Published by Addison-Wesley Professional (March 22, 2023) © 2023
David LinthicumMany cloud computing initiatives flat-out fail; others limp along, functioning tolerably without ever delivering what they promised. An Insider's Guide to Cloud Computing reveals why and shows how to do better. Cloud pioneer and long-time CTO David Linthicum explodes the industry's secrets and presents practical ways to optimize cloud for value and performance.
Linthicum takes a hard look at aggressively marketed technologies such as cloud-based AI, containers, no-code, serverless computing, and multicloud. He illuminates what works, what absolutely does not work, and how to manage the difficult cost-complexity tradeoffs presented by many offerings. You'll learn why some workloads and datasets still don't belong on the cloud, and even discover "game changer" technology that has actually been undersold.
Linthicum's seen it all: the tricks providers play to make their numbers at customers' expense…realities whispered about in conference rooms and spilled over drinks at conferences…facts and techniques you simply must know to deliver value-optimized solutions.
An Insider's Guide to Cloud Computing is for every technical and business decision-maker responsible for evaluating, planning, implementing, operating, or optimizing cloud systems. It offers exceptional value to professionals ranging from solution architects to cloud engineers, CTOs to enterprise consultants, or those just getting started on their cloud computing journey.
- What cloud providers don't tell you about their storage and compute services
- Cloud-based artificial intelligence and machine learning: What are you actually paying for?
- Containers, Kubernetes, and cloud-native development: truth versus hype
- Multicloud: Which approaches actually save you money?
- Real-world cloud security: beyond silos, black boxes, and out-of-control complexity
- Cloud computing, carbon footprints, and sustainability: reality versus fiction
- The crucial role of talent: how to identify, find, and keep the skills you need
- How cloud computing is changing—and how to prepare for what's coming
Chapter 1: How “Real” Is the Value of Cloud Computing? 2
What We Thought We Knew.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
What Could Go Wrong?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
What Went Right?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Call to Action.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Chapter 2: The Realities and Opportunities of Cloud-Based Storage Services That Your Cloud Provider Will Not Tell You About 22
Cloud Storage Evolves.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Junk Data on Premises Moved to the Cloud Is Still Junk Data.. . . . . . . . . 23
Secrets to Finding the Best Cloud Storage Value. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
The Future of Cloud Storage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Call to Action.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Chapter 3: The Realities and Opportunities of Cloud-Based Compute Services That Your Cloud Provider Will Not Tell You About 44
The Trade-offs of Multitenancy.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
CPU Performance, Meet the Internet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Paying Too Much for Cloud Compute? Here's Why.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Picking the Right Operating Systems.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Picking the Right Memory Configurations.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
The Concept of Reserved Instances.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Going Off-brand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Call to Action.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Chapter 4: Innovative Services and Public Clouds: What Do You Really Pay For? 64
AI/ML.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Serverless.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
DevOps/DevSecOps.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Analytics.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Edge and IoT.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Emerging Technologies.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Call to Action.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Chapter 5: Containers, Container Orchestration, and Cloud Native Realities 88
Containers.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Container Orchestration and Clustering.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Cloud Native. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Technology Meets Reality.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Call to Action.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Chapter 6: The Truths Behind Multicloud That Few Understand 110
Hybrid Cloud Realities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
The Move to Plural Public Clouds.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Multicloud Upside Realities.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Multicloud Downside Realities.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Key Concepts for Multicloud Success. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Call to Action.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Chapter 7: Cloud Security Meets the Real World 132
An Insider's Guide to Cloud Security Fundamentals.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
What Cloud Security Worked.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
What Cloud Security Didn't Work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
The Rise of Non-Native Cloud Security.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
The Rise of Proactive Security.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
The Rise of Security Automation.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Call to Action.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Chapter 8: Cloud Computing and Sustainability: Fact Versus Fiction 152
Initial Thinking: Cloud Data Centers, Bad.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
The Politics of Sustainability.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Finally, Sharing Is Possible.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Green Application Development?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Multicloud as a Sustainability Weapon?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
What Is Your Real Impact?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Call to Action.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Chapter 9: The Evolution of the Computing Market 172
Forced March to the Cloud?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
More Consumption, but Prices Stay Static.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
The Power of a Few Players.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
The Emergence of Commoditization.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
The Emergence of System Repatriation.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
The Rise of Federated Cloud Applications and Data.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Traditional Systems Remain…Why?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Battle for Human Talent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Call to Action.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Chapter 10: Here's the Future of Cloud Computing from an Insider's Perspective…Be Prepared 198
Continued Rise of Complex Cloud Deployments.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Refocus on Cross-Cloud Systems.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
Changing Skills Demands.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Cloud Security Shifts Focus.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Cloud Computing Becomes Local.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Industry Clouds Become Important.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
Where Is Edge Computing?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Call to Action.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Chapter 11: Wrapping Things Up: Miscellaneous Insider Insights 224
Cloud Can Make Life Better.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Changes in the Skills Mix.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
The Objectives Change.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
The Market Absorbs the Weak, and the Weak Emerge Again.. . . . . . . . . 237
Cloud Technology Continues to Be a Value Multiplier.. . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Call to Action.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
9780137935697, TOC, 2/23/2023