MIT Art Design and Technology University

MIT School of Computing, Pune

23CSE3115-Fundamentals of Cloud Computing

Class - S.Y. (SEM-II)

Unit - II CLOUD ARCHITECTURE AND

ECONOMICS

AY 2025-2026 SEM-II
 Unit II - Syllabus

Unit II – CLOUD ARCHITECTURE AND ECONOMICS 09 Hours

• Introduction to a well-architected framework,

• design principles,
• Cloud Cost Models: Pay-as-you-go, Reserved Instances, Spot Pricing,
• Cost Optimization Techniques,
• Cloud TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) Analysis,
• AWS trusted advisor, Fundamental pricing characteristics and understanding AWS cost explorer,
Reliability & High Availability,
• Cost optimization, case study or use case
 Architecture of Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing architecture comprises of many cloud components,

which are loosely coupled.

We can broadly divide the cloud architecture into two parts:

• Front End
• Back End

Each of the ends is connected through a network, usually Internet.

Architecture of Cloud Computing
 Architecture of Cloud Computing
• Front End
The front end refers to the client part of cloud computing system. It
consists of interfaces and applications that are required to access the cloud
computing platforms,
Example - Web Browser.
• Back End
The back End refers to the cloud itself. It consists of all the resources
required to provide cloud computing services. It comprises of huge data
storage, virtual machines, security mechanism, services, deployment
models, servers, etc.
 Cloud Infrastructure
Cloud infrastructure consists of
• servers
• storage devices
• network
• cloud management software
• deployment software
• platform virtualization
• Hypervisor
Hypervisor is a firmware or low-level program that acts as a Virtual Machine Manager. It
allows to share the single physical instance of cloud resources between several tenants.
• Management Software
It helps to maintain and configure the infrastructure.
• Deployment Software
It helps to deploy and integrate the application on the cloud.
• Network
It is the key component of cloud infrastructure. It allows to connect cloud services over the
Internet. It is also possible to deliver network as a utility over the Internet, which means,
the customer can customize the network route and protocol.
• Server
The server helps to compute the resource sharing and offers other services such as
resource allocation and de-allocation, monitoring the resources, providing security etc.
• Storage
Cloud keeps multiple replicas of storage. If one of the storage resources fails, then it can
be extracted from another one, which makes cloud computing more reliable.
 What is a Cloud Computing Framework
• “framework” refers to anything from
• sets of development tools,
• middleware technology,
• or even database management software that helps with the administration, creation, and
control of cloud applications.
•
The cloud is cyberspace where you can perform daily tasks and projects,
whether professional or personal,
• such as data storing,
• file sharing,
• networking,
• and scheduling.
• An open-cloud framework allows you to access anything from any device; all
you need is an internet connection.
Cloud Computing Framework
 What is a Cloud Computing Framework
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency
of the U.S. Commerce Department.

Its role in the context of cloud computing is

• to promote the effective use and safety of this technology in both
government and industry,
• to promote and disseminate standards and technical guides on
Computing in the Clouds.
 What are the characteristics of a platform for
Cloud Computing?
These are five key features:
1. On demand self-service: you can do the setup, configuration of your environment
without anyone’s help
2. Ubiquitous network access: available through any device with Internet access
3. Location independent resource pooling: the demand for processing and storage are
distributed through a common infrastructure, in which no particular resource is
assigned to a specific user
4. Rapid elasticity: users who hired the “cloud” can increase or decrease the capacity
according to their needs, without notice and without intervention by the provider of
resources
5. Pay per use: the contractor is charged according to quantity and volume of resources
it uses, processing power, bandwidth, storage etc.
6. The cloud web hosting provider offers a “cloud” with some of these basic features.
 Design principles of Cloud
There are 6 principles of cloud computing:
• architecture design, including reasonable deployment,

• business continuity,

• elastic expansion,

• performance efficiency,

• security compliance,

• and continuous operation.

 Design principles of Cloud
• We can get to know the overall architecture and service capability of Cloud
Computing from another perspective, which is the cloud computing
architecture system.

• From down to up it includes infrastructure, cloud computing operating system,

product system (including security and management), solution system, and
service system.

• A complete cloud computing architecture design is also a step-by-step process

that begins with collecting requirements and analysis, designing the
architecture based on the requirements analysis, evaluating improvements and
delivering implementation, and then achieving continuous operations.
 Principle 1: Reasonable Deployment

• The deployment of business systems on the public cloud includes the cloud hosts
in the form of virtual machines and physical cloud hosts with higher performance.
• Hosting services include hosted applications and hosted physical servers.
 Principle 1: Reasonable Deployment
• Based on the status of IT historical resources and compliance requirements, many enterprises have
not yet migrated to the cloud.
• In response to this situation, the cloud computing operating system is extracted and packaged as
independent software and services to be deployed in the user's private environment.
• Unlike public clouds, which are available to "any" user, private deployments are only available to a
select few users.
• Hybrid architecture enables unified management and scheduling of resources for public cloud and
privatized deployed platforms, traditional VMware, OpenStack virtualization platforms or physical
servers.
• The hybrid architecture not only enjoys the benefits of not changing the local environment and
meeting compliance requirements, but also enjoys the advantages of abundant cloud platform
resources and sufficient service capabilities.
• Hybrid architecture is also an intermediate state in the current enterprise transformation to the
cloud, which will exist for a long time.
 Principle 2: Business Continuity
• Business continuity mainly refers to the 3 aspects of high availability,
continuous operations, and disaster recovery, and the design pattern
is developed according to this logic.
• High Availability refers to avoiding business interruption by
redundancy and other designs when the resources running the
business fail.
• Continuous Operations mean that the resources for business
operation are fault-free and the business can continuously provide
services.
• Disaster Recovery refers to the ability to restore applications and data
in different environments when the business operating environment is
damaged.
•
 Principle 2: Business Continuity
• Redundancy and business continuity should be implemented in each layer of the architecture
design. No redundancy means that there will be a single point, and a single point of failure will
cause local service termination.
Storage products: Block storage achieves redundancy through 3 copies.
• When an error occurs in one copy, the data is verified and recovered by other copies;
• Data redundancy checks are implemented in object storage through correction codes to provide
recoverability;
• Object storage provides cross-region replication to avoid a single geographic region becoming a
single point of object storage.
Backup solution:
• Improve reliability through cross-availability zone and cross-region data backup in the cloud to
avoid storing only one copy of data;
• Backing up data to the cloud in a hybrid architecture allows for recovery from cloud backup files in
the event of data damage in the local environment.
 Principle 2: Business Continuity
Disaster recovery solution:
Achieve disaster recovery for business systems to avoid the current business environment from
becoming a single point and improve the availability and risk resistance of the overall business.

High Availability:
• Achieve redundancy of cloud hosts and availability zones through cross-availability zone load
balancing deployment;
• Achieve high availability across regions and cloud platforms through global load balancing.
 Principle 3: Elastic Expansion

• Tightly coupled systems are not easy to expand, and it is difficult to troubleshoot
problems when software bugs and system failures occur.
• The pressure to call each system component is different, and small problems are
magnified step by step, which can easily cause the entire business to be
interrupted.
 Principle 3: Elastic Expansion
• To maintain the elastic expansion of the system, the first step is to
decouple the system components, including the decoupling of
dynamic data and static data.
• The decoupled components can realize functional unitization and
perform their own duties.
• The decoupling is followed by the expansion of components and
services, namely the vertical expansion, horizontal expansion and
automatic expansion,
• including the expansion of the database layer, as well as the extension of the
computing, storage backup, security protection, and product service
capabilities of the local environment through the hybrid architecture.
•
 Principle 3: Elastic Expansion
• Migration of applications and data also counts as an expansion of the
entire system.
• When migrating from one environment to another, the system should
maintain elastic expansion and enable rapid implementation when migration
is required.
• Finally, balancing needs to be carried out.
 Principle 4: Performance Efficiency

• A very large number of solutions and cases involve performance challenges due to
high concurrency and traffic surges. The primary goal in performance efficiency is
to discover and enhance the performance of the application and improve the
efficiency of resources and components.
 Principle 4: Performance Efficiency
• The first is computing performance. The single-machine performance
is improved by using high-configuration cloud hosts or physical cloud
hosts, and the overall service performance is expanded through
clusters.
• The second is storage and caching. Cache hot data and store
temporary state data by Redis, and performing in-memory
calculations can improve business performance. Hotspot configuration
files and hotspot data are cached through Redis and loaded in
advance to reduce access time.
 Principle 4: Performance Efficiency
• The third is the optimization of network. Select the optimal data
center when the business is deployed globally, and improve the
network performance based on global infrastructure network, CDN
and global application acceleration to obtain the request acceleration
effect.
• Finally is the introduction of application performance monitoring and
stress testing. Evaluate the current performance status and identify
problematic bottlenecks from the application perspective, and solves
the problem in a targeted manner.
 Principle 5: Security Compliance

On the one hand, security compliance is to meet the business security

protection of their own needs, on the other hand, it is to meet the
security supervision requirements. In the specific implementation, these
two aspects will be crossed together.
 Principle 5: Security Compliance
• Set up master accounts and sub-accounts in the account system, and manage
public keys and private keys separately; Set appropriate roles and assign the
minimum permissions required to accounts and roles.
• Controlling network access; Restrict open ports on cloud hosts through security
groups; Control communication across subnets through subnetting and routing.
Configure the database and the cloud hosts that only need internal access to the
intranet VPCs, set the VPCs that are allowed to access, and set them to not
connect to the extranet.
• Prevent DDoS, cc, SQL injection, XSS and other attacks.
• Security audit; Keep access logs and operation logs; Gradually realize
low-frequency storage and archive storage, etc.
 Principle 6: Continuous Operation

Cloud resources, cloud services, events and users' applications will be

monitored in continuous operation, and alarms will be set.
 Principle 6: Continuous Operation
• When alarm conditions are reached, relevant personnel will be
notified by phone, SMS, email, WeChat, etc. Alarms will be handed
over to callback functions, which can realize automated fault handling
or corresponding contingency plans and reduce manual intervention.

• In addition, it needs to have automatic response and processing

functions. Automatic scaling can automatically expand or shrink the
number of cloud hosts by monitoring indicators such as CPU.

• Detect changes in consumption and business costs in a timely manner

and optimize costs. Set alarm values for account balances to avoid
rapid spending and achieve cost control.
NIST(National Institute of Standards and
Technology) Cloud Reference
Architecture
 NIST Cloud Reference Architecture
• The NIST cloud computing reference architecture defines five major
actors: cloud consumer, cloud provider, cloud carrier, cloud auditor
and cloud broker.

• Each actor is an entity (a person or an organization) that participates

in a transaction or process and/or performs tasks in cloud computing.

• Figure 1 presents an overview of the NIST cloud computing reference

architecture, which identifies the major actors, their activities and
functions in cloud computing.
 Actors and their roles
• Table 1 briefly lists the actors defined in the NIST cloud computing
reference architecture.
• Figure 2 illustrates the interactions among the actors. A cloud consumer may
request cloud services from a cloud provider directly or via a cloud broker. A cloud
auditor conducts independent audits and may contact the others to collect
necessary information.
 Cloud Consumer
The cloud consumer is the principal stakeholder for the cloud computing
service. A cloud consumer represents a person or organization that
maintains a business relationship with, and uses the service from a cloud
provider.

A cloud consumer browses the service catalog from a cloud provider,

requests the appropriate service, sets up service contracts with the
cloud provider, and uses the service.
The cloud consumer may be billed for the service provisioned, and needs
to arrange payments accordingly.
Cloud Provider
Cloud Provider
Cloud Provider
Cloud Provider Contd.
Cloud Provider Contd.
 Cloud Auditor
A cloud auditor is a party that can perform an independent
examination of cloud service controls with the intent to express an
opinion thereon. Audits are performed to verify conformance to
standards through review of objective evidence.

A cloud auditor can evaluate the services provided by a cloud

provider in terms of security controls, privacy impact, performance,
etc.
 Cloud Auditor
Auditing is especially important for federal agencies as “agencies should include a contractual clause
enabling third parties to assess security controls of cloud providers”.

Security controls are the management, operational, and technical safeguards or countermeasures
employed within an organizational information system to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and
availability of the system and its information.

For security auditing, a cloud auditor can make an assessment of the security controls in the
information system to determine the extent to which the controls are implemented correctly,
operating as intended, and producing the desired outcome with respect to the security requirements
for the system.
The security auditing should also include the verification of the compliance with regulation and
security policy.
 Cloud Broker
As cloud computing evolves, the integration of cloud services can be too
complex for cloud consumers to manage.

A cloud consumer may request cloud services from a cloud broker,

instead of contacting a cloud provider directly.

A cloud broker is an entity that manages the use, performance and

delivery of cloud services and negotiates relationships between cloud
providers and cloud consumers.
Cloud Carrier
 Cloud Cost Models:
Pay-as-You-Go: Pay-as-you-go, also known as on-demand pricing, is a flexible and
consumption-based pricing model. Users pay for cloud resources and services based
on actual usage, typically in hourly or minute increments. This model allows for
scalability and cost efficiency, as users can increase or decrease resources as needed
without upfront commitments or long-term contracts. Pay-as-you-go pricing is
suitable for unpredictable workloads and short-term projects.
 Cloud Cost Models:
Reserved Instances: Reserved Instances (RIs) are a pricing model where users commit
to using specific resources for a fixed period, typically one to three years. In return for
this commitment, users receive a significant discount compared to on-demand prices.
RIs are ideal for workloads with steady and predictable usage, offering substantial
cost savings over the long term. Users can choose different payment options,
including all upfront, partial upfront, or no upfront, depending on their budget and
usage patterns.
 Cloud Cost Models:
Spot Instances: Spot Instances offer the ability to bid on unused cloud resources that
are available at lower prices than the on-demand rates. Users specify the maximum
price they are willing to pay per hour for a particular resource, and if the current spot
price falls below that threshold, their instances are provisioned. Spot Instances are
well-suited for workloads that can tolerate interruptions and have flexible start and
end times. While they provide significant cost savings, there is a risk of instances
being reclaimed by the cloud provider if the spot price exceeds the user's bid.
 Cloud Cost Models:
Dedicated Hosts: Dedicated Hosts allow users to rent an entire physical server in the
cloud. With this model, users have full control and visibility over the underlying
hardware and can allocate virtual instances as desired. Dedicated Hosts are useful for
compliance requirements, licensing considerations, and workload isolation. However,
they tend to have higher costs compared to other models due to the dedicated
hardware allocation.
 Cloud Cost Models:
Storage Tiers: Cloud providers often offer different storage tiers with varying
performance levels and associated costs. This model allows users to choose the
appropriate storage option based on their data access patterns and cost
considerations. For example, there may be tiers optimized for frequent access (higher
cost), infrequent access (lower cost but slightly longer retrieval times), or long-term
archival (lowest cost but longer retrieval times).
 Cloud Cost Models:
Data Transfer and Network Costs: Cloud providers may charge for data transfer into
and out of their services, as well as for network bandwidth utilization. These costs can
vary based on the volume of data transferred and the geographical regions involved.
Users should consider these costs when designing their architectures and planning
data transfer between cloud services and on-premises environments.
 Cloud computing Cost Optimization Techniques
Cloud computing cost optimization techniques help organizations maximize the value
of their cloud investments by minimizing costs while maintaining performance and
meeting business requirements.
 Cloud computing Cost Optimization Techniques
Right-Sizing Resources: Optimize the allocation of cloud resources by accurately
matching them to workload requirements. Monitor resource utilization and adjust
instance sizes, storage capacity, and network configurations accordingly. Avoid over
provisioning or underutilization of resources, which can lead to unnecessary costs.
Reserved Instances (RIs) and Savings Plans: Take advantage of the cost savings
offered by Reserved Instances or Savings Plans. Analyze usage patterns and identify
workloads with steady and predictable demand to purchase RIs or Savings Plans with
appropriate payment options. This approach can result in significant cost reductions
compared to on-demand pricing.
 Cloud computing Cost Optimization Techniques
Spot Instances and Preemptible VMs: Leverage Spot Instances or Preemptible VMs
for non-critical workloads or applications that can tolerate interruptions. These
instances are available at a lower price than on-demand instances, allowing for
substantial cost savings. However, keep in mind that the instances can be reclaimed
by the cloud provider if the spot price exceeds the user's bid.
Autoscaling and Elasticity: Implement auto scaling mechanisms to dynamically adjust
resources based on workload demands. Autoscaling ensures that resources are
provisioned when needed and deprovisioned during periods of low demand. This
elasticity helps optimize costs by aligning resource allocation with actual usage,
avoiding over provisioning during idle periods.
 Cloud TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) Analysis
● Cloud TCO is a method used to tally the various costs to host, run, integrate,
secure and manage workloads in the cloud over their lifetime.
● These include fees associated with the resources consumed, such as compute,
data transfer and storage.
● It also includes integrations with related cloud services, ranging from security and
management tools to machine learning and AI.
● Even calculating personnel costs for cloud engineers can be part of a cloud TCO
equation.
● Cloud TCO is a formula from Cloud Economics used to calculate all costs and
benefits related to a cloud computing project. It is used to determine the true,
all-in costs which then can be compared to alternatives.
Cloud TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) Analysis
 Cloud TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) Analysis
Some attributes of a TCO model should include:
● Actual cost of operating cloud services as load changes due to demand
● Migration costs to rehost applications on cloud platforms including code changes and refactoring
to support cloud or hybrid environments
● Sunk costs due to retiring existing on-premises infrastructure, including facilities costs if data
center is no longer needed
● Costs to alleviate compliance risks created by migrating off-premises, such as potential HIPAA
or GDPR violation costs
● Human costs involved in retraining or hiring new staff to ensure the proper skillsets for managing
cloud solutions
● Potential value of eliminating capital expenditures with a cloud migration
● Potential value of increased agility in terms of meeting changing market demand, speeding time
to market, and spinning up new cloud applications once a cloud platform has been adopted
 How do you calculate cloud TCO?
Every existing on-premises asset’s TCO must be considered before Cloud TCO can be evaluated. Some
costs that will disappear when migrating an application to the cloud include
● Server upgrades and replacement, typically done every 3-5 years.
● Ancillary equipment including racks, networking gear, load balancing equipment, storage devices,
and the support, maintenance, and replacement of these over time
● OS, database, middleware, and application license fees
● Utility costs for electricity, heating, and cooling
● Waste due to the need to overprovision servers to meet peak demands
● Physical real estate or rental costs for data center equipment
● Inventory and asset management
● Project Risk
● Time and effort to switch from one platform to another.
TCO Calculator
 AWS trusted advisor
● AWS Trusted Advisor is an automated service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that offers
real-time guidance to help users optimize their AWS infrastructure, improve performance,
enhance security, and reduce costs.
● It provides recommendations based on AWS best practices, drawing from an extensive knowledge
base and analysis of an organization's AWS account activity and configuration
● AWS Trusted Advisor is available to AWS customers with a Business or Enterprise Support plan.
● It acts as a proactive tool for continuously monitoring and optimizing AWS environments, helping
organizations maintain best practices, improve efficiency, and reduce costs.
● By leveraging the guidance provided by Trusted Advisor, organizations can enhance their AWS
infrastructure, maximize performance, and strengthen security measures.
Fundamental pricing characteristics in cloud computing
Pay-as-You-Go: Pay-as-you-go is a prevalent pricing model in cloud computing. It means users are
charged based on the actual usage of resources and services. Instead of making upfront payments or
signing long-term contracts, users pay for what they consume. This model offers flexibility, as users can
scale resources up or down based on their needs and are only billed for the resources they use.

Usage-Based Billing: Cloud providers typically employ usage-based billing, where users are charged
according to the amount of resources consumed or the duration of usage. This includes metrics such as
compute hours, storage capacity, data transfer volume, or the number of API requests made. Users are
billed based on the measured usage, allowing for cost transparency and accurate billing.
Fundamental pricing characteristics in cloud computing
Granularity: Cloud pricing often offers granularity in terms of resource allocation and billing
increments. Users can choose the level of granularity for resource allocation, such as specifying the
number of virtual machine instances or storage capacity required. Billing increments can be hourly,
minute-based, or even sub-minute-based, allowing for precise cost calculations based on actual usage
duration.

Tiered Pricing: Many cloud providers offer tiered pricing, where different pricing tiers or service levels
are available to cater to varying user requirements. These tiers may differ in terms of performance,
features, support levels, or service-level agreements (SLAs). Users can choose the tier that aligns with
their needs and budget, providing flexibility in selecting the appropriate level of service.
Fundamental pricing characteristics in cloud computing
Discounts and Commitments: Cloud providers often offer discounts or incentives for users who
commit to longer-term usage or make upfront payments. Reserved Instances (RIs) or Savings Plans, for
example, allow users to commit to a specified usage level over a specific term and receive a discounted
rate compared to on-demand pricing. This encourages users to commit to predictable workloads,
providing cost savings in return.

Region and Availability Zone-Based Pricing: Cloud providers may have varying pricing structures based
on geographic regions and availability zones. Costs can differ depending
 AWS cost explorer
● AWS Cost Explorer is a web-based tool provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that enables
users to visualize, understand, and analyze their AWS costs and usage.
● It provides a comprehensive set of features to help users monitor, analyze, and optimize their AWS
spending.
● AWS Cost Explorer is accessible through the AWS Management Console and is available to all AWS
customers.
● It provides valuable insights into AWS costs, enabling users to monitor spending, identify
cost-saving opportunities, and optimize their AWS infrastructure to align with their budgetary
goals and resource utilization.
● We can explore our usage and costs using the main graph, the Cost Explorer cost and usage
reports, or the Cost Explorer RI reports.
● We can view data for up to the last 12 months, forecast how much we're likely to spend for the
next 12 months, and get recommendations for what Reserved Instances to purchase.
● We can use Cost Explorer to identify areas that need further inquiry and see trends that we can
use to understand our costs.
● We can view our costs and usage using the Cost Explorer user interface free of charge.
● We can also access our data programmatically using the Cost Explorer API. Each paginated API
request incurs a charge of $0.01.
 Working of AWS Cost Explorer
● When you first sign up for Cost Explorer, AWS prepares the data about your costs
for the current month and the last 12 months, and then calculates the forecast for
the next 12 months.
● The current month's data is available for viewing in about 24 hours.
● The rest of your data takes a few days longer.
● Cost Explorer refreshes your cost data at least once every 24 hours.
● However, this depends on your upstream data from your billing applications, and
some data might be updated later than 24 hours.
● After you sign up, Cost Explorer can display up to 12 months of historical data (if
you have that much), the current month, and the forecasted costs for the next 12
months.
● The first time that you use Cost Explorer, Cost Explorer walks you through the
main parts of the console with an explanation for each section.
 Reliability
Reliability refers to the ability of a system or service to consistently perform its intended functions
without failure or disruption. In cloud computing, reliability focuses on minimizing downtime, errors,
and service disruptions. Key components of reliability include:
● Redundancy: Cloud providers implement redundancy by replicating data and resources across
multiple servers, availability zones, or regions. This ensures that if one component fails, another
takes over seamlessly, minimizing service disruptions.
● Fault Tolerance: Fault-tolerant systems are designed to continue operating properly in the
presence of failures or errors. Cloud platforms employ techniques such as automatic failover, load
balancing, and redundant infrastructure to ensure continuous service availability.
● Error Handling: Cloud applications and services implement error handling mechanisms to detect
and recover from errors or exceptions, maintaining normal operation and preventing service
disruptions.
● Monitoring and Alerting: Cloud providers offer monitoring and alerting services that continuously
monitor the health and performance of resources. Alerts are triggered in case of abnormal
behavior, allowing prompt investigation and mitigation.
 High Availability
High availability (HA) refers to the ability of a system or service to remain accessible and operational
for extended periods, without experiencing significant downtime or interruptions. Achieving high
availability in cloud computing involves ensuring continuous access to resources and mitigating single
points of failure. Key elements of high availability include:
● Redundant Infrastructure: Cloud providers offer redundant infrastructure, such as multiple data
centers or availability zones, which distribute resources geographically. This minimizes the impact
of localized failures and provides failover capabilities.
● Load Balancing: Load balancing distributes incoming network traffic across multiple servers or
instances to prevent overloading and optimize resource utilization. It improves performance and
availability by ensuring that requests are evenly distributed and no single resource becomes a
bottleneck.
 High Availability
● Auto Scaling: Auto scaling dynamically adjusts the number of instances or resources based on
demand. It allows scaling up during high traffic periods and scaling down during low traffic periods,
ensuring optimal performance and availability while minimizing costs.
● Disaster Recovery: Cloud platforms offer disaster recovery mechanisms, such as backup and
replication services, to replicate data and resources across different regions. This helps maintain
availability in the event of a major failure or disaster.