Page 82 - Cloud Essentials

Depending on the application load, more cores might improve performance.

Some applications require vast amounts of memory and little CPU
processing power, and other applications might require the opposite or both.
On the client side, cloud computing does not require significant CPU
processing power since most SaaS cloud apps are provided in a web
browser.

Storage Access Speed
Another challenge with cloud storage is that it is never as fast as local disks

can be. This challenge is likely to grow worse over time since data volumes
are growing faster than network bandwidth. This is relevant in normal
operation, which includes cloud backups, and when performing imports and
exports. For normal operation, the implication is that data storage must be

physically close to any heavy processing that must be done with it. Moving
either large data sets or complete virtual machines in and out of a particular
cloud is not to be taken lightly.

Data Replication
When using cloud computing, applications are likely to be spread over
multiple providers, whether for technical, business, or regulatory reasons. It
then becomes a new challenge to keep the master data of these applications
synchronized. Some examples of master data are customer account
information, catalog data, and user identities. A number of approaches are

possible for realizing the necessary data synchronization.

Replicate a master copy of the data to all applications hosted by all
providers. This requires careful attention to how often replication
occurs.
Synchronize all data changes in all directions when changes occur.
This can be difficult to implement as it may require the use of

additional tools.
Rather than replicating data, data can be looked up in real time at a
central source. The benefit is that the data is always up to date, but the

drawback is network latency.

Data Integration
When using cloud services, it is possible for cloud software to communicate

with on-premises software. Integrating data in real time in a hybrid cloud
environment once again depends on the quality and speed of your network

82