Cloud Computing, also known as ITS4900- Special Topics is a class that explains a new way to network, which is by using cloud services. Cloud Computing provides a flexible, convenient, on-demand network access to a variety of technological resources that a business need. Instead of needing physical servers for services such as servers, storage, or load balancing and learning how to accommodate pricing, space, and labor for that, you can use one of the many cloud services to have more efficiency in all of the listed concepts.
The class started to learn about how traditional networking works and then began to implement how cloud services are implemented within that infrastructure. Then, we learned about the various types of cloud models, such as Community, Private, and Hybrid models. Learning about the fundamentals of how and why cloud computing worked helped us establish a strong base of understanding of how the new wave of networking works, as well as how businesses determine if it is worth it to make the switch.
Next, we worked on understanding what cloud services could provide and learning the various types of services the cloud can be a part of, such as Infrastructure as a Service, Software as a Service, and even Platform as a Service, just to name a few.
Not only did the class learn about the theory of how cloud computing works, but the class was also tasked to perform it. For a variety of our assignments, we learned how to deploy various services, from Nginx web servers to using Docker and MySQL to edit and organize tables. The main cloud service this class uses is Microsoft Azure. Our final project tasked us to create a load balancer using Azure, and three web servers that rely on it; it was cool to set up our own networking services from the convenience of our home!
Overall, it was a fantastic class that inspired me to learn more about the cloud computing environment. I am personally working through O’Reilly’s book on Kubernetes to help me gain a deeper understanding of my career in the future. Thanks to this class, I now know that cloud services is part of the various emerging technologies that are sweeping across the world, and I cannot wait to hop on the metaphorical career train to make my mark. You can learn more about the program and class here !
You can check out Hans Kruse's website here !
The McClure School of Emerging Communication Technologies strives to offer the best academic programs in the IT (Information Technology) , the game development and the Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality (VR/AR) industries. Our programs and certificates cover numerous aspects of the rapidly changing industries of information networking, information security, data privacy, game development , digital animation and the academic side of esports .