Centralized and Distributed Database Systems

 

According to AZURE, n.d., “Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services—including servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence—over the Internet the cloud to offer faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale. You typically pay only for cloud services you use, helping you lower your operating costs, run your infrastructure more efficiently, and scale as your business needs change.”  Cloud computing is a general term that described as providing hosted services over the internet. It is made up of three service categories: Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Platform as a service (PaaS), and Software as a service (SaaS), (Baird, 2020).

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), defines cloud computing through: on-demand self-service, broad network access, multi-tenancy and resource pooling, rapid elasticity and scalability, and measured service (Five characteristics of cloud computing 2021). On-demand self-service is defined as an interface that allows access to cloud accounts to monitor their cloud services, their usage, and to provision and de-provision services as needed. Broad network access is needed to support the cloud services over the network. Very important aspects of cloud computing are bandwidth and network latency.  Multi-tenancy allows the sharing of applications and platforms by any users while retaining security and access control. Resource pooling allows multiple customers to use the same physical hardware and resources. Rapid elasticity and scalability is a great benefit of cloud computing. It allows cloud resources to grow or shrink when users need them. Measured-service leverages charge-per-use capabilities, is metered, and is based off of running services, or utilized storage (Five characteristics of cloud computing 2021).

The cloud service provider must provide the following services: low cost, speed, global scalability, productivity, performance, reliability, and security. According to Azure, cloud computing eliminates the cost associated with purchasing and maintaining computer hardware and equipment. Speed is also a benefit of cloud computing, vast amounts of computing resources can be provisioned in minutes, often with just a few mouse clicks. Cloud computing has an ability for global scaling which allows the delivery of the right amount of resources right when they are needed, providing seamless scalability. Cloud computing reduces the need for racking and stacking, hardware setup, software patching, and other time consuming administrative tasks. Cloud computing offers a worldwide network of datacenters that are secure, well maintained, backed up, and efficient, this is often a better solution than a single, non-cloud datacenter. It also provides data backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity as part of the cloud services. Lastly, security is also offered by cloud services in the form of policies, technologies, and security controls, (AZURE, n.d.).

Figure 1 - A primer on cloud computing, 2020

Cloud computing is a lot like a rental company. Cloud computing companies like Amazon Web Services (AWS) setup warehouses full of computing equipment, then dividing them into “virtual containers” and renting them out to users as a service for profit (Baird, 2020). Per Figure 1, the Public Cloud portion is open to the public for use, and currently represents the majority of the market share. The Private cloud is setup like the Public cloud but is only available to private customers and is usually a better fit for larger, security focused companies such as the United States Military. The Hybrid cloud is a mix between the Public and the Private Cloud, where companies can utilize both the public and the private cloud options. This is best suited for companies that want to save on costs but also separate their sensitive data onto the Private cloud, and then utilize their Public cloud, cheaper option for their non-critical operations (Baird, 2020).

Infrastructure-as-a-service (Iaas), Platform-as-a-service (PaaS), and Software-as-a-service (SaaS) are all services offered in a cloud computing model (Baird, 2020). Iaas is when the customer rents the computer architecture, but provides the operating system, drivers, and applications. PaaS takes the rental one step further and the operating system provided but the customer still needs to provide the applications and data. Finally, SaaS provides the entire application stack, and backup services, operating systems, updates, and applications are all provided. See Figure 2 below for a more detailed, further breakdown of on-premises, Iaas, Paas, and Saas.

Figure 2 - A primer on cloud computing, 2020

Cloud based DBMS are very scalable but often lack the ability to scale up to very large processes (Bhatnagar et al., 2014). Cloud DBMS systems are often used for development of new processes and developing new products. The wrong cloud DBMS solution can hinder performance and even discredit a cloud service. Below, Figure 3 represents a DBMS in Cloud Architecture, where the first layer is storage, followed by database, and the upper layer is the application layer (Bhatnagar et al., 2014). This model provides efficient data access. It also stores SQL statements that are frequently used in memory SQL statements in memory, avoiding the need for time-consuming recompilation at run-time. It also produces a detailed report at each step for data access, allowing for accurate implementation of performance enhancements. Data is then encrypted when it is either stored or backed up without any additional need for additional security programming (Bhatnagar et al., 2014).

Figure 3 – DBMS as a Cloud Service, 2014

According to (Lawton, 2020), there are four keys to planning a successful cloud database migration: choose your DBMS, determine your support preference, rethink apps and analytics, and be open to change. First, choose whether to stay with the same version of the cloud DBMS currently in use which will allow currently trained DBAs to continue to administer the DB, or go for a new cloud based DB native to the cloud client.  Next, determine what type of cloud support works best for the organization, if multiple cloud platforms are used within the organization, this may cause support problems. Take the opportunity rethink apps and analytics, moving to the cloud is a good time to embrace new apps and analytics offered by the cloud provider, such as apps that support AI and machine learning, time series, and graph analysis. Also, be open to change, instead of continuing old designs and concepts, embrace the new cloud concepts and applications that may be a better fit for the organization (Lawton, 2020).

References

Baird, C. (2020, August 6). A primer on cloud computing. Blogs. https://medium.com/@colinbaird_51123/a-primer-on-cloud-computing-9a34e90303c8.

Bhatnagar, Y., Sethiya, S., & Jain, S. (2014). DBMS as a Cloud Service. Department of Computer Science Engineering.

Five characteristics of cloud computing. Control Engineering. (2021, July 22). https://www.controleng.com/articles/five-characteristics-of-cloud-computing/.

Lawton, G. (2020, February 6). How to carefully plan a database migration to the cloud. SearchCloudComputing. https://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/feature/How-to-carefully-plan-a-database-migration-to-the-cloud.

What is cloud computing? A beginner's guide: Microsoft azure. What Is Cloud Computing? A Beginner's Guide | Microsoft Azure. (n.d.). https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/overview/what-is-cloud-computing/#benefits.