Cloud Computing Foundations · Study deck
Deployment Models and Virtualization
The previous chapter showed who manages each stack layer: infrastructure, platform, or application.
Cloud Clara is your guide for this deck.
After studying this chapter
Learning objectives
You will be able to:
- Distinguish NIST's four deployment models -- public, private, community, and hybrid -- from distributed, multi-cloud, and inter-cloud architecture or operating patterns
- Classify a deployment arrangement using the on-premise/off-premise by dedicated/shared-access synthesis
- Explain why a virtual machine needs a per-instance guest OS and hypervisor while a container does not
- Trace a worked Dockerfile from image definition through build and run to see the container model operate end to end
Major section
The Four NIST Deployment Models
Together they describe who may use the cloud infrastructure and how distinct cloud environments are composed.
- Distributed cloud, multi-cloud, and inter-cloud are useful architecture or operating patterns, but they are not additional members of this NIST pillar.
- A cloud set-up for the use of any person or industry, typically owned by the organization that offers the service.
- A cloud set-up for exclusive use by one organization.
Major section
The Four NIST Deployment Models (continued)
Two or more distinct private, community, or public cloud infrastructures joined by technology that supports data and application portability.
- Public cloud is what most people picture first: Amazon Web Services, Google Compute Engine, and Microsoft Azure are the source material's own named examples.
- Shared provider infrastructure can reduce up-front hardware costs and let capacity scale with demand.
- Cloud services or resources are placed across multiple physical locations while governance and operation remain coordinated.
Major section
The Four NIST Deployment Models (continued)
Customers still pay for the services they use and retain application responsibilities according to the service model; some resources, such as storage, continue to cost money even when compute is stopped.
- Exclusive use gives one organization a dedicated environment, but its control and security duties depend on the provider arrangement and implemented controls.
- The organization must account for capacity and maintenance costs, whether it performs the work itself or contracts a third party.
- Public-resource computing and volunteer cloud are two possible distributed arrangements.
Major section
Comparing and Choosing: On-Premise, Off-Premise, Dedicated, and Shared
The public-versus-private comparison above already hints at the real trade-off underneath every deployment decision: controls and configuration shape security, while cost and scale also matter.
- Community cloud can be here or off-premise.
- Public cloud is open to the general public and runs on its provider's premises.
Major section
Under the Hood: Virtual Machines, Containers, and a Worked Docker Example
Deployment models describe who can use cloud infrastructure, not how workloads are isolated.
- Each instance carries its own full guest OS.
- Applications isolated as containers that share a host kernel; many PaaS offerings use containers, but PaaS does not require them.
- Containers isolate processes using the host kernel, but unsafe container settings or kernel vulnerabilities can compromise that isolation.
Deck summary
Key takeaways
Together they describe who may use the cloud infrastructure and how distinct cloud environments are composed.
- Two or more distinct private, community, or public cloud infrastructures joined by technology that supports data and application portability.
- Customers still pay for the services they use and retain application responsibilities according to the service model; some resources, such as storage, continue to cost money even when compute is stopped.
- The public-versus-private comparison above already hints at the real trade-off underneath every deployment decision: controls and configuration shape security, while cost and scale also matter.
- Deployment models describe who can use cloud infrastructure, not how workloads are isolated.
Retrieval practice
Recall check 1 of 3
Cloud Clara says: answer from memory, then check your reasoning.
Q1A group of partner hospitals wants a cloud set-up shared only among themselves, all subject to the same compliance and jurisdiction requirements, with management either kept in-house or handed to a trusted third party. Which deployment model does this describe?
Show answer
Answer: C Community cloud is the named pattern for several organizations with a shared concern (security, compliance, or jurisdiction) pooling one set-up, managed internally or by a third party.
Retrieval practice
Recall check 2 of 3
Cloud Clara says: answer from memory, then check your reasoning.
Q2Per the on-premise/off-premise by dedicated/shared-access matrix, which cell describes a hosted private cloud?
Show answer
Answer: C A hosted private cloud sits at dedicated access x off-premise: dedicated because it serves one organization, hosted because the infrastructure is off that organization's own site.
Retrieval practice
Recall check 3 of 3
Cloud Clara says: answer from memory, then check your reasoning.
Q3A team wants to run five isolated instances of an application on one server, spin new instances up and down quickly, and avoid installing a separate guest operating system for each one. Which approach fits, and why does it not need what a virtual machine needs?
Show answer
Answer: A Containers isolate workloads by sharing the host OS directly, with no per-instance guest OS or hypervisor -- the structural difference behind every one of their named advantages over virtual machines.
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Answers 1 of 2
Answer key.
- C · Community cloud is the named pattern for several organizations with a shared concern (security, compliance, or jurisdiction) pooling one set-up, managed internally or by a third party.
- C · A hosted private cloud sits at dedicated access x off-premise: dedicated because it serves one organization, hosted because the infrastructure is off that organization's own site.
Print reference
Answers 2 of 2
Answer key.
- A · Containers isolate workloads by sharing the host OS directly, with no per-instance guest OS or hypervisor -- the structural difference behind every one of their named advantages over virtual machines.