The Cloud Computing Book

Why should every serious computer user learn about cloud computing and what should they learn? This text, by best-selling author and expert Douglas Comer, answers the questions. Divided into five major parts, this class-tested book covers the topic completely. Part 1 explains the motivation, advantages, and growth of cloud. It describes the notion of elastic computing, the reasons for public cloud, private cloud, and hybrid cloud systems, as well as the rise of hyperscalers. Part 2 describes cloud infrastructure and virtualization, including data center facilities, virtual machines, containers and Docker technology, and the virtual network and storage systems cloud providers offer. Part 3 focuses on automation and orchestration, two topics at the core of cloud computing. It considers automated resource allocation and advanced automation technologies, discussing the advantage and disadvantages of automated cloud systems. It also considers the topic of orchestration, using Kubernetes as an example. Part 4 looks at programming paradigms and scalability. Specifically, it examines approaches, algorithms, and technologies used to create cloud-native software, including MapReduce, microservices, serverless computing, and controller-based designs. It also covers DevOps, and explains why the software engineering technology works well when building and deploying software in the cloud. Part 5 covers additional topics related to cloud. It discusses an extension of cloud known as Edge Computing. It describes the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and its relationship to both edge and cloud computing. It examines how cloud introduces new security and privacy complications. It concludes by examining how the complexity of cloud software can be controlled, and how models can help a software designer understand properties of a cloud software system.