Types of Cloud Services

Types of Cloud Services Software as a Service:- SaaS is also known as "On-Demand Software". It is a software distribution model in which services are hosted by a cloud service provider. These services are available to end-users over the internet so, the endusers do not need to install any software on their devices to access these services. There are the following services provided by SaaS providers Business Services - SaaS Provider provides various business services to start-up the business. The SaaS business services include ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), billing, and sales. Document Management - SaaS document management is a software application offered by a third party (SaaS providers) to create, manage, and track electronic documents. Advantages of SaaS 1) SaaS is easy to buy SaaS pricing is based on a monthly fee or annual fee subscription, so it allows organizations to access business functionality at a low cost, which is less than licensed applications. Unlike traditional software, which is sold as a licensed based with an up-front cost (and often an optional ongoing support fee), SaaS providers are generally pricing the applications using a subscription fee, most commonly a monthly or annually fee. 2. One to Many SaaS services are offered as a one-to-many model means a single instance of the application is shared by multiple users. 3. Less hardware required for SaaS The software is hosted remotely, so organizations do not need to invest in additional hardware. 4. Low maintenance required for SaaS Software as a service removes the need for installation, set-up, and daily maintenance for the organizations. The initial set-up cost for SaaS is typically less than the enterprise software. SaaS vendors are pricing their applications based on some usage parameters, such as a number of users using the application. So SaaS does easy to monitor and automatic updates. 5. No special software or hardware versions required All users will have the same version of the software and typically access it through the web browser. SaaS reduces IT support costs by outsourcing hardware and software maintenance and support to the IaaS provider. 6. Multidevice support SaaS services can be accessed from any device such as desktops, laptops, tablets, phones, and thin clients. 7. API Integration SaaS services easily integrate with other software or services through standard APIs. 8. No client-side installation SaaS services are accessed directly from the service provider using the internet connection, so do not need to require any software installation. Disadvantages of SaaS 1) Security Actually, data is stored in the cloud, so security may be an issue for some users. However, cloud computing is not more secure than in-house deployment. 2) Latency issue Since data and applications are stored in the cloud at a variable distance from the end-user, there is a possibility that there may be greater latency when interacting with the application compared to local deployment. Therefore, the SaaS model is not suitable for applications whose demand response time is in milliseconds. 3) Total Dependency on Internet Without an internet connection, most SaaS applications are not usable. 4) Switching between SaaS vendors is difficult Switching SaaS vendors involves the difficult and slow task of transferring the very large data files over the internet and then converting and importing them into another SaaS also. Platform as a Service:- Platform as a Service (PaaS) provides a runtime environment. It allows programmers to easily create, test, run, and deploy web applications. You can purchase these applications from a cloud service provider on a pay-as-per use basis and access them using the Internet connection. In PaaS, back end scalability is managed by the cloud service provider, so end- users do not need to worry about managing the infrastructure. PaaS includes infrastructure (servers, storage, and networking) and platform (middleware, development tools, database management systems, business intelligence, and more) to support the web application life cycle. Example: Google App Engine, Force.com, Joyent, Azure. PaaS providers provide the Programming languages, Application frameworks, Databases, and Other tools: 1. Programming languages PaaS providers provide various programming languages for the developers to develop the applications. Some popular programming languages provided by PaaS providers are Java, PHP, Ruby, Perl, and Go. 2. Application frameworks PaaS providers provide application frameworks to easily understand the application development. Some popular application frameworks provided by PaaS providers are Node.js, Drupal, Joomla, WordPress, Spring, Play, Rack, and Zend. 3. Databases PaaS providers provide various databases such as ClearDB, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and Redis to communicate with the applications. 4. Other tools PaaS providers provide various other tools that are required to develop, test, and deploy the applications. Advantages of PaaS There are the following advantages of PaaS 1) Simplified Development PaaS allows developers to focus on development and innovation without worrying about infrastructure management. 2) Lower risk No need for up-front investment in hardware and software. Developers only need a PC and an internet connection to start building applications. 3) Prebuilt business functionality Some PaaS vendors also provide already defined business functionality so that users can avoid building everything from very scratch and hence can directly start the projects only. 4) Instant community PaaS vendors frequently provide online communities where the developer can get the ideas to share experiences and seek advice from others. 5) Scalability Applications deployed can scale from one to thousands of users without any changes to the applications. Disadvantages of PaaS 1) Vendor lock-in One has to write the applications according to the platform provided by the PaaS vendor, so the migration of an application to another PaaS vendor would be a problem. 2) Data Privacy Corporate data, whether it can be critical or not, will be private, so if it is not located within the walls of the company, there can be a risk in terms of privacy of data. 3) Integration with the rest of the systems applications It may happen that some applications are local, and some are in the cloud. So there will be chances of increased complexity when we want to use data which in the cloud with the local data. Infrastructure as a Service:- Iaas is also known as Hardware as a Service (HaaS). It is one of the layers of the cloud computing platform. It allows customers to outsource their IT infrastructures such as servers, networking, processing, storage, virtual machines, and other resources. Customers access these resources on the Internet using a pay-as-per use model. In traditional hosting services, IT infrastructure was rented out for a specific period of time, with pre-determined hardware configuration. The client paid for the configuration and time, regardless of the actual use. With the help of the IaaS cloud computing platform layer, clients can dynamically scale the configuration to meet changing requirements and are billed only for the services actually used. IaaS cloud computing platform layer eliminates the need for every organization to maintain the IT infrastructure. IaaS is offered in three models: public, private, and hybrid cloud. The private cloud implies that the infrastructure resides at the customer-premise. In the case of public cloud, it is located at the cloud computing platform vendor's data center, and the hybrid cloud is a combination of the two in which the customer selects the best of both public cloud or private cloud. IaaS provider provides the following services 1. Compute: Computing as a Service includes virtual central processing units and virtual main memory for the Vms that is provisioned to the end- users. 2. Storage: IaaS provider provides back-end storage for storing files. 3. Network: Network as a Service (NaaS) provides networking components such as routers, switches, and bridges for the Vms. 4. Load balancers: It provides load balancing capability at the infrastructure layer. Advantages of IaaS cloud computing layer There are the following advantages of IaaS computing layer – 1. Shared infrastructure IaaS allows multiple users to share the same physical infrastructure. 2. Web access to the resources Iaas allows IT users to access resources over the internet. 3. Pay-as-per-use model IaaS providers provide services based on the pay-as-per-use basis. The users are required to pay for what they have used. 4. Focus on the core business IaaS providers focus on the organization's core business rather than on IT infrastructure. 5. On-demand scalability On-demand scalability is one of the biggest advantages of IaaS. Using IaaS, users do not worry about to upgrade software and troubleshoot the issues related to hardware components. Disadvantages of IaaS cloud computing layer 1. Security Security is one of the biggest issues in IaaS. Most of the IaaS providers are not able to provide 100% security. 2. Maintenance & Upgrade Although IaaS service providers maintain the software, but they do not upgrade the software for some organizations. 3. Interoperability issues It is difficult to migrate VM from one IaaS provider to the other, so the customers might face problem related to vendor lock-in. Some important point about IaaS cloud computing layer IaaS cloud computing platform cannot replace the traditional hosting method, but it provides more than that, and each resource which are used are predictable as per the usage. IaaS cloud computing platform may not eliminate the need for an in-house IT department. It will be needed to monitor or control the IaaS setup. IT salary expenditure might not reduce significantly, but other IT expenses can be reduced. Breakdowns at the IaaS cloud computing platform vendor's can bring your business to the halt stage. Assess the IaaS cloud computing platform vendor's stability and finances. Make sure that SLAs (i.e., Service Level Agreement) provide backups for data, hardware, network, and application failures. Image portability and third-party support is a plus point. The IaaS cloud computing platform vendor can get access to your sensitive data. So, engage with credible companies or organizations. Study their security policies and precautions. Communication as a Service:- Communication as a service (CaaS) is a cloud-based solution provided by cloud vendors. CaaS is a specialized variation of Software as a Service (SaaS) which is among three basic services delivered by the cloud computing technology. When we talk about communication, recall, in how many ways we can communicate with others. Well, we can communicate via text message, voice call and video call. CaaS providers manage the hardware and software that are important for delivering Voice over IP (VoIP) for voice communication service, and other services like Instant Messaging (IM) to provide text communication service and video conferencing to provide video communication service. CaaS model provides economical services as the service users do not have to bear the expenditure of buying and managing the communication equipment. CaaS is favourable for small IT companies that on the verge of expansion. Let us discuss the features of CaaS. Features of CaaS 1. Integrated and Unified Communication The advanced unified communication features include Chat, Multimedia conferencing, Microsoft Outlook integration, Real-time presence, “Soft” phones (software-based telephones), Video calls, Unified messaging and mobility. Nowadays, CaaS vendor introduces new features to their CaaS services much faster than ever before. It has become economical for providers to introduce a new feature to their CaaS application faster because the end-users are benefitting from the provider’s scalable platform infrastructure and ultimately the many end-users using the provider’s service shares this cost of enhancement. 2. No Investment Required As we have learnt above it is the sole responsibility of CaaS vendor to manage hardware and software deployed to provide the communication service to their customers. The customer only has to pay for the service he is getting from the CaaS vendor, not for communication features deployed to provide communication services. 3. Flexibility & Scalability The customer can outsource the communication services form CaaS vendors. The customers pay for what they have demanded. The customer can extend their service requirement according to their need. This brings flexibility and scalability in communication services and even make the service economical. 4. No Risk of Obsolescence The CaaS vendors keep on updating their hardware and software that provide communication services to meet the changing demands of the market. So the customer using the services does not have to be worried about the service obsolescence. 5. No Maintenance Cost Incurred The customer outsourcing the CaaS service does not have to bear the cost of maintaining the equipment deployed for providing communication services. 6. Ensure Business Continuity If due to any calamity your business’s geographical region is affected then how long can you continue your business? That’s why nowadays companies distribute their data to the geographically dispersed data centre which maintain the redundancy & help them in recovering soon after any catastrophic event. The same feature is adopted and implemented by the CaaS providers in order to provide voice continuity or communication continuity even if any catastrophic event strikes. Advantages of Communication as a Service (CaaS)        CaaS provides an economical way to deliver communication service to its customer by preventing them from investing in hardware and software required for delivering communication services. CaaS vendor provides 24/7 service to its customers. Customer receiving services from CaaS vendor do not have to indulge and invest in managing the components of CaaS. CaaS vendor offers flexible service as they charge according to pay as you go basis. CaaS provide scalable services as they provide service based on customers demand. CaaS provides the hosted and managed solution which offers complete communication solutions managed by a single vendor only. From the customers perspective, there is no risk of service becoming obsolete as the vendors are responsible for upgrading the carrier platform. Database as a Service:- Database-as-a-service (DBaaS) is a cloud computing service. As a hosted/managed service, users don’t have to worry about setting up hardware or installing software. Everything related to managing the database is handled by the service provider. Database hosting options are available for all database types, including NoSQL, MySQL, and PostgreSQL. MongoDB Atlas is one example of a NoSQL DBaaS service that is easily scalable. The DBaaS subscription includes everything required to operate a database in the cloud – including database provisioning, licenses, support, and maintenance. Developers can make use of cloud hosted APIs to build out new applications, accessing and manipulating data programmatically. Because of this, DBaaS shares many similarities with other SaaS subscription-based cloud offerings. As a managed service, there is no additional overhead; you can get right to work extracting value from your data store. DBaaS(Database as a service) is a cloud computing managed service offering model that enables users to set up, operate, manage and scale with some form of access to a Database without the need for setting it up on physical hardware, installing software, or configuring it for performance, Database management by themselves. It has come up as a wonderful approach that extends the capabilities of the Private Cloud by Increasing Quality of Service, Faster Deployment, Providing Resource Elasticity, Rapid Provisioning. Moreover, DBaaS in Enterprise Manager is implemented by four options, which are: Virtual Machine based, Shared Cluster, Shared installation, Shared Database. Not only this, delivery model selection is the necessary step that best satisfies the intended use of Database services before you implement DBaaS. Advantages of DBaaS An organization that opts for a DBaaS solution provider benefits many ways; the major ones are Developer agility, IT productivity, Application reliability and performance, Application security, and Operation flexibility. 1. Easy asses, migration, consolidation, along management of large volumes of fragmented applications are the key features of any DBaaS. It simplifies the process of requesting and deploying VM's, as well as the final provisioning of Database servers, instances, and Databases with self-provisioning 2. When a remote service provider hosts the cloud Database, businesses' need to incur expensive hardware or software licenses is ruled out. 3. It is the responsibility of the Database provider to manage and maintain Database hardware and software. 4. The hefty power bills for ventilation and cooling bills to keep the servers running are eliminated. 5. An organization that subscribes to DBaaS is free from hiring Database developers or constructing a Database system in-house. 6. Make use of the latest automation: Easy and quick scale outs of clouds are feasible at low cost and less time. 7. Human resources required to manage the maintenance of the system is eliminated. 8. On the other hand, workforce or human resources saved can be utilized for the company's different activities like running and growth of its business. 9. Since DBaaS is hosted off-site, the organization is free from the hassles of power or network failure or disruption issues. Disadvantages of DBaaS The demerits associated with DBaaS are as follows: 1. Traditional enterprises could have objections to cloud-based services in general. 2. Since the data is entrusted to a third party for storage and processing, the enterprise loses its immediate access to the information and servers responsible for its execution. 3. In case of vital failure of the DBaaS server or network, the organization may lose its data. 4. Companies already equipped with resources and IT-related human resources may not find DBaaS solutions economically viable. 5. The limitations inherent in cloud services will be part of the DBaaS. 6. Intrinsic network related issues of cloud will impact the performance of a DBaaS 7. Features available in the typical RDBMS may not always be available in a DBaaS system. 8. The use of DBaaS can result in revenue loss in other areas of software updates and hardware management. Monitoring as a Service:- Monitoring as a Service (MaaS) provides you with the security solutions that are essential for the organizations that are reliant on the IT infrastructure. However, for effective and efficient monitoring, the organization must have up to date technology, experts knowing advanced technical skills, scalable security processes and all this come with a tremendous expense. Prior to the advent of electronic gadgets that are used for providing security services, the human resource was used to perform all these monitoring activities but it was ineffective. MaaS provides an effective solution to this problem. It provides 24/7 real-time monitoring, reports any issue across the security infrastructure and secures the crucial data of their customers. Advantages of Monitoring as a Service Cost-effective MaaS helps you with zero maintenance overheads. You don’t need to invest in a network operations center and in-house IT support staff to run the monitoring desk. It also provides a ready-to-use monitoring tool to customers at low prices. Enhanced Security Monitoring services can easily detect what caused downtime, network errors, or a malignant attack on the software/system. In an effort to keep your business safe, MaaS providers catch unwanted attempts to breach a company’s network. Minimal IT Concerns Monitoring providers not only help a business with constant network monitoring, but they also help them offload IT services. Managing IT concerns can cost you time and money and eventually distract the workforce from focusing on its objectives. MaaS enables an organization to transfer the entirety of such business aspects to a trusted safety network. Increased Productivity Since monitoring service providers keep a tab on the existing hardware and software, they can ascertain what’s degraded, inefficient, or not working as intended. MaaS Providers can also suggest what improvements can be made to upgrade the infrastructure, which can ultimately help enhance productivity. Cloud-Ready MaaS works well with cloud-based products such as SaaS, PaaS, and also provides an apt technology fit for monitoring these cloud offerings. This cloud awareness and readiness gives insights into resource usage and performance metrics that can be used for cloud infrastructure optimization. Cloud Service Providers Google app engine Google App Engine (GAE) is a service for developing and hosting Web applications in Google's data centers, belonging to the platform as a service (PaaS) category of cloud computing. Web applications hosted on GAE are sandboxed and run across multiple servers for redundancy and allowing for scaling of resources according to the traffic requirements of the moment. App Engine automatically allocates additional resources to the servers to accommodate increased load. Google App Engine is Google's platform as a service offering that allows developers and businesses to build and run applications using Google's advanced infrastructure. These applications are required to be written in one of a few supported languages, namely: Java, Python, PHP and Go. It also requires the use of Google query language and that the database used is Google Big Table. Applications must abide by these standards, so applications either must be developed with GAE in mind or else modified to meet the requirements. GAE is a platform, so it provides all of the required elements to run and host Web applications, be it on mobile or Web. Without this all-in feature, developers would have to source their own servers, database software and the APIs that would make all of them work properly together, not to mention the entire configuration that must be done. GAE takes this burden off the developers so they can concentrate on the app front end and functionality, driving better user experience. Advantages of GAE include:    Readily available servers with no configuration requirement Power scaling function all the way down to "free" when resource usage is minimal Automated cloud computing tools Amazon EC2 Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) provides scalable computing capacity in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud. Using Amazon EC2 eliminates your need to invest in hardware up front, so you can develop and deploy applications faster. You can use Amazon EC2 to launch as many or as few virtual servers as you need, configure security and networking, and manage storage. Amazon EC2 enables you to scale up or down to handle changes in requirements or spikes in popularity, reducing your need to forecast traffic. Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) is a web service interface that provides resizable compute capacity in the AWS cloud. It is designed for developers to have complete control over web-scaling and computing resources. EC2 instances can be resized and the number of instances scaled up or down as per our requirement. These instances can be launched in one or more geographical locations or regions, and Availability Zones (AZs). Each region comprises of several AZs at distinct locations, connected by low latency networks in the same region. Features of EC2 Here is a list of some of the prominent features of EC2 −     Reliable − Amazon EC2 offers a highly reliable environment where replacement of instances is rapidly possible. Service Level Agreement commitment is 99.9% availability for each Amazon EC2 region. Designed for Amazon Web Services − Amazon EC2 works fine with Amazon services like Amazon S3, Amazon RDS, Amazon DynamoDB, and Amazon SQS. It provides a complete solution for computing, query processing, and storage across a wide range of applications. Secure − Amazon EC2 works in Amazon Virtual Private Cloud to provide a secure and robust network to resources. Flexible Tools − Amazon EC2 provides the tools for developers and system administrators to build failure applications and isolate themselves from common failure situations.  Inexpensive − Amazon EC2 wants us to pay only for the resources that we use. It includes multiple purchase plans such as On-Demand Instances, Reserved Instances, Spot Instances, etc. which we can choose as per our requirement. Microsoft Azure Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform that provides a wide variety of services that we can use without purchasing and arranging our hardware. It enables the fast development of solutions and provides the resources to complete tasks that may not be achievable in an on-premises environment. Azure Services like compute, storage, network, and application services allow us to put our effort into building great solutions without worrying about the assembly of physical infrastructure. This tutorial covers the fundamentals of Azure, which will provide us the idea about all the Azure key services that we are most likely required to know to start developing solutions. After completing this tutorial, we can crack job interviews or able to get different Microsoft Azure certifications. Microsoft Azure is a growing set of cloud computing services created by Microsoft that hosts your existing applications, streamline the development of a new application, and also enhances our on-premises applications. It helps the organizations in building, testing, deploying, and managing applications and services through Microsoft-managed data centers. Azure Services o Compute services: It includes the Microsoft Azure Cloud Services, Azure Virtual Machines, Azure Website, and Azure Mobile Services, which processes the data on the cloud with the help of powerful processors. o Data services: This service is used to store data over the cloud that can be scaled according to the requirements. It includes Microsoft Azure Storage (Blob, Queue Table, and Azure File services), Azure SQL Database, and the Redis Cache. o Application services: It includes services, which help us to build and operate our application, like the Azure Active Directory, Service Bus for connecting distributed systems, HDInsight for processing big data, the Azure Scheduler, and the Azure Media Services. o Network services: It helps you to connect with the cloud and on-premises infrastructure, which includes Virtual Networks, Azure Content Delivery Network, and the Azure Traffic Manager. Sales force Salesforce is one of the best cloud-based CRM platforms. It is an integrated CRM platform that provides a single shared view of each customer for all the departments within an organization, such as Marketing, Sales, Commerce, and Service. Our salesforce tutorial is designed to help beginners with the Salesforce and professionals' basic concepts with advanced concepts. In this, we will cover all the essential topics of Salesforce from beginning to Apex development. Salesforce is a SaaS or Software as a Service, which means there is no need to install the software or server to work on. Users can simply sign-up in Salesforce.com and can start running the business instantly. It was founded by Marc Benioff, Parker Harris, Dave Moellenhoff, and Frank Dominguez in 1999. Salesforce was started as a CRM software, but today it provides various products and software solutions to users and developers. Since Salesforce is cloud-based software, hence it does not require any IT professional to set up anything. It provides one of the best ways to connect with customers, business partners, and clients over the single integrated environment. It allows the businesses to identify the customer's requirements, address the problems easily, and provide the same solution in the minimum timeframe. Technologies used by the Salesforce o Apex: Salesforce has its own programming languages, knows as Apex. Hence to become a salesforce developer, or to create a salesforce app, user must have a good knowledge of Salesforce Apex. o VisualForce: Visualforce is the framework introduced by the Salesforce, which enables the developers to create the custom user interfaces that can work on the lighting platform. o Compiler: Salesforce contains its own complier to compile the Apex programs and VisualForce Pages. Clarizen Clarizen delivers secure, cloud-based collaborative work management solutions built on the vision of business agility. Clarizen’s PPM solution combines crosscompany project management with configurable workflow automation. Discussions, tasks, projects, and portfolios are all accessible from Clarizen’s scalable enterprise platform. Internal and external stakeholders both gain easy access to a single source of information to improve work execution, collaborate in context, optimize resources and respond faster. Through 2019, Clarizen added several new features to its Clarizen Go task management solution to enable enterprise teams to meet their goals while adopting simple agile workflows. Innovative companies like LogMeIn and M Squared Lasers are using Clarizen Go to help their teams get more done faster, and make it easy for project stakeholders to manage and visualize processes, status updates, and dependencies of both agile and waterfall work.