In continuation of the previous posts on cloud computing, this blogpost discusses the cloud computing architecture. The architectural view of the cloud from the perspective of cloud service provider and cloud users is discussed.
The cloud computing architecture is a broader term that represents different components including the software and hardware components and their interrelationship with each other to fulfil the client’s business objectives.
The architectural view of cloud computing environment from the perspective of cloud service providers is complex due to the management complexity at their end whereas from the client or end users’ perspective this view is pretty simple and straight forward, free from the management intricacies. All, the clients need to do is to access the cloud services and resources through an interface to the Internet to perform their business tasks without the concern to manage the infrastructure. Example of interface is a Web browser through which the clients or end users access the cloud services.
On the other hand, the architectural view from the cloud providers’ perspective is multifaceted and contains the back-end components that are mandatory to provide cloud services. The back-end architectural components include: (i) management services, for example the communication protocols and virtualization services etc., (ii) security services and mechanisms, (iii) computing and other infrastructure services, (iv) storages services, and (v) software resources. It is important to mention that the management of the tasks to provide uninterrupted services to the cloud tenants is the responsibility of cloud services providers.
