[From last episode: IoTThe Internet of Things. A broad term covering many different applications where "things" are interconnected through the internet. devices can be designed so that privacyRefers to whether or not information gathered about your usage of IoT devices by authorized people can be made public, or shared with others, without your consent. Different from (although related to) security, which protects such data and devices from access by unauthorized people. Different from privacy, which is more concerned about use of data by authorized people. comes more easily.]
Now let’s turn out attention to a huge part of what makes the IoT the IoT: the cloudA generic phrase referring to large numbers of computers located somewhere far away and accessed over the internet. For the IoT, computing may be local, done in the same system or building, or in the cloud, with data shipped up to the cloud and then the result shipped back down.. After all, these are “connected” devices; what do they connect to? Usually the cloud.
We touched briefly on the cloud in our introductory pieces, but let’s dig further. What exactly is the cloud, and what does it do for us?
Whence the Cloud?
Once upon a time, there was a company called Amazon. It did online book sales. When you do online, sales, you need serversA computer with a dedicated purpose. Older familiar examples are print servers (a computer that controls local printing) and file servers (a computer used for storing files centrally). More modern examples are web servers (the computers that handle your web requests when you use your browser) or application servers (computers dedicated to handling the computing needs of a specific application). Servers are often powerful, expensive machines since they have to handle a heavy load. to handle the internet trafficRefers to any kind of electronic message -- email, web request, streaming video, or anything else -- that travels over a network. and to take and fulfill the orders. The thing is, you only need a moderate number of servers most of the year. But when the holidays come around? Then you need tons. And you don’t want to fail during the holidays.
So you buy tons of servers. And lots of them sit idle during the rest of the year. The story (apocryphal?) is that Amazon thought they could “loan out” or rent those idle servers to random people that needed server capabilities but didn’t want to buy servers of their own. Now they’d productive year-round if they got enough sign-ups.
Whether or not those details are true, what developed – not just at Amazon, but elsewhere also – was a computing capability that you can dial up from online. Giant racks of computers are sometimes referred to as “computer farmsA collection of computers that are interconnected so that they can share and distribute work. For our purposes, it’s the same as a data center, but the focus is on the collection of computers.,” and companies with big computing needs often build their own private farms. But they may also run into the same problem Amazon did. What if they have peak activity that requires, temporarily, more servers?
With a cloud serviceWe are used to purchasing products outright. "Services" is a new concept where you may or may not buy the product, but optional or mandatory services come with the product. Those services may have an ongoing cost separate from the purchase price. provider like Amazon around, they could invest in enough servers for their normal needs, and then rent the extra from the cloud when the load got too heavy.
Turning on a Dime
This may sound easy, but it’s not. Cloud service providers have to create a way for their customers to request a server with the right configuration and then load whatever softwareIn this context, "software" refers to functions in an IoT device that are implemented by running instructions through some kind of processor. It's distinct from "hardware," where functions are built into a silicon chip or some other component. they want to use on it. But, of course, as you probably know, it takes time to install software. So, in earlier days, if you wanted to rent a new server, even if you had your business arrangements all set out with the cloud provider, it still took around 5 minutes from your new-server request until the new server was ready to use.
Let’s say that you’re handling web traffic with your own private server farm, and suddenly, for some reason, traffic spikes beyond what you can handle. That’s when you need the cloud resources. But if it takes 5 minutes so spin up a new machine, that’s wayyyy too slow. So sometimes companies would keep one spare machine warm and ready to go — even though it was idle. Of course, they’re paying for that machine while it’s just sitting there ready to go, but that was part of the price of being ready.
Today things go faster, and operation can proceed much more smoothly.
Cheap and Dirty
You might think that buying all those computers would be really expensive. And, of course, it is, to some extent. But part of the philosophy of the cloud is that the machinesIn our context, a machine is anything that isn't human (or living). That includes electronic equipment like computers and phones. aren’t super-buff, industrial-strength monster servers. Yes, some of them may be big and fast, but others aren’t – which is good, since then a cloud provider can sell a range of services, not just one-size-fits-all.
The approach is to buy inexpensive machines – as cheap as is possible for whatever level of computing is needed. As a cloud provider, do your customers want a big, fast machine? Then get an inexpensive one that does the job. Someone needs just a little machine? Then get an inexpensive one of those.
What about storageThis usually refers to memory that doesn't lose its contents when powered off - like a thumb drive or a hard disk. It's a place to store data.? Buy lots of drives – inexpensive ones.
So what if these cheap machines crash or fail? Which can happen… Much effort has gone into backing up data as its being computed so that, if a machine fails midstream, they can switch over to a new machine (server or disk driveA type of persistent (non-volatile) memory built from rotating platters and “read heads” that sense the data on the platters.) and keep going. That’s complicated stuff to make work.
Next we’ll look at what the cloud gets used for.
Leave a Reply