Private clouds are those that provide resources exclusively to a single organization or
company. The private cloud is generally located physically on the on-site datacenter
although some companies do pay for a third-party provider to host that cloud. All
resources and services are maintained and managed on one private network.
- The Hybrid Cloud
Hybrid clouds are a combination of the public and private, tied by technology that
allows for the sharing of applications and data between them. When applications and
data can move in between the two, you get much more flexibility, more options for
deployment and better optimization for the infrastructure you already have in place.
Different Cloud Services
There are four main categories for cloud services and these are often termed as a “stack”
because each builds on the last.
- IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service
The basic cloud service category, IaaS allows you to hire your servers, VMs, networks,
storage, operating systems, and any other infrastructure you require, on a PAYG basis
from the provider.
- PaaS – Platform as a Service
This refers to services that supply the environment for development, test, delivery and
management of software applications on demand. This makes the development of apps
much easier as there is no need to worry about the underlying infrastructure.
- Serverless Computing
Together with PaaS, serverless computing makes building web and mobile app
functionality easier, reducing the need to manage the infrastructure and servers. The
entire setup is handled by the provider and, being event-driven, resources are used only
when a trigger or function happens.
- SaaS – Software as a Service
SaaS is a software delivery service; applications are delivered on demand across the
internet and are usually subscription-based. The cloud provider hosts the application
and manages it, along with the infrastructure it requires, along with maintenance,
including upgrades and patches.