Identifying Cloud Computing Hardware

Identifying Cloud Computing Hardware

Cloud computing data center hardware costs will vary greatly depending on the type of workloads they support. Data storage is an excellent example of this difference. When your company is building a cloud data center, think about the hardware elements differently.
Cooling devices for cloud data centers
Cloud data centers have the luxury of being able to engineer the way systems (boards, chips, etc.) are cooled. When systems are cooled by air conditioning, they require huge amounts of energy. However, purpose-built cloud data centers can be designed to be water-cooled, for example (which is 3,000 times more efficient than air in cooling equipment).
CPU, memory and local disk equipment in cloud computing centers
Traditional data tends to be filled with a lot of redundant equipment (either to support unexpected workloads or because the application or process was not designed to be efficient). Excess memory, CPUs and disks take up valuable space and, of course, must be cooled. A cloud data center typically supports self-service provisioning so that capacity is added only when it’s needed.
Data storage and networking in cloud data centers
Data storage and networks must be managed collectively if they are to be effective. This problem has complicated the way traditional data centers are managed, and has forced organizations to purchase a lot of additional hardware and software. The cloud data center can be designed to overcome this problem. The cloud knows where its data needs to be because it is very efficient in the way it manages workloads. It is actually designed for efficient data management.
Redundancy in data center hardware
Data centers must always move data around the network for backup and disaster recovery. Traditional data centers support so many different workloads that many backup and recovery methods must be followed. This makes backing up and restoring data complicated and expensive. By contrast, the cloud is designed to constantly handle data workloads.
Software embedded in the data center
There is a lot of talk about software in the context of applications, but a great deal of software is linked at a systems level. This type of system level software is a significant cost in a traditional data center simply because there are so many workloads with many operating systems and related software items.
Cloud data centers have fewer items because they have simpler workloads. There are some differences in how software costs are managed depending on the type of cloud model. Cloud providers understand these costs well and design their offerings to maximize revenue. It will help you understand pricing by understanding the cost factors for each model.