In Certified Cloud Practitioner exam, 26% of the exam is on “Cloud Concepts.”  This article will introduce you to some important basic features to know about cloud computing and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud Computing is the on-demand delivery of compute, database, storage, application, and other IT resources. Basically, if you can imagine the “legacy” (old school) physical data centers hosting your company’s IT resources, it’s that, except “on the cloud” (accessed via the internet).

They are services provided through a cloud-service platform via the internet, and employs a pay-as-you-go pricing model.  Some examples of major Cloud services are Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure.

6 Pillars of Well-Architected Framework

AWS developed the 6 Pillars of Well-Architected Framework to help Cloud Architects build the most secure, fault-resilient, efficient, and high-performing IT infrastructure possible. You can consider it the Best Practice framework of your Cloud Infrastructure.

• Operational Excellence: daily system operations, monitoring, and improvements
• Security: protect information and systems
• Reliability: ability to prevent and quickly recover from operational failures
• Performance Efficiency:  using computing resources efficiently
• Cost Optimization: avoiding unnecessary costs
• Sustainability: minimize environmental impacts of cloud workloads

6 Advantages of Cloud Computing

AWS boasts 6 major advantages in their Whitepaper.

• Trade capital expense for variable expense: you pay only when and what you consume (think water/electricity bills)
• Benefit from massive economies of scale: cloud computing platforms buy in bulk to save money per-unit (think Costco)
• Stop guessing about capacity: access as much or as little capacity as you need with flexible scaling
• Increase speed and agility: resources can be deployed or managed in minutes
• Stop spending money running and maintaining data centers: no more physical infrastructures to maintain
• Go global in minutes: deploy application in multiple regions around the world with few clicks

3 Types of Cloud Computing

There are 3 types of “___ as a Service” cloud computing models.

• Software as a Services (SaaS): completed product managed by service provider (ie: Gmail, Facebook)
• Platform as a Service (PaaS): deploy and manage applications without worrying about hardware infrastructure (ie:  AWS Elastic Beanstalk, AWS Lambda, Operating Systems)
• Infrastructure as a Services (IaaS): physical/virtual IT infrastructure (ie: data centers, physical buildings, servers)

3 Types of Cloud Computing Deployments

There are 3 types of cloud infrastructure deployments: Cloud, Hybrid, and On-Prem.

• Cloud: whole infrastructure deployed on the Cloud
• Hybrid: mix of cloud and on-premises infrastructure
• On-Premises: infrastructure managed in your own data center

Exam Tips

Want some mnemonics to help you remember components of Cloud Computing?  Take a look at the AWS Mnemonics post!

Want more in-depth introduction to Cloud Computing? Check out our new book, “AWS for Non-Engineers“! We also have “Introduction to AWS for Non-Engineers” video courses created in partnership with LinkedIn Learning available to help you get started!

Continue on to learn about the most basic certification exam for AWS: AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam.