Module 0 - Core Cloud Concepts

Question 1

What are the three (3) types of Cloud Computing Service categorizations and what is the main difference between them?

Answer 1

IaaS, PaaS, SaaS

Main differences between the three are how much YOU manage vs how much the Cloud Vendor manages

Question 2

IaaS, who manages what, and Azure-specific examples

Answer 2

Infrastructure as a Service

Examples:
• Azure
• AWS
• Google Compute Engine

What gets managed by who?
• The Cloud Vendor manages Virtualization, Servers, Storage, Networking
• You manage Apps, Data, Runtime, Middleware, OS

Azure-specific:
• Azure Compute, Virtual Machines, Azure Storage

Question 3

PaaS, who manages what, and Azure-specific examples

Answer 3

Platform as a Service

Examples:
• Azure Logic Apps
• Heroku
• Amazon Elastic Beanstalk

What gets managed by who?
• The Cloud Vendor manages Virtualization, Servers, Storage, Networking, Runtime, Middleware, OS
• You manage your Application and your Data 😉

Azure-specific:
Azure Logic Apps, Azure Functions, Azure Web Jobs, Azure Automation

Question 4

SaaS, who manages what, and Azure-specific examples

Answer 4

Software as a Service

Examples:
• Office 365
• DropBox
• SalesForce
• Dayforce!

What gets managed by who?
• The Cloud Vendor manages EVERYTHING (Kareo, Salesforce). Usually a full web application

Azure-specific:
Word, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, etc.

Question 5

On-Prem, who manages what?

Answer 5

You manage everything! it’s “on-premises”

Question 6

Hint: D&T S S&B HPC BDA

IaaS - What are some Service Scenarios?

Answer 6

• Development & Testing
• Scaling - Turn on/off dev machines when needed, no need to pay for having full-time hardware
• Storage and Backups - relatively cheap to maintain backups
• High Performance Computing on tap
• Big Data Analysis - you only pay for the time you need

Question 7

PaaS - What are some Service Scenarios?

Answer 7

Analytics/BI: tools provided as a service allow companies to analyze and mine their data (Power BI for example, IoT Dashboard, Azure Monitor, etc. etc.)

Development: You can create apps using cloud services, gaining much scalability, availability and reliability within your application (i.e. every service in Azure Compute)

Question 8

Describe the “Public Cloud”…what is it?

Answer 8

A vendor that provides Cloud Services. Usually shared among multiple clients through secured access, supported by shared backend hardware

Azure is a Public Cloud, so is Google Apps

Question 9

SaaS - What are some Service Scenarios?

Answer 9

• Getting access to sophisticated apps WITHOUT having to manage infrastructure or scaling
• Instant access to features for managing your data, on both Desktop and Mobile Devices

Question 10

Define Cloud COMPUTING

Answer 10

Computational Service as a UTILITY - Enables companies to consume computational resources (virtual machines, storage, application services, etc) as a utility, like we do electricity, rather than having to build and maintain hardware and supporting software infrastructure in-house/on-prem.

Question 11

Define the role of a Cloud PROVIDER and the advantages they provide and problems they solve?

Answer 11

They are the owners of the data centers who manage and secure those servers, networking, virtualization of hardware and environment.

• Solves lot of problems with scalability and availability as-needed.
• All resources are pulled together and made available to multiple clients who utilize those services
• Users simply choose the service/resource they want and pay per unit of usage
• Services are provided near instantly on-demand.

Question 12

What are some Azure examples of CapEx?

Answer 12

Azure Reserved VMs or any other Resource or Service where you pay to RESERVE it for future use

Question 13

What are some Azure examples of OpEx?

Answer 13

Any Service or Resource you provision and can use immediately (non-reserved)

Question 14

What is Rapid Elasticity? What does it help control?

Answer 14

Because you can Scale Up/Down, Cloud Services are said to be “rapidly elastic” as you can scale up as needed (for a short term client or short term traffic increase, etc.),

Scale Up/Scale out options that you can set to help control COSTS

Set auto Scale Up/Down when usage reaches a certain point. then once that temporary instance is no longer a consideration, you can immediately scale down

Question 15

What three (3) responsibilities define RELIABILITY?

Answer 15

High Availability - Protects against hardware or software failures

Disaster Recovery - Recovering from natural or human disasters like earth quakes, fire, flooding, terrorist attacks, etc.

Fault Tolerance - Similar to HA but offers ZERO downtime (ability to be up and running immediately eg Instant High Availability)

Question 16

Hint: On-Prem is NOT one…

What are the Four Cloud DEPLOYMENT Models?

Answer 16

• Public Cloud
• Private Cloud
• Hybrid Cloud (On-Prem + Cloud)
• Community Clouds (ex. Azure Government)

Question 17

What is a Private Cloud?

Answer 17

An entity that builds it’s own Cloud infrastructure + a datacenter.

• Hardware is used by a single company, sometimes owned by the company and uses a datacenter.
• IT Departments build other departments based on services they would each use

Question 18

Define “Hybrid Cloud”

Answer 18

A combination of Public and Private Cloud with automation and orchestration between them

Question 19

Describe a “Community Cloud”…what is is?

What is an Azure-specific example?

Answer 19

Infrastructure shared between two or more organizations, typically of a shared community with common security concerns/requirements.

Ex. governments in Azure share Azure Government i.e the shared infrastructure for Government entities at Federal and State level

Question 20

What is Azure GOVERNMENT and what kind of “Cloud” is it?

Answer 20

An example of Community Cloud, Azure Government is only available to government entities (Fed, State, etc.)

• Government entities that want to use it must get approval for it
• Datacenters supporting Azure Government are separate from those that support Public Cloud
• Az Gov instances are certified and capable of handling data subject to government security compliance

Examples:
• Azure China, Azure Germany, etc.
• Azure China requires all data to go through their state-controlled ISP

Question 21

What is Geo-Distribution?

Answer 21

When you deploy apps and data to regional datacenters around the globe, thereby ensuring that your customers always have the best performance in their region.

In Azure, there are Regions (datacenters and such) setup around the entire world~

Question 22

What is the Consumption-Based Model and its benefits?

Answer 22

You pay for what you use.

• No upfront costs.
• No need to purchase and manage costly infrastructure that users might not use to its fullest (OpEX)
• The ability to pay for additional resources when they are needed (SCALE UP)
• The ability to stop paying for resources that are no longer needed (SCALE DOWN)

Question 23

What are the Cost advantages of IaaS?

Answer 23

Cost Advantages:

• No CapEx
• Consumption-based model

Question 24

PaaS - What is the main advantage? disadvantage?

Answer 24

Same as IaaS

• Productivity. Since the cloud provider handles platform management, users can focus app development

DISADVANTAGE
• Platform limitations - Services may be based on certain architectures, file system types, etc. so you might need to overcome compatibility or availability issues

Question 25

SaaS - what are some advantages? disadvantages?

Answer 25

Same as IaaS but with additional benefits

• Pay-as-you-go pricing model
• Flexibility. Users can access the same app data from anywhere

DISADVANTAGE
• Software limitations. You’re usually using the software “as-is” until they get a new version out.

Question 26

How does Serverless Computing enable developers for productivity?

Answer 26

Enables developers to concentrate on building app business logic by eliminating their need for infrastructure management (the cloud PROVIDER handles all that)

Question 27

Reserved Azure Services (like Azure Reserved VM Instances) are CapEx (T/F)?

Answer 27

True. Even though Azure VM is an IaaS offering from Azure, when you Reserve the instances, you’re not using them right away, thus fit the definition of a CapEx resource.

Question 28

Describe the two (2) Expenditure Models, how they affect value over time, and when you can deduct from revenue

Answer 28

Capital Expenditure (CapEx):

• The costs toward physical goods or services used for more than one year
• Can’t deduct from the fiscal year that the asset was paid for. Usually carried over to the next year over the lifetime of the resource
• These depreciate in value over time

Operational Expenditure
(OpEx)
- These are deducted same year, so you can deduct these from revenue faster
- Cloud cost usually go here since you use services right away
- Money paid for cloud does NOT depreciate over multiple years

Question 29

What are the Infrastructure advantages of IaaS? (Hint: G E H)

Answer 29

General Cloud Advantages - the Cloud Provider ensures Security, High Availability and Scalability

Easy Management and Agility - quick access, easily provisioned/deprovisioned

Highest flexibility - You retain control over hardware/software configurations

Question 30

What is the Personnel advantage of IaaS?

Answer 30

Personnel Advantage: No deep tech skills needed