Cloud Infrastructure

In what was consider to be hype only a few short years ago by many, is now common place for many Canadian organizations. Cloud based infrastructure and computing is now widely used as a method for online storage, backup, and software use. While most of the attention is focused on Software as a service (Saas) and Platform as a service (Paas) solutions, it is Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) that is the foundation for the other cloud based technology.

Cloud Infrastructure as a service

Infrastructure as a service is the most basic and core cloud based service model. With this service, providers supply all of the resources through one of their remote data centers. They provide:

• Virtual machines
  
• Remote storage
  
• Servers
  
• Routers and switches
  
• Load balancers
  
• firewalls
  
• Networks such as LAN
  
• IP addresses
  
• Dedicated virtual private networks for WAN
  
• Computer systems
  
• Any other hardware equipment that is required

With IaaS, companies are provided with a method for delivering desktop computers and virtual servers from the cloud and pay for it as a service on a per needs basis. The provider manages the infrastructure and the user accesses the virtual computers from the internet via a virtual private network connection. Therefore, your applications are executed on a virtual computer, which you have the ability to set the parameters for storage, memory and configure your CPU.

The benefits of cloud infrastructure as a service When companies opt for a cloud based infrastructure, they will experience the following benefits:

• An increase in productivity that results from being able to access resources remotely from anywhere.
  
• The ability to react quicker to a constantly changing business climate
  
• The ability to address their customers changing needs
  
• The ability to adjust the scope of their business up and down
  
• A reduction is costs associated with the hardware required to operate

The features and capabilities of cloud infrastructure as a service model

Many companies are turning to cloud infrastructure models for their business because of the features and capabilities it offers. They include:

• An effective cost structure: With cloud infrastructure, companies do not need to invest in costly hardware. Rather, they are billed by the provider on an hourly or monthly basis and companies only pay for the resources they use. No fixed payment amounts, so your payments are scaled to your specific usage.
  
• Traffic management: IaaS utilizes elastic load balancing. This automatically distributes a company’s incoming traffic across a number of virtual computers to ensure the server is not over worked.
  
• Flexibility: Companies have the ability to use as many or as few resources as you require. In this sense you can quickly make adjustments on the fly depending on the demand from customers.
  
• Scalability: Most providers make it possible for companies to make adjustments in only a few short steps.
  
• Uptime: The majority of providers offer close to 100% uptime and will offer around the clock customer service.

Components of cloud infrastructure

There are many different components that make up the cloud infrastructure. In general, they are broken down into these categories:

• The cloud developer: Developer side includes image creation tools, development tools and service definitions
  
• The cloud customers: This includes the partner clouds and client in house IT
  
• The players: This includes the developers and on the customer side, the service users, business managers, and customer administrators.
  
• The managed environment: This includes:

1. the cloud service offerings such as SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS
2. The virtual infrastructure for the network, server, and storage
3. The user interface and APIs.

• The management environment: This includes:

1. Business support services
2. Operation support services
3. The service delivery portal
4. The service development portal