Cloud computing is Internet-based computing, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand, like the electricity grid.

Cloud computing is a paradigm shift following the shift from mainframe to client–server in the early 1980s. Details are abstracted from the users, who no longer have need for expertise in, or control over, the technology infrastructure "in the cloud" that supports them. Cloud computing describes a new supplement, consumption, and delivery model for IT services based on the Internet, and it typically involves over-the-Internet provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources.computing sites provided by the Internet. This frequently takes the form of web-based tools or applications that users can access and use through a web browser as if it were a program installed locally on their own computer. NIST The term "cloud" is used as a metaphor for the Internet, based on the cloud drawing used in the past to represent the telephone network, and later to depict the Internet in computer network diagrams as an abstraction of the underlying infrastructure it represents. Typical cloud computing providers deliver common business applications online that are accessed from another Web service or software like a Web browser, while the software and data are stored on servers. A key element of cloud computing is customization and the creation of a user-defined experience. It is a byproduct and consequence of the ease-of-access to remote provides a somewhat more objective and specific definition here.

Most cloud computing infrastructures consist of services delivered through common centers and built on servers. Clouds often appear as single points of access for all consumers' computing needs. Commercial offerings are generally expected to meet quality of service (QoS) requirements of customers, and typically include SLAs. The major cloud service providers include Microsoft, Salesforce, Amazon, and Google.

Overview

Comparisons

Cloud computing derives characteristics from, but should not be confused with:

1. Autonomic computing — "computer systems capable of self-management".
2. Client–server model – Client–server computing refers broadly to any distributed application that distinguishes between service providers (servers) and service requesters (clients).
Grid computing — "a form of distributed computing and parallel computing, whereby a 'super and virtual computer' is composed of a cluster of networked, loosely coupled computers acting in concert to perform very large tasks"
Mainframe computer — powerful computers used mainly by large organizations for critical applications, typically bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing.
Utility computing — the "packaging of computing resources, such as computation and storage, as a metered service similar to a traditional public utility, such as electricity";
6. Peer-to-peer – a distributed architecture without the need for central coordination, with participants being at the same time both suppliers and consumers of resources (in contrast to the traditional client–server model).

Characteristics

In general, cloud computing customers do not own the physical infrastructure, instead avoiding capital expenditure by renting usage from a third-party provider. They consume resources as a service and pay only for resources that they use. Many cloud-computing offerings employ the utility computing model, which is analogous to how traditional utility services (such as electricity) are consumed, whereas others bill on a subscription basis. Sharing "perishable and intangible" computing power among multiple tenants can improve utilization rates, as servers are not unnecessarily left idle (which can reduce costs significantly while increasing the speed of application development). A side-effect of this approach is that overall computer usage rises dramatically, as customers do not have to engineer for peak load limits. In addition, "increased high-speed bandwidth" makes it possible to receive the same response times from centralized infrastructure at other sites.

The cloud is becoming increasingly associated with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as in many cases they cannot justify or afford the large capital expenditure of traditional IT. SMEs also typically have less existing infrastructure, less bureaucracy, more flexibility, and smaller capital budgets for purchasing in-house technology. Similarly, SMEs in emerging markets are typically unburdened by established legacy infrastructures, thus reducing the complexity of deploying cloud solutions.

Economics

Cloud computing users avoid capital expenditure (CapEx) on hardware, software, and services when they pay a provider only for what they use. Consumption is usually billed on a utility (resources consumed, like electricity) or subscription (time-based, like a newspaper) basis with little or no upfront cost. Other benefits of this approach are low barriers to entry, shared infrastructure and costs, low management overhead, and immediate access to a broad range of applications. In general, users can terminate the contract at any time (thereby avoiding return on investment risk and uncertainty), and the services are often covered by service level agreements (SLAs) with financial penalties.

According to Nicholas Carr, the strategic importance of information technology is diminishing as it becomes standardized and less expensive. He argues that the cloud computing paradigm shift is similar to the displacement of electricity generators by electricity grids early in the 20th century.

Although companies might be able to save on upfront capital expenditures, they might not save much and might actually pay more for operating expenses. In situations where the capital expense would be relatively small, or where the organization has more flexibility in their capital budget than their operating budget, the cloud model might not make great fiscal sense. Other factors impacting the scale of any potential cost savings include the efficiency of a company's data center as compared to the cloud vendor's, the company's existing operating costs, the level of adoption of cloud computing, and the type of functionality being hosted in the cloud.

Among the items that some cloud hosts charge for are instances (often with extra charges for high-memory or high-CPU instances); data transfer in and out; storage (measured by the GB-month); I/O requests; PUT requests and GET requests; IP addresses; and load balancing. In some cases, users can bid on instances, with pricing dependent on demand for available instances.

Architecture

Cloud architecture, the systems architecture of the software systems involved in the delivery of cloud computing, typically involves multiple cloud components communicating with each other over application programming interfaces, usually web services. This resembles the Unix philosophy of having multiple programs each doing one thing well and working together over universal interfaces. Complexity is controlled and the resulting systems are more manageable than their monolithiccloud computing architecture are known as the front end and the back end. The front end is the part seen by the client, i.e. the computer user. This includes the client’s network (or computer) and the applications used to access the cloud via a user interface such as a web browser. The back end of the cloud computing architecture is the ‘cloud’ itself, comprising various computers, servers and data storage devices. counterparts. The two most significant components of

History

The underlying concept of cloud computing dates back to 1960s, when John McCarthy opined that "computation may someday be organized as a public utility". Almost all the modern day characteristics of cloud computing (elastic provision, provided as a utility, online, illusion of infinite supply), the comparison to the electricity industry and the use of public, private, government and community forms was thoroughly explored in Douglas Parkhill's, 1966 book, "The Challenge of the Computer Utility".

The actual term "cloud" borrows from telephony in that telecommunications companies, who until the 1990s primarily offered dedicated point-to-point data circuits, began offering Virtual Private Network (VPN) services with comparable quality of service but at a much lower cost. By switching traffic to balance utilization as they saw fit they were able to utilise their overall network bandwidth more effectively. The cloud symbol was used to denote the demarcation point between that which was the responsibility of the provider from that of the user. Cloud computing extends this boundary to cover servers as well as the network infrastructure.

Amazon played a key role in the development of cloud computing by modernizing their data centersdot-com bubble, which, like most computer networks, were using as little as 10% of their capacity at any one time just to leave room for occasional spikes. Having found that the new cloud architecture resulted in significant internal efficiency improvements whereby small, fast-moving "two-pizza teams" could add new features faster and easier, Amazon initiated a new product development effort to provide cloud computing to external customers and launched Amazon Web Service (AWS) on a utility computing basis in 2006. after the

In 2007, Google, IBM, and a number of universities embarked on a large scale cloud computing research project. In early 2008, Eucalyptus became the first open source AWS API compatible platform for deploying private clouds. By mid-2008, Gartner saw an opportunity for cloud computing "to shape the relationship among consumers of IT services, those who use IT services and those who sell them", and observed that "[o]rganisations are switching from company-owned hardware and software assets to per-use service-based models" so that the "projected shift to cloud computing ... will result in dramatic growth in IT products in some areas and significant reductions in other areas."

In March 2010, Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, made his strongest statement of betting the company's future in the cloud by proclaiming "For the cloud, we're all in" and further stating "About 75 percent of our folks are doing entirely cloud based or entirely cloud inspired, a year from now that will be 90 percent."

Key features

• Agility improves with users' ability to rapidly and inexpensively re-provision technological infrastructure resources.
• Cost is claimed to be greatly reduced and capital expenditure is converted to operational expenditure. This ostensibly lowers barriers to entry, as infrastructure is typically provided by a third-party and does not need to be purchased for one-time or infrequent intensive computing tasks. Pricing on a utility computing basis is fine-grained with usage-based options and fewer IT skills are required for implementation (in-house).
• Device and location independence enable users to access systems using a web browser regardless of their location or what device they are using (e.g., PC, mobile). As infrastructure is off-site (typically provided by a third-party) and accessed via the Internet, users can connect from anywhere.
• Multi-tenancy enables sharing of resources and costs across a large pool of users thus allowing for:
  • Centralization of infrastructure in locations with lower costs (such as real estate, electricity, etc.)
  • Peak-load capacity increases (users need not engineer for highest possible load-levels)
  • Utilization and efficiency improvements for systems that are often only 10–20% utilized.
• Reliability is improved if multiple redundant sites are used, which makes well designed cloud computing suitable for business continuity and disaster recovery. Nonetheless, many major cloud computing services have suffered outages, and IT and business managers can at times do little when they are affected.
• Scalability via dynamic ("on-demand") provisioning of resources on a fine-grained, self-service basis near real-time, without users having to engineer for peak loads. Performance is monitored, and consistent and loosely coupled architectures are constructed using web services as the system interface. One of the most important new methods for overcoming performance bottlenecks for a large class of applications is data parallel programming on a distributed data grid.
• Security could improve due to centralization of data, increased security-focused resources, etc., but concerns can persist about loss of control over certain sensitive data, and the lack of security for stored kernels. Security is often as good as or better than under traditional systems, in part because providers are able to devote resources to solving security issues that many customers cannot afford. Providers typically log accesses, but accessing the audit logs themselves can be difficult or impossible. Furthermore, the complexity of security is greatly increased when data is distributed over a wider area and / or number of devices.
• Maintenance cloud computing applications are easier to maintain, since they don't have to be installed on each user's computer. They are easier to support and to improve since the changes reach the clients instantly.
• Metering cloud computing resources usage should be measurable and should be metered per client and application on daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis. This will enable clients on choosing the vendor cloud on cost and reliability (QoS).

Layers

Client

A cloud client consists of computer hardware and/or computer software that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or that is specifically designed for delivery of cloud services and that, in either case, is essentially useless without it. Examples include some computers, phones and other devices, operating systems and browsers.

Application

Cloud application services or "Software as a Service (SaaS)" deliver software as a service over the Internet, eliminating the need to install and run the application on the customer's own computers and simplifying maintenance and support. People tend to use the terms ‘SaaS’ and ‘cloud’ interchangeably, when in fact they are 2 different things. Key characteristics include:

• Network-based access to, and management of, commercially available (i.e., not custom) software
• Activities that are managed from central locations rather than at each customer's site, enabling customers to access applications remotely via the Web
• Application delivery that typically is closer to a one-to-many model (single instance, multi-tenant architecture) than to a one-to-one model, including architecture, pricing, partnering, and management characteristics
• Centralized feature updating, which obviates the need for downloadable patches and upgrades.

Platform

Cloud platform services or "Platform as a Service (PaaS)" deliver a computing platform and/or solution stack as a service, often consuming cloud infrastructure and sustaining cloud applications. It facilitates deployment of applications without the cost and complexity of buying and managing the underlying hardware and software layers.

Infrastructure

Cloud infrastructure services, also known as "Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)", delivers computerinfrastructure - typically a platform virtualization environment - as a service. Rather than purchasing servers, software, data-center space or network equipment, clients instead buy those resources as a fully outsourced service. Suppliers typically bill such services on a utility computing basis and amount of resources consumed (and therefore the cost) will typically reflect the level of activity. IaaS evolved from virtual private server offerings.

Server

The servers layer consists of computer hardware and/or computer software products that are specifically designed for the delivery of cloud services, including multi-core processors, cloud-specific operating systems and combined offerings.

Deployment models

Public cloud

Public cloud or external cloud describes cloud computing in the traditional mainstream sense, whereby resources are dynamically provisioned on a fine-grained, self-service basis over the Internet, via web applications/web services, from an off-site third-party provider who bills on a fine-grained utility computing basis.

Community cloud

A community cloud may be established where several organizations have similar requirements and seek to share infrastructure so as to realize some of the benefits of cloud computing. With the costs spread over fewer users than a public cloud (but more than a single tenant) this option is more expensive but may offer a higher level of privacy, security and/or policy compliance. Examples of community cloud include Google's "Gov Cloud".

Hybrid cloud

A hybrid cloud environment consisting of multiple internal and/or external providers "will be typical for most enterprises". By integrating multiple cloud services users may be able to ease the transition to public cloud services while avoiding issues such as PCI compliance.

Another perspective on deploying a web application in the cloud is using Hybrid Web Hosting, where the hosting infrastructure is a mix between Cloud Hosting for the web server, and Managed dedicated server for the database server.

Private cloud

The concept of a Private Computer Utility was first described by Douglas Parkhill in his 1966 book "The Challenge of the Computer Utility". The idea was based upon direct comparison with other industries (e.g. the electricity industry) and the extensive use of hybrid supply models to balance and mitigate risks.

Private cloud and internal cloud have been described as neologisms, however the concepts themselves pre-date the term cloud by 40 years. Even within modern utility industries, hybrid models still exist despite the formation of reasonably well functioning markets and the ability to combine multiple providers.

Some vendors have used the terms to describe offerings that emulate cloud computing on private networks. These (typically virtualisation automation) products offer the ability to deliver some benefits of cloud computing whilst mitigating some of the pitfalls. These offerings capitalise on data security, corporate governance, and reliability concerns during this time of transition from a product to a functioning service based industry supported by competitive marketplaces.

They have been criticized on the basis that users "still have to buy, build, and manage them" and as such do not benefit from lower up-front capital costs and less hands-on management, essentially "[lacking] the economic model that makes cloud computing such an intriguing concept".

Cloud Storage

Cloud Storage is a model of networked computer data storage where data is stored on multiple virtual servers, generally hosted by third parties, rather than being hosted on dedicated servers. Hosting companies operate large data centers; and people who require their data to be hosted buy or lease storage capacity from them and use it for their storage needs. The data center operators, in the background, virtualize the resources according to the requirements of the customer and expose them as virtual servers, which the customers can themselves manage. Physically, the resource may span across multiple servers.

The Intercloud

The Intercloud is an interconnected global "cloud of clouds" and an extension of the Internet The term was first used in the context of cloud computing in 2007 when Kevin Kelly stated that "eventually we'll have the intercloud, the cloud of clouds. This Intercloud will have the dimensions of one machine comprising all servers and attendant cloudbooks on the planet.". It became popular in 2009 and has also been used to describe the datacenter of the future. "network of networks" on which it is based.

The Intercloud scenario is based on the key concept that each single cloud does not have infinite physical resources. If a cloud saturates the computational and storage resources of its virtualization infrastructure, it could not be able to satisfy further requests for service allocations sent from its clients. The Intercloud scenario aims to address such situation, and in theory, each cloud can use the computational and storage resources of the virtualization infrastructures of other clouds. Such form of pay-for-use may introduce new business opportunities among cloud providers if they manage to go beyond theoretical framework. Nevertheless, the Intercloud raises many more challenges than solutions concerning cloud federation, security, interoperability, QoS, vendor's lock-ins, trust, legal issues, monitoring and billing.

The concept of a competitive utility computing market which combined many computer utilities together was originally described by Douglas Parkhill in his 1966 book, the "Challenge of the Computer Utility". This concept has been subsequently used many times over the last 40 years and is identical to the Intercloud.

Issues

Privacy

The Cloud model has been criticized by privacy advocates for the greater ease in which the companies hosting the Cloud services control, and thus, can monitor at will, lawfully or unlawfully, the communication and data stored between the user and the host company. Instances such as the secret NSA program, working with AT&T, and Verizon, which recorded over 10 million phone calls between American citizens, causes uncertainty among privacy advocates, and the greater powers it gives to telecommunication companies to monitor user activity. While there have been efforts (such as US-EU Safe Harbor) to "harmonise" the legal environment, providers such as Amazon still cater to major markets (typically the United States and the European Union) by deploying local infrastructure and allowing customers to select "availability zones."

Compliance

In order to obtain compliance with regulations including FISMA, HIPAA and SOX in the United States, the Data Protection Directive in the EU and the credit card industry's PCI DSS, users may have to adopt community or hybrid deployment modes which are typically more expensive and may offer restricted benefits. This is how Google is able to "manage and meet additional government policy requirements beyond FISMA" and Rackspace Cloud are able to claim PCI compliance. Customers in the EU contracting with Cloud Providers established outside the EU/EEA have to adhere to the EU regulations on export of personal data.

Many providers also obtain SAS 70 Type II certification (e.g. Amazon, Salesforce.com, Google and Microsoft), but this has been criticised on the grounds that the hand-picked set of goals and standards determined by the auditor and the auditee are often not disclosed and can vary widely.non-disclosure agreement. Providers typically make this information available on request, under

Legal

In March 2007, Dell applied to trademark the term "cloud computing" (U.S. Trademark 77,139,082) in the United States. The "Notice of Allowance" the company received in July 2008 was cancelled in August, resulting in a formal rejection of the trademark application less than a week later.

Since 2007, the number of trademark filings covering cloud computing brands, goods and services has increased at an almost exponential rate. As companies sought to better position themselves for cloud computing branding and marketing efforts, cloud computing trademark filings increased by 483% between 2008 and 2009. In 2009, 116 cloud computing trademarks were filed, and trademark analysts predict that over 500 such marks could be filed during 2010.

Open source

Open source software has provided the foundation for many cloud computing implementations. In November 2007, the Free Software Foundation released the Affero General Public License, a version of GPLv3 intended to close a perceived legal loophole associated with free software designed to be run over a network.

Open standards

Most cloud providers expose APIs which are typically well-documented (often under a Creative Commons license) but also unique to their implementation and thus not interoperable. Some vendors have adopted others' APIs and there are a number of open standards under development, including the OGF's Open Cloud Computing Interface. The Open Cloud Consortium (OCC) is working to develop consensus on early cloud computing standards and practices.

Security

The relative security of cloud computing services is a contentious issue which may be delaying its adoption. Some argue that customer data is more secure when managed internally, while others argue that cloud providers have a strong incentive to maintain trust and as such employ a higher level of security.

The Cloud Security Alliance is a non-profit organization formed to promote the use of best practices for providing security assurance within Cloud Computing.

Availability and Performance

In addition to concerns about security, businesses are also worried about acceptable levels of availability and performance of applications hosted in the cloud.

There are also concerns about a cloud provider shutting down for financial or legal reasons, which has happened in a number of cases.

Sustainability and siting

Although cloud computing is often assumed to be a form of "green computing", there is as of yet no published study to substantiate this assumption. Siting the servers affects the environmental effects of cloud computing. In areas where climate favors cooling and lots of renewable electricity is available the environmental effects will be more moderate. Thus countries with favorable conditions, such as Finland, Sweden and Switzerland, are trying to attract cloud computing data centers.

Research

A number of universities, vendors and government organizations are investing in research around the topic of cloud computing. Academic institutions include University of Melbourne (Australia), Georgia Tech, Yale, Wayne State, Virginia Tech, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Boston University, Carnegie Mellon, MIT, Indiana University, University of Massachusetts, University of Maryland, North Carolina State, Purdue, University of California, University of Washington, University of Virginia, University of Utah, University of Minnesota, among others.

Joint government, academic and vendor collaborative research projects include the IBM/Google Academic Cloud Computing Initiative (ACCI). In October 2007 IBM and Google announced the multi- university project designed to enhance students' technical knowledge to address the challenges of cloud computing. In April 2009, the National Science Foundation joined the ACCI and awarded approximately $5 million in grants to 14 academic institutions.

In July 2008, HP, Intel Corporation and Yahoo! announced the creation of a global, multi-data center, open source test bed, called Open Cirrus, designed to encourage research into all aspects of cloud computing, service and data center management. Open Cirrus partners include the NSF, the University of Illinois (UIUC), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) of Singapore, the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) in Korea, the Malaysian Institute for Microelectronic Systems(MIMOS), and the Institute for System Programming at the Russian Academy of Sciences (ISPRAS).

In July 2010, HP Labs India announced a new cloud-based technology designed to simplify taking content and making it mobile-enabled, even from low-end devices. Called SiteonMobile, the new technology is designed for emerging markets where people are more likely to access the internet via mobile phones rather than computers.

The IEEE Technical Committee on Services Computing in IEEE Computer Society sponsors the IEEE International Conference on Cloud Computing (CLOUD). CLOUD 2010 was held on July 5–10, 2010 in Miami, Florida.

Criticism of the term

During a video interview, Forrester Research VP Frank Gillett expresses criticism about the nature of and motivations behind the push for cloud computing. He describes what he calls "cloud washing" in the industry whereby companies relabel their products as cloud computing resulting in a lot of marketing innovation on top of real innovation. The result is a lot of overblown hype surrounding cloud computing. Gillett sees cloud computing as revolutionary in the long term but over-hyped and misunderstood in the short term, representing more of a gradual shift in our thinking about computer systems and not a sudden transformational change.

Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corporation has stated that cloud computing has been defined as "everything that we already do" and that it will have no effect except to "change the wording on some of our ads". Oracle Corporation has since launched a cloud computing center and worldwide tour. Forrester Research Principal Analyst John Rymer dismisses Ellison's remarks by stating that his "comments are complete nonsense and he knows it".

Richard Stallman said that cloud computing was simply a trap aimed at forcing more people to buy into locked, proprietary systems that would cost them more and more over time. "It's stupidity. It's worse than stupidity: it's a marketing hype campaign", he told The Guardian. "Somebody is saying this is inevitable – and whenever you hear somebody saying that, it's very likely to be a set of businesses campaigning to make it true."

The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is a directory service protocol that runs directly over the TCP/IP stack. The information model (both for data and namespaces) of LDAP is similar to that of the X.500 OSI directory service, but with fewer features and lower resource requirements than X.500. Unlike most other Internet protocols, LDAP has an associated API that simplifies writing Internet directory service applications. The LDAP API is applicable to directory management and browser applications that do not have directory service support as their primary function. LDAP cannot create directories or specify how a directory service operates. or on the other word LDAP is a protocol for the querying of address directories on the Internet.

The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) (pronounced /ˈɛldæp/) is an application protocol for querying and modifying data of directory services implemented in Internet Protocol (IP) networks.

A directory is a set of objects with attributes organized logically in a hierarchical manner. A simple example is the telephone directory, which consists of a list of names (of either persons or organizations) organized alphabetically, with each name having an address and phone number associated with it.

A directory information tree often reflects various political, geographic, and/or organizational boundaries, depending on the model chosen. LDAP deployments today tend to use Domain Name System (DNS) names for structuring the topmost levels of the hierarchy. Deeper inside the directory might appear entries representing people, organizational units, printers, documents, groups of people or anything else that represents a given tree entry (or multiple entries).

The latest version of LDAP is Version 3, which is specified in a series of Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard track Requests For Comments (RFCs) as detailed in RFC 4510.

Although server virtualization has been around for a long time, it is just now becoming a mainstream practice. The use of Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 allows for an easier means of server consolidation, a more manageable security baseline, and a more flexible testing environment. In this article we'll ask and answer five basic questions about the Microsoft Virtual Server platform.

What is Virtual Server?

The first question you may ask is what exactly is Virtual Server? Simply put, Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 is Microsoft's implementation of a virtual server platform. This is a program that runs on a physical server, and allows you to create several virtual computers (known as virtual machines) that run on it independently. Whereas you typically have only one operating system running on a physical server, a virtual server allows you to have multiple operating systems running simultaneously.

Virtual Server
Figure 1. Virtual Server allows multiple operating systems to run independently on one physical machine.

How Can Virtual Server Help You?

Here are the main benefits you can get by using a virtual server:

• Server Consolidation One of the biggest goals of a network administrator is to save money. This is exactly why server consolidation has become such a hot-button topic. Combining the roles of multiple servers into one is a much easier option with a virtual server. Using Virtual Server for a consolidation project makes more efficient use of system resources, provides a single point of centralized management, reduces total cost of ownership, and reduces network complexity.
• Legacy Application Support Unfortunately, sometimes we are bound to older hardware to support legacy applications. Using Virtual Server allows you to combine the role of a legacy application server with more up-to-date hardware by putting the legacy applications on a separate virtual machine.
• More Manageable Security Security is perhaps the biggest concern on any network. When your organization requires the use of servers with multiple roles, segmenting those roles onto different virtual machines on a single physical machine provides a lot more security options. In doing this, you can segment specific services to different network cards and define separate firewall rules for each.
• Excellent Test Environments One of the best things about Virtual Server is that the virtual machines you create can be completely separate from your production network. This means that you can create several virtual machines and even virtual networks that you can use for test purposes. In these virtual environments you can feel free to test new net-centric application and software rollouts without the risk of negative effects on the network.

How Do You Install Virtual Server?

One of the best things about Virtual Server is that it is a free download from Microsoft. Before you can install Virtual Server you will need to download it from the Microsoft Virtual Server page. Virtual Server has some minimal system requirements you will need to review before installation as well, which are viewable at the website. The only other thing you must consider before installation is that Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) must be installed prior to the Virtual Server installation in order to access its administration website. Once you have done all of this, you are ready to install Virtual Server:

1. Run the Virtual Server 2005 R2 setup file.
2. On the initial screen you can choose to view the program's release notes. Once you have done this, click "Install Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2."
3. Read the license agreement. If you agree to its terms, accept them, and click "Next."
4. Enter the appropriate user name and company name for your organization and click "Next."
5. On the following screen you can choose to completely install Virtual Server or do a custom installation. Choose "Complete" and click "Next."
6. The next screen will allow you to change the port for which the IIS administration website for Virtual Server is configured. If you are installing Virtual Server on a Windows 2003 Server host operating system, the default port is 1024. At this portion of setup you can also specify whether the website should run as the currently authenticated user or under the local system account.
7. On the following screen, you can specify whether or not you would like the setup program to create exceptions for the administration website in the Windows Firewall. If you do not check this box, you will need to make these changes yourself immediately following setup.
8. Finally, click on the "Install" button to copy the application files and complete Virtual Server setup.

Figure 2. Configuring Virtual Server to use Internet Information Services (IIS)

How Do You Administer Virtual Server?

All administration of your Virtual Server is done through the Virtual Server administration website. The address to reach this site is displayed on the installation summary web page that follows installation. This URL follows a standard format so that if you were to install Virtual Server on a computer named "CorporateVS" using port number 1024, the administration URL would be http://corporatevs:1024/VirtualServer/VSWebApp.exe?view=1. You can access this website quickly by either adding the URL to your Favorites, or by accessing it via the Start Menu under Programs > Virtual Server > Virtual Server Administration Web Site.

How Do You Create a Virtual Machine?

After installing Virtual Server you are ready to create your first Virtual Machine. From the administration web page, click "Create" under the Virtual Machine heading. There are several configurable options here, and as you begin to learn more about Virtual Server, you should learn what all of them do. Go ahead and name the virtual machine and configure the options to your liking (or simply accept the defaults) and click the "Create" button.

After this, you will be brought to the status view of the virtual machine you just created. To start it, simply click the thumbnail icon representing the virtual machine. To access the virtual machine, you can click the same thumbnail again to take remote control of the system. At this point you have successfully created your virtual machine and can begin to install your guest operating system on it.

Figure 3. Creating a virtual machine

Conclusion

Although we have covered several things, we have really only scratched the surface of what Virtual Server is and what it is capable of. For more information regarding Virtual Server, check out its Microsoft home page.

Web Hosting Comparison

You can go right to the web hosting comparison of hosting companies, breaking down the service offerings of various hosting providers here. Or you can learn about the important differences between the types of hosting available to you.

If you are looking at starting a website then it is best you compare the different types of web hosting services. Before you can put your website on the World Wide Web, you have to find a hosting service. Your hosting service will either be a dedicated server, shared server, or virtual server. Each has its pros and cons, so before you decide, consider this web hosting comparison.

What Is a Shared Server

In a shared server hosting setup, each client is given a portion of a server to use. The percent is based on the package purchased, but several clients will have their websites hosted on the same machine (in most cases there are at least 100 clients on one machine). The websites will share IP addresses in most situations, so to an outsider, they appear to be from the same server (an important note on this when we get to the cons section).

Dedicated Server Web Hosting Comparison

Another factor in the web hosting comparison is price, naturally the shared server will be the low cost solution, but there is more to meeting your needs than just saving a few dollars, you have to consider the price of server security and with the prices of some affordable dedicated servers in the entry level category being very reasonable it may be the better option in the long run.

Typically when doing a web hosting evaluation you will want to consider if your data that you keep on the website needs to be secure. If the answer is yes than more often than not in a web hosting comparison between a shared server, a dedicated server or a virtual server, you would choose the dedicated server followed in close second by a virtual server option.

Virtual Server Web Hosting Comparison

A Virtual Server is fully functioning Web Server that resides within the same physical location of a true Web Server. Multiple Virtual Servers can reside on a single Web Server.

What is a virtual server? Website owners who are looking for hosting for their pages have three basic options. They can choose to use a shared server, a dedicated hosting service, or virtual server hosting. Shared and dedicated servers are fairly self-explanatory, but virtual dedicated servers are a bit more ambiguous. Understanding how virtual server web hosting works begins with a little history lesson.

Computers and the Internet

Computers have come a long way since they first entered the scene. Think about what you were doing with a computer 20 years ago, if you were even in contact with one. It was probably little more than word processing and playing games. Today, you are communicating in real time with friends and business associates, checking your stocks or sports teams in an instant, and enjoying access to entertainment whenever you wish with your computer or personal electronic device (PDA).

In order for a website to be online all of the time, it must be defined on a computer that is always online. This computer, or server, must remain online at all times. If it is not, the website is not available. In the past, websites had to run on dedicated servers, because the computers were slower and did not have as much memory as they do today. Hosting a website was a costly endeavor, because most people did not have access to a computer that could always be connected, and those that had the machines charged a high price for them.

However, in the years since the advent of the internet, computers have gotten faster and have more memory. Today, one machine can run multiple websites easily, and this has opened the door to virtual server hosting.

Virtual Server Hosting & How It Works

Just what is virtual server hosting? In a shared server situation, many users share the same server (very easily over a hundred users). Each user is assigned a certain amount of disk space on the shared server however; The data port (and Ethernet card that lets data flow between the Internet and the web server) and both the RAM and CPU usage on that computer are free game. This is an ideal situation for beginners in the field of web design, but when a website begins to get a lot of traffic, the system resources can get eaten up rather quickly and if you have out of 100 users just two that have a very busy site you may find your own site slow to load or even in extreme cases unavailable.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, a dedicated server is a server that is used just for one customer's website or set of websites. There is no limit on the amount of CPU usage, other than the physical limit of the machine itself. This is the most expensive way to host a website and is often the choice of a busy website that needs their own server or large corporations that expect high traffic on their sites. For more information on the differences between dedicated servers and shared servers, you can read our web hosting comparison.

A virtual dedicated server is a combination of the two. It takes one server and breaks it into several virtual machines and is nearly a dedicated server. While technically the user is sharing the server with other users, it sets up what appears to be a dedicated unit. The physical machine is shared, but the users are not affected by the actions of the other users and appear to be on a unique server to outside observers. In other words, a virtual server is a server that looks and acts like a dedicated server, but in reality shares a physical machine with other clients. This becomes a cost effective way to host a website while eliminating the problems that can come from a shared server.