Cloud computing has been one of the most buzzing words in the industry for a while. Most organizations across the world are investing and jumping onto the cloud bandwagon if they haven’t already. This article here discusses cloud computing, its benefits, and how to implement cloud computing in Java. Read on to find out.
What is Cloud Computing?
In simple words, Cloud Computing is computing based on the internet. You might be already familiar with the term ‘cloud’ that refers to platforms for distributed computing. By definition, “Cloud Computing is a kind of Internet-based computing that permits shared processing resources and information to computers and other systems on demand.” Everyone makes use of Cloud Computing when simply searching something on Google or while checking for new mails. The power of processing technology kept at distant locations is being shared in these examples through Cloud. Storing and accessing from Google Drive and Dropbox are other common examples of cloud computing. Few benefits of the Cloud are as follows.
- Performance and scalability – Cloud makes enterprise-class technology accessible to everyone. Even the smallest businesses can act fast as their bigger, established counterparts.
- Reduced Costs – The organizations adopting Cloud can cut down the costs of local servers and data centers. Purchasing of new software and hardware also can be drastically reduced, thereby the complex management systems associated with it.
- Scalability – Cloud Computing system offers excellent elasticity to overcome common problems of scalability. You can expand and contract your Cloud infrastructure capabilities without an impact on investment.
- Accessibility– All different types of devices can easily access the data and business platforms. With proper services and interfaces, desktops, laptops, and other mobile devices can be connected to the Cloud.
- Reliability – You can access the data even if there is a corporate device failure. Also, all the leading cloud service providers have data recovery procedures to meet every emergency scenario.
The Cloud infrastructure can be divided into two categories based on the target user community. A Public Cloud is where the infrastructure is open to everyone, and many users are sharing it. A few examples would be the Cloud infrastructures powered by Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. Then there is the second kind, Private Cloud, which organizations use for their internal use to serve their stakeholders. It could be hosted by the organization itself or by a vendor such as Salesforce. It can be customized to meet their particular requirements.
The Cloud Computing Delivery Models
The Cloud infrastructure can be delivered in 3 different delivery models:
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Cloud Computing service providers lend you infrastructure services such as routers, storage devices, and computers to deploy the applications. This concept is nothing new. The old school web hosting companies have provided infrastructure for small and medium-sized companies to host their websites. Now, this has become mainstream, and many organizations are taking service from providers like Amazon and Microsoft for internal enterprise applications. The cloud providers allocate a virtual machine for your organization when you sign up for IaaS.
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
Cloud can be delivered in application platforms such as middleware, messaging system, database, and much more. You can access your Java development tools remotely and leverage these services offered by Cloud providers. Through this, the organizations can stop bothering about tracking licenses, computer resources, the configuration of software, and the cost of installation. Force.com by Salesforce, Google App Engine, and Microsoft’s Windows Azure platform are few examples of PaaS.
Software as a Service (SaaS)
The SaaS helps you with software or applications hosted on Cloud. GoogleApps, Workday HRMS, and RemedyForce by BMC are a few famous examples of SaaS. It allows organizations to avoid the expensive costs of development, deployment, and maintenance. This relatively reduces the total cost of ownership. The service provider ensures the availability, scalability, security, and performance of the software. If SaaS is widely and successfully deployed, only the SaaS vendors will be developing new applications.
Now, let’s go through the use of various Cloud delivery models for Java development:
Java Development using IaaS
One common struggle for developers during the development or testing stage is with finding the proper computing resources. Cloud Computing provides a self-service model with tools required to start and configure virtual machines. Providers like BMC and VMware provide infrastructure to manage, provision and configure virtual machine instances in private cloud environments. Preconfigured virtual machine appliances are available on the public cloud if you do not want to worry about your software’s installation and tracking licenses. On the private cloud, IT admins can make a private virtual image instance or customize the one provided by software vendors. Few cloud management software like BMC Software lets you extend the virtual infrastructure with an application stack. Using a self-service portal, you can add a Java stack to these virtual machines.
Java Development using PaaS
PaaS has been revolutionizing the way applications are built and deployed. You can depend on Cloud vendors for virtual or physical machines, databases, messaging systems, or application middleware platforms. The target deployment platform has to be pre-planned when you start the app development since there are no standards similar to Java EE. In PaaS, you can go with the API/SDK provided by the vendor. A few top PaaS offerings from popular vendors are as follows:
- Google App Engine– It helps you to develop and deploy in the cloud using Java or Python. You can use the Eclipse plugin to build Java-based web applications and deploy them into the Google cloud platform.
- com – You can build applications on Force.com using Apex code and VisualForce. Apex code is helpful in building server-side code such as database, business logic, triggers, and much more.
- VMForce – SpringSource technologies are used in this cloud application platform. You can deploy standard, compliant Web applications to VMForce.
- Amazon Web Services – AWS provides a complete application platform named Elastic BeanStalk. Along with deploying your Java Web Application, you can access Elastic MapReduce, SimpleDB, and Simple Queue services.
IT organizations sometimes choose to build their own private Paas. Cloud management vendors provide tools and frameworks for managing your private PaaS. Developers can build applications using the services available on their PaaS.
Java Development Using SaaS
With Saas delivery model, organizations require no infrastructure on the company premise. The users would be accessing the application directly as a service. You can make the customization on this software to meet the exact need of the organization. The vendors provide the platform to make these changes. For example, Apex and VisualForce, and force.com are used to customize the CRM from Salesforce.com.
Lifecycle Management Using SaaS Application
Application Lifecycle Management or ALM is another vital aspect of SaaS that Java Developers use. Tools such as source code control or continuous integration are available as services. CollabNet and VMware are popular brands offering these services in the cloud. Mundane issues such as backup, availability, recovery, and much more can be avoided this way.
The Bottom Line
Cloud Computing is changing how the development and deployment of applications are done. As a Java developer, keep yourself updated on the changes and stay ahead in the career race. Therefore, with the rapid development of this field, career opportunities have been increasing as well. Choose efficient cloud computing courses from Great Learning for entering into this ever-developing world.
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