Selected Topics in

CS
Chapter 2 Cloud Computing

1
 Publish

Inform scale

Interact
web

Integrate

Transact

Discover (intelligence)
Semantic
discovery

Automate (discovery)
HPC, cloud
Data-intensive

Social media and networking

2

Data marketplace and analytics

Evolution of Internet Computing

time
deep web
Challenges

 Alignment with the needs of the business / user / non-

computer specialists / community and society
 Need to address the scalability issue: large scale data,
high performance computing, automation, response
time, rapid prototyping, and rapid time to production
 Need to effectively address (i) ever shortening cycle of
obsolescence, (ii) heterogeneity and (iii) rapid changes
in requirements
 Transform data from diverse sources into intelligence
and deliver intelligence to right people/user/systems
 What about providing all this in a cost-effective
manner?

3
Enter the cloud
 Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby
shared resources, software and information are
provided to computers and other devices on-demand,
like the electricity grid.
 The cloud computing is a culmination of numerous
attempts at large scale computing with seamless access
to virtually limitless resources.
 on-demand computing, utility computing, ubiquitous
computing, autonomic computing, platform
computing, edge computing, elastic computing, grid
computing, …
4
What is Cloud Computing?
 Inaddition, the platform provides on
demand services, that are always on,
anywhere, anytime and any place.
 Pay for use and as needed, elastic
 scale up and down in capacity and
functionalities
 The hardware and software services
are available to
 general public, enterprises,
corporations and businesses markets
5
 Cloud Computing Characteristics
Common Characteristics:

Massive Scale Resilient Computing

Homogeneity Geographic Distribution

Virtualization Service Orientation

Low Cost Software Advanced Security

Essential Characteristics:

On Demand Self-Service
Broad Network Access Rapid Elasticity
Resource Pooling Measured Service

6
Adopted from: Effectively and Securely Using the Cloud Computing Paradigm by peter Mell, Tim Grance
Cloud Xteristics
 Cloud computing is an umbrella term used to refer
to Internet based development and services
 A number of characteristics define cloud data,
applications services and infrastructure:
 Remotely hosted: Services or data are hosted on remote
infrastructure.
 Ubiquitous: Services or data are available from anywhere.
 Commodified: The result is a utility computing model
similar to traditional that of traditional utilities, like gas
and electricity - you pay for what you would want!

7
Basic Cloud Characteristics
 The “no-need-to-know” in terms of the
underlying details of infrastructure, applications
interface with the infrastructure via the APIs.
 The “flexibility and elasticity” allows these
systems to scale up and down at will
 utilising the resources of all kinds
 CPU, storage, server capacity, load balancing, and
databases
 The “pay as much as used and needed” type of
utility computing and the “always on!,
anywhere and any place” type of network-
based computing.
8
 Cloud Service Models

Software as a Platform as a Infrastructure as a

Service (SaaS) Service (PaaS) Service (IaaS)

SalesForce CRM

LotusLive

Google
App
Engine

9
Adopted from: Effectively and Securely Using the Cloud Computing Paradigm by peter Mell, Tim Grance
 SaaS Maturity Model
Level 1: Ad-Hoc/Custom –
One Instance per
customer

Level 2: Configurable per

customer

Level 3: configurable &

Multi-Tenant-Efficient

Level 4: Scalable,
Configurable & Multi-
Tenant-Efficient

10

Source: Frederick Chong and Gianpaolo Carraro, “Architectures Strategies for Catching the Long Tail”
Software as a Service (SaaS)
 SaaS is a model of software deployment
where an application is hosted as a service
provided to customers across the Internet.
 Saas alleviates the burden of software
maintenance/support
 but users relinquish control over software
versions and requirements.
 Terms that are used in this sphere include
 Platform as a Service (PaaS) and
 Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
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 Cloud Computing Service Layers
Services Description
Services – Complete business services such as
Services PayPal, OpenID, OAuth, Google Maps, Alexa

Application Application – Cloud based software that eliminates

Application the need for local installation such as Google Apps,
Focused Microsoft Online

Development – Software development platforms used

Development to build custom cloud based applications (PAAS &
SAAS) such as SalesForce

Platform – Cloud based platforms, typically provided

Platform using virtualization, such as Amazon ECC, Sun Grid

Storage – Data storage or cloud based NAS such

Infrastructure Storage as CTERA, iDisk, CloudNAS

Focused
Hosting – Physical data centers such as those run
Hosting by IBM, HP, NaviSite, etc.

12

12
 Enabling Technologies

Cloud
Cloudapplications:
applications:data-intensive,
data-intensive,
compute-intensive,
compute-intensive,storage-intensive
storage-intensive

Bandwidth
WS
Services interface

Web-services, SOA, WS standards

VM0 VM1 VMn

Storage Virtualization: bare metal, hypervisor. …

Models: S3,
BigTable,
BlobStore, ..
. Multi-core architectures

64-bit
13
processor
Virtualization
 Virtual workspaces:
 An abstraction of an execution environment that can be made
dynamically available to authorized clients by using well-defined
protocols,
 Resource quota (e.g. CPU, memory share),
 Software configuration (e.g. O/S, provided services).
 Implement on Virtual Machines (VMs):
 Abstraction of a physical host machine,
 Hypervisor intercepts and emulates instructions from VMs, and
allows management of VMs, App App App
 VMWare, Xen, etc. OS OS OS

 Hypervisor
Provide infrastructure API:
Hardware
 Plug-ins to hardware/support structures
Virtualized Stack
 Virtual Machines
 VM technology allows multiple virtual machines to run on a single
physical machine.

App App App App App

Xen
Guest OS Guest OS Guest OS
(Linux) (NetBSD) (Windows)
VMWare
VM VM VM

Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) / Hypervisor

UML

Hardware
Denali
etc.
Performance: Para-virtualization (e.g. Xen) is very close to raw physical
performance! 15
Cloud-Sourcing
 Why is it becoming a Big Deal:
 Using high-scale/low-cost providers,
 Any time/place access via web browser,
 Rapid scalability; incremental cost and load sharing,
 Can forget need to focus on local IT.
 Concerns:
 Performance, reliability, and SLAs,
 Control of data, and service parameters,
 Application features and choices,
 Interaction between Cloud providers,
 No standard API – mix of SOAP and REST!
 Privacy, security, compliance, trust…
17
Cloud Taxonomy

18
Cloud Storage
 Several large Web companies are now
exploiting the fact that they have data storage
capacity that can be hired out to others.
 allows data stored remotely to be temporarily
cached on desktop computers, mobile phones or
other Internet-linked devices.

 Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) and

Simple Storage Solution (S3) are well known
examples
 Mechanical Turk
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Utility Computing – EC2
 Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2):
 Elastic, marshal 1 to 100+ PCs via WS,
 Machine Specs…,
 Fairly cheap!
 Powered by Xen – a Virtual Machine:
 Different from Vmware and VPC as uses “para-virtualization”
where the guest OS is modified to use special hyper-calls:
 Hardware contributions by Intel (VT-x/Vanderpool) and AMD
(AMD-V).
 Supports “Live Migration” of a virtual machine between hosts.
 Linux, Windows, OpenSolaris
 Management Console/AP
20
Types of Clouds

Private
Public
Community
Hybrid

21
Opportunities and Challenges
 The use of the cloud provides a number of
opportunities:
 It enables services to be used without any
understanding of their infrastructure.
 Cloud computing works using economies of scale:
 Itpotentially lowers the outlay expense for start up
companies, as they would no longer need to buy their own
software or servers.
 Cost would be by on-demand pricing.
 Vendors and Service providers claim costs by establishing an
ongoing revenue stream.
 Data and services are stored remotely but accessible
from “anywhere”.
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Opportunities and Challenges
 In parallel there has been backlash against cloud computing:
 Use of cloud computing means dependence on others and that could possibly
limit flexibility and innovation:
 The others are likely become the bigger Internet companies like Google and IBM,
who may monopolise the market.
 Some argue that this use of supercomputers is a return to the time of mainframe
computing that the PC was a reaction against.
 Security could prove to be a big issue:
 It is still unclear how safe out-sourced data is and when using these services
ownership of data is not always clear.
 There are also issues relating to policy and access:
 If your data is stored abroad whose policy do you adhere to?
 What happens if the remote server goes down?
 How will you then access files?
 There have been cases of users being locked out of accounts and losing access to
data.
23
What is the purpose and benefits?
 Cloud computing enables companies and
applications, which are system infrastructure
dependent, to be infrastructure-less.
 By using the Cloud infrastructure on “pay as used
and on demand”, all of us can save in capital and
operational investment!
 Clients can:
 Put their data on the platform instead of on their own
desktop PCs and/or on their own servers.
 They can put their applications on the cloud and use the
servers within the cloud to do processing and data
manipulations etc.
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Advantages of Cloud Computing
 Lower computer costs:
 You do not need a high-powered and high-priced computer
to run cloud computing's web-based applications.
 Since applications run in the cloud, not on the desktop PC,
your desktop PC does not need the processing power or hard
disk space demanded by traditional desktop software.
 When you are using web-based applications, your PC can be
less expensive, with a smaller hard disk, less memory, more
efficient processor...
 In fact, your PC in this scenario does not even need a CD or
DVD drive, as no software programs have to be loaded and
no document files need to be saved.
25
Advantages of Cloud Computing
 Improved performance:
 With few large programs hogging your computer's
memory, you will see better performance from your PC.
 Computers in a cloud computing system boot and run
faster because they have fewer programs and processes
loaded into memory…
 Reduced software costs:
 Instead of purchasing expensive software applications,
you can get most of what you need for free-ish!
 most cloud computing applications today, such as the Google Docs suite.
 better than paying for similar commercial software
 which alone may be justification for switching to cloud applications.
26
Advantages of Cloud Computing
 Instant software updates:
 Another advantage to cloud computing is that you are no longer
faced with choosing between obsolete software and high upgrade
costs.
 When the application is web-based, updates happen automatically
 available the next time you log into the cloud.
 When you access a web-based application, you get the latest version
 without needing to pay for or download an upgrade.

 Improved document format compatibility.

 You do not have to worry about the documents you create on your
machine being compatible with other users' applications or OSes
 There are potentially no format incompatibilities when everyone is
sharing documents and applications in the cloud.
27
Advantages of Cloud Computing
 Unlimited storage capacity:
 Cloud computing offers virtually limitless storage.
 Your computer's current 1 Tbyte hard drive is small compared
to the hundreds of Pbytes available in the cloud.
 Increased data reliability:
 Unlike desktop computing, in which if a hard disk crashes and
destroy all your valuable data, a computer crashing in the
cloud should not affect the storage of your data.
 ifyour personal computer crashes, all your data is still out there in
the cloud, still accessible
 In a world where few individual desktop PC users back up
their data on a regular basis, cloud computing is a data-safe
computing platform!
28
Advantages of Cloud Computing
 Universal document access:
 That is not a problem with cloud computing, because you
do not take your documents with you.
 Instead, they stay in the cloud, and you can access them
whenever you have a computer and an Internet connection
 Documents are instantly available from wherever you are
 Latest version availability:
 When you edit a document at home, that edited version is
what you see when you access the document at work.
 The cloud always hosts the latest version of your documents
 as long as you are connected, you are not in danger of having an outdated
version
29
Advantages of Cloud Computing
 Easier group collaboration:
 Sharing documents leads directly to better collaboration.
 Many users do this as it is an important advantages of cloud
computing
 multiple users can collaborate easily on documents and projects
 Device independence.
 You are no longer tethered to a single computer or
network.
 Changes to computers, applications and documents follow
you through the cloud.
 Move to a portable device, and your applications and
documents are still available. 30
Disadvantages of Cloud Computing
 Requires a constant Internet connection:
 Cloudcomputing is impossible if you cannot
connect to the Internet.
 Since you use the Internet to connect to both
your applications and documents, if you do not
have an Internet connection you cannot access
anything, even your own documents.
A dead Internet connection means no work and in
areas where Internet connections are few or
inherently unreliable, this could be a deal-
breaker.
31
Disadvantages of Cloud Computing
 Does not work well with low-speed connections:
 Similarly, a low-speed Internet connection, such as
that found with dial-up services, makes cloud
computing painful at best and often impossible.
 Web-based applications require a lot of bandwidth to
download, as do large documents.
 Features might be limited:
 This situation is bound to change, but today many
web-based applications simply are not as full-featured
as their desktop-based applications.
 For example, you can do a lot more with Microsoft PowerPoint
than with Google Presentation's web-based offering
32
Disadvantages of Cloud Computing
 Can be slow:
 Even with a fast connection, web-based applications
can sometimes be slower than accessing a similar
software program on your desktop PC.
 Everything about the program, from the interface to
the current document, has to be sent back and forth
from your computer to the computers in the cloud.
 If the cloud servers happen to be backed up at that
moment, or if the Internet is having a slow day, you
would not get the instantaneous access you might
expect from desktop applications.

33
Disadvantages of Cloud Computing
 Stored data might not be secure:
 With cloud computing, all your data is stored on the cloud.
 The questions is How secure is the cloud?
 Can unauthorised users gain access to your confidential
data?
 Stored data can be lost:
 Theoretically, data stored in the cloud is safe, replicated
across multiple machines.
 But on the off chance that your data goes missing, you
have no physical or local backup.
 Put simply, relying on the cloud puts you at risk if the cloud lets
you down. 34
Disadvantages of Cloud Computing
 HPC Systems:
 Not clear that you can run compute-intensive HPC applications
that use MPI/OpenMP!
 Scheduling is important with this type of application
 as you want all the VM to be co-located to minimize communication
latency!
 General Concerns:
 Each cloud systems uses different protocols and different APIs
 may not be possible to run applications between cloud based systems
 Amazon has created its own DB system (not SQL 92), and
workflow system (many popular workflow systems out there)
 so your normal applications will have to be adapted to execute on these
platforms.
35
Grid Technology:
 Emerging enabling technology.
 Natural evolution of distributed systems and the Internet.
 Middleware supporting network of systems to facilitate
sharing, standardization and openness.
 Infrastructure and application model dealing with sharing of
compute cycles, data, storage and other resources.
 Publicized by prominent industries as on-demand computing,
utility computing, etc.
 Move towards delivering “computing” to masses similar to
other utilities (electricity and voice communication).”
 Now,

36
It is a changed world now…
 Explosive growth in applications: biomedical informatics, space
exploration, business analytics, web 2.0 social networking: YouTube,
Facebook
 Extreme scale content generation: e-science and e-business data deluge
 Extraordinary rate of digital content consumption: digital gluttony: Apple
iPhone, iPad, Amazon Kindle
 Exponential growth in compute capabilities: multi-core, storage,
bandwidth, virtual machines (virtualization)
 Very short cycle of obsolescence in technologies: Windows Vista
Windows 7; Java versions; CC#; Phython
 Newer architectures: web services, persistence models, distributed file
systems/repositories (Google, Hadoop), multi-core, wireless and mobile
 Diverse knowledge and skill levels of the workforce
 You simply cannot manage this complex situation with your traditional IT
infrastructure:
37
The Future
 Many of the activities loosely grouped together under
cloud computing have already been happening and
centralised computing activity is not a new phenomena
 Grid Computing was the last research-led centralised
approach
 However there are concerns that the mainstream
adoption of cloud computing could cause many
problems for users
 Many new open source systems appearing that you can
install and run on your local cluster
 should be able to run a variety of applications on these
systems
38