subject: Ways To Implement A Cloud Service Framework [print this page] The benefits of cloud technology are leading to it becoming the standard for servers functions rather than an alternative. Resources can be managed much more efficiently when the needs of several groups are combined than if they each used their own infrastructure which leads to lower costs. Even government departments that would prefer to do everything in house have little option but to adopt this solution.
If a company uses its own servers it has to account for peak usage capacity which means that most of the time only 10 or 20% of the full capacity is being utilized. Pooling resources means that demand from different users can be balanced so that capacity is more optimally utilized. Overall cost will be lower and these cost savings are shared between all the users.
Cost saving is not the only benefit of cloud services however. There is an almost permanent guarantee of uptime because resources can be managed between a number of locations. If any one of these locations goes down they the services are moved almost instantaneously so that applications can always be accessed. Although security might be a concern for some it has not proven to be an issue. Even thought there are many other users on the same platform does not mean that you will be any less secure than when normally connected to a network.
For any of this to be possible you have to develop a cloud computing infrastructure. The first and most basic requirement is to determine the hardware requirements and how access to this hardware will be made possible. There are four options for how this can be set up.
You could either create a private cloud that is used by one organization or a community one which is used by a group of specific organizations. In the public domain the infrastructure is maintained and managed by a single organization that then allows access to the pubic as a service. When more than one of these options is combined it is know as a hybrid.
When you know what kind of cloud you want to create you can decide on the type of software that will create the basic platform. There are many options for infrastructure technology and there are also several components that have to integrate. The basic outcome is that resources should be managed efficiently and that users have the best access to applications.
The operating software will manage all the processes that take place on and between servers. After that is in place you need to look at controlling the network backbone. This has to be optimized for efficiency and must be able to deal with constant change. It also has to be configured correctly for the operating application.
After that you have to ensure that all the components are visible to the controlling program at all times. It has to be aware of what is running and where so that resources can be allocated correctly. The final stage is then to integrate all the components so that they work correctly. The last stage is probably the most difficult but it is required so that all the benefits of cloud computing can be realized.
