Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
There are several business benefits for small and midsize businesses when deploying solutions on
the cloud computing platform:
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Cloud computing services are provided over the Internet and can be accessed from anywhere in
the world.
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Cloud computing reduces business latencies when developing or testing applications.
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Cloud computing can simplify and reduce process complexities.
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Cloud computing abstracts the complexities of underlying infrastructure and creates simple plug-
and-play architecture.
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Cloud computing does not require you to determine the size of the footprint when you initially
deploy a development process.
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Cloud computing can provide an adequately secure environment to host any data deemed critical
by the organization.
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Cloud computing provides you a complete platform and frees IT to keep the business running.
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Cloud computing provides you with an option to conduct experiments on a small footprint on
non-mission-critical and secure infrastructures.
There are different architectural styles of implementing cloud computing services both in general
and as applied to data warehousing.
Infrastructure as a service
In infrastructure as a service (IaaS) architecture, we can specify the amount of infrastructure that is
required, including storage, processing, and memory requirements. Once the configuration of the
basic hardware is done, then networking, access, and security needs are added to the configuration.
The biggest benefit to this architecture is the utility-based charge—that is, the amount of monies
charged depends on the usage in terms of infrastructure consumption, data storage, and processing,
and the number of hours such activities were performed. The key takeaway here is the software costs
in terms of database licenses and application software licenses are dependent on the consumer and
that price is not a part of the cost that you pay for.
Deploying IaaS on the cloud is a good option when you have no additional license spending—that
is, you can either utilize an open-source tool or you have a zero footprint required for software licenses
or. In other words, you have no BI or analytical compute and are deploying metrics and dashboards.
Platform as a service
In platform as a service (PaaS) architecture, we can deploy a data warehouse on a platform. For
example, on Amazon EC2, we can deploy a functional analytical datamart on Vertica, Teradata, or
Oracle, and host reports and analytics on that database, and we now have a PaaS architecture. Simply
explained, IaaS plus the software platforms combined together is PaaS.
The PaaS architecture is best suited for small business organizations. It is also ideal for midsize
organizations to deploy development and testing processes on this architecture, with an option to
deploy production. The biggest benefit on this architecture is the fixed amount of cost based on data
volume, software license, SLAs, and operational overheads. This predictability will enable users to
decide which features to build and deploy, how many interactive users will access the system, and
