Cloud Computing: Benefits, Approaches, and Associated Problems

This article discusses the benefits of cloud computing, different approaches to cloud computing, and associated problems. It also evaluates the suitability of IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS for Regional Gardens.

Running head: CLOUD COMPUTING
Cloud Computing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

CLOUD COMPUTING
Table of Contents
Answer 1..............................................................................................................................2
Answer 2............................................................................................................................10
2.1. Two Approaches.........................................................................................................11
2.1.1. Integrated Approach........................................................................................11
2.2.2. Cloud Approach...............................................................................................11
2.2. Recommended Approach.......................................................................................12
Answer 3............................................................................................................................12
Answer 4............................................................................................................................14
4.1. Differences among IaaS, PaaS and SaaS.................................................................14
4.2. Recommended Approach.......................................................................................15
4.3. Associated Problems...............................................................................................16
References.........................................................................................................................17
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Answer 1
Slide Note: The movement of infrastructure of Regional Gardens to cloud will be advantageous
as cloud offers a number of benefits to the business. The cost of update of the existing
infrastructure is high and therefore the Board has decided to move to cloud. The presentation
will outline the different benefits of the cloud and will suggest the best infrastructure for
Regional Gardens.
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Slide Note: Cloud computing is a process of providing an unified IT system and various services
including software development platforms, storage and software. The IT services delivered with
the help of cloud computing is retrieved from internet with the help of different web based tool
and applications. However, it is essential to choose a particular cloud architecture according to
the requirement.
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Slide Note: Many business organizations are adopting clod computing as it offers a number of
benefits. The main benefits of using cloud computing is that it provides option for secure data
storage and easier data accessibility. The data stored over cloud can generally be accessed with
the help of a web browser.
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Slide Note: IaaS, PaaS and SaaS are the three major architectures that can be considered by
Regional Gardens. Choice of a particular infrastructure will be based on the requirements of the
Regional Gardens. In order to do so, the characteristics of all the three architectures are needed
to be evaluated.
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Slide Note: Infrastructure as a service or IaaS provides virtualized resources including the
hardware, storage and servers for storing an accessing the data from cloud. This is the most
secure infrastructure solution. In this approach, the client does not need to buy a new
infrastructure but can leverage the infrastructure provided by the cloud vendor.
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Slide Note: Platform as a Service is a computing model that provides a secure platform for
deploying cloud. The platform is delivered by the third party provider that delivers software and
hardware tools for cloud deployment. It is a cost effective solution in comparison to IaaS.
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Slide Note: Software as a service or SaaS is a licensing and delivery model of cloud services that
is licensed on a subscription basis. In this approach, the client need not install and maintain a
software for accessing the cloud services but can access the same with the help of internet.
Therefore, it is one of the most cost effective cloud solutions.
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Slide Note: Platform as a service could have been the best choice for Regional Gardens, had its
architecture not become almost obsolete. The existing infrastructure may not be used by
Regional Gardens and therefore, IaaS approach is chosen. Although implementation of IaaS will
be costly, it will provide an integrated business operation for Regional gardens. The staffs can
easily access the data stored in public IaaS with the help of internet and a web browser.
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The choice of IaaS approach is done after evaluating the condition of the existing architecture
and the need of Regional Gardens. Platform as a service or PaaS is used for deploying the cloud
services. This could have been a good option for Regional Gardens if the existing infrastructure
was up to date. Instead of PaaS, the IaaS option is therefore chosen or Regional Gardens as it
offers extreme flexibility and scalability in storage and access of data.
Answer 2
Regional Garden is an organization that is planning to use cloud computing in their
business operation. One their first undertaking in their plan is to provide their staffs with the
access of office automation system. However, there are certain issues associated with the office
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automation. Two approaches of office automation are therefore suggested for Regional
Gardens after evaluating the needs and the requirements of the organization. The two
approaches of office automation are as follows-
2.1. Two Approaches
The office automation system to be developed for Regional Gardens should provide the
staffs of the organization accessibility to the different services such as email, word processing
and spreadsheet capabilities. The two approaches of cloud automation include choosing an
integrated approach whose back bone will be a Local Area Network or LAN and a cloud
approach.
2.1.1. Integrated Approach
In this approach, the different office automation services such as electronic
communication, electronic collaboration, office management and so are connected together
using a LAN. Therefore, a local area network provides the backbone for this type of office
automation and therefore, it is capable of providing a integrated and automated services to the
staffs of the organization.
2.2.2. Cloud Approach
Use of cloud office automation to align business and IT is very common. Cloud
automation can be a building block for integrating all the business operation within the
organization. Cloud office automation integrates all the departments and business operations
of the organization and therefore, it is a suggested approach for Regional Gardens. Regional
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Garden can opt for a subscription based office automation system. The cloud office automation
helps in digital storage and easy data management to the staffs of Regional Gardens.
2.2. Recommended Approach
Since the organization is planning to integrate cloud computing with their regular
business operation, it is recommended for the organization to use the cloud approach. These
services are provides by different cloud providers and therefore it can be easily implemented.
Answer 3
Regional Gardens is planning to move their existing infrastructure to either IaaS or PaaS.
In order to evaluate which architecture will be appropriate for Regional Gardens, it is necessary
to understand the characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of each of the two
approaches.
The Differences between the infrastructure provided by IaaS and Platform provided by
PaaS are as follows (Kavis, 2014) –
IaaS or Infrastructure as a Service provides an
infrastructure and virtualized cloud computing
resources over internet.
In this approach, the client can leverage a cloud
infrastructure thus avoiding the costly procedure
of purchasing an expensive datacenter.
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Infrastructure Provided by IaaS
It provides a secure access and storage of data in
cloud. Client can access the data with the help of
internet and a web browser (Moreno-Vozmediano,
Montero & Llorente, 2012).
Provides highly flexible and scalable services to the
client
It provides a subscription based service and
reduces the infrastructure cost as well.
It is however costly in comparison to IaaS and
PaaS.
Platform provided by PaaS
PaaS or platform as a service is a cloud computing
model where a third party provides a platform for
application development.
It is a platform based service and allows the
customers to develop, run and manage the
applications deployed.
It provides a cost effective solution for integrating
the different processes in cloud.
One of the major benefits of PaaS is that, it
involves multiple users to access the data stored in
the cloud database simultaneously.
It is a automated resource consuming task for
accelerating and innovation for reducing the cost
of deploying cloud in the business.
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The above table represents the main differences between Infrastructure as a service and
platform as a service. Since IaaS provides an entire infrastructure for deploying cloud it is
considerably more costly in comparison to PaaS. However, the organization that that already
posses a good infrastructure, it is more cost effective to use PaaS (Sefraoui, Aissaoui & Eleuldj,
2012). However, security of the data is a major issue associated with public cloud since the
organization is planning to implement a public cloud environment in their business.
Answer 4
4.1. Differences among IaaS, PaaS and SaaS
Regional Gardens is considering the use of PaaS or SaaS to provide services to the
employees. Furthermore, it is planning to move its Share Point 2010 Instance to cloud. In order
to choose which cloud platform will be better for Regional Gardens, it is essential to evaluate
the characteristics of each of the approaches. The major differences between IaaS, PaaS and
SaaS are as follows (Garg, Versteeg & Buyya, 2013)-
Characteristics PaaS IaaS SaaS
Definition of the cloud
approaches
PaaS or platform as a
service offers a platform
to the client for
deploying cloud services
in the organization
IaaS or infrastructure as
a service provides a
virtualized computing
resources over internet.
Software as a Service or
SaaS can be termed as a
distribution model of
third party service
provider that hosts
applications available to
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the clients over internet
(Serhani, Atif &
Benharref, 2014).
Features Provides a cost effective
solution for deploying a
customized cloud for
business operation.
In IaaS, resources are
provides as a service
that helps in improving
the infrastructure
allocation and
utilization
It provides a cost saving
alternative and is easily
scalable and easy to
use.
Advantages of the
Approach
It is easy to deploy as
no such technical skill is
required in managing
and deploying this
model
IaaS provides a secure
option of data storage.
Since resources are
provided as a service it
allows dynamic scaling
and elasticity (Bruneo,
2014).
SaaS is easy to set up
and has the lowest
upfront cost. It is easily
accessible and the client
need not worry about
the upgrades.
Disadvantages of the
Approach
There is certain security
issues associated with
PaaS (Hashizume et al.,
2013).
The customer is
responsible for
managing the daily
updates and the related
software patches.
SaaS has a very
insufficient data
security.
4.2. Recommended Approach
It is recommended for the Regional Gardens to implement a PaaS approach for its
business. The platform as a service is recommended as the Regional Gardens as it is planning to
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move its Share Point 2010 instance to cloud. Since the organization already has an existing
infrastructure that can be put to use, platform as a service is recommended. PaaS allows its
client to develop run and manage the different business operations. Therefore, it would be
easier for Regional Gardens to implement cloud in PaaS platform in presence of its existing
infrastructure.
4.3. Associated Problems
One of the major problems associated with the deployment of cloud in PaaS approach is
the data security (Almorsy, Grundy & Müller, 2016). Apart from this, if the staffs are not
properly trained about the different operations, major problems might arise in data handling.
Apart from this the downtime for technical difficulties are comparatively higher in comparison
to SaaS approach.
The existing infrastructure is to be moved to the cloud storage and therefore, the
process of data migration to cloud can be complex. Regional Gardens need to ensure proper
data transfer to the cloud to maintain the normal operation of the organization. Apart from
this, there is a very less control of data on PaaS approach, which is another major problems or
issue associated with this system
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References
Almorsy, M., Grundy, J., & Müller, I. (2016). An analysis of the cloud computing security
problem. arXiv preprint arXiv:1609.01107.
Bruneo, D. (2014). A stochastic model to investigate data center performance and QoS in IaaS
cloud computing systems. IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, 25(3),
560-569.
Dinh, H. T., Lee, C., Niyato, D., & Wang, P. (2013). A survey of mobile cloud computing:
architecture, applications, and approaches. Wireless communications and mobile
computing, 13(18), 1587-1611.
Fernando, N., Loke, S. W., & Rahayu, W. (2013). Mobile cloud computing: A survey. Future
generation computer systems, 29(1), 84-106.
Garg, S. K., Versteeg, S., & Buyya, R. (2013). A framework for ranking of cloud computing
services. Future Generation Computer Systems, 29(4), 1012-1023.
Garrison, G., Kim, S., & Wakefield, R. L. (2012). Success factors for deploying cloud
computing. Communications of the ACM, 55(9), 62-68.
Hashizume, K., Rosado, D. G., Fernández-Medina, E., & Fernandez, E. B. (2013). An analysis of
security issues for cloud computing. Journal of internet services and applications, 4(1), 5.
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Jadeja, Y., & Modi, K. (2012, March). Cloud computing-concepts, architecture and challenges.
In Computing, Electronics and Electrical Technologies (ICCEET), 2012 International
Conference on (pp. 877-880). IEEE.
Kavis, M. J. (2014). Architecting the cloud: design decisions for cloud computing service models
(SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS). John Wiley & Sons.
Manvi, S. S., & Shyam, G. K. (2014). Resource management for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
in cloud computing: A survey. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 41, 424-
440.
Moreno-Vozmediano, R., Montero, R. S., & Llorente, I. M. (2012). Iaas cloud architecture: From
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Pahl, C. (2015). Containerization and the paas cloud. IEEE Cloud Computing, 2(3), 24-31.
Sefraoui, O., Aissaoui, M., & Eleuldj, M. (2012). OpenStack: toward an open-source solution for
cloud computing. International Journal of Computer Applications, 55(3).
Serhani, M. A., Atif, Y., & Benharref, A. (2014). Towards an adaptive QoS-driven monitoring of
cloud SaaS. International Journal of Grid and Utility Computing, 5(4), 263-277.
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