several cost models associated with running services in the cloud
consumption-based
subscription-based
cloud services involves a shift from capital expenses (CapEx) to operational expenses (OpEx)
CapEx includes up-front costs for purchasing hardware, software licenses, and infrastructure setup in traditional on-premises IT infrastructure
eliminating the need for significant up-front investments
Scalability
the ability to dynamically expand and contract capacity in response to demand with no downtime
two ways in which services can be scaled:
Scale-up (vertical scaling)
describes adding capacity to an existing resource
e.g., processor, memory, and storage capacity
Scale-out (horizontal scaling)
describes adding additional resources, such as more instances (or virtual machines) to work in parallel and increase performance
Resilience
use redundant hardware, fault tolerance capabilities (such as clustering), and data replication to store data across multiple servers and datacenters
Ease of deployment
using automation, standardization, and portability
Ease of recovery
Cloud providers typically offer backup and restore functionality
implement highly redundant and fault-tolerant architectures
distribute data and services across multiple datacenters or availability zones
and reduce the risk of data loss or service disruption by ensuring that workloads seamlessly failover if one datacenter or zone experiences an outage
cloud providers offer disaster recovery services
enable organizations to replicate their environments in different geographic regions to provide failover capabilities
Service level agreements (SLAs)
define expected service levels, including performance, availability, and support commitments between cloud service providers and organizations
Interconnection Security Agreements (ISAs)
establish the security requirements and responsibilities between the organization and the cloud service provider
to safeguard sensitive data
ensure compliance with industry regulations
ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data and systems within the cloud environment
define
encryption methods
access controls
vulnerability management
and data segregation techniques
agreement must specify
data ownership
audit rights
data backup, recovery, and retention procedures
for regulated industries
must detail how the provider meets these compliance requirements
include provisions for auditing and reporting to demonstrate ongoing compliance
should address the use of subcontractors
clearly define the security responsibilities and requirements for their selection
and the process for notifying the organization of subcontractor changes
Power
Cloud providers prioritize energy efficiency to reduce costs and environmental impact by deploying energy-efficient hardware, optimizing cooling systems, and implementing power management techniques
Power usage effectiveness (PUE) is a metric used to measure datacenter energy efficiency
strive for low PUE values
signifies that a larger proportion of the energy supplied to the datacenter is used for computing purposes rather than supporting infrastructure
Compute
Compute capabilities in cloud architecture provide the flexibility, scalability, and efficiency necessary to manage and utilize computing resources