Cloud Computing

Thomas Erl is a top-selling IT author, founder of Arcitura Education, editor of the Service Technology Magazine and series editor of the Prentice Hall Service Technology Series from Thomas Erl. With more than 175,000 copies in print world-wide, his books have become international bestsellers and have been formally endorsed by senior members of major IT organizations, such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Intel, Accenture, IEEE, HL7, MITRE, SAP, CISCO, HP, and many others. As CEO of Arcitura Education Inc. and in cooperation with CloudSchool.com and SOASchool.com, Thomas has led the development of curricula for the internationally recognized Cloud Certified Professional (CCP) and SOA Certified Professional (SOACP) accreditation programs, which have established a series of formal, vendor-neutral industry certifications obtained by thousands of IT professionals around the world. Thomas has toured over 20 countries as a speaker and instructor and regularly participates in international conferences, including Service Technology Symposium and Gartner events. More than 100 articles and interviews by Thomas have been published in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal and CIO Magazine. Dr. Zaigham Mahmood is a published author of six books, four of which are dedicated to cloud computing. He acts as a technology consultant at Debesis Education UK and a Researcher at the University of Derby, UK. He further holds positions as a foreign professor and professor extraordinaire with international educational institutions. Professor Mahmood is a certified cloud trainer and a regular speaker at the International SOA, Cloud + Service Technology Symposium, and he has published more than 100 articles. His specialized areas of research include distributed computing, project management, and e-government. Professor Ricardo Puttini has 15 years of field experience as a senior IT consultant at major government organizations in Brazil. He has taught several undergraduate and graduate-level courses in service orientation, service-oriented architecture, and cloud computing. Ricardo was the general chair of the 4th International SOA Symposium and 3rd International Cloud Symposium that was held in the spring of 2011. He holds a Ph.D. in Communication Networks (2004) from the University of Brasilia, where he has taught in the Electrical Engineering department since 1998. Ricardo spent 18 months at the L′Ecole Superieure d′Electricite (Supelec) in Rennes, France, during his Ph.D., where he started researching distributed system architecture and security.

• Foreword     xxixAcknowledgments     xxxiiiCHAPTER 1: Introduction     11.1 Objectives of This Book     31.2 What This Book Does Not Cover     41.3 Who This Book Is For     41.4 How This Book Is Organized     41.5 Conventions     9Symbols and Figures     9Summary of Key Points     91.6 Additional Information     9Updates, Errata, and Resources (www.servicetechbooks.com)      9Referenced Specifications (www.servicetechspecs.com)      10The Service Technology Magazine (www.servicetechmag.com)      10International Service Technology Symposium (www.servicetechsymposium.com)      10What Is Cloud? (www.whatiscloud.com)      10What Is REST? (www.whatisrest.com)      10Cloud Computing Design Patterns (www.cloudpatterns.org)      10Service-Orientation (www.serviceorientation.com)      11CloudSchool.com Certified Cloud (CCP) Professional (www.cloudschool.com)      11SOASchool.com SOA Certified (SOACP) Professional (www.soaschool.com)      11Notification Service     11CHAPTER 2: Case Study Background     132.1 Case Study #1: ATN     14Technical Infrastructure and Environment     14Business Goals and New Strategy     15Roadmap and Implementation Strategy     152.2 Case Study #2: DTGOV     16Technical Infrastructure and Environment     17Business Goals and New Strategy     18Roadmap and Implementation Strategy     192.3 Case Study #3: Innovartus Technologies Inc     20Technical Infrastructure and Environment     20Business Goals and Strategy     20Roadmap and Implementation Strategy     21PART I: FUNDAMENTAL CLOUD COMPUTINGCHAPTER 3: Understanding Cloud Computing     253.1 Origins and Influences     26A Brief History     26Definitions     27Business Drivers     28Capacity Planning     28Cost Reduction     29Organizational Agility     30Technology Innovations     30Clustering     31Grid Computing     31Virtualization     32Technology Innovations vs. Enabling Technologies     323.2 Basic Concepts and Terminology     33Cloud     33IT Resource     34On-Premise     36Cloud Consumers and Cloud Providers     36Scaling     37Horizontal Scaling     37Vertical Scaling     37Cloud Service     38Cloud Service Consumer      403.3 Goals and Benefits     40Reduced Investments and Proportional Costs     41Increased Scalability     42Increased Availability and Reliability     433.4 Risks and Challenges     45Increased Security Vulnerabilities     45Reduced Operational Governance Control     45Limited Portability Between Cloud Providers     47Multi-Regional Compliance and Legal Issues     48CHAPTER 4: Fundamental Concepts and Models     514.1 Roles and Boundaries     52Cloud Provider     52Cloud Consumer     52Cloud Service Owner     53Cloud Resource Administrator     54Additional Roles     56Organizational Boundary     56Trust Boundary     574.2 Cloud Characteristics     58On-Demand Usage     59Ubiquitous Access     59Multitenancy (and Resource Pooling)      59Elasticity     61Measured Usage     61Resiliency     614.3 Cloud Delivery Models     63Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)      64Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)      65Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)      66Comparing Cloud Delivery Models     67Combining Cloud Delivery Models     69IaaS + PaaS     69IaaS + PaaS + SaaS     724.4 Cloud Deployment Models     73Public Clouds     73Community Clouds     74Private Clouds     75Hybrid Clouds     77Other Cloud Deployment Models     78CHAPTER 5: Cloud-Enabling Technology     795.1 Broadband Networks and Internet Architecture     80Internet Service Providers (ISPs)      80Connectionless Packet Switching (Datagram Networks)      83Router-Based Interconnectivity     83Physical Network     84Transport Layer Protocol      84Application Layer Protocol     85Technical and Business Considerations     85Connectivity Issues     85Network Bandwidth and Latency Issues     88Cloud Carrier and Cloud Provider Selection     895.2 Data Center Technology     90Virtualization     90Standardization and Modularity     90Automation     91Remote Operation and Management     92High Availability     92Security-Aware Design, Operation, and Management     92Facilities     92Computing Hardware     93Storage Hardware     93Network Hardware     95Carrier and External Networks Interconnection     95Web-Tier Load Balancing and Acceleration     95LAN Fabric     95SAN Fabric     95NAS Gateways     95Other Considerations     965.3 Virtualization Technology     97Hardware Independence     98Server Consolidation     98Resource Replication     98Operating System-Based Virtualization     99Hardware-Based Virtualization     101Virtualization Management     102Other Considerations     1025.4 Web Technology     103Basic Web Technology     104Web Applications     1045.5 Multitenant Technology     1065.6 Service Technology     108Web Services     109REST Services     110Service Agents     111Service Middleware     1125.7 Case Study Example     113CHAPTER 6: Fundamental Cloud Security     1176.1 Basic Terms and Concepts     118Confidentiality     118Integrity     119Authenticity     119Availability     119Threat     120Vulnerability     120Risk     120Security Controls     120Security Mechanisms     121Security Policies     1216.2 Threat Agents     121Anonymous Attacker     122Malicious Service Agent     123Trusted Attacker     123Malicious Insider     1236.3 Cloud Security Threats     124Traffic Eavesdropping     124Malicious Intermediary     124Denial of Service     126Insufficient Authorization     127Virtualization Attack     127Overlapping Trust Boundaries     1296.4 Additional Considerations     131Flawed Implementations     131Security Policy Disparity     132Contracts     132Risk Management     1336.5 Case Study Example     135PART II: CLOUD COMPUTING MECHANISMSCHAPTER 7: Cloud Infrastructure Mechanisms     1397.1 Logical Network Perimeter     140Case Study Example     1427.2 Virtual Server     144Case Study Example     1457.3 Cloud Storage Device     149Cloud Storage Levels     149Network Storage Interfaces     150Object Storage Interfaces     151Database Storage Interfaces     151Relational Data Storage     151Non-Relational Data Storage     152Case Study Example     1527.4 Cloud Usage Monitor     155Monitoring Agent     155Resource Agent     155Polling Agent     157Case Study Example     1577.5 Resource Replication     161Case Study Example     1627.6 Ready-Made Environment     166Case Study Example     167CHAPTER 8: Specialized Cloud Mechanisms     1698.1 Automated Scaling Listener     170Case Study Example     1728.2 Load Balancer     176Case Study Example     1778.3 SLA Monitor     178Case Study Example     180SLA Monitor Polling Agent     180SLA Monitoring Agent     1808.4 Pay-Per-Use Monitor     184Case Study Example     1878.5 Audit Monitor     189Case Study Example     1898.6 Failover System     191Active-Active     191Active-Passive     194Case Study Example     1968.7 Hypervisor     200Case Study Example     2018.8 Resource Cluster     203Case Study Example     2068.9 Multi-Device Broker     208Case Study Example     2098.10 State Management Database     210Case Study Example     211CHAPTER 9: Cloud Management Mechanisms     2139.1 Remote Administration System     214Case Study Example     2199.2 Resource Management System     219Case Study Example     2219.3 SLA Management System     222Case Study Example     2249.4 Billing Management System     225Case Study Example     227CHAPTER 10: Cloud Security Mechanisms     22910.1 Encryption     230Symmetric Encryption     231Asymmetric Encryption     231Case Study Example     23310.2 Hashing     234Case Study Example     23510.3 Digital Signature     236Case Study Example     23810.4 Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)      240Case Study Example     24210.5 Identity and Access Management (IAM)      243Case Study Example     24410.6 Single Sign-On (SSO)      244Case Study Example     24610.7 Cloud-Based Security Groups     247Case Study Example     24910.8 Hardened Virtual Server Images     251Case Study Example     252PART III: CLOUD COMPUTING ARCHITECTURECHAPTER 11: Fundamental Cloud Architectures     25511.1 Workload Distribution Architecture     25611.2 Resource Pooling Architecture     25711.3 Dynamic Scalability Architecture     26211.4 Elastic Resource Capacity Architecture     26511.5 Service Load Balancing Architecture     26811.6 Cloud Bursting Architecture     27111.7 Elastic Disk Provisioning Architecture     27211.8 Redundant Storage Architecture     27511.9 Case Study Example     277CHAPTER 12: Advanced Cloud Architectures     28112.1 Hypervisor Clustering Architecture     28212.2 Load Balanced Virtual Server Instances Architecture     28812.3 Non-Disruptive Service Relocation Architecture     29312.4 Zero Downtime Architecture     29812.5 Cloud Balancing Architecture     29912.6 Resource Reservation Architecture     30112.7 Dynamic Failure Detection and Recovery Architecture     30612.8 Bare-Metal Provisioning Architecture     30912.9 Rapid Provisioning Architecture     31212.10 Storage Workload Management Architecture     31512.11 Case Study Example     321CHAPTER 13: Specialized Cloud Architectures     32313.1 Direct I/O Access Architecture     32413.2 Direct LUN Access Architecture     32613.3 Dynamic Data Normalization Architecture     32913.4 Elastic Network Capacity Architecture     33013.5 Cross-Storage Device Vertical Tiering Architecture     33213.6 Intra-Storage Device Vertical Data Tiering Architecture     33713.7 Load Balanced Virtual Switches Architecture     34013.8 Multipath Resource Access Architecture     34213.9 Persistent Virtual Network Configuration Architecture     34413.10 Redundant Physical Connection for Virtual Servers Architecture     34713.11 Storage Maintenance Window Architecture     350PART IV: WORKING WITH CLOUDSCHAPTER 14: Cloud Delivery Model Considerations     35914.1 Cloud Delivery Models: The Cloud Provider Perspective     360Building IaaS Environments     360Data Centers     361Scalability and Reliability     363Monitoring     363Security     364Equipping PaaS Environments     364Scalability and Reliability     365Monitoring     367Security     367Optimizing SaaS Environments     367Security     37014.2 Cloud Delivery Models: The Cloud Consumer Perspective     370Working with IaaS Environments     370IT Resource Provisioning Considerations     372Working with PaaS Environments     373IT Resource Provisioning Considerations     373Working with SaaS Services     37414.3 Case Study Example     375CHAPTER 15: Cost Metrics and Pricing Models     37915.1 Business Cost Metrics     380Up-Front and On-Going Costs     380Additional Costs     381Case Study Example     382Product Catalog Browser     382On-Premise Up-Front Costs     382On-Premise On-Going Costs     383Cloud-Based Up-Front Costs     383Cloud-Based On-Going Costs     383Client Database     385On-Premise Up-Front Costs     385On-Premise On-Going Costs     385Cloud-Based Up-Front Costs     385Cloud-Based On-Going Costs     38515.2 Cloud Usage Cost Metrics     387Network Usage     387Inbound Network Usage Metric     387Outbound Network Usage Metric     388Intra-Cloud WAN Usage Metric     388Server Usage     389On-Demand Virtual Machine Instance Allocation Metric     389Reserved Virtual Machine Instance Allocation Metric     389Cloud Storage Device Usage     390On-Demand Storage Space Allocation Metric     390I/O Data Transferred Metric     390Cloud Service Usage     390Application Subscription Duration Metric     390Number of Nominated Users Metric     391Number of Transactions Users Metric      39115.3 Cost Management Considerations     391Pricing Models     393Additional Considerations     395Case Study Example     396Virtual Server On-Demand Instance Allocation     397Virtual Server Reserved Instance Allocation     399Cloud Storage Device     401WAN Traffic     401CHAPTER 16: Service Quality Metrics and SLAs     40316.1 Service Quality Metrics     404Service Availability Metrics     405Availability Rate Metric     405Outage Duration Metric     406Service Reliability Metrics     407Mean-Time Between Failures (MTBF) Metric     407Reliability Rate Metric     407Service Performance Metrics     407Network Capacity Metric     408Storage Device Capacity Metric     408Server Capacity Metric     408Web Application Capacity Metric     408Instance Starting Time Metric     409Response Time Metric     409Completion Time Metric     409Service Scalability Metrics     409Storage Scalability (Horizontal) Metric     410Server Scalability (Horizontal) Metric     410Server Scalability (Vertical) Metric     410Service Resiliency Metrics     411Mean-Time to Switchover (MTSO) Metric     411Mean-Time System Recovery (MTSR) Metric     41216.2 Case Study Example     41216.3 SLA Guidelines     41316.4 Case Study Example     416Scope and Applicability     416Service Quality Guarantees     416Definitions     417Usage of Financial Credits     417SLA Exclusions     418PART V: APPENDICESAppendix A: Case Study Conclusions     421A.1 ATN     422A.2 DTGOV     422A.3 Innovartus     424Appendix B: Industry Standards Organizations     427B.1 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)      428B.2 Cloud Security Alliance (CSA)      429B.3 Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF)      429B.4 Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA)      430B.5 Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS)      430B.6 The Open Group     430B.7 Open Cloud Consortium (OCC)      431B.8 European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI)      431B.9 Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA)      431B.10 Liberty Alliance     432B.11 Open Grid Forum (OGF)      432Appendix C: Mapping Mechanisms to Characteristics     433Appendix D: Data Center Facilities (TIA-942)      437D.1 Primary Rooms     438Electrical Room     438Mechanical Room     438Storage and Staging     438Offices, Operations Center, and Support     438Telecommunications Entrance     438Computer Room     439D.2 Environmental Controls     440External Electrical Power Provider Interconnection     440Power Distribution     441Uninterruptible Power Source (UPS)      441Power Engine-Generator     441D.3 Infrastructure Redundancy Summary     442Appendix E: Emerging Technologies     443E.1 Autonomic Computing     444E.2 Grid Computing     445Service Grids     446Appendix F: Cloud Provisioning Contracts     449F.1 Cloud Provisioning Contract Structure     450Terms of Service     452Service Usage Policy     452Security and Privacy Policy     453Warranties and Liabilities     455Rights and Responsibilities     455Termination and Renewal     456Specifications and SLAs     456Pricing and Billing     457Other Issues     457Legal and Compliance Issues     457Auditability and Accountability     457Changes in the Contract Terms and Conditions     457F.2 Cloud Provider Selection Guidelines     458Cloud Provider Viability     458Appendix G: Cloud Business Case Template     461G.1 Business Case Identification     462G.2 Business Needs     462G.3 Target Cloud Environment     463G.4 Technical Issues     464G.5 Economic Factors     464About the Authors     465About the Foreword Contributor     467About the Contributors     469Index     471

“Cloud computing, more than most disciplines in IT, suffers from too much talk and not enough practice. Thomas Erl has written a timely book that condenses the theory and buttresses it with real-world examples that demystify this important technology. An important guidebook for your journey into the cloud.” -- Scott Morrison, Chief Technology Officer, Layer 7 Technologies “An excellent, extremely well-written, lucid book that provides a comprehensive picture of cloud computing, covering multiple dimensions of the subject. The case studies presented in the book provide a real-world, practical perspective on leveraging cloud computing in an organization. The book covers a wide range of topics, from technology aspects to the business value provided by cloud computing. This is the best, most comprehensive book on the subject--a must-read for any cloud computing practitioner or anyone who wants to get an in-depth picture of cloud computing concepts and practical implementation.” -- Suzanne D’Souza, SOA/BPM Practice Lead, KBACE Technologies “This book offers a thorough and detailed description of cloud computing concepts, architectures, and technologies. It serves as a great reference for both newcomers and experts and is a must-read for any IT professional interested in cloud computing.” -- Andre Tost, Senior Technical Staff Member, IBM Software Group “This is a great book on the topic of cloud computing. It is impressive how the content spans from taxonomy, technology, and architectural concepts to important business considerations for cloud adoption. It really does provide a holistic view to this technology paradigm.” -- Kapil Bakshi, Architecture and Strategy, Cisco Systems Inc. “I have read every book written by Thomas Erl and Cloud Computing is another excellent publication and demonstration of Thomas Erl’s rare ability to take the most complex topics and provide critical core concepts and technical information in a logical and understandable way.” -- Melanie A. Allison, Principal, Healthcare Technology Practice, Integrated Consulting Services “Companies looking to migrate applications or infrastructure to the cloud are often misled by buzzwords and industry hype. This work cuts through the hype and provides a detailed look, from investigation to contract to implementation to termination, at what it takes for an organization to engage with cloud service providers. This book really lays out the benefits and struggles with getting a company to an IaaS, PaaS, or SaaS solution.” -- Kevin Davis, Ph.D., Solutions Architect “Thomas, in his own distinct and erudite style, provides a comprehensive and a definitive book on cloud computing. Just like his previous masterpiece, Service-Oriented Architecture: Concepts, Technology, and Design, this book is sure to engage CxOs, cloud architects, and the developer community involved in delivering software assets on the cloud. Thomas and his authoring team have taken great pains in providing great clarity and detail in documenting cloud architectures, cloud delivery models, cloud governance, and economics of cloud, without forgetting to explain the core of cloud computing that revolves around Internet architecture and virtualization. As a reviewer for this outstanding book, I must admit I have learned quite a lot while reviewing the material. A ‘must have’ book that should adorn everybody’s desk!” -- Vijay Srinivasan, Chief Architect - Technology, Cognizant Technology Solutions “This book provides comprehensive and descriptive vendor-neutral coverage of cloud computing technology, from both technical and business aspects. It provides a deep-down analysis of cloud architectures and mechanisms that capture the real-world moving parts of cloud platforms. Business aspects are elaborated on to give readers a broader perspective on choosing and defining basic cloud computing business models. Thomas Erl’s Cloud Computing: Concepts, Technology & Architecture is an excellent source of knowledge of fundamental and in-depth coverage of cloud computing.” -- Masykur Marhendra Sukmanegara, Communication Media & Technology, Consulting Workforce Accenture “The richness and depth of the topics discussed are incredibly impressive. The depth and breadth of the subject matter are such that a reader could become an expert in a short amount of time.” -- Jamie Ryan, Solutions Architect, Layer 7 Technologies “Demystification, rationalization, and structuring of implementation approaches have always been strong parts in each and every one of Thomas Erl’s books. This book is no exception. It provides the definitive, essential coverage of cloud computing and, most importantly, presents this content in a very comprehensive manner. Best of all, this book follows the conventions of the previous service technology series titles, making it read like a natural extension of the library. I strongly believe that this will be another bestseller from one of the top-selling IT authors of the past decade.” -- Sergey Popov, Senior Enterprise Architect SOA/Security, Liberty Global International “A must-read for anyone involved in cloud design and decision making! This insightful book provides in-depth, objective, vendor-neutral coverage of cloud computing concepts, architecture models, and technologies. It will prove very valuable to anyone who needs to gain a solid understanding of how cloud environments work and how to design and migrate solutions to clouds.” -- Gijs in ’t Veld, Chief Architect, Motion10 “A reference book covering a wide range of aspects related to cloud providers and cloud consumers. If you would like to provide or consume a cloud service and need to know how, this is your book. The book has a clear structure to facilitate a good understanding of the various concepts of cloud.” -- Roger Stoffers, Solution Architect “Cloud computing has been around for a few years, yet there is still a lot of confusion around the term and what it can bring to developers and deployers alike. This book is a great way of finding out what’s behind the cloud, and not in an abstract or high-level manner: It dives into all of the details that you’d need to know in order to plan for developing applications on cloud and what to look for when using applications or services hosted on a cloud. There are very few books that manage to capture this level of detail about the evolving cloud paradigm as this one does. It’s a must for architects and developers alike.” -- Dr. Mark Little, Vice President, Red Hat “This book provides a comprehensive exploration of the concepts and mechanics behind clouds. It’s written for anyone interested in delving into the details of how cloud environments function, how they are architected, and how they can impact business. This is the book for any organization seriously considering adopting cloud computing. It will pave the way to establishing your cloud computing roadmap.” -- Damian Maschek, SOA Architect, Deutsche Bahn “One of the best books on cloud computing I have ever read. It is complete yet vendor technology neutral and successfully explains the major concepts in a well-structured and disciplined way. It goes through all the definitions and provides many hints for organizations or professionals who are approaching and/or assessing cloud solutions. This book gives a complete list of topics playing fundamental roles in the cloud computing discipline. It goes through a full list of definitions very clearly stated. Diagrams are simple to understand and self-contained. Readers with different skill sets, expertise, and backgrounds will be able to understand the concepts seamlessly.” -- Antonio Bruno, Infrastructure and Estate Manager, UBS AG “ Cloud Computing: Concepts, Technology & Architecture is a comprehensive book that focuses on what cloud computing is really all about.... This book will become the foundation on which many organizations will build successful cloud adoption projects. It is a must-read reference for both IT infrastructure and application architects interested in cloud computing or involved in cloud adoption projects. It contains extremely useful and comprehensive information for those who need to build cloud-based architectures or need to explain it to customers thinking about adopting cloud computing technology in their organization.” -- Johan Kumps, SOA Architect, RealDolmen “This book defines the basic terminology and patterns for the topic--a useful reference for the cloud practitioner. Concepts from multitenancy to hypervisor are presented in a succinct and clear manner. The underlying case studies provide wonderful real-worldness.” -- Dr. Thomas Rischbeck, Principal Architect, ipt “The book provides a good foundation to cloud services and issues in cloud service design. Chapters highlight key issues that need to be considered in learning how to think in cloud technology terms; this is highly important in today’s business and technology environments where cloud computing plays a central role in connecting user services with virtualized resources and applications.” -- Mark Skilton, Director, Office of Strategy and Technology, Global Infrastructure Services, Capgemini “The book is well organized and covers basic concepts, technologies, and business models about cloud computing. It defines and explains a comprehensive list of terminologies and glossaries about cloud computing so cloud computing experts can speak and communicate with the same set of standardized language. The book is easy to understand and consistent with early published books from Thomas Erl.... It is a must-read for both beginners and experienced professionals.” -- Jian “Jeff” Zhong, Chief Technology Officer (Acting) and Chief Architect for SOA and Cloud Computing, Futrend Technology Inc. “Students of the related specialties can fulfill their educational process with very easily understood materials that are broadly illustrated and clearly described. Professors of different disciplines, from business analysis to IT implementation--even legal and financial monitoring--can use the book as an on-table lecturing manual. IT specialists of all ranks and fields of application will find the book as a practical and useful support for sketching solutions unbound to any particular vendor or brand.” -- Alexander Gromoff, Director of Science & Education, Center of Information Control Technologies, Chairman of BPM Chair in Business Informatics Department, National Research University “Higher School of Economics” “ Cloud Computing: Concepts, Technology & Architecture is a comprehensive compendium of all the relevant information about the transformative cloud technology. Erl’s latest title concisely and clearly illustrates the origins and positioning of the cloud paradigm as the next-generation computing model. All the chapters are carefully written and arranged in an easy-to-understand manner. This book will be immeasurably beneficial for business and IT professionals. It is set to shake up and help organize the world of cloud computing.” -- Pethuru Raj, Ph.D., Enterprise Architecture Consultant, Wipro “A cloud computing book that will stand out and survive the test of time, even in one of the fastest evolving areas of technology. This book does a great job breaking down the high level of complexity of cloud computing into easy-to-understand pieces. It goes beyond the basic, often repeated, explanations. It examines the fundamental concepts and the components, as well as the mechanisms and architectures that make up cloud computing environments. The approach gradually builds the reader’s understanding from the ground up. “In a rapidly evolving area like cloud computing, it’s easy to focus on details and miss the big picture. The focus on concepts and architectural models instead of vendor-specific details allows readers to quickly gain essential knowledge of complex topics. The concepts come together in the last part of the book, which should be required reading for any decision maker evaluating when and how to start a transition to cloud computing. Its thorough, comprehensive coverage of fundamentals and advanced topics makes the book a valuable resource to keep on your desk or your eBook reader, regardless if you’re new to the topic or you already have cloud experience. “I highly recommend the book to those looking to implement or evaluate cloud environments, or simply looking to educate themselves in a field that will shape IT over the next decade.” -- Christoph Schittko, Principal Technology Strategist & Cloud Solution Director, Microsoft “ Cloud Computing: Concepts, Technology & Architecture is an excellent resource for IT professionals and managers who want to learn and understand cloud computing, and who need to select or build cloud systems and solutions. It lays the foundation for cloud concepts, models, technologies, and mechanisms. As the book is vendor-neutral, it will remain valid for many years. We will recommend this book to Oracle customers, partners, and users for their journey toward cloud computing. This book has the potential to become the basis for a cloud computing manifesto, comparable to what was accomplished with the SOA manifesto.” -- Jurgen Kress, Fusion Middleware Partner Adoption, Oracle EMEA