What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is a type of distributed computing, which refers to the decomposition of huge data computing processing programs into numerous small programs through the network "cloud", and then processing and analyzing these through a system of multiple servers The applet gets the result and returns it to the user. In the early days of cloud computing, simply, it was simple distributed computing, solving task distribution, and merging calculation results. Therefore, cloud computing is also called grid computing. Through this technology, tens of thousands of data can be processed in a short time (a few seconds), thereby achieving powerful network services. ^[1]

The cloud service mentioned at this stage is not only a distributed computing, but a result of the mixed evolution of computer technologies such as distributed computing, utility computing, load balancing, parallel computing, network storage, hot backup redundancy, and virtualization. . ^[1]

TA says

2018-03-11 21:03 The evolution of cloud computing2018-03-11 21:03

Personal computers may become antiques in the near future, reminding people of a peculiar era: everyone was forced to work as amateur computer technicians. At the end of the 19th century, if you told those manufacturers that have their own power generation equipment that they can not generate electricity by themselves, large-scale centralized power plants can fully meet the power needs of various manufacturers through the ubiquitous power grid. People will surely think you are dreaming crazy . ... more

Cloud Computing Overview

"Cloud" is essentially a network. In a narrow sense, cloud computing is a network that provides resources. Users can obtain resources on the "cloud" at any time, use them according to demand, and can be regarded as infinitely expanding. You can pay according to the amount of use. "Cloud" is like a water plant. We can receive water at any time, and there is no limit. According to the water consumption of our home, we can pay the water plant. ^[2]

In a broad sense, cloud computing is a service related to information technology, software, and the Internet. This type of computing resource sharing pool is called a "cloud". Cloud computing brings together many computing resources and implements automated management through software. With fewer people involved, resources can be provided quickly. In other words, as a commodity, computing power can be circulated on the Internet, just like water, electricity, and gas. It can be easily accessed and the price is relatively low. ^[2]

In short, cloud computing is not a new network technology, but a new network application concept. The core concept of cloud computing is to take the Internet as the center and provide fast and secure cloud computing services and data storage on the website. Anyone using the Internet can use the huge computing resources and data centers on the network. ^[2]

Cloud computing is a new innovation in the information age after the Internet and computers. Cloud computing is a big leap in the information age. The future era may be the era of cloud computing. Although there are many definitions of cloud computing at present, overall That is to say, although cloud computing has many meanings, in general, the basic meaning of cloud computing is the same, that is, cloud computing has strong scalability and need, and can provide users with a completely new experience. The core is that many computer resources can be coordinated together, so that users can obtain unlimited resources through the network, and the acquired resources are not limited by time and space. ^[3]

Cloud computing generates background

The Internet began to rise in 1960 and is mainly used for text-only email or news cluster services between the military and large enterprises. It didn't begin to enter the ordinary family until 1990. With the development of web sites and e-commerce, the Internet has become one of the necessities of daily life. The concept of cloud computing was first proposed at the search engine conference in August 2006, and became the third revolution of the Internet. ^[2]

In recent years, cloud computing is also becoming a strategic focus of the development of the information technology industry, and global information technology companies are transitioning to cloud computing. For example, every company needs to do data informatization, store related operational data, perform product management, personnel management, financial management, etc., and the basic equipment for managing these data is a computer. ^[2]

For an enterprise, the computing power of a computer is far from being able to meet the needs of data computing, so the company must purchase a computer with a higher computing power, that is, a server. For relatively large enterprises, the computing power of one server is obviously not enough. It requires the enterprise to purchase multiple servers and even evolve into a data center with multiple servers. The number of servers will directly affect this. Data center business processing capabilities. In addition to the high initial construction costs, the operating costs of the computer are much higher than the investment costs. In addition to the computer and network maintenance costs, these total costs are difficult for small and medium enterprises to bear. Then, the concept of cloud computing came into being. ^[2]

Cloud computing development history

It has been almost 10 years since the concept of cloud computing was proposed. During these 10 years, cloud computing has achieved rapid development and tremendous changes. Nowadays, cloud computing is regarded as a revolution in the field of computer networks. Because of its appearance, the working methods and business models of society are also undergoing tremendous changes. ^[1]

Tracing back to the root of cloud computing, its generation and development are closely related to the computer technologies such as parallel computing and distributed computing mentioned earlier, all of which promote the growth of cloud computing. But tracing the history of cloud computing can be traced back to 1956, ChristopherStrachey published a paper on virtualization, because virtualization was officially proposed. Virtualization is the core of today's cloud computing infrastructure and the foundation for the development of cloud computing. Then, with the development of network technology, the seed of cloud computing was gradually bred. ^[1]

In the 90s of the last century, the computer network exploded, and a series of companies represented by Cisco emerged, and then the era of network bubble appeared. ^[1]

In 2004, the Web 2.0 conference was held, and Web 2.0 became a hot spot at that time, which also marked the burst of the Internet bubble and the development of computer networks into a new stage. At this stage, letting more users use network services conveniently and quickly has become an urgent issue for the development of the Internet of Things. At the same time, some large companies have also begun to develop technologies for large-scale computing capabilities, providing users with more powerful Computing Processing Services. ^[1]

On August 9, 2006, Google CEO Eric Schmidt first introduced the concept of "Cloud Computing" at the Search Engine Conference (SESSanJose 2006). This is the first time this concept has been formally introduced in the history of cloud computing development, and has great historical significance. ^[1]

Since 2007, "cloud computing" has become one of the most interesting topics in the computer field, and it is also an important direction for large enterprises and Internet construction. Because of the advancement of cloud computing, new models of Internet technology and IT services have emerged, triggering a change. ^[1]

In 2008, Microsoft released its public cloud computing platform (Windows Azure Platform), which opened the curtain for Microsoft's cloud computing. Similarly, cloud computing has also caused a storm in China, and many large network companies have joined cloud computing arrays. ^[1]

In January 2009, Alisoft established the first "e-commerce cloud computing center" in Nanjing, Jiangsu. In November of the same year, China Mobile's cloud computing platform "Big Cloud" was launched. At this stage, cloud computing has developed to a more mature stage. ^[1]

On August 17, 2019, the Beijing Internet Court released the White Paper on Judicial Application of Internet Technology. At the press conference, the Internet Technology Judicial Application Center of Beijing Internet Court was unveiled and established ^[4] .

Cloud Computing Features

The value of cloud computing lies in its high flexibility, scalability, and high performance ratio. Compared with traditional network application models, cloud computing has the following advantages and features:

cloud computing Points: ^[5]

1. Virtualization technology.

It must be emphasized that virtualization breaks through the boundaries of time and space and is the most significant feature of cloud computing. Virtualization technologies include application virtualization and resource virtualization. As we all know, the physical platform and the environment in which applications are deployed are not connected in space. It is through the virtual platform that the corresponding terminal operations are performed to complete data backup, migration, and expansion. ^[5]

2. Dynamic scalability.

Cloud computing has highly efficient computing capabilities. Adding cloud computing functions to the original server can quickly increase the computing speed. Eventually, the level of dynamic virtualization can be extended to achieve the purpose of expanding applications. ^[5]

3. Deploy on demand.

The computer contains many applications, program software, etc. Different applications have different data resource libraries, so users running different applications need strong computing capabilities to deploy resources, and cloud computing platforms can quickly be equipped with computing capabilities according to user needs And resources. ^[5]

4. High flexibility.

Most IT resources, software, and hardware on the market currently support virtualization, such as storage networks, operating systems, and development software and hardware. The virtualization elements are unifiedly managed in the virtual pool of cloud system resources. It can be seen that the compatibility of cloud computing is very strong. Not only can it be compatible with low-configuration machines, hardware products of different manufacturers, but it can also obtain higher performance calculations for peripherals. ^[5]

5. High reliability.

Provided that a server failure does not affect the normal operation of computing and applications. Because a single point of server failure, you can use virtualization technology to recover applications distributed across different physical servers or use dynamic expansion to deploy new servers for calculation. ^[5]

6, cost-effective.

Placing resources in a virtual resource pool for unified management optimizes physical resources to a certain extent. Users no longer need expensive hosts with large storage space. They can choose relatively inexpensive PCs to form a cloud, reducing costs on the one hand, and computing performance on the other. Not inferior to mainframe. ^[5]

7. Scalability.

Users can use the rapid deployment conditions of application software to more easily and quickly expand their existing and new services. For example, if a device failure occurs in a computer cloud computing system, it will not be hindered for use at the computer level or in specific applications. You can use the dynamic expansion function of computer cloud computing to The server expands effectively. This will ensure that tasks are completed in an orderly manner. In the case of dynamically expanding virtualized resources, at the same time, it can efficiently expand applications and improve the operation level of computer cloud computing. ^[5]

Cloud Computing Service Type

Generally, its service types are divided into three categories, namely infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS). These 3 types of cloud computing services are sometimes called cloud computing stacks because they build a stack and they sit on top of each other. Here is an overview of these three services: ^[6]

1.Infrastructure as a service IaaS)

Infrastructure as a service is one of the main service categories, which provides virtualized computing resources such as virtual machines, storage, networks, and operating systems to individuals or organizations of cloud computing providers. ^[6]

2.Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Platform as a service is a service category that provides developers with a platform for building applications and services over the global Internet. Paas provides an on-demand development environment for developing, testing, and managing software applications. ^[6]

Software as a service (SaaS)

Software as a service is also a category of its services, providing on-demand software paid applications through the Internet, cloud computing providers hosting and managing software applications, and allowing its users to connect to applications and access applications through the global Internet. ^[6]

Key technologies for cloud computing implementation

The key technologies for cloud computing implementation are as follows:

I. Architecture

The realization of computer cloud computing needs to create a certain environment and conditions, especially the architecture must have the following key characteristics. First, the system must be intelligent, have autonomous capabilities, and implement an automated processing platform to intelligently respond to requirements on the premise of reducing manual operations. Therefore, cloud systems should have built-in automation technology; The system must have agile response capabilities, so there are certain agile requirements for the architecture of cloud computing. At the same time, with rapid changes in service levels and growth rates, cloud computing is also facing huge challenges, and embedded clustering and virtualization technologies can cope with such changes. ^[5]

The cloud computing platform's architecture consists of a user interface, a service catalog, a management system, deployment tools, monitoring, and a server cluster:

(1) User interface. It is mainly used for cloud users to transmit information and is an interface for mutual interaction. ^[5]

(2) Service catalog. As the name suggests, it provides a list of user choices. ^[5]

(3) Management system. Refers to the management of resources with higher application value. ^[5]

(4) Deployment tools. Ability to efficiently deploy and match resources based on user requests. ^[5]

(5) Monitoring. It mainly manages and controls resources on the cloud system and formulates measures. ^[5]

(6) Server cluster. The server cluster includes virtual servers and physical servers and belongs to the management system. ^[5]

Resource monitoring

The resource data on the cloud system is very large, and the resource information is updated at a fast speed. If you want accurate and reliable dynamic information, you need effective ways to ensure the speed of the information. The cloud system can effectively deploy dynamic information and also has the function of resource monitoring, which is conducive to the management of resource load and usage. Secondly, resource monitoring, as the "blood" of resource management, plays a key role in overall system performance. Once system resource supervision is not in place and information is not reliable, other subsystems reference wrong information, which will inevitably adversely affect the allocation of system resources . Therefore, it is urgent to implement the resource monitoring work. During the resource monitoring process, as long as the Agent agent is deployed on each cloud server, configuration and supervision activities can be performed, such as connecting each cloud resource server through a monitoring server, and then sending the resource usage to the database in units of cycles for monitoring. The server comprehensively analyzes all the effective information of the database, evaluates the availability of the resources, and maximizes the effectiveness of the resource information. ^[5]

Third, automated deployment

The development of scientific progress tends to semi-automatic operation, which realizes ready-to-use or simple installation and use. Basically, the available state of computing resources has also changed and gradually moved to automated deployment. The automatic deployment of cloud resources refers to the automatic configuration of equipment tools by different vendors based on script adjustments to reduce the proportion of human-computer interaction, improve strain efficiency, and avoid the occurrence of overloaded manual operations. Deployment process. Automated deployment mainly refers to the realization of computing resources from the original state to the available state through automatic installation and deployment. Its performance in computing is to be able to divide, deploy, and install resources in the virtual resource pool to provide users with a variety of application services, including storage, networking, software, and hardware. There are many deployment steps for system resources. Automated deployment mainly uses script calls to automatically configure, deploy, and configure device management tools of various vendors to ensure that it can be implemented in a silent manner during the actual invocation, avoiding complicated human interaction and allowing deployment. The process is no longer dependent on manual operations. In addition, the data model and workflow engine are important parts of the automated deployment management tool and should not be underestimated. In general, the management of the data model is to define the specific software and hardware in the data model; and the workflow engine refers to triggering and invoking the workflow for the purpose of improving intelligent deployment and good at different script processes. Application in a more concentrated and reusable workflow database helps reduce server workload. ^[5]

Cloud computing implementation form

Cloud computing is built on the basis of advanced Internet technology, and its implementation forms are many, mainly through the following forms:

(1) Software as a service. Generally, users issue service requirements, and cloud systems provide resources and programs to users through browsers. It is worth mentioning that it does not cost any cost to transfer service information through the browser application, and the same is true for the supplier, as long as the application maintenance is good. ^[5]

(2) Network services. Developers can continuously improve and develop new application products based on the API, greatly improving the operating performance in a stand-alone program. ^[5]

(3) Platform services. It generally serves the development environment, assists middlemen to upgrade and develop programs, and improves the user download function. Users can download via the Internet, which is fast and efficient. ^[5]

(4) Internet integration. When using the Internet to issue instructions, there may be many similar services, and the cloud system will match the appropriate services according to the needs of the end user. ^[5]

(5) Commercial service platform. The purpose of building a business service platform is to provide users and providers with a communication platform, which requires management services and software-as-a-service applications. ^[5]

(6) Management service provider. This application mode is not unfamiliar and often serves the IT industry. Common services include scanning email viruses and monitoring application environments. ^[5]

Cloud computing security threat

1.Privacy stolen in cloud computing security

Nowadays, with the development of the times, people use the Internet for transactions or shopping. Online transactions are carried out in a virtual environment of cloud computing. The two parties in the transaction will communicate and exchange information on the network platform. However, online transactions have great security risks. Criminals can steal the information of network users through cloud computing. At the same time, they can steal user and merchant information when they conduct online transactions with merchants. After stealing information in the cloud computing platform, it will use some technical means to crack the information and analyze the information at the same time, in order to discover more private information of the user, even attempted criminals will steal through the cloud computing. Get user and business information. ^[3]

2. Resources are misused in cloud computing

The cloud computing environment has virtual characteristics. When users use cloud computing to conduct network transactions, they need to perform network operations only when both parties' network information is secure. However, there is a lot of information stored in cloud computing. The environment is also relatively complicated, and the data in cloud computing will be misused. This will affect the user's information security and cause some criminals to use the stolen information to deceive users' loved ones. At the same time, some criminals will Utilizing the information stolen in cloud computing for illegal transactions will result in the economic loss of users in cloud computing. These are caused by the fraudulent use of cloud computing information, and these threaten the security of cloud computing. ^[3]

3. Hackers are prone to cloud computing

Hacking refers to the use of some illegal means to enter the cloud computing security system, which will bring certain damage to the cloud computing security network. After the hacking into the cloud computing, the operation of the cloud computing will bring unknownness and cause The losses are also very large, and the losses caused are unpredictable, so the harm caused by hacking to cloud computing is greater than the harm caused by viruses to cloud computing. In addition, the speed of hacker attacks is far greater than the speed of security assessments and security system updates. After the hacker attacks the computer, it will bring huge losses to cloud computing. At the same time, technology cannot prevent hacker attacks. One of the problems of cloud computing insecurity. ^[3]

4. Prone to viruses in cloud computing

In cloud computing, a large number of users store data in it through cloud computing. At this time, when cloud computing is abnormal, there will be some viruses. The emergence of these viruses will cause the computer based on cloud computing to fail to work normally. At the same time, these viruses can also be replicated and transmitted through some channels. This will cause the computer with cloud computing as a carrier to freeze. At the same time, the rapid spread of the Internet will cause cloud computing or computer viruses to appear. , It will spread quickly, which will generate a lot of attack power. ^[3]

Cloud computing applications

The simpler cloud computing technology has been widely used in today's Internet services. The most common ones are web search engines and web mailboxes.

cloud computing No one is more familiar with search engines than Google and Baidu. At any time, as long as you have used a mobile terminal, you can search for any resource you want on the search engine, and share data resources through the cloud. This is also the case with Internet mailboxes. In the past, sending and writing an email was a cumbersome and slow process. With the promotion of cloud computing and network technologies, electronic mailboxes have become a part of social life. As long as it is in a network environment, real-time mail can be sent. In fact, cloud computing technology has been integrated into today's social life. ^[1]

1.Storage cloud

Storage cloud, also known as cloud storage, is a new storage technology developed on cloud computing technology. Cloud storage is a cloud computing system with data storage and management as its core. Users can upload local resources to the cloud and connect to the Internet from anywhere to get resources on the cloud. As everyone knows, Google, Microsoft and other large network companies have cloud storage services. In China, Baidu Cloud and Weiyun are the largest storage clouds in the market. The storage cloud provides users with storage container services, backup services, archiving services, and record management services, which greatly facilitates the user's management of resources. ^[1]

2.Medical Cloud

Medical cloud refers to the use of new technologies such as cloud computing, mobile technology, multimedia, 4G communications, big data, and the Internet of Things, combined with medical technology, and the use of "cloud computing" to create a cloud platform for medical and health services to realize medical resources Sharing and expanding medical coverage. Because the application of cloud computing technology is combined, the medical cloud improves the efficiency of medical institutions and facilitates residents to seek medical treatment. For example, the appointment registration of hospitals, electronic medical records, medical insurance, etc. are all the products of the combination of cloud computing and medical field. Medical cloud also has the advantages of data security, information sharing, dynamic expansion, and nationwide distribution. ^[1]

3.Financial cloud

Financial cloud refers to the use of cloud computing models to decentralize information, finance, and service functions into an Internet "cloud" composed of large branches. At the same time, Internet resources are shared to solve existing problems and achieve high-efficiency and low-cost goals. On November 27, 2013, Alibaba Cloud integrated Alibaba's resources and launched Alibaba Financial Cloud Services. In fact, this is the fast payment that is basically popular now, because the combination of finance and cloud computing can now complete bank deposits, purchase insurance and fund trading with simple operations on mobile phones. Now, not only Alibaba has launched financial cloud services, but companies like Suning Finance and Tencent have launched their own financial cloud services. ^[1]

Education cloud

Education cloud essentially refers to the first development of education informatization. Specifically, the Education Cloud can virtualize any educational hardware resources needed and then transfer them to the Internet to provide a convenient and fast platform for educational institutions and students and teachers. The popular MOOC is an application of education cloud. MOOC refers to a large-scale online course. At this stage, the three outstanding platforms of MOOC are Coursera, edX and Udacity. In China, MOOC of Chinese University is also a very good platform. On October 10, 2013, Tsinghua University launched the MOOC platform-Xuetang Online. Many universities have now used MOOC to offer some courses. ^[1]

Cloud computing development issues

1. Access permission issues

Users can upload their own data at the cloud computing service provider. Compared with the traditional storage method using their own computer or hard disk, you need to establish an account and password to complete the storage and acquisition of virtual information. Although this method facilitates the user's acquisition and storage of information resources, the user loses control of the data resources, and the service provider may have unauthorized access to the resources, which makes it difficult to ensure the security of information materials. ^[7]

2. Technical confidentiality issues

Information confidentiality is the primary issue of cloud computing technology, and it is also the main problem of current cloud computing technology. For example, user resources are shared by some enterprises. The particularity of the network environment allows people to freely browse the relevant salary resources. The leakage of information resources is unavoidable. If the technology is not sufficiently confidential, it may seriously affect the owners of the information resources. ^[7]

Data integrity issues

In the use of cloud computing technology, user data is scattered and stored in different locations from the cloud computing data center, rather than in a single system. The integrity of data resources is affected, making it difficult to effectively play its role. Another situation is that the service provider does not properly and effectively manage the user's data information, which causes the integrity of the data storage to be affected, and the application of information is difficult to play. ^[7]

4. Incomplete laws and regulations

Insufficient laws and regulations related to cloud computing technology are also major issues. To effectively play the role of cloud computing technology, it is necessary to perfect its related laws and regulations. At present, laws and regulations are not perfect, and the role of cloud computing technology is still restricted. As far as the current application of cloud computing technology in computer networks is concerned, it lacks perfect security standards, lacks perfect service level agreement management standards, and there is no clear responsibility for legal responsibility for security issues. In addition, the lack of a comprehensive cloud computing security management loss computer system and liability assessment mechanism, and the lack of legal regulations also restrict the development of various activities, and the cloud computing security of computer networks is difficult to guarantee. ^[7]

Cloud computing improvement measures

1. Reasonably set access rights to ensure user information security

Currently, cloud computer services are provided by vendors. In order to ensure information security, vendors should set appropriate access rights based on the needs of user terminals to ensure the secure sharing of information resources. Under the open Internet environment, suppliers must do a good job of setting access rights and strengthen the reasonable sharing and application of resources; on the other hand, they must do a good job of encryption, from suppliers to Yinhu should strengthen information Security protection, pay attention to the construction of network security, and effectively protect user safety. Therefore, the development of cloud computer technology should strengthen the construction of security technology system, and improve the level of information protection in the reasonable setting of access permissions. ^[8]

2. Strengthen the integrity of data information and promote the development of storage technology

Storage technology is the core of computer cloud computing technology. How to strengthen the integrity of data information is an important aspect of the development of cloud computing technology. First, cloud computing resources are distributed in the cloud system in a discrete manner. It is necessary to strengthen the security protection of data resources in the cloud system and ensure the integrity of the data, which will help increase the application value of information resources. Second, speed up storage Technological development, especially in the era of big data, the development of cloud computing technology should focus on the innovation and construction of storage technology; Thirdly, we must optimize the development environment of computer network cloud technology, and further adapt to the new development environment through technological innovation and concept innovation, improve The application value of technology is the focus of the development of cloud computing technology for computer networks in the new era. ^[8]

3. Establish and improve laws and regulations to improve user safety awareness

With the continuous development of network information technology, the field of cloud computing applications is becoming wider and wider. The establishment of comprehensive laws and regulations is to better regulate market development, strengthen the norms and management of suppliers, users and other behaviors, and provide good conditions for the development of computer network cloud computing technology. In addition, users should increase their awareness of security protection and be able to comply with laws and regulations and regulate operations in the acquisition of information resources to avoid serious economic losses caused by information security issues. Therefore, the development of cloud computing technology for computer networks in the new era must be based on actual conditions and continue to improve laws and regulations to provide a good environment for cloud computer technology development. ^[8]