Planning your cloud architecture

Planning and Architecture

Key topics in this lesson:

• Understanding the transformation from traditional IT

• The evolution of cloud computing

• Definitions and characteristics of cloud computing

• Example cloud service architectures

• Analysis and comparison of cloud deployment models

• Planning and architecture best practices

Before undertaking any transition to cloud computing, it is important to understand its basic fundamentals and how information technology (IT) has evolved up to this point. When cloud computing was just beginning, some of the terms and models were unproven concepts, promising limitless benefits—now, we’ve had the benefit of time and experience to update those concepts into real-world systems designs, deployment models, and best practices.

Transitioning from Traditional IT

IT is clearly one of the fastest and continuously evolving industries in the world. We all know that the processing power of computers multiplies every few years, storage technology doubles every couple of years, and software applications continuously evolve—usually for the better. Just as the IT industry evolves in general, so too must the IT departments within small, large, commercial, and government organizations.

In the 1960s and 1970s, only large organizations and universities could afford—or more accurately, needed—an IT infrastructure, which often comprised a centralized mainframe computer and remote terminals for access to information and computing resources. Later, organizations ...