixture of both cloud models to meet their business needs. This gives a business greater flexibility, more deployment options and optimization of infrastructure.
Multi-Cloud: This entails the use of more than one cloud provider. For example Amazon Web services (AWs) and Microsoft Azure.

Types of Cloud Computing Services

There are three/four main types of cloud computing services or cloud service models;

1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
This provides access to computing infrastructure such as servers, networking, storage, operating systems, and other infrastructural components via the internet. The main advantage of this is that it relieves users of the need to buy and maintain physical servers, while providing flexibility to scale and shrink resources as needed.
It is more like renting infrastructure in the cloudbutyou have control over applications, and development frameworks.

2. Software as a Service (SaaS)
This delivers cloud-based software services or cloud applications to end-users over the internet. These applications include; GitHub, Slack, Dropbox, Wordpress etc. The software is fully managed and maintained by the software provider and uses have access on subscription or pay-s-you-go basis. The benefit of SaaS include automatic upgrade and protection from data loss.

Today, SaaS is the primary delivery model for most commercial software, and SaaS applications are popular among businesses and general users because they’re often easy to adopt, accessible from any device, and offer both free, premium, and enterprise versions of their applications.

3. Platform as a Service (PaaS)
This provides users with an on-demand computing platform (hardware, software, infrastructure, development tools) for running, developing and deploying applications without the cost, complexity and inflexibility of maintaining that platform on-premises. This is mostly used by software developers and development teams where Developers focus on building and managing applications, while the provider handles infrastructure management.
The benefit of it is that it speeds up the development process and allows for easy collaboration among developers.

Benefits of Cloud Computing

Cloud computing offers many benefits which includes the following;

Tools development: A large number of cloud-based tools have been developed across various industries such as apps for project management, productivity, video-conferencing, messaging etc,
Data backup and restoration: Cloud computing makes it easy for individuals or businesses to backup and restore their data in case of data loss or system failure, hardware malfunctions or user error.
Storage: Individuals and businessses can store limitless amount of data in the cloud as the cloud offers storage for all kinds of data such as documents, photos, videos etc.
Saves cost: For businesses, Cloud computing removes the need for capital expenses of setting up and running physical data centers. In addition, you only pay for computing services as you use them (pay-as-you-go), thus it saves cost significantly.
Speed: With cloud computing, resources can be accessed in seconds with a few clicks, making it easy for developers to accelerate development with quick deployments.
Scalability/flexibility: A business can scale up or down on some resources depending on need, without having to invest in physical infrastructure.
Collaboration: Cloud computing fosters collaboration as teams can access and share data from anywhere in the world from any device—as long as they have an internet connection.
Productiviy: Cloud computing gives room to focus more on the actual business goals and objectives and strategic tasks as it takes care of the maintenance of the system, upkeeps, updates and other operational tasks leading to more productivity.
Security: Cloud providers offer a broad set of policies, technologies, and controls that strengthen your data security giving it adequate protection.

Cloud Computing Limitations and Challenges

Like all good things, cloud computing also has its downsides:

Data security and privacy: When cloud configuration and management are not in order, it could result in data privacy leaks. Cloud users and cloud providers both have a role to play in ensuring data security.
Technical issues: Cloud computing relies on internet connectivity to work well. Poor internet connections, downtimes due to natural disasters, slower performance and other technical issues can affect your cloud operations.
Cloud providers defaults: Technological difficulties, downtimes, cyber attacks faced by cloud providers can affect their users as well, hence cloud service providers should have real-time SaaS monitoring policies.
Lack of skilled professionals: Businesses and corporations are sometimes short of skilled cloud professionals that can handle the demands of the industry.
Limited control: The standardized services and platforms offered by cloud service providers makes it difficult for organizations to to modify cloud services to precisely match their needs if they have special requirements or compliance requirements.
Hidden costs: Even though cloud providers offer pay-as-you-go pricing model, sometimes there are hidden charges such as data transfer fees, additional storage costs, fees for specialized support or technical assistance, etc which increases costs for users.

Conclusion

No doubt, cloud computing has quite some advantages for businesses and individuals alike, its limitations notwithstanding. Whoever you are in whatever field you’re in, feel free to begin to explore some of the ways in which you can enjoy more of these benefits that the cloud provides.

Was this helpful to you? Let me know in the comment section.