Cloud administration basics

In this module you will:

• Explain the concept of cloud computing
• Briefly understand how computing systems across domains dealt with scale before the cloud
• Briefly recall the recent history of cloud computing, illustrating its evolution
• List some of the enabling technologies in cloud computing, and discuss their significance
• Recognize cloud service models such as IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS and differentiate between them
• Enumerate the different types of clouds, and compare and contrast them
• List some of the common cloud providers and the features offered in their cloud stacks
• Articulate the economic benefits of the cloud paradigm for cloud users and cloud service providers
• Discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages of the cloud paradigm
• Define SLAs and SLOs and describe their importance in Cloud Computing
• Recall popular cloud use case scenarios

This content is provided in partnership with Dr. Majd Sakr and Carnegie Mellon University.

In this module you will:

• Describe the different types of services available from cloud providers and list some examples of the kinds of services they provide
• Recall the various features provided by cloud middleware
• Describe the resource provisioning process from the context of a cloud service provider
• Discuss approaches to organizing cloud resources and the benefits of doing so
• Recall the issues related to resource metering for cloud service providers

This content is provided in partnership with Dr. Majd Sakr and Carnegie Mellon University.

In this module you will:

• Explain the concept of digital identity and the purpose of a directory service
• Describe the purpose of users and user groups in an identity-management system
• Explain how synchronization and federation can be used to extend identities beyond organizational boundaries
• Discuss the advantages of using guest identities to authenticate users external to the organization
• Discuss the use of role-based access control (RBAC) to secure access to resources

This content is provided in partnership with Dr. Majd Sakr and Carnegie Mellon University.

In this module you will:

• Identify the two main types of virtual machines and provide examples of each
• Identify major reasons that virtualization is an essential technology for cloud computing
• List the key advantages that containers have over virtual machines
• Understand key terms such as Docker containers, container images, and container registries
• Identify some of the ways in which major cloud platforms support containers
• Recall key design considerations for data-center networks and describe the need for network virtualization to support multiple tenants

In Partnership with Dr. Majd Sakr and Carnegie Mellon University.

In this module you will:

• Describe common load patterns and how they drive the need to scale
• Enumerate the strategies and considerations in scaling cloud applications
• Discuss the advantages of auto-scaling and the mechanisms used to achieve it
• Describe the importance of load balancing in cloud applications and enumerate various methods to achieve it
• List the primary benefits of serverless computing and explain the concept of serverless functions

This content is provided in partnership with Dr. Majd Sakr and Carnegie Mellon University.

In this module you will:

• Learn about how to automate cloud resource management with infrastructure-as-code tools like Terraform
• Explain the concept of Infrastructure-as-Code and enumerate the advantages that it offers over ordinary scripting
• List some of the tools that implement IaC for popular cloud platforms and describe some of the differences between them
• Understand Terraform's role as an infrastructure orchestrator and describe how it differs from a conventional configuration manager

In Partnership with Dr. Majd Sakr and Carnegie Mellon University.

In this module you will:

• Explain the main argument in favor of continual and consistent monitoring and oversight in cloud-based IT systems
• Describe the three types of quantitative measurements that play a role in monitoring
• Understand the mechanics of monitoring platforms that utilize agents to collect and report back information
• Understand the mechanics of monitoring platforms that rely upon pre-existing sources of information such as service logs to analyze performance
• Understand the metrics that are the most beneficial to monitoring
• Learn how measurements are used to judge performance levels
• Describe the justification for problem ticketing
• Describe what KPIs are and how they differ from metrics
• Discuss the concept of “everyday remediation”

This content is provided in partnership with Dr. Majd Sakr and Carnegie Mellon University.