Cloud Computing
Comprehensive Study Notes & Exam Preparation Guide
1. Cloud Service Models
Model Managed By Provider Managed By Customer Example Services
IaaS Hardware, network, OS, runtime, apps, data AWS EC2, Azure VMs,
virtualization GCP Compute
PaaS IaaS + OS + runtime + Applications, data Heroku, Google App
middleware Engine, Azure App
Service
SaaS Everything Nothing (just use it) Gmail, Salesforce, Office
365
FaaS/ IaaS + OS + runtime + Functions and code AWS Lambda, Azure
Serverless scaling Functions
2. Cloud Deployment Models
2.1 Public Cloud
Resources owned and operated by a third-party cloud provider and delivered over the internet.
Multiple customers share the same infrastructure (multi-tenancy). Examples: AWS, Microsoft
Azure, Google Cloud Platform.
Advantages: No upfront capital expenditure, infinite scalability, pay-as-you-go pricing, global
reach.
Disadvantages: Less control over infrastructure, potential compliance concerns, data residency
issues.
2.2 Private Cloud
Cloud infrastructure operated solely for a single organization. Can be managed internally or by a
third party, hosted on-premises or off-premises.
Advantages: Full control, enhanced security, compliance-friendly, customizable infrastructure.
2.3 Hybrid Cloud
Combination of public and private clouds, allowing data and applications to move between
them. Enables workload portability and flexibility.
3. Key Cloud Concepts
3.1 Virtualization
• Hypervisor (Type 1: Bare Metal) — runs directly on hardware; VMware ESXi, Microsoft
Hyper-V
• Hypervisor (Type 2: Hosted) — runs on top of OS; VirtualBox, VMware Workstation
• Containers — lightweight OS-level virtualization; Docker, Kubernetes
• VMs vs Containers — VMs include full OS; containers share host OS kernel
3.2 Scalability Patterns
Pattern Description Use Case
Horizontal Scaling Add more instances (scale out) Web servers, stateless services
Vertical Scaling Increase instance size (scale up) Databases, legacy apps
Auto-scaling Automatic adjustment based on demand Variable traffic workloads
Load Balancing Distribute traffic across instances High availability systems
4. Cloud Security Fundamentals
• Shared Responsibility Model — provider secures the cloud infrastructure; customer
secures what they put IN the cloud
• Identity & Access Management (IAM) — control who can access what resources using
roles and policies
• Encryption at Rest — data encrypted when stored (AES-256 standard)
• Encryption in Transit — data encrypted during transmission (TLS/SSL)
• Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) — additional verification layer beyond passwords
• Security Groups & Network ACLs — virtual firewalls controlling inbound/outbound traffic
• VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) — logically isolated section of cloud with custom network
configuration
5. AWS Core Services Quick Reference
Category Service Purpose
Compute EC2 Virtual servers in the cloud
Compute Lambda Serverless function execution
Storage S3 Object/blob storage with 99.999999999% durability
Storage EBS Block storage volumes for EC2
Database RDS Managed relational databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.)
Database DynamoDB Managed NoSQL key-value and document database
Networking VPC Isolated cloud network environment
Networking CloudFront Global CDN for low-latency content delivery
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