Introduction

CloudComputingPortalforSMEs

Introduction

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Introduction

CloudComputingPortalforSMEs

1.1.

DomainIntroduction

1.1.1. Preface Cloud Computing is a paradigm in the field of computing. It is a style of computing where resourcesareofferedasameteredservice.Theseresourcesaregenerallydynamicallyscalable and virtualized. Cloud Computing builds on existing paradigms like Distributed Systems, Grid Computing,ClusterComputing,Virtualization,etc. InotherwordsCloudComputingistheprovisionofdynamicallyscalableandoftenvirtualized resourcesasaserviceovertheInternetonautilitybasis. Users need not have the knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure in the Cloud that supports them. Cloud Computing services often provide common business applications online that are accessed from a web browser, while the software and data are stored on the servers. The term Cloud is used as a metaphor for the Internet, based on how the Internet is depicted in computer network diagrams and is an abstractionoftheunderlyinginfrastructureitconceals. AtechnicaldefinitionforCloudComputingisasfollows Cloud Computing is a computing capability that provides an abstraction between the computing resource and its underlying technical architecture, enablingconvenient ondemand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisionedandreleasedwithminimalmanagementeffortorserviceproviderinteraction ThisdefinitionstatesthatCloudshavefiveessentialcharacteristics OndemandSelfService BroadNetworkAccess ResourcePooling RapidElasticity MeasuredService

Cloud Computing is generally confused with computing models like Grid Computing, Utility ComputingandAutonomicComputing.HoweverCloudComputingtendstoexpandonwhatis providedbyGridsandUtilities.ThoughmanyCloudComputingdeploymentsdependonGrids andhaveAutonomicandUtilityfeatures,thereareinstancesofCloudarchitectureswithlittle ornocentralizedarchitectureslikepeertopeernetworksliketheBitTorrentandSkype.

Introduction

CloudComputingPortalforSMEs

1.1.2. HistoryandMajorContributions TheCloudisatermthatisborrowedfromTelephony.Inthedatacircuitsusedinthetelephone sector,itwasimpossibletodetermineinadvancewhichpathsthetrafficwouldberoutedover. ThetermTelecomCloudwasusedtodescribethistypeofnetworking,andCloudComputing isconceptuallysimilartothisandhencethenamewasborrowed. The underlying concept of Cloud Computing dates back to 1960 when John McCarthy opined thatComputationmaysomedaybeorganizedasapublicutility. In1999,Salesforce.comwasestablished.TheyprovidedtheconceptofOnDemandandSaaS withtheircustomers.TheyappliedmanytechnologiesdevelopedbycompanieslikeGoogleand Yahoo! to business applications. Business users have enthusiastically welcomed the flexibility andspeedofferedbytheSaaSmodelofferedbySalesforce.com. Microsoft extended the concept of SaaS through the development of Web Services in early 2000s. IBM detailed these concepts in 2001 with a comprehensive description in automation techniques such as selfmonitoring, selfhealing, selfconfiguring and selfoptimizing in the managementofcomplexITsystems. AmazonplayedakeyroleindevelopmentofCloudComputingthroughAmazonWebServices in2005.ThisservicewasprovidedontheUtilityComputingbasis. From2007,alargescaleCloudComputingresearchwasembarkedbycompanieslikeGoogle, IBM,Sun,etc. AsoftodayCloudComputingisinitsinfancystageandisoneofthefastestevolvingdomainsin the computer industry. It has a great potential in terms of research and there are a lot of breathtakingapplicationswhicharebeingbuiltunderthisdomain. 1.1.3. WhyCloudComputing? TherearetwoimportantperspectivesfromwhichCloudComputingcanbevisualized CustomersPerspective From the customers perspective, Cloud Computing is a costeffective solution. Cloud Computing offers flexibility in usage and the expenditure is only as per the use. No upfront capital is required to utilize these Cloud Computing applications. Further a customer escapes fromthetroublesofsettinguphardwareinfrastructurelikeserversandstorage.

Introduction

CloudComputingPortalforSMEs

VendorsPerspective The biggest advantage of Cloud Computing from a vendors view is a reduction in the operational costs. It allows a vendor to use his infrastructure with a high degree of customizability.MoreoverCloudComputingallowsvendorstoreachmoreandmorecustomers withalowcostofdelivery. Asevidentfromtheabovetwoperspectives,CloudComputingoffersahugebenefitintermsof economy. From the vendors view, Cloud Computing offers low operational costs and more customers.FromaclientsviewCloudComputingoffersservicesatalowercostandasperthe requirement. 1.1.4. FeaturesofCloudComputing CloudComputinghasahugearsenaloffeatures.Hereisaquickoverviewofthesalientfeatures ofCloudComputing Easeofuse CloudComputingisverysimpletouse.Thecustomerneednothaveanyideaoftheunderlying technologies involved in the working of the application. With careful planning, every Cloud Computingapplicationcanbemadeuserfriendlywithahighdegreeofaccessibility. Scalability OneofthemostexcitingfeaturesofCloudComputingisthescalability.Applicationsrunningin Cloud Computing environments should be in a position to scale from a handful of users to thousandsofuserdistributedgeographicallyacrosstheglobe.Allthiscanbedonedynamically inaCloudComputingenvironment. Risk CloudComputinghelpinminimizingtherisksofanorganizationtoaverylargeextent.AsCloud ComputingapplicationsrunonanOnDemandbasis,acustomercanutilizetheapplicationas per his requirements and pay only for the services used. This is almost 100% riskfree as a customer can move out of the application once his requirements have been satisfied. Most importantly,thereisnovendorlockinlockoutinCloudComputingapplications. Reliability Cloud Computing applications rely heavily on their environment. These environments should have the capability to support the applications even under failures. This is known as High Availability.ModelslikeClusterComputinghelpinachievingthisrequirement.
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CloudComputingPortalforSMEs

Cost Cloud Computing applications follow a Pay as per usage policy, similar to that of Utility Computing.Thispolicyisverybeneficialtotheusersastheypayforresourcestheyuse,when and where required. Further there isnt a question of investments which make Cloud Computingalowcost,riskfreemodelforenterprises. Security CloudComputingbuildsonseveralsecureprotocolsandsecuritymeasures.Howeversecurity always remains a big apprehension in Cloud Computing applications, especially in DaaS applications. This is because the storage models in these services are vendor dependent and thevendorcreditabilityiswhatdeterminesthesecurityofdata. 1.1.5. TypesofCloudComputingEnvironments CloudComputingenvironmentsareprimarilycharacterizedintothreegroups PublicClouds These Cloud environments are available on the Internet and are managed on a Utility Computing basis. The services provided by these Clouds involve resources which are dynamicallyprovisionedonaselfservicebasis.Theusercaninteractwiththeseenvironments throughwebapplicationsorwebservices. ExamplesofsuchenvironmentsareGoogleAppEngine,MicrosoftAzurePlatform PrivateClouds These Cloud environments are maintained as an inhouse service at an organization. The management of these environments can be done only by authorized personnel. These Cloud Computing environments capitalize on some complex issues like data security, corporate governanceandreliabilityconcerns. The applications running on these environments can be accessed through the internet, even thoughthemanagementisdoneataverysecurelevel. HybridClouds These Cloud environments leverage the benefits of the above two types of Cloud Computing environmentsbybuildingupanetworkofexternalandinternalproviders.Suchanenvironment isconsideredtypicalforamidtierenterprise.

Introduction

CloudComputingPortalforSMEs

1.1.6. DeliveryMechanisms CloudComputingismainlybuiltondeliverymechanisms.Thesemechanismsdefinetheservice beingprovidedbyanapplicationrunninginaCloudComputingenvironment.Commonlythese mechanisms form as a Service (aaS) models. There are hundreds of aaS models like Globalization as a Service (GaaS),Communication as a Service (CaaS),etc. However thereare fourimportantdeliverymechanismstypicallyused InfrastructureasaService(IaaS) Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is the delivery of computer infrastructure as a service. The primaryphilosophyofthisserviceistobuyservers,datacenters,etc.asanoutsourcedservice ratherthantraditionallyhardware. ExamplesofapplicationsfollowingIaaSAmazonElasticComputeCloud(AmazonEC2) PlatformasaService(PaaS) PlatformasaService(PaaS)isaframeworkdefinitionforthedeploymentofapplicationsover the internet. This delivery mechanism concentrates on building up web servers, IDEs, etc. for theusertohosttheirapplications.ThismechanismiscloselytiedwiththeSaaSmechanism. ExamplesofapplicationsfollowingPaaSGoogleAppEngine,MicrosoftAzurePlatform SoftwareasaService(SaaS) SoftwareasaService(SaaS)isamodelofsoftwaredeploymentwhereanapplicationishosted asaserviceprovidedtocustomersacrosstheinternet.SaaSeliminatestheneedtoinstalland run the application on the customers own computer. Applications built on this delivery mechanismarecustomercentricandfocusonprovidingaparticularfunctiontotheusers. ExamplesofapplicationsfollowingSaaSGoogleDocs,Email,Saleforce DataasaService(DaaS) DataasaService(DaaS)providescustomerswithaccessandanalyticstoaroundaproprietary setofaggregateddata.FundamentallyDaaSaimsatbuildinguparepositoryofinformationand distributingitacrossamultitudeofusers. ExamplesofapplicationsfollowingDaaSSalary.com

Introduction

CloudComputingPortalforSMEs

1.1.7. BenefitsofCloudComputing Onawhole,CloudComputinghasalotofbenefits.Hereareafewofthesignificantones ReducedCosts IncreasedStorage HighlevelsofAutomation Flexibility MoreMobility AllowsITtoshiftfocusfromhousekeepingtasksanddedicateresourcestoinnovation

1.2.

ProjectIntroduction

1.2.1. IntroductiontoSMEs SmallandMediumEnterprises(SMEs)arecompanieswhoseheadcountorturnoverfallsbelow certainlimits.Inmosteconomiessmallerenterprisesaregreaterinnumber.Inmanysectors, SMEsareresponsiblefordrivinginnovationandcompetition. In India, the Micro and Small Enterprises sector plays a pivotal role in the overall industrial economy of the country. In recent years the SME sector of our country has consistently registeredhighergrowthratecomparedtotheoverallindustrialsector.Themajoradvantageof thesectorisitsemploymentpotentialatlowcapitalcost. ThelaborintensityintheSMEsectorisestimatedtobealmost4timeshigherthanthelarge enterprises. It is a rapidly growing sector with a lot of innovation and is a huge market for softwaresolutions. 1.2.2. Backdrop Everyorganizationconsistsofseveralapplicationslike FinancialAccounting HRPayroll InventoryControl ManagementSystems

Andotheroperationalnecessities Every organization makes a certain investment in its core infrastructure. For scalability and expandabilityofthisinfrastructure,CloudComputingCenterscanbeaviablesolution.

Introduction

CloudComputingPortalforSMEs

Thisapproachisveryusefulinhighrisk,smallandmediumenterpriseswheretherequirements arehigh,stabilityislowandsustenanceisrisky.Thismethodologyallowssuchorganizationsto outsourcetheirmundanehousekeepingtaskstoCloudComputingCentersandpayaspertheir usage. Such an approach reduces their initial investments for hardware and software, minimizingtheirrisk.Astimeprogressesandthingsstabilizeintheorganization,situationcan be analyzed to compare the Cloud Computing solution to an establishment of their software/hardwaresetup,andtheorganizationcanproceedaccordingly. Cloud Computing Centers benefit from the fact that they can leverage their hardware and software across multiple SMEs and with appropriate planning, the breakeven point can be reachedeasilyandastimeprogressesthecentercanprofitfromsuchaventure. 1.2.3. Vision To demonstrate the suitability of Cloud Computing to Small and Medium Enterprises. The projectshowcasesthemultiplesolutionsovermultipleCloudComputingPlatforms. 1.2.4. Scope To implement a portal covering various facets of Cloud Computing like Infrastructure as a Service,PlatformasaService,SoftwareasaServiceandDataasaService.Thisisachievedby implementing applications related to SME space like SelfManaged Repository, Name Finder, Knowledge Management System, Sales Management System and Appraisal Management System.TheprojectalsocoverstheconceptsofpublicandprivateCloudComputing. 1.2.5. Overview Understanding the potential market of Small and Medium Enterprises, the project supports them by providing business applications on demand. These applications form a web portal, whichisdistributedacrossmultipleCloudComputingenvironmentstoavoidvendorlockin. ThepublicCloudComputingenvironmentsusedintheprojectincludeGoogleAppEngineand Windows Azure Platform. Also a private Cloud has been established at Osmania University, Hyderabad. Theapplicationscoveredasapartoftheprojectare 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. SelfManagedRepository NameFinder KnowledgeManagementSystem SalesManagementSystem AppraisalManagementSystem
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CloudComputingPortalforSMEs

Theseapplicationsaretheprimaryrequirementsofanyorganization,irrespectiveofitssector Education,IT,Banking,Automobiles,etc.Everyorganizationrequirestheseapplicationsforits properfunctioning. 1.2.6. HighLevelDesign TheprojectisdistributedovermultipleCloudEnvironments.PublicCloudslikeWindowsAzure Platform and Google App Engine are used. A Private Cloud is setup and is integrated in the project. The Private Cloud is built on the GlassFish app server and to achieve features like High Availability, a clustered environment is setup with two systems running GlassFish. For High Availabilityofthepersistence,adatabaseclusterisformedusingMySQLdatabases. An OpenDS Server is used for authentication. The directory server is accessed through LDAP. ForHighAvailabilityofthedirectoryserver,theOpenDSisreplicated.Hereisaroughschematic ofthedeploymentstructure

Figure1.1HighLevelArchitectureDiagram

Introduction

CloudComputingPortalforSMEs

1.2.7. UniqueSellingPoints Theprojectcoversvariousconceptslike CloudInteroperability AppServerClustering DatabaseClustering OpenDSReplication ServiceOrientedArchitecture

Theprojecthasapotentialmarketandcanbeimplementedinorganizations,independentof their domain. A Private Cloud is being setup at the Technology Development Center (TDC) of OsmaniaUniversitywhichcanbescaledupforotherresearchprojectsonCloudComputing. 1.2.8. EconomicPerspective TheessenceofanyCloudComputingprojectliesinthefactthatservicesshouldbeprovidedon demandandthecustomershouldbechargedontheusage.Alltheapplicationsintheproject followaquotasystemandtheusagecanbemeasuredaccordingly SelfManagedRepositoryismeasuredbytheamountofdiskspaceused NameFinderusageismeasuredbythenumberoforganizationsoptingfortheservice Knowledge Management System, Sales Management System and Appraisal ManagementSystemusagescanbemeasuredbythenumberofincomingrequests

Besidesthementionedmetrics,othermetricsmaybeconsideredasthesituationdemands. 1.2.9. Goals Thetargetedgoalsoftheprojectare SolutionsusingCloudComputingmechanisms(IaaS,PaaS,DaaSandSaaS) Solutions with multiple technologies and demonstrate how they fit seamlessly into CloudComputingachievinglowcostsolutions SetupaPrivateCloudusingGlassFishClustersandMySQLClusters ApplicationsdevelopedanddeployedonthePrivateCloud Applications developed and deployed on Cloud Computing Platforms provided by the currentleadersinCloudComputing(GoogleandMicrosoft)

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