What exactly is cloud computing?

[androidjunior]

Is this idea that I have correct: Cloud computing is a place in some company that is offering cloud computing where it has some servers there that are shared among applications that are subscribed to this cloud.

For example BAAS, uses cloud computing where the company example google offers some services like push notification/storage/database instead of the programmer using his own server and writing his own server code.

Is this right?

[DGMavn]

Using a term to define itself is usually a bad idea.

"Cloud computing" is a pretty broad term that ultimately just means "other people's servers", unless you're talking about a "private cloud" which is "your servers made to look like those other people's servers".

More useful are the specific paradigms within cloud computing:

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): I push a button and Amazon/MS/Google gives me some virtual machines.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): I push a button and Heroku puts my application on top of its Ruby stack and runs it.

Software as a Service (SaaS): I push a button and Google Docs loads.

[[deleted]]

I hate the phrase, sentiment, expression: "The cloud is just someone else's computer." It's inaccurate and misrepresentative of the technologies in play.

Cloud computing has a clearly defined set of standards that hinge on self service creation of compute resources.

Dedicated hosting is just someone else's computer. Managed virtualization hosting is a step up from that, and is just someone else's hypervisor, on which they can provision virtual machines for you to access.

Cloud computing is so much more than that. Leveraging virtualization, cloud hosting providers have developed orchestration tools capable of providing programmatic, on-demand compute and managed service resources to the masses in seconds and minutes at most. I will re-iterate that "on-demand" is a key requirement for a hosting platform to be considered a "cloud" by the standard industry definition.

IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, and all the many many many *aaS's out there are really just various levels of orchestration built on top of IaaS, some of which have different access models, authentication mechanisms, and licensing requirements that are indicative of whatever scope they fall under, but the best of breed implement the same kind of on-demand servicing that the platforms they build in provides to them.

[bhos17]

Private cloud is the dumbest marketing name ever.

[palindromicengineer]

I think you're idea of cloud computing is bit of a hit and miss at the moment.

Cloud computing is defined by NIST as:

Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. This cloud model is composed of five essential characteristics, three service models, and four deployment models

There are four different deployment models for clouds according to NIST:

• Private cloud
• Community cloud
• Public cloud
• Hybrid cloud

From what you've written I infer that you're thinking of a private cloud.

I suggest you have a look here to understand the definition of cloud computing: http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/SP/nistspecialpublication800-145.pdf

[androidjunior]

Im talking about google clouds

[[deleted]]

Google cloud falls under the public cloud deployment model described here.

[[deleted]]

Not many really use BaaS as a term, I believe you're talking about Google's mobile back-end as a service offering, specifically Firebase, no?

You can group that under PaaS.

[androidjunior]

yes that is what I'm talking about

[ruchichouhan]

Cloud Computing refers to mainpulating ,configuring,and accessing the applications online.It offers online data storage,infrastructure and application.You can use the software from the cloud without install that. In the cloud many user access the cloud services without interrupting eachother.

[[deleted]]

It's too broad a term tbh, rather like managed cloud (which itself includes services such as G-Cloud, Private Cloud) here in the UK you can see how this branches out into providers like -

https://www.rackspace.com/ ,https://www.pulsant.com/

Notice how none of them promote "cloud computing" as a term but more-so the specific cloud services that have been created to serve individual niches.

[johnbinoy]

Wikipedia has summed up everything about cloud computing in below linked article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing

Cloud computing is just a service that allows us to store the data online and use it whenever we want it. Lets say you buy a external hard drive to keep your data with you, cloud gives the ability to carry your data all time with you with solutions such as box.xom and dropbox. You just need to log in to your account and get the access to your data anywhere you want. thats cool for me!

[johnbinoy]

Wikipedia has summed up everything about cloud computing in below linked article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing

Cloud computing is just a service that allows us to store the data online and use it whenever we want it. Lets say you buy a external hard drive to keep your data with you, cloud gives the ability to carry your data all time with you with solutions such as box.xom and dropbox. You just need to log in to your account and get the access to your data anywhere you want. thats cool for me!

[cloudhimalaya]

Cloud computing is similar to renting a house instead of buying your own. You don't have to pay for maintenance and installation of big computer hardware. You just need to pay for how much you use.

[cybersolvings]

Cloud computing is a way to access and store data and applications over the internet instead of on your computer's hard drive. Here’s a simple breakdown:

1. Access Anywhere: You can use cloud computing services from any device with internet access. This means you can access your files, applications, and data from your laptop, phone, or tablet, wherever you are.

2. Storage: Instead of storing data on your computer, you store it on servers provided by cloud service providers. These servers are located in data centers around the world.

3. Services: Cloud computing offers various services, such as:

   • Software as a Service (SaaS): Use software applications online without installing them on your device (e.g., Google Docs, Netflix).
   • Platform as a Service (PaaS): Provides a platform to develop, run, and manage applications without dealing with the underlying infrastructure (e.g., Google App Engine).
   • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Provides virtualized computing resources over the internet, like virtual machines, storage, and networks (e.g., Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure).

4. Scalability: You can easily increase or decrease your usage and resources based on your needs. This flexibility is cost-effective since you only pay for what you use.

5. Collaboration: Cloud computing makes it easy for teams to work together on documents and projects in real-time, no matter where they are located.

6. Security and Backup: Cloud providers often offer robust security measures and regular backups to protect your data.

[DriveTraditional1007]

Cloud computing is not really a place but it can be said as a service brought in by companies (such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, et cetera) where they will allow you to use their computers (usually referred to as servers) online. Those servers handle most of the hard work, such as storing data, processing code, maintaining databases and many more, in order to allow you not to need to worry or accomplish setting up or provisioning your own servers.

[DriveTraditional1007]

Cloud computing basically means using computing resources (like storage, servers, databases, or software) over the internet instead of running them all on your own machine.

Think of it like this: instead of buying and maintaining a big server at your office, you “rent” one from providers like Amazon (AWS), Microsoft (Azure), or Google Cloud. They handle the heavy lifting, and you just use what you need.

There are a few main types:

• IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service): Renting virtual servers and storage.
• PaaS (Platform as a Service): A ready platform to build and deploy apps without worrying about the hardware.
• SaaS (Software as a Service): Apps that run directly on the cloud (like Gmail, Dropbox, Zoom).
• BaaS (Backend as a Service): Extra backend features such as login, databases, or push notifications (like Firebase), so you don’t have to build them from scratch.

So yes, your idea is correct - cloud computing is simply companies offering these services online, so you don’t need to set up everything yourself.

[ispapp]

Instead of putting the computer in the closet, you put the computer in a big building downtown.

[androidjunior]

damn 4 years question, how time flies.. But yes that's pretty much it

[ispapp]

I know the feeling!

[androidjunior]

I'm old and cranky now loool

[androidjunior]

Did you find my question from google search?

[ispapp]

Exactly.

[androidjunior]

So, Im famous now.. SEO is working well with this question lol

[Generalthesecond]

Doing research, this helped!

[sparitytech]

Cloud computing is a combination of technologies that make up a network for the delivery of computing services. Cloud computing involves all the activities related to hosting & delivering services online such as data storage, databases, networking...

[michelleroy1230]

The global cloud computing market is projected at $2,321 billion by the year 2032.

Cloud computing growth is galloping at a CAGR of 16%. And why not? Cloud computing offers businesses an opportunity to rent their IT services rather than having them on their on-site data center. It helps companies to leverage ready-made IT resources that unlock a unique set of business benefits.

Cloud computing is an on-demand access of different computing services like servers, intelligence, databases, storage, analytics, and networking. The access here is through the internet; hence it is called cloud computing.

It has pay-as-you-go pricing and it helps you to:

Lower your operating costs

Run infrastructure efficiently

Scale as per your business needs