Chapter 1: Introduction to Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is somewhat of a misnomer; it's a marketing term for a technology model that an organization may adopt to consume computing resources. It can benefit many audiences, addressing a need to access on-demand computing resources that are self-service, automated, and elastic to cater to demand.

Its value to a business is as an enabler for digital transformation and innovation, quicker time to market and value, economies of scale, a flexible cost model, and an agile operating model; this ability gives a choice in how computing resources can be provided and consumed by a business to suit their operating model in the most appropriate way.

Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are some of the public cloud computing platform providers. These providers own hardware on their facilities, from which they create computing resources that are made available to all tenants on the platform, which use their portion of the resources and get billed only for what they use. The users of these computing resources benefit through what is described as economies of scale.

The objectives for this chapter cover the AZ-900 Azure Fundamentals exam skills area Describe Cloud Concepts.

By the end of this chapter, you will have learned the skills to be able to do the following:

• Define cloud computing.
• Describe public cloud, private cloud, and hybrid cloud.
• Compare and contrast the three types of cloud computing.
• Describe Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), and Serverless | Functions as a Service (FaaS).
• Identify a service type based on a use case.

In addition, this chapter's goal is also to take your knowledge beyond the exam content so you are prepared for a real-world, day-to-day Azure-focused role.

It is important to note that in November 21 some Microsoft Security Services have been renamed. These are renamed as follows:

• Azure Security Center and Azure Defender are now called Microsoft Defender for Cloud
• Azure Defender plans to Microsoft Defender plans
• Azure Sentinel is now called Microsoft Sentinel
• Azure Defender for IoT is now called Microsoft Defender for IoT
• Azure Defender for SQL is now called Microsoft Defender for SQL
• Microsoft Cloud App Security is now called Microsoft Defender for Cloud App
• Microsoft Defender for Business is introduced as a new Service SKU

You can learn more about the update of Microsoft security services at this url: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/defender-for-cloud/defender-for-cloud-introduction