Characteristics of Cloud Computing
There are four key characteristics of cloud computing. They are shown in the following diagram:
On Demand Self Service
Cloud Computing allows the users to use web services and resources on demand. One can logon to a website at any time and use them.
Broad Network Access
Since cloud computing is completely web based, it can be accessed from anywhere and at any time.
Resource Pooling
Cloud computing allows multiple tenants to share a pool of resources. One can share single physical instance of hardware, database and basic infrastructure.
Rapid Elasticity
It is very easy to scale the resources vertically or horizontally at any time. Scaling of resources means the ability of resources to deal with increasing or decreasing demand.
The resources being used by customers at any given point of time are automatically monitored.
Measured Service
In this service cloud provider controls and monitors all the aspects of cloud service. Resource optimization, billing, and capacity planning etc. depend on it.