Unit-4 CC
[Link] OF Iaas in CC:
Here are the characteristics of IaaS service model:
• Virtual machines with pre-installed software.
• Virtual machines with pre-installed operating systems such as
Windows, Linux, and Solaris.
• On-demand availability of resources.
• Allows to store copies of particular data at different locations.
• The computing resources can be easily scaled up and down.
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:
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.
DIS-ADV:
[Link]
[Link] 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.
SUMMARY OF IAAS PROVIDERS:
Top Iaas Providers who are providing IaaS cloud computing
platform
[Link]:
PLATFORM-as-a-Service offers the runtime environment for
applications. It also offers development and deployment tools
required to develop applications. PaaS has a feature of point-and-
click tools that enables non-developers to create web applications.
App Engine of Google and [Link] are examples of PaaS
offering vendors. Developer may log on to these websites and use
the built-in API to create web-based applications.
But the disadvantage of using PaaS is that, the developer locks-
in with a particular vendor. For example, an application written in
Python against API of Google, and using App Engine of Google is
likely to work only in that environment.
PaaS is a suitable
option for the following
situations:
1. Collaborative
development: To
increase the time to
market and
development
efficiency, there is a
need for a common
place where the
development team and
other stakeholders of
the application can
collaborate with each
other. Since
PaaS services provide a
collaborative
development
environment, it is a
suitable
option for applications
that need collaboration
among developers and
other
third parties to carry
out the development
process.
2. Automated testing
and deployment:
Automated testing and
building of an
application are very
useful while developing
applications at a very
short time
frame. The automated
testing tools reduce the
time spent in manual
testing
tools. PaaS services are
the best option where
there is a need for
automated
testing and deployment
of the applications.
3. Time to market:
The PaaS services
follow the iterative and
incremental
development
methodologies that
ensure that the
application is in the
market as
per the time frame
given. If the software
vendor wants their
application to be in
the market as soon as
possible, then the PaaS
services are the best
option for
the development.
There are some
situations where PaaS
may not be the best
option:
1. Frequent application
migration: The major
problem with PaaS
services are
vendor lock-in. Since
there are no common
standards followed
among PaaS
providers, it is very
difficult to migrate the
application from one
PaaS provider
to the other.
2. Customization at
the infrastructure level:
The PaaS users do not
have full
control over the
underlying
infrastructure. There
are some application
development platforms
that need some
configuration or
customization of
underlying
infrastructure. In these
situations, it is not
possible to customize
the
underlying
infrastructure with
PaaS. If the application
development platform
needs any configuration
at the hardware level,
it is not recommended
to go for
PaaS.
3. Flexibility at the
platform level: PaaS
provides template-
based applications
where all the different
programming
languages, databases,
and message queues
are predefined. It is an
advantage if the
application is a generic
application.
4. Integration with
on-premise application:
A company might have
used PaaS
services for some set of
applications. For some
set of applications, they
might
have used on-premise
platforms. Since many
PaaS services use their
own
proprietary
technologies to define
the application stack, it
may not match with
the on-premise
application stack. This
makes the integration
of application
hosted in on-premise
plat form and PaaS
platform a difficult job
following diagram shows how PaaS offers an API and development
tools to the developers and how it helps the end user to access
business applications.
Benefits
Following are the benefits of PaaS model:
DIS -ADV:
Lack of portability between PaaS clouds
Although standard languages are used, yet the implementations of
platform services may vary. For example, file, queue, or hash table
interfaces of one platform may differ from another, making it
difficult to transfer the workloads from one platform to another.
Event based processor scheduling
The PaaS applications are event-oriented which poses resource
constraints on applications, i.e., they have to answer a request in a
given interval of time.
Security engineering of PaaS applications
Since PaaS applications are dependent on network, they must
explicitly use cryptography and manage security exposures.
Characteristics
Here are the characteristics of PaaS service model:
•
PaaS offers browser based development environment. It
allows the developer to create database and edit the
application code either via Application Programming Interface
or point-and-click tools.
•
•
PaaS provides built-in security, scalability, and web
service interfaces.
•
•
PaaS provides built-in tools for defining workflow, approval
processes, and business rules.
•
•
It is easy to integrate PaaS with other applications on the
same platform.
•
•
PaaS also provides web services interfaces that allow us to
connect the applications outside the platform.
•
PaaS Types
Based on the functions, PaaS can be classified into four types as
shown in the following diagram:
Stand-alone development environments
The stand-alone PaaS works as an independent entity for a
specific function. It does not include licensing or technical
dependencies on specific SaaS applications.
Application delivery-only environments
The application delivery PaaS includes on-demand
scaling and application security.
Open platform as a service
Open PaaS offers an open source software that helps a PaaS
provider to run applications.
Add-on development facilities
The add-on PaaS allows to customize the existing SaaS platform.
3. Software-as–a-Service (SaaS):
THIS model allows to provide software application as a service to
the end users. It refers to a software that is deployed on a host
service and is accessible via Internet. There are several SaaS
applications listed below:
• Billing and invoicing system
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications
• Help desk applications
• Human Resource (HR) solutions
Some of the SaaS applications are not customizable such
as Microsoft Office Suite. But SaaS provides us Application
Programming Interface (API), which allows the developer to
develop a customized application.
Characteristics
Here are the characteristics of SaaS service model:
•
SaaS makes the software available over the Internet.
•
•
The software applications are maintained by the vendor.
•
•
The license to the software may be subscription based or
usage based. And it is billed on recurring basis.
•
•
SaaS applications are cost-effective since they do not require
any maintenance at end user side.
•
•
They are available on demand.
•
•
They can be scaled up or down on demand.
•
•
They are automatically upgraded and updated.
•
•
SaaS offers shared data model. Therefore, multiple users can
share single instance of infrastructure. It is not required to
hard code the functionality for individual users.
•
•
All users run the same version of the software.
•
Benefits
Using SaaS has proved to be beneficial in terms of scalability,
efficiency and performance. Some of the benefits are listed below:
• Modest software tools
• Efficient use of software licenses
• Centralized management and data
• Platform responsibilities managed by provider
• Multitenant solutions
Modest software tools
The SaaS application deployment requires a little or no client side
software installation, which results in the following benefits:
• No requirement for complex software packages at client side
• Little or no risk of configuration at client side
• Low distribution cost
Efficient use of software licenses
The customer can have single license for multiple computers
running at different locations which reduces the licensing cost. Also,
there is no requirement for license servers because the software
runs in the provider's infrastructure.
Centralized management and data
The cloud provider stores data centrally. However, the cloud
providers may store data in a decentralized manner for the sake of
redundancy and reliability.
Platform responsibilities managed by providers
All platform responsibilities such as backups, system maintenance,
security, hardware refresh, power management, etc. are performed
by the cloud provider. The customer does not need to bother about
them.
Multitenant solutions
Multitenant solutions allow multiple users to share single instance of
different resources in virtual isolation. Customers can customize
their application without affecting the core functionality.
Issues
There are several issues associated with SaaS, some of them are
listed below:
• Browser based risks
• Network dependence
• Lack of portability between SaaS clouds
Browser based risks
If the customer visits malicious website and browser becomes
infected, the subsequent access to SaaS application might
compromise the customer's data.
To avoid such risks, the customer can use multiple browsers and
dedicate a specific browser to access SaaS applications or can use
virtual desktop while accessing the SaaS applications.
Network dependence
The SaaS application can be delivered only when network is
continuously available. Also network should be reliable but the
network reliability cannot be guaranteed either by cloud provider or
by the customer.
Lack of portability between SaaS clouds
Transferring workloads from one SaaS cloud to another is not so
easy because work flow, business logics, user interfaces, support
scripts can be provider specific.
Open SaaS and SOA
Open SaaS uses those SaaS applications, which are developed
using open source programming language. These SaaS applications
can run on any open source operating system and database. Open
SaaS has several benefits listed below:
• No License Required
• Low Deployment Cost
• Less Vendor Lock-in
• More portable applications
• More Robust Solution
The following diagram shows the SaaS implementation based on
SOA:
•
[Link]:
Remembering different username and password combinations
for accessing multiple servers.
•
•
If an employee leaves the company, it is required to ensure
that each account of that user is disabled. This increases
workload on IT staff.
•
To solve above problems, a new technique emerged which is known
as Identity-as–a-Service (IDaaS).
IDaaS offers management of identity information as a digital entity.
This identity can be used during electronic transactions.
Identity
Identity refers to set of attributes associated with something to
make it recognizable. All objects may have same attributes, but
their identities cannot be the same. A unique identity is assigned
through unique identification attribute.
There are several identity services that are deployed to validate
services such as validating web sites, transactions, transaction
participants, client, etc. Identity-as-a-Service may include the
following:
• Directory services
• Federated services
• Registration
• Authentication services
• Risk and event monitoring
• Single sign-on services
• Identity and profile management
Single Sign-On (SSO)
To solve the problem of using different username and password
combinations for different servers, companies now employ Single
Sign-On software, which allows the user to login only one time and
manage the access to other systems.
SSO has single authentication server, managing multiple accesses
to other systems, as shown in the following diagram:
SSO Working
There are several implementations of SSO. Here, we discuss the
common ones:
Following steps explain the working of Single Sign-On software:
•
User logs into the authentication server using a username and
password.
•
•
The authentication server returns the user's ticket.
•
•
User sends the ticket to intranet server.
•
•
Intranet server sends the ticket to the authentication server.
•
•
Authentication server sends the user's security credentials for
that server back to the intranet server.
•
If an employee leaves the company, then disabling the user account
at the authentication server prohibits the user's access to all the
systems.
Federated Identity Management (FIDM)
FIDM describes the technologies and protocols that enable a user to
package security credentials across security domains. It
uses Security Markup Language (SAML) to package a user's
security credentials as shown in the following diagram:
OpenID
It offers users to login into multiple websites with single account.
Google, Yahoo!, Flickr, MySpace, [Link] are some of the
companies that support OpenID.
Benefits
• Increased site conversation rates
• Access to greater user profile content
• Fewer problems with lost passwords
• Ease of content integration into social networking sites
[Link]-as-a-Service :
IT allows us to access to network infrastructure directly and
securely. NaaS makes it possible to deploy custom routing
protocols.
How NaaS is delivered?
To use NaaS model, the customer is required to logon to the web
portal, where he can get online API. Here, the customer can
customize the route.
In turn, customer has to pay for the capacity used. It is also
possible to turn off the capacity at any time.
Mobile NaaS
Mobile NaaS offers more efficient and flexible control over mobile
devices. It uses virtualization to simplify the architecture thereby
creating more efficient processes.
Following diagram shows the Mobile NaaS service elements:
NaaS Benefits
NaaS offers a number of benefits as discussed below:
Independence
Each customer is independent and can segregate the network.
Bursting
The customer pays for high-capacity network only on requirement.
Resilience
The reliability treatments are available, which can be applied for
critical applications.
Analytics
The data protection solutions are available, which can be applied for
highly sensitive applications.
Ease of Adding New Service Elements
It is very easy to integrate new service elements to the network.
Support Models
A number of support models are available to reduce operation cost.
Isolation of Customer Traffic
The customer traffic is logically isolated.
