Chapter 1. Cloud 101 – Understanding the Basics

In this chapter, we will introduce you to cloud computing and the key terminologies used commonly by cloud practitioners.

We will briefly describe what public, private, and hybrid clouds are, followed by a description of various cloud service models (offered by the service providers), including the features of Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS).

To help you get started on Amazon Web Services (AWS), we will end the chapter by walking you through the step-by-step process of creating an AWS account, and describing some of the salient features of the AWS dashboard.

This chapter will cover the following points:

• Define cloud computing and describe some of its characteristics
• Describe and compare public, private, and hybrid clouds
• Explain and compare IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS cloud service delivery models
• Steps to create an AWS account
• A brief overview of the AWS management console