Breaking Down the Cloud

You may be thinking, so what is 'The Cloud' and why is it so important? Well, The Cloud essentially allows people from all over the world to create, share, and download information and data and save it to a network rather than a personal computer. It is composed of two separate sub categories: 

1. The Public Cloud  
The public cloud is the cloud we are most familiar with as it is the one we see and use almost everyday- we are connected to this cloud via the internet. 

2. The Private Cloud
The private cloud on the other hand is the more 'secure' cloud- it is used by large corporations to gain access through a network that is not the internet. 

What makes up the cloud? The front end and the back end. Seems simple doesn't it? - Well it is. The front end is the part of the cloud that you see on the internet (example: Facebook, Twitter etc.) The back end is the part of the cloud that consists of the servers and data storage systems. 

How does it work, you may ask? 

Control node: is the central server in the cloud computing system. 

Middleware: is the special software used to govern the system. 

Protocols: The official procedure or set of rules that the system must follow in order to function properly. 

Redundancy: Is when the cloud makes copies of the data so that no information is ever lost. 

Quiz your knowledge: http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/curiosity/topics/ultimate-cloud-computing-quiz.htm check out this link to test what you know and what things you need to brush up on!

If you still don't get it, check out this video titled "Cloud Computing for Dummies" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJncFirhjPg! You'll be sure to understand Cloud Computing after that!