Chapter 9: Cloudy with a Chance of Gigabytes
In This Chapter
Examining the basics of cloud computing
Looking at three kinds of cloud computing services
Understanding the pros and cons of cloud computing
Perusing a few of the major cloud computing service providers
In her classic children’s book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Judi Barrett tells the story of the town of Chewandswallow, where food falls from the sky. Clouds rain down such essentials as juice and soup, and when it snows, the snow is made of ice cream.
Cloud computing is a bit like that. In a computer network, the essentials are not juice, soup, and ice cream, but CPU cycles, disk storage, and software. Traditionally, these essentials have been provided by local server computers, whether real or virtual. But in recent years, more and more companies have been obtaining these essential resources from the “cloud” — that is, from the Internet.
This chapter is a brief introduction to cloud computing. You discover what it is, the pros and cons of adopting it, and what services are provided by the major cloud computer providers. ...
