Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computing resources — such as servers, storage, databases, networking, and software delivered over the internet. Instead of maintaining physical infrastructure, companies can leverage cloud providers to scale resources dynamically.
Common Cloud Architectures
- Microservices & Serverless → Efficient, event-driven models
- Monoliths → Traditional, tightly coupled applications
- Server vs Serverless → Trade-offs between managing infrastructure vs. event-driven execution
Benefits of Cloud over Traditional Infrastructure
- Cost-efficient → paying only for what you use
- High availability → global distribution of resources
- Security & Compliance → provides manageable security tools and encryption
- DevOps Friendly → CI/CD pipelines, Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
Dangers of Cloud Computing
- Vendor lock in - difficult to migrate from one cloud provider to another
- Unpredictable Costs - pay-as-you-go pricing can lead to unexpected expenses if not managed correctly