Best Cloud Computing Certificates

Microsoft Azure
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Google  Cloud Architect (GPC)
Vmware
Citrix
CompTIA
Salesforce Certifications
Red Hat OpenStack
IBM Certified Cloud Solution Architect
CCNA Cloud Certification

Top 6 Cloud Certification – Complete Details of Cloud Computing Certificates

BY DATAFLAIR TEAM · PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 24, 2019 · UPDATED FEBRUARY 23, 2019

Cloud Computing is becoming a major area of interest among people. Along with the interest, the Cloud Computing industry has generated a lot of investment too. if you also want to enter this industry, you should be certified with the best Cloud Computing certification. These Cloud certifications will not only provide you successful growth but also a great position in a company.

List of Cloud Certificates

Below mentioned are a few Cloud Computing certification.

1. AWS Certified Solutions Architect
2. Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge
3. Certified OpenStack Administrator (COA)
4. Certified System Administrator in Red Hat OpenStack
5. Cisco CCNA-Cloud
6. Cloud Certified Professional
7. Cloud Credential Council
8. CompTIA Cloud Essentials
9. Exin Cloud Computing Foundation
10. Google Certified Professional Cloud Architect
11. IBM Certified Cloud Solution Architect v2
12. CloudU
13. Microsoft Cloud Certifications
14. Red Hat Certified Architect: Cloud
15. Salesforce Certifications
16. VMware Certified Professional
17. Cloud Genius
18. Cloud Institute Certifications

Why Cloud Certifications Are Important?

Cloud computing is growing at 22.8% CAGR and will reach $127.5 billion in a few years. Following are the reasons to take up a cloud certification.

1. The Increment is Earning

The growth in cloud computing is integrating as the salary increases as per the skills and experience. The average salary of cloud architecture is $124, 406. Research by Forbes shows that professionals within AWS certification have a potential annual salary of $125,971. This clearly leads to the fact that cloud computing has a very fast growth.

2. Increase in Demand

It has been estimated that more than 25000 unfilled positions are available in the US which is related to Amazon Web Services alone. Moreover, the number of jobs in Microsoft Azure has increased over the years. The companies are just searching for professionals who are killed to work on the Microsoft Azure platform and certification of all these will help to get admitted in these jobs.

3. Proves Expertise and Enhances Credibility

Certifications along with knowledge are the best way to measure the skills of a person.

It has been estimated that three of the top four important attributes and organization looks for when hiring for a cloud-related position. This Cloud Computing certification implies that a person is capable and skilled to help an organization to reduce risk and cost in the project on different platforms. It also leads to the fact that a person can work on complex procedures and handle cloud deployment in an enterprise.

Best Cloud Computing Certificates

These are the some best Cloud Certifications, you can choose from it.

1. AWS Certified Solutions Architect

Amazon Web Services launched its certification in 2013. There are many job rules based credentials at the foundation associate and professional levels along with certifications. There are several roles for the candidates such as developer, operation, and architect. The professional news certification targets networking professional with two or more years of experience designing and deploying cloud environments on was.

1. Number of Exams- There is only a single exam of AWS Certified Solutions
2. Architect- Professional Level. It consists of mcqs which one has to do in 170 minutes.
3. Cost of the exam- The cost of the exam is $300 which is further administered by Webassessor.
4. Materials provided- AWS provides links and blueprints, practice exams, resource guides etc.

Follow to know best 4 AWS Certifications of IT industry

2. Cisco Certified Network Professional Cloud

The Cisco develops inventory Inspiring training and certification program. This program offers credentials that entry associate professional expert and architect levels. These Cloud certifications are one of the most value equations and their features in this year’s top 5 list.

The candidates opting for the certificate should have basic knowledge of cloud infrastructure and deployment models, networking and cloud storagesolutions, ongoing monitoring and other cloud administrative tasks. To get CCNA cloud two exams are required. Is credentials are valid for 3 years after which the credential holder must rectify by qualifying rectification examinations.

1. Prerequisites and required courses- understanding basic Cisco cloud fundamentals, the introduction of Cisco cloud administration.
2. A number of exams- There are two exams which consist of 55 to 65 questions which are 90 minutes in length.
3. Cost for exams- $300 ($600 both).

3. Cisco Certified Network Associate Cloud

For CCNA cloud or any other Cisco certification, there are some prerequisites or training such a person should be familiar with troubleshooting and implementing the Cisco cloud infrastructure. They should be familiar with designing the Cisco cloud, about automating the Cisco enterprise cloud and building the Cisco cloud with application-centric infrastructure. There are 4 examinations for this Cloud Computing certification and they are-

• Implementing and troubleshooting the Cisco cloud infrastructure
• Designing the Cisco cloud
• Automation of the Cisco cloud
• Building a Cisco cloud with application-centric infrastructure

The cost of the exam is $300 each and the total cost is 1200 dollars. They are few materials provided by the Cisco as the maintenance numerous resources for credential seekers which include blogs study and discussion group training videos self-assessment tools etc. There is a Cisco Marketplace Book Store from where the training materials can be bought.

4. MCSE: Cloud Platform and Infrastructure

This is one of the valuable Cloud computing certifications as it analyses the ability of a candidate to manage data centers in networking virtualization, system and identity management, storage in the cloud technologies which are related to it. This cloud certification candidate to get Microsoft certified solutions associate (MCSA) certification. These exams include topics such as implementing, developing and architecting Azure related solution, configuring and operating hybrid cloud with the help of Azure stack designing. It also helps in designing and implementing big data analytics solutions for cloud data platforms.

Below mentioned are the MCSA certificates along with the examination which an individual should clear.

• Windows Server 2016- 3 exams
• Cloud platform- 2 exams
• Linux on Azure- 2 exam
• Windows server 2012- 3 exams

Te first MCSE exam along with two or three prerequisite exams. The cost of this exam is $165 plus $300 for the prerequisite exam. There are several self-study material charge study groups forums blogs evaluation center and many more they are also downloadable books for purchase. Moreover, there are free training courses on a variety of topics

5. VPC7- CMA (VMware Certified Professional)

This is a type of cloud management and automation certification. Virtualizations play an important role in cloud computing as it has been contributed a lot to it. Company’s newest cloud credential certification is based on Vsphere 6.5 and VRealise. There are few prerequisites which an individual should possess for the certification. A person should have a minimum of 6 months experience on VSphere 8 and VRealise. Complete the following below mentioned courses

• vRealize Automation: Install, Configure, Manage [V7.0], [v7.0]
• Cloud Orchestration and Extensibility
• ZRealize Automation: Orchestration and Extensibility.

These training courses are fluctuating so the candidate should check regularly the training courses which are modified. There are approximately 123 examinations which depend on current VCP certification with 65 questions which an individual has to solve within 110 minutes. There is a passing score of 300 which one should clear to get certified.

Follow this link to know about Virtualization in Cloud Computing

For VSphere 6.5 Foundations there are 70 questions which one should finish in 105 minutes. The minimum passing score is 300.

For VPC7- CMA, there are 85 questions which one has to finish in one 110 minutes. The passing score is 300

The cost of the examiners $125 for the first one and$250 for the second one.

Cloud Computing Job Roles.

Cloud Computing Job Roles.






Cloud administrator: To become a cloud administrator, a candidate generally must have three to five years of practical experience in the cloud. A cloud admin should have a strong understanding of system management, troubleshooting and virtualization. They should know Linux, along with some configuration management tools, monitoring tools and scripting languages. Beyond their cloud knowledge, administrators should have strong leadership and people skills


Cloud architect: A cloud architect focuses on the big picture of infrastructure design and configuration rather than individual server configurations. To succeed, the candidate should bring eight to 10 years of experience and be able to build a roadmap for the organization's existing and future cloud assets

Cloud engineer: A cloud engineer is in charge of any and all technical responsibilities associated with cloud computing. Companies that want to hire a cloud engineer look for someone with three to five years of cloud services experience.

The engineer should be versed in areas such as open source technology, scripting languages, multi-cloud environments, system engineering and software development. This cloud computing job role is responsible for the design, planning and management of the cloud infrastructure. Familiarity with APIs, orchestration and automation, DevOps and databases are all pluses for cloud engineers on top of their computer science or engineering degrees.

Cloud security manager: Security is a concern for both private and public clouds. Providers and users alike take comprehensive security measures to ensure that data is stored safely. Because of this, cloud security roles are vital for IT teams within companies. Cloud security managers should have completed formal training and acquired vendor-neutral certifications to stand out in the job field.

To be competitive, a cloud security manager candidate should have a strong understanding of compliance issues and IT governance related to the cloud. A security manager designs, implements and maintains security strategies. They should know the major modern software development approaches, because the role is often incorporated into software development. Security managers can excel in the position if they constantly monitor the IT landscape to asses and prevent new threats to the corporate cloud estate.

Cloud application developer: An effective cloud application developer has to be a proficient in most -- if not all -- major scripting languages, with typically at least five years of experience. However, specific job roles dictate the expected software tools knowledge. For example, if the job is geared toward web development, demonstrate skills with HTML5 and jQuery. Since software development requires integration tasks, application developers need to know the back-end system integrations with the major cloud platforms.

Cloud app developer applicants should research the common cloud providers and platforms. Someone in this role will build, test and deploy applications in a company's cloud environment -- often using DevOps practices, as well as CI/CD tools. If candidates are experienced, versatile and work well with others, they are a great fit for a cloud application developer position.

Cloud network engineer: A cloud network engineer wears many hats. The role is primarily responsible for the implementation, configuration, maintenance and support of the entire cloud network -- but the obligations don't stop there. Cloud network engineers can also be in charge of the administration, monitoring, documentation, security and integration of the company's network, as well as other related cloud services.

A good network engineer has acquired relevant certifications in networking, security and other industry standards for the job role. Candidates should have practical experience in asset deployment and management. This role requires a strong understanding of data center administration -- preferably more than five years of experience.

Cloud automation engineer: One of the most critical and influential roles that affects a business's success with its cloud strategy is a cloud automation engineer. An automation engineer takes experience from software development or IT operations positions and applies a focus on cloud automation, orchestration and integration. More often than not, this role requires a widespread understanding of hardware and software, as well as data center and cloud infrastructure. A cloud automation engineer implements, optimizes and supports an infrastructure.

To get hired in this growing cloud computing job role, a candidate should have five to 10 years of experience in infrastructure operations and application development, in addition to two or more years of practical experience with CI/CD development models. There are no industry certifications required for this position across the board; expectations vary from employer to employer. A good cloud automation engineer has hands-on experience with cloud platforms and technologies. This is usually a senior position, so it is crucial for the engineer's knowledge and experience to be reflected in her work.

Advantages and Disadvantages Of Cloud Computing

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is a term referred to storing and accessing data over the internet. It doesn't store any data on the hard disk of your personal computer. In cloud computing, you can access data from a remote server.

Advantages of Cloud Computing

Here, are important benefits for using Cloud computing in your organization:

Cloud Computing

Cost Savings

Cost saving is the biggest benefit of cloud computing. It helps you to save substantial capital cost as it does not need any physical hardware investments. Also, you do not need trained personnel to maintain the hardware. The buying and managing of equipment is done by the cloud service provider.

Strategic edge

Cloud computing offers a competitive edge over your competitors. It helps you to access the latest and applications any time without spending your time and money on installations.

High Speed

Cloud computing allows you to deploy your service quickly in fewer clicks. This faster deployment allows you to get the resources required for your system within fewer minutes.

Back-up and restore data

Once the data is stored in a Cloud, it is easier to get the back-up and recovery of that, which is otherwise very time taking process on-premise.

Automatic Software Integration

In the cloud, software integration is something that occurs automatically. Therefore, you don't need to take additional efforts to customize and integrate your applications as per your preferences.

Reliability

Reliability is one of the biggest pluses of cloud computing. You can always get instantly updated about the changes.

Mobility

Employees who are working on the premises or at the remote locations can easily access all the could services. All they need is an Internet connectivity.

Unlimited storage capacity

The cloud offers almost limitless storage capacity. At any time you can quickly expand your storage capacity with very nominal monthly fees.

Collaboration

The cloud computing platform helps employees who are located in different geographies to collaborate in a highly convenient and secure manner.

Quick Deployment

Last but not least, cloud computing gives you the advantage of rapid deployment. So, when you decide to use the cloud, your entire system can be fully functional in very few minutes. Although, the amount of time taken depends on what kind of technologies are used in your business.

Other Important Benefits

Apart from the above, some other advantages of cloud computing are:

• On-Demand Self-service
• Multi-tenancy
• Offers Resilient Computing
• Fast and effective virtualization
• Provide you low-cost software
• Offers advanced online security
• Location and Device Independence
• Always available, and scales automatically to adjust to the increase in demand
• Allows pay-per-use
• Web-based control & interfaces
• API Access available.

Disadvantages of Cloud Computing

Here, are significant challenges of using Cloud Computing:

Performance Can Vary

When you are working in a cloud environment, your application is running on the server which simultaneously provides resources to other businesses. Any greedy behavior or DDOS attack on your tenant could affect the performance of your shared resource.

Technical Issues

Cloud technology is always prone to an outage and other technical issues. Even, the best cloud service provider companies may face this type of trouble despite maintaining high standards of maintenance.

Security Threat in the Cloud

Another drawback while working with cloud computing services is security risk. Before adopting cloud technology, you should be well aware of the fact that you will be sharing all your company's sensitive information to a third-party cloud computing service provider. Hackers might access this information.

Downtime

Downtime should also be considered while working with cloud computing. That's because your cloud provider may face power loss, low internet connectivity, service maintenance, etc.

Internet Connectivity

Good Internet connectivity is a must in cloud computing. You can't access cloud without an internet connection. Moreover, you don't have any other way to gather data from the cloud.

Lower Bandwidth

Many cloud storage service providers limit bandwidth usage of their users. So, in case if your organization surpasses the given allowance, the additional charges could be significantly costly

Lacks of Support

Cloud Computing companies fail to provide proper support to the customers. Moreover, they want their user to depend on FAQs or online help, which can be a tedious job for non-technical persons.

Conclusion:

Despite all the pro and cons, we can't deny the fact that Cloud Computing is the fastest growing part of network-based computing. It offers a great advantage to customers of all sizes: simple users, developers, enterprises and all types of organizations. So, this technology here to stay for a long time.

Cloud Computing, has now made it effortlessly easy for all to access applications and software from the internet. Earlier the software and applications had to be physically installed but not anymore. With the evolution in technology and the feasibility to access beneficial apps off the internet, businesses are reaping huge benefits from cloud computing.

However, along with the advantages cloud computing provides, the disadvantages are pretty evident. There are several advantages with cloud computing, and there are prominent setbacks as well.

Advantages

Cost Saving

Cloud computing has invariable benefited businesses and organizations to help cut costs. The core strategy of every business is to churn out as much revenue as possible, while keeping the expenses at a minimum. With Cloud Computing, you can save substantial capital costs, with zero expense as you don’t need to install applications or in-house servers. With no in-house servers, the operational costs of running and maintaining them is eliminated. If the servers were present physically this would call for massive expenses for maintenance, air conditioning, power and other associated expenses.

The benefits of associating your business process with cloud is that you pay for the services, and disengage whenever you don’t need the storage service. Organizations do not need to worry about expending a massive portion of the IT capital for an in-house sever.

Often people wonder if it is extremely expensive to afford the cloud, but the fact is that it’s quite convenient even for small businesses to get on the cloud. Cloud services are quite affordable for small businesses as well.

Reliability

With the need to cater to a larger diverse audience, comes a massive bout of responsibility as well. The cloud infrastructure has to be very efficient in catering to the needs of several clients and maintain its consistency in its functionality and services. Most cloud service providers assure a guarantees assistance round the clock for all days of the contract and there is always close to 100% availability. You don’t need to worry about server maintenance and if the host server fails, the hosted files can easily be transitioned to other available servers.

Manageability

The ordeal of maintaining and dealing with server issues become almost non-existent with cloud services. With opting to venture onto cloud services, businesses will benefit massively for enhanced and structured IT services and the various intricate details of managing the servers. All the services related technicalities are taken care by the service provider and you will enjoy the luxury of a simple web-based user interface to access your applications, services and services. Businesses now need not worry about the installation and massive expenditure on setting up a server with all the amenities. The service providers abide by the signed Service-Level-Agreement to ensure timely assistance to your business needs and they guarantee to provide the required service to help you use the cloud based servers.

Strategic Edge

With competitions soaring high, you might be in need of the latest applications to catch up with the rest of the crowd. Through cloud computing you will have access to the latest apps and infrastructure to create, develop and enhance your deliverables. Your company could access software that is the need of the hour, without actually having to invest in installations or in the maintenance of the software.

Cloud computing lets you focus on your key business objectives and not worry too much about the installation of applications and software.

Disadvantages of Cloud Computing

Downtime

With massive overload on the servers from various clients, the service provider might come up against technical outages. Due to this unavoidable situation your business could be temporarily sabotaged.

And in case your internet connection is down, you will not be able to access the data, software or applications on the cloud. So basically you are depending on the quality of the internet to access the tools and software, as it is not installed in-house.

Security

There is room for imminent risk for your data even though cloud service providers abide by strict confidentiality terms, are industry certified and implement the best security standards. When you seek to use cloud-based technology you are extending your access controls to a third party agent to import critical confidential data from your company onto the cloud. With high levels of security and confidentiality involved, the cloud service providers are often faced with security challenges.

The presence of data on the cloud opens up a greater risk of data theft as hackers could find loopholes in the framework. Basically your data on the cloud is at a higher risk, than if it was managed in-house.

Hackers could find ways to gain access to data, scan, exploit a loophole and look for vulnerabilities on the cloud server to gain access to the data.

For instance, when you are dealing with a multi-tenant cloud server, the chances of a hacker breaking into your data is quite high, as the server has data stored by multiple users. But the cloud-based servers take enough precautions to prevent data thefts and the likelihood of being hacked is quite less.

Vendor Lock-In

Companies might find it a bit of a hassle to change the vendors. Although the cloud service providers assure that it is a breeze to use the cloud and integrate your business needs with them, disengaging and moving to the next vendor is not a forte that’s completely evolved. As the applications that work fine with one platform may not be compatible with another. The transition might pose a risk and the change could be inflexible due to synchronisation and support issues.

Limited Control

Organisations could have limited access control on the data, tools and apps as the cloud is controlled by the service provider. It hands over minimal control to the customer, as the access is only limited to the applications, tools and data that is loaded on the server and no access to the infrastructure itself. The customer may not have access to the key administrative services.

Conclusion

The advantages of cloud computing is way too good, is quite cost effective and it is efficient. The drawbacks are incidental and almost negligible. The decision to opt for cloud based services is great with saving substantial costs with regards to installation and maintenance, reduced downtime, almost negligible manpower involved in monitoring the servers and no collateral investment with regards to the infrastructure required to house the servers in-house. 

Cloud Deployment Models

                                      Cloud Deployment Models



Public Cloud Model
Private Cloud Model
Hybrid Cloud Model
Community Cloud Model

Public Cloud allows systems and services to be easily accessible to general public. The IT giants such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft offer cloud services via Internet. The Public Cloud Model is shown in the diagram below.

Benefits

There are many benefits of deploying cloud as public cloud model. The following diagram shows some of those benefits:

Cost Effective

Since public cloud shares same resources with large number of customers it turns out inexpensive.

Reliability

The public cloud employs large number of resources from different locations. If any of the resources fails, public cloud can employ another one.

Flexibility

The public cloud can smoothly integrate with private cloud, which gives customers a flexible approach.

Location Independence

Public cloud services are delivered through Internet, ensuring location independence.

Utility Style Costing

Public cloud is also based on pay-per-use model and resources are accessible whenever customer needs them.

High Scalability

Cloud resources are made available on demand from a pool of resources, i.e., they can be scaled up or down according the requirement.

Disadvantages

Here are some disadvantages of public cloud model:

Low Security

In public cloud model, data is hosted off-site and resources are shared publicly, therefore does not ensure higher level of security.

Less Customizable

It is comparatively less customizable than private cloud.

Private Cloud Model

Private Cloud allows systems and services to be accessible within an organization. The Private Cloud is operated only within a single organization. However, it may be managed internally by the organization itself or by third-party. The private cloud model is shown in the diagram below.

Benefits

There are many benefits of deploying cloud as private cloud model. The following diagram shows some of those benefits:

High Security and Privacy

Private cloud operations are not available to general public and resources are shared from distinct pool of resources. Therefore, it ensures high security and privacy.

More Control

The private cloud has more control on its resources and hardware than public cloud because it is accessed only within an organization.

Cost and Energy Efficiency

The private cloud resources are not as cost effective as resources in public clouds but they offer more efficiency than public cloud resources.

Disadvantages

Here are the disadvantages of using private cloud model:

Restricted Area of Operation

The private cloud is only accessible locally and is very difficult to deploy globally.

High Priced

Purchasing new hardware in order to fulfill the demand is a costly transaction.

Limited Scalability

The private cloud can be scaled only within capacity of internal hosted resources.

Additional Skills

In order to maintain cloud deployment, organization requires skilled expertise.

Hybrid Cloud Model

Hybrid Cloud is a mixture of public and private cloud. Non-critical activities are performed using public cloud while the critical activities are performed using private cloud. The Hybrid Cloud Model is shown in the diagram below.

Benefits

There are many benefits of deploying cloud as hybrid cloud model. The following diagram shows some of those benefits:

Scalability

It offers features of both, the public cloud scalability and the private cloud scalability.

Flexibility

It offers secure resources and scalable public resources.

Cost Efficiency

Public clouds are more cost effective than private ones. Therefore, hybrid clouds can be cost saving.

Security

The private cloud in hybrid cloud ensures higher degree of security.

Disadvantages

Networking Issues

Networking becomes complex due to presence of private and public cloud.

Security Compliance

It is necessary to ensure that cloud services are compliant with security policies of the organization.

Infrastructure Dependency

The hybrid cloud model is dependent on internal IT infrastructure, therefore it is necessary to ensure redundancy across data centers.

Community Cloud Model

Community Cloud allows system and services to be accessible by group of organizations. It shares the infrastructure between several organizations from a specific community. It may be managed internally by organizations or by the third-party. The Community Cloud Model is shown in the diagram below.

Benefits

There are many benefits of deploying cloud as community cloud model.

Cost Effective

Community cloud offers same advantages as that of private cloud at low cost.

Sharing Among Organizations

Community cloud provides an infrastructure to share cloud resources and capabilities among several organizations.

Security

The community cloud is comparatively more secure than the public cloud but less secured than the private cloud.

Issues

• Since all data is located at one place, one must be careful in storing data in community cloud because it might be accessible to others.
• It is also challenging to allocate responsibilities of governance, security and cost among organizations.

Different Types of Cloud Computing Service Models

Cloud Service Models

Infrastructure-as-a-Service

Platform-as-a-Service

Software-as-a-Service

Identity-as-a-Service

Network-as-a-Service

Cloud Computing Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Infrastructure-as-a-Service provides access to fundamental resources such as physical machines, virtual machines, virtual storage, etc. Apart from these resources, the IaaS also offers:

• Virtual machine disk storage
• Virtual local area network (VLANs)
• Load balancers
• IP addresses
• Software bundles

All of the above resources are made available to end user via server virtualization. Moreover, these resources are accessed by the customers as if they own them.

Benefits

IaaS allows the cloud provider to freely locate the infrastructure over the Internet in a cost-effective manner. Some of the key benefits of IaaS are listed below:

• Full control of the computing resources through administrative access to VMs.
• Flexible and efficient renting of computer hardware.
• Portability, interoperability with legacy applications.

Full control over computing resources through administrative access to VMs

IaaS allows the customer to access computing resources through administrative access to virtual machines in the following manner:

• Customer issues administrative command to cloud provider to run the virtual machine or to save data on cloud server.
• Customer issues administrative command to virtual machines they owned to start web server or to install new applications.

Flexible and efficient renting of computer hardware

IaaS resources such as virtual machines, storage devices, bandwidth, IP addresses, monitoring services, firewalls, etc. are made available to the customers on rent. The payment is based upon the amount of time the customer retains a resource. Also with administrative access to virtual machines, the customer can run any software, even a custom operating system.

Portability, interoperability with legacy applications

It is possible to maintain legacy between applications and workloads between IaaS clouds. For example, network applications such as web server or e-mail server that normally runs on customer-owned server hardware can also run from VMs in IaaS cloud.

Issues

IaaS shares issues with PaaS and SaaS, such as Network dependence and browser based risks. It also has some specific issues, which are mentioned in the following diagram:

Compatibility with legacy security vulnerabilities

Because IaaS offers the customer to run legacy software in provider's infrastructure, it exposes customers to all of the security vulnerabilities of such legacy software.

Virtual Machine sprawl

The VM can become out-of-date with respect to security updates because IaaS allows the customer to operate the virtual machines in running, suspended and off state. However, the provider can automatically update such VMs, but this mechanism is hard and complex.

Robustness of VM-level isolation

IaaS offers an isolated environment to individual customers through hypervisor. Hypervisor is a software layer that includes hardware support for virtualization to split a physical computer into multiple virtual machines.

Data erase practices

The customer uses virtual machines that in turn use the common disk resources provided by the cloud provider. When the customer releases the resource, the cloud provider must ensure that next customer to rent the resource does not observe data residue from previous customer.

Characteristics

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.

Cloud Computing Platform as a Service (PaaS)

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 Force.com 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.

The 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:

Lower administrative overhead

Customer need not bother about the administration because it is the responsibility of cloud provider.

Lower total cost of ownership

Customer need not purchase expensive hardware, servers, power, and data storage.

Scalable solutions

It is very easy to scale the resources up or down automatically, based on their demand.

More current system software

It is the responsibility of the cloud provider to maintain software versions and patch installations.

Issues

Like SaaS, PaaS also places significant burdens on customer's browsers to maintain reliable and secure connections to the provider’s systems. Therefore, PaaS shares many of the issues of SaaS. However, there are some specific issues associated with PaaS as shown in the following diagram:

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.

Cloud Computing Software as a Service (SaaS)

Software-as–a-Service (SaaS) 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:

Cloud Computing Identity as a Service (IDaaS)

Employees in a company require to login to system to perform various tasks. These systems may be based on local server or cloud based. Following are the problems that an employee might face:

• 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, WordPress.com 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

Cloud Computing Network as a Service (NaaS)

Network-as-a-Service allows us to access to network infrastructure directly and securely. NaaS makes it possible to deploy custom routing protocols.

NaaS uses virtualized network infrastructure to provide network services to the customer. It is the responsibility of NaaS provider to maintain and manage the network resources. Having a provider working for a customer decreases the workload of the customer. Moreover, NaaS offers network as a utility. NaaS is also based on pay-per-use model.

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.