Cloud computing is a flexible service method. Companies can choose to use the cloud to store data and execute as much or as little logic as needed to meet their business needs. Existing companies may choose a gradual transition to save on infrastructure costs and management costs (called "direct migration"), while new companies can adopt the cloud from the beginning.
Let's understand some of the main advantages of cloud computing.
Cost-effective
Cloud computing provides pay-as-you-go or use-based pricing models.
This usage-based model has many benefits, including:
- No prepayment of infrastructure costs
- No need to buy and manage costly infrastructure that you may not fully utilize
- Ability to pay for additional resources only when needed
- Ability to stop paying for resources that are no longer needed
This also helps to better predict costs. The prices of various resources and services are provided, so you can predict the expenditure in a given billing cycle based on the expected usage. You can also use historical usage data tracked by cloud providers to analyze based on future growth.
Scalable
The resources and services used can be increased or decreased based on demand or workload at any given time. Cloud computing supports both vertical and horizontal expansion, depending on the needs.
Vertical scaling (also known as "vertical scaling") is the process of adding resources to enhance the functionality of existing servers. Some examples of vertical scaling include adding more CPUs or adding more memory.
Horizontal scaling (also known as "horizontal scaling") is the process of adding more servers to work together as a unit. For example, multiple servers process incoming requests.
Scaling can be done manually or automatically based on specific triggers (such as CPU utilization or number of requests), and resources can be allocated or deallocated within a few minutes.
Flexible
When the workload changes due to a sudden increase or decrease in demand, the cloud computing system can compensate by automatically adding or deleting resources.
For example, suppose your website is specifically mentioned in a news article, which caused a surge in traffic overnight. Because the cloud is elastic, it will automatically allocate more computing resources to handle the increased traffic. When traffic begins to normalize, the cloud automatically deallocates additional resources to minimize costs.
As another example, if you run an application that employees use, you can have the cloud automatically add resources during peak operating hours when most employees access the application, and then delete the resources at the end of the day.
Always up to date
When using the cloud, you can focus on what really matters, that is, build and deploy applications. Cloud usage eliminates the burden of maintaining software patches, hardware settings, upgrades, and other IT management tasks. All of this is done automatically, making sure you use the latest and best tools to run your business.
In addition, the computer hardware is maintained and upgraded by the cloud provider. For example, if a disk fails, the cloud provider will replace the disk. If new hardware updates are available, there is no need to replace the hardware. The cloud provider will ensure that hardware updates are automatically provided to you.
reliable
When running a business, you want to ensure that data is always available. Cloud computing providers provide data backup, disaster recovery, and data replication services to ensure that data is always safe. In addition, redundancy is usually built into the cloud service architecture, so if one component fails, the backup component will replace it. This is called fault tolerance and ensures that customers are not affected in the event of a disaster.
It is global
Cloud providers have fully redundant data centers in various regions of the world. This allows you to be close to your customers and provide them with the best response time no matter where they are.
Services can be copied to multiple regions for redundancy and positioning, or specific regions can be selected to ensure that customers are satisfied with data residency and compliance regulations.
Safety
Think about how to protect your own data center. You set up physical security -who can enter the building, who can operate the server rack, etc. You also set up digital security – who can connect to the system and data via the network.
Cloud providers provide a broad set of strategies, technologies, controls, and expert technical skills that can provide better security than most organizations can achieve. The result is enhanced security, which helps protect data, applications, and infrastructure from potential threats.
As for physical security – a threat to cloud infrastructure, cloud providers invest heavily in fences, cameras, gates, security personnel, etc. in order to protect physical assets. They also developed strict procedures to ensure that employees only have access to resources that they have authority to manage.
Now let's discuss digital security. You only allow authorized users to log in to virtual machines or storage systems running in the cloud. Cloud providers provide tools that help mitigate security threats, and you must use these tools to protect the resources used.
to sum up
Cloud computing makes it easier to run businesses. Cloud computing is cost-effective, scalable, flexible, always up-to-date, reliable and safe. This means that you can spend more time on important matters and less time to manage basic details.