Topic 3: The online environment

3.1 The internet and the World Wide Web

3.1.1 Understand what is meant by the internet and how it is structured (Internet Protocol
(IP) addressing and Domain Name Service (DNS)).
What is DNS?
The Domain Name System (DNS) is the phonebook of the Internet. Humans access information
online through domain names, like nytimes.com or espn.com. Web browsers interact
through Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. DNS translates domain names to IP addresses so
browsers can load Internet resources.
Each device connected to the Internet has a unique IP address which other machines use to find
the device. DNS servers eliminate the need for humans to memorize IP addresses such as
192.168.1.1 (in IPv4), or more complex newer alphanumeric IP addresses such as
2400:cb00:2048:1::c629:d7a2 (in IPv6).

How does DNS work?

The process of DNS resolution involves converting a hostname (such as www.example.com)
into a computer-friendly IP address (such as 192.168.1.1). An IP address is given to each device
on the Internet, and that address is necessary to find the appropriate Internet device - like a
street address is used to find a particular home. When a user wants to load a webpage, a
translation must occur between what a user types into their web browser (example.com) and
the machine-friendly address necessary to locate the example.com webpage.
In order to understand the process behind the DNS resolution, it’s important to learn about the
different hardware components a DNS query must pass between. For the web browser, the
DNS lookup occurs "behind the scenes" and requires no interaction from the user’s computer
apart from the initial request.
There are 4 DNS servers involved in loading a webpage:
 DNS recursor - The recursor can be thought of as a librarian who is asked to go find a particular
book somewhere in a library. The DNS recursor is a server designed to receive queries from
client machines through applications such as web browsers. Typically the recursor is then
responsible for making additional requests in order to satisfy the client’s DNS query.

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 Root name server - The root server is the first step in translating (resolving) human readable
host names into IP addresses. It can be thought of like an index in a library that points to
different racks of books - typically it serves as a reference to other more specific locations.
 TLD name server - The top level domain server (TLD) can be thought of as a specific rack of
books in a library. This name server is the next step in the search for a specific IP address, and
it hosts the last portion of a hostname (In example.com, the TLD server is “com”).
 Authoritative name server - This final name server can be thought of as a dictionary on a rack
of books, in which a specific name can be translated into its definition. The authoritative name
server is the last stop in the name server query. If the authoritative name server has access to
the requested record, it will return the IP address for the requested hostname back to the DNS
Recursor (the librarian) that made the initial request.
What's the difference between an authoritative DNS server and a recursive DNS resolver?
Both concepts refer to servers (groups of servers) that are integral to the DNS infrastructure,
but each performs a different role and lives in different locations inside the pipeline of a DNS
query. One way to think about the difference is the recursive resolver is at the beginning of the
DNS query and the authoritative nameserver is at the end.
Recursive DNS resolver
The recursive resolver is the computer that responds to a recursive request from a client and
takes the time to track down the DNS record. It does this by making a series of requests until
it reaches the authoritative DNS nameserver for the requested record (or times out or returns
an error if no record is found). Luckily, recursive DNS resolvers do not always need to make
multiple requests in order to track down the records needed to respond to a client; caching is a
data persistence process that helps short-circuit the necessary requests by serving the requested
resource record earlier in the DNS lookup.

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Authoritative DNS server
Put simply, an authoritative DNS server is a server that actually holds, and is responsible for,
DNS resource records. This is the server at the bottom of the DNS lookup chain that will
respond with the queried resource record, ultimately allowing the web browser making the
request to reach the IP address needed to access a website or other web resources. An
authoritative nameserver can satisfy queries from its own data without needing to query another
source, as it is the final source of truth for certain DNS records.

It’s worth mentioning that in instances where the query is for a subdomain such as
foo.example.com or blog.cloudflare.com, an additional nameserver will be added to the
sequence after the authoritative nameserver, which is responsible for storing the
subdomain’s CNAME record.

There is a key difference between many DNS services and the one that Cloudflare provides.
Different DNS recursive resolvers such as Google DNS, OpenDNS, and providers like
Comcast all maintain data center installations of DNS recursive resolvers. These resolvers
allow for quick and easy queries through optimized clusters of DNS-optimized computer
systems, but they are fundamentally different than the nameservers hosted by Cloudflare.

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 Cloudflare maintains infrastructure-level nameservers that are integral to the functioning of the
Internet. One key example is the f-root server network which Cloudflare is partially responsible
for hosting. The F-root is one of the root level DNS nameserver infrastructure components
responsible for the billions of Internet requests per day. Our Anycast network puts us in a
unique position to handle large volumes of DNS traffic without service interruption.
What are the steps in a DNS lookup?
For most situations, DNS is concerned with a domain name being translated into the
appropriate IP address. To learn how this process works, it helps to follow the path of a DNS
lookup as it travels from a web browser, through the DNS lookup process, and back again.
Let's take a look at the steps.
Note: Often DNS lookup information will be cached either locally inside the querying
computer or remotely in the DNS infrastructure. There are typically 8 steps in a DNS lookup.
When DNS information is cached, steps are skipped from the DNS lookup process which
makes it quicker. The example below outlines all 8 steps when nothing is cached.
The 8 steps in a DNS lookup:
1. A user types ‘example.com’ into a web browser and the query travels into the Internet and is
received by a DNS recursive resolver.
2. The resolver then queries a DNS root nameserver (.).
3. The root server then responds to the resolver with the address of a Top Level Domain (TLD)
DNS server (such as .com or .net), which stores the information for its domains. When
searching for example.com, our request is pointed toward the .com TLD.
4. The resolver then makes a request to the .com TLD.
5. The TLD server then responds with the IP address of the domain’s nameserver, example.com.
6. Lastly, the recursive resolver sends a query to the domain’s nameserver.
7. The IP address for example.com is then returned to the resolver from the nameserver.
8. The DNS resolver then responds to the web browser with the IP address of the domain
requested initially.
Once the 8 steps of the DNS lookup have returned the IP address for example.com, the browser
is able to make the request for the web page:
9. The browser makes a HTTP request to the IP address.
10. The server at that IP returns the webpage to be rendered in the browser (step 10).

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What is a DNS resolver?
The DNS resolver is the first stop in the DNS lookup, and it is responsible for dealing with the
client that made the initial request. The resolver starts the sequence of queries that ultimately
leads to a URL being translated into the necessary IP address.
Note: A typical uncached DNS lookup will involve both recursive and iterative queries.
It's important to differentiate between a recursive DNS query and a recursive DNS resolver.
The query refers to the request made to a DNS resolver requiring the resolution of the query.
A DNS recursive resolver is the computer that accepts a recursive query and processes the
response by making the necessary requests.

What are the types of DNS queries?

In a typical DNS lookup three types of queries occur. By using a combination of these queries,
an optimized process for DNS resolution can result in a reduction of distance traveled. In an
ideal situation cached record data will be available, allowing a DNS name server to return a
non-recursive query.

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 3 types of DNS queries:
1. Recursive query - In a recursive query, a DNS client requires that a DNS server (typically a
DNS recursive resolver) will respond to the client with either the requested resource record or
an error message if the resolver can't find the record.
2. Iterative query - in this situation the DNS client will allow a DNS server to return the best
answer it can. If the queried DNS server does not have a match for the query name, it will
return a referral to a DNS server authoritative for a lower level of the domain namespace. The
DNS client will then make a query to the referral address. This process continues with
additional DNS servers down the query chain until either an error or timeout occurs.
3. Non-recursive query - typically this will occur when a DNS resolver client queries a DNS
server for a record that it has access to either because it's authoritative for the record or the
record exists inside of its cache. Typically, a DNS server will cache DNS records to prevent
additional bandwidth consumption and load on upstream servers.

3.1.2 Understand the features, functions, impact, and potential of the world wide web.

What are the features of World Wide Web?

Features of the World Wide Web
 HyperText Information System.
 Cross-Platform.
 Distributed. Approximately 70 million active sites as of December 2007.
 Open Standards and Open Source. TCP/IP, HTTP, HTML, CSS. ...
 Web Browser: provides a single interface to many services. ...
 Dynamic, Interactive, Evolving.
 "Web 2.0"

Functions of the World Wide Web

The World Wide Web is a huge collection of hypertext documents and hypermedia. It has
facilitated easy access to information over the Internet. It was created by Tim Berners-Lee and

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introduced to the world in 1991. It is a collection of interconnected documents and other
resources, linked by hyperlinks and URLs.
The network of web servers serves as the backbone of the World Wide Web. The Hypertext
Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is used to gain access to the web. A web browser makes a request
for a particular web page to the web server, which in turn responds with the requested web
page and its contents. It then displays the web page as rendered by HTML or other web
languages used by the page. Each resource on the web is identified by a globally unique
identifier (URI). Each web page has a unique address, with the help of which a browser
accesses it.

Impact, and potential of the world wide web.

Some of the impacts that World Wide Web has had so far especially in communication include
speeding up of instant messaging, facilitation of internet forums, social networking online,
blogging, online shopping and e-business has also been boosted in terms of marketing and
advertisements. Specifically, on the study of communications, the World Wide Web has played
a significant role in creating a channel in which people can do online research, get reviews on
what the technology users have to say about the innovation and establish any existing loopholes
in online communication and how they can be bridged. The World Wide Web provides
information that creators and innovators of communication channels can make use of in the
quest to provide cheap, effective, reliable and state-of-the-art gadgets for communication
purposes. One of the most world-wide felt impacts of WWW on communication is rapid instant
communication that affects almost every other aspect of life be it social, economic, political or
educational. Rapid instant communication implies that communication is no longer one way.
It is no longer necessary to wait for days on end for a reply on some issue from a receiver of
your message, but on the other hand, communication between sender and receiver of the
message has changed from being receiver oriented to both receiver and sender oriented. How
is this possible? This question shall form the basis of the study and feedback projected in this
paper.
Rapid instant communication
According to Samuel in his book Clarifying McLuhan: an assessment of process and product,
rapid instant communication implies a one-on-one setting in sending and receiving of

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messages. In other words, it refers to a situation whereby communicators no longer have to
wait for a long period of time in order for their message to be replied to by the receiver of the
message. This therefore means that a person in one continent can easily communicate with
another in a totally different continent as though they were communicating face to face. This
has been made possible by services like chat, face book and emailing. Such connections make
it possible for people the world over to relate and form forums in which they can even hold
discussions on diversified issues which are happening way far away from where they are
located. With use of facilities like the web camera, it is even possible to see someone with
whom you are communicating on your computer while they are on the other side of the world.
This kind of communication is what has rapidly converted the world into a small village
whereas in years gone such was just a dream for many innovators. There is now improved rapid
communication in various sectors and this is supported by an old theory proposed by one
Marshall McLuhan. His theory, titled Technological determinism, put forth that the changes
that occur in the ways in which human beings communicate go a long way in determining the
course our existence takes. The proponent of the theory feels that culture is highly dependent
on the way in which we are able to communicate as human beings. This in other words is to
say that innovations in communication cause a cultural drift. Secondly, changes in
communication methods and modes shape human life. Media, as the greatest channel of
communication, is considered as anything that affects human ability to communicate.
Consequently, it goes without saying that innovations that affect media as a channel of
communication also affect human culture and communication. He looks at the transformation
of communication from mere word of mouth, to literate age that could read and write to print
media and eventually to the electronic age where society is at now.
Today, people tend to believe printed information or that which they can collect from the web
pages, more than they believe in information passed through the word of mouth. The theory
also proposes that for any information to be accepted or rejected, it must undergo a series of
stages which are awareness creation, persuasion or evaluation, decision making on whether to
accept the information and lastly confirmation. These processes take a shorter time depending
on the means of communication that are being used, meaning that word of mouth
communication would take a relatively longer period to pass through all these stages than
information posted through the web pages. This goes on to explain what happens to ideas

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suggested to one community from another, and how their evaluation and final acceptance or
rejection ends up shaping the culture, values and beliefs of the recipient community. According
to McLuhan, individuality has been removed from culture and instead, what matters today to
society is the method of communication that is deemed important for communication as that
will be what society will flow with.
Impact of World Wide Web on Businesses
As explained above, the greatest impact of WWW is the speeding up of communication. How
then does this form of communication impart of businesses? The most important thing about
WWW is that it has enabled businesses and organizations to establish a presence. Businesses
that want to explore great heights and to establish themselves the world over can only ignore
the importance of the World Wide Web at their own peril. Creation of websites in which firms
can market themselves is dependent on the WWW linkage. With the creation of a website, a
company can rest assured that its services and functions can easily be read about any time of
day seven days a week. Another impact is that the World Wide Web has made it possible for
organizations working in the same line of industry to network, form partnerships and learn
from each other all through the web.
This is also true for netting of potential clients, suppliers, donors and other stakeholders. Use
of the World Wide Web has become a very easy way of passing business cards and maintaining
contacts with clients. Needless to say, a website can be used as an additional source of income.
This is possible by making your website an online sales point in the sense that visitors to the
website can order and purchase your services online and pay through their credit cards without
necessarily visiting your stores physically.
One more result that can be associated with instant communication as a result of the World
Wide Web is the fact that it I now possible to have employees placed outside the office area
and still have business going on as usual. This is because through the firma website,
information can be passed to and from the employees consistently and from anywhere.
Impact of World Wide Web on Social Networking
It is not a new thing for many people that with social networking websites and electronic mail
communication websites like twitter and yahoo mail respectively have played a great role in
bring people together in terms of spontaneous and rapid communication. It is possible to chat
with friends online and even date with the intentions of getting married, all by logging into

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some special websites that offer such services. On this social networking websites not only
about making friends but also about keeping in touch with various other happenings around the
world. One can get the latest news, download the latest music and movies and younger people
and children can play online games or download them. In addition to socializing, it has now
become very possible to get political views and stay informed on the most current news around
the world, all by staying connected to the relevant websites. For example, a person in America
is now very able to track say for example the election results of a country in Asia as it happens,
all of which has been made possible by the World Wide Web.
Today, people cannot imagine themselves without logging into websites to check the latest
mails, breaking news, weather reports and even to shop for holidays online, all because of the
WWW technology. The Web cannot be traced, it cannot be pinpointed, all because it is growing
by the day. Its growth and expansion is a gradual process that is ongoing, and which is not
likely to stop any time soon.
Negative impacts of World Wide Web
There is much that can be said about the impacts of World Wide Web, and especially about the
positive impacts, but we cannot just afford to overlook the negative impacts associated with
the same. One of the major negative impacts associated with World Wide Web is that some
people are now creating websites that contain misleading, addictive and false information,
which when it falls in the hands of unsuspecting information users, may end up damaging their
outlook in life .
Just to give an example, an article published online and written by one Allen Alberson says
that there are a number of websites that have been created with the intention of providing
suicidal persons with information on how to go about killing themselves. This website as
actually helped take away the lives of quite a number of youngsters who were feeling suicidal
at the time they took away their lives after reading trough these websites. More information
can be found here; http://www.helium.com/items/1223307-suicide-chat-rooms .
Much more can be said about the negative impacts of WWW but just to mention a few is that
the World Wide Web is addictive and many people find themselves spending much of their
time on social websites instead of doing other more constructive things. One more thing that is
happening is that more and more people now tend to make decisions based on technological
advance. In other words, decisions are based on the outcome of a result given by a computer,

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more than common knowledge. For example, it is not uncommon to hear that an organization
is not giving a certain service to clients at a given time, simply because the systems are down.
One is left to wonder how clients used to be served before the innovation of websites and online
services.

Conclusion
From the findings above, it is evident that the World Wide Web has played a great role in
changing communication from analogue to digital and this has revolutionalized the world in so
may aspects. The network society, as it has popularly come to be known as, now need to take
control of the advancing technology so that it can be able to organize itself on the basis of what
people of various diversities share in common in a non-hierarchal manner. The World Wide
Web is an avenue through which the public and the private can be merged together for better
cohesion. Just to site an example, the revelation of the affair between the former US President
Bill Clinton with Monica Lewinsky came out in a big way to influence how he would perform
in politics after that. Since technology has no ethical or moral restraints, it has in itself become
all important for such happenings that would otherwise have remained unknown. It can thus be
said with such finality that such new communication technologies like the World Wide Web
will continue to make people feel more connected and to help them mainstream aspects of life
such as politics, socializing, commerce and well as entertainment.

3.1.3 Understand the difference between static and dynamic web page content and the
need to use the different types.

Difference between Static and Dynamic Web Pages

Static Web pages:
Static Web pages are very simple. It is written in languages such as HTML, JavaScript, CSS,
etc. For static web pages when a server receives a request for a web page, then the server
sends the response to the client without doing any additional process. And these web pages
are seen through a web browser. In static web pages, Pages will remain the same until
someone changes it manually.

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Dynamic Web Pages:
Dynamic Web Pages are written in languages such as CGI, AJAX, ASP, ASP.NET, etc. In
dynamic web pages, the Content of pages is different for different visitors. It takes more time
to load than the static web page. Dynamic web pages are used where the information is
changed frequently, for example, stock prices, weather information, etc.

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 Difference between Static and Dynamic Web Pages:
SL.NO Static Web Page Dynamic Web Page

In static web pages, Pages will remain In dynamic web pages, Content of pages are
1. same until someone changes it manually. different for different visitors.

Static Web Pages are simple in terms of

2. complexity. Dynamic web pages are complicated.

In static web pages, Information are In dynamic web page, Information are change
3. change rarely. frequently.

Static Web Page takes less time for Dynamic web page takes more time for
4. loading than dynamic web page. loading.

In Static Web Pages, database is not

5. used. In dynamic web pages, database is used.

Static web pages are written in languages Dynamic web pages are written in languages
6. such as: HTML, JavaScript, CSS, etc. such as: CGI, AJAX, ASP, ASP.NET, etc.

Static web pages does not contain any Dynamic web pages contains application
7. application program . program for different services.

Static web pages require less work and Dynamic web pages require comparatively
8. cost in designing them. more work and cost in designing them.

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3.1.4 Understand the role of client-side and server-side scripting.
Difference Between Server-side Scripting and Client-side Scripting

The scripts can be written in two forms, at the server end (back end) or at the client end (server
end). The main difference between server-side scripting and client-side scripting is that the
server side scripting involves server for its processing. On the other hand, client-side scripting
requires browsers to run the scripts on the client machine but does not interact with the server
while processing the client-side scripts.
A script is generally a series of program or instruction, which has to be executed on other
program or application. As we know that the web works in a client-server environment. The
client-side script executes the code to the client side which is visible to the users while a server-
side script is executed in the server end which users cannot see.
Content: Server-side Scripting Vs Client-side Scripting
1. Comparison Chart
2. Definition
3. Key Differences
4. Conclusion

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 Comparison Chart

BASIS FOR
SERVER-SIDE SCRIPTING CLIENT-SIDE SCRIPTING
COMPARISON

Basic Works in the back end which could Works at the front end and script
not be visible at the client end. are visible among the users.

Processing Requires server interaction. Does not need interaction with

the server.

Languages involved PHP, ASP.net, Ruby on Rails, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc.
ColdFusion, Python, etcetera.

Affect Could effectively customize the web Can reduce the load to the
pages and provide dynamic websites. server.

Security Relatively secure. Insecure

Definition of Server-side Scripting

Server-side scripting is a technique of programming for producing the code which can run
software on the server side, in simple words any scripting or programming that can run on the
web server is known as server-side scripting. The operations like customization of a website,
dynamic change in the website content, response generation to the user’s queries, accessing the
database, and so on are performed at the server end.
The server-side scripting constructs a communication link between a server and a client (user).
Earlier the server side scripting is implemented by the CGI (Common Gateway
Interface) scripts. The CGI was devised to execute the scripts from programming languages
such as C++ or Perl on the websites.
The server-side involves three parts: server, database, API’s and back-end web software
developed by the server-side scripting language. When a browser sends a request to the server
for a webpage consisting of server-side scripting, the web server processes the script prior to
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serving the page to the browser. Here the processing of a script could include extracting
information from a database, making simple calculations, or choosing the appropriate content
that is to be displayed in the client end. The script is being processed and the output is sent to
the browser. The web server abstracts the scripts from the end user until serving the content,
which makes the data and source code more secure.
Server-side scripting languages:
After the advent of CGI, multiple programming languages were evolved such as PHP, Python,
Ruby, ColdFusion, C#, Java, C++ and so on for server-side scripting among which some of
them are described below:
PHP: It is the most prevalent server-side language used on the web which was designed to
extract and manipulate information in the database. The language is used in association with
SQL language for the Database. It is used in Facebook, WordPress and Wikipedia.
Python: The language is fast and contains shorter code. It is good for beginners as it
concentrates on the readability and simplicity of the code. Python functions well in the object-
oriented environment and used in famous sites like Youtube, Google, etc.
Ruby: It contains complex logic which packages the back-end with database utility which can
also be provided by PHP and SQL.
Definition of Client-side Scripting
Client-side scripting is performed to generate a code that can run on the client end (browser)
without needing the server side processing. Basically, these types of scripts are placed inside
an HTML document. The client-side scripting can be used to examine the user’s form for the
errors before submitting it and for changing the content according to the user input. As I
mentioned before, the web requires three elements for its functioning which are, client,
database and server.
The effective client-side scripting can significantly reduce the server load. It is designed to
run as a scripting language utilizing a web browser as a host program. For example, when a
user makes a request via browser for a webpage to the server, it just sent the HTML and CSS
as plain text, and the browser interprets and renders the web content in the client end.
Client-side scripting languages:
HTML: It is the fundamental building blocks of web programming which provides the frame
to the website. It describes the arrangement of the content.

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CSS: CSS provides the way to design the graphic elements which help in making the
appearance of the web application more attractive.
JavaScript: It is also a client-side scripting language which essentially devised for the specific
purpose, but currently there are various JavaScript frameworks used as server-side scripting
technology.
Key Differences Between Server-side Scripting and Client-side Scripting
1. Server-side scripting is used at the backend, where the source code is not viewable or
hidden at the client side (browser). On the other hand, client-side scripting is used at the front
end which users can see from the browser.
2. When a server-side script is processed it communicates to the server. As against, client-
side scripting does not need any server interaction.
3. The client-side scripting language involves languages such as HTML, CSS and
JavaScript. In contrast, programming languages such as PHP, ASP.net, Ruby, ColdFusion,
Python, C#, Java, C++, etc.
4. Server-side scripting is useful in customizing the web pages and implement the
dynamic changes in the websites. Conversely, the client-side script can effectively minimize
the load to the server.
5. Server-side scripting is more secure than client-side scripting as the server side scripts
are usually hidden from the client end, while a client-side script is visible to the users.
Conclusion
Client-side scripting and server-side scripting works in a coordinated manner with each other.
However, both the scripting techniques are very different, where the client-side scripting
emphasize on making the interface of the web application or website more appealing and
functional. Conversely, server-side scripting emphasizes on the data accessing methods, error
handling and fast processing etcetera.

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3.2 Operating online
3.2.1 Understand the impact and potential of working in online environments for individuals
and organizations.
Advantages of e-Commerce to Customers
 Provide details of the virtual showcase on websites with online catalogs.
 Reduced prices due to contests (coupons and offers).
 Access and convenience 24 hours.
 The global market for the purchase or sale of the product.
 Provide secure business transactions
 It is easier to compare prices with other premium brands
 Do not stay online or be held forever
 Many options and range (options and options)
 Return products if it is of lower quality
 Time savings and reviews of easy review.
Advantages of e-Commerce to Business
 Increase in potential market share by increasing the customer base
 Use of EDI, B2B data exchange
 Low barriers to items
 Provide safe business and instant transactions
 Participate in retail for the launch of new products and services
 24/7, 365 days of sales (buyer and seller)
 Expanding the scope of the business
 Main warehouse administration
 Reduction of employee costs
Disadvantages of e-Commerce for Customers
 Unable to personally examine the products
 Privacy and security in online purchases
 Fraud with credit cards
 Delays in receiving products
 Inability to identify fraud
 Guarantee/guarantee

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 Quality
 Hidden cost
 Lack of personal interaction
 Website fraud.
Disadvantages of e-Commerce to Business
 Update hardware and software regularly
 Website maintenance at a periodic interval
 Additional costs and expertise for electronic commerce infrastructure
 The readiness of the site
 Training and maintenance Customer loyalty
 Outstanding logistics needs
 Security and credit card issues
 Fraudulent orders
 Sufficient internet services

e-Commerce Issues and Challenges

 Security aims to be a major problem in electronic commerce.

 Everyone, good or bad, can easily open a website, and there are many bad sites whose
goal is the money of cybercrime users.
 Before making instant online transactions, be sure to check the site security certificates.
 It is easy and convenient to buy, No one needs the personal details to set the adoption
of electronic commerce, that is mainly in marketing and sales.
 India is gradually becoming the country with the largest number of literate people on
the Internet in the world, and Internet penetration is largely due to mobile phones, and some of
the cheapest and most basic phones now offer Internet access.
 E-commerce has the effect of increasing the transparency of the market at the macro
level and at the micro level, greater productivity.
 The greater productivity will be out in the market on the micro and macro level, E-
commerce has the effect of transparency

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3.2.2 Understand the security risks to personal data stored online and methods of
protection.
12 Data Protection Technologies and Practices to Protect Your Data
When it comes to protecting your data, there are many storage and management options you
can choose from. Solutions can help you restrict access, monitor activity, and respond to
threats. Here are some of the most commonly used practices and technologies:
1. Data discovery—a first step in data protection, this involves discovering which data
sets exist in the organization, which of them are business critical and which contains sensitive
data that might be subject to compliance regulations.
2. Data loss prevention (DLP)—a set of strategies and tools that you can use to prevent
data from being stolen, lost, or accidentally deleted. Data loss prevention solutions often
include several tools to protect against and recover from data loss.
3. Storage with built-in data protection—modern storage equipment provides built-in
disk clustering and redundancy. For example, Cloudian’s Hyperstore provides up to 14 nines
of durability, low cost enabling storage of large volumes of data, and fast access for minimal
RTO/RPO. Learn more in our guide to secure data storage.
4. Backup—creates copies of data and stores them separately, making it possible to
restore the data later in case of loss or modification. Backups are a critical strategy for ensuring
business continuity when original data is lost, destroyed, or damaged, either accidentally or
maliciously. Learn more in our guide to data availability.
5. Snapshots—a snapshot is similar to a backup, but it is a complete image of a protected
system, including data and system files. A snapshot can be used to restore an entire system to
a specific point in time.
6. Replication—a technique for copying data on an ongoing basis from a protected
system to another location. This provides a living, up-to-date copy of the data, allowing not
only recovery but also immediate failover to the copy if the primary system goes down.
7. Firewalls—utilities that enable you to monitor and filter network traffic. You can use
firewalls to ensure that only authorized users are allowed to access or transfer data.

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8. Authentication and authorization—controls that help you verify credentials and
assure that user privileges are applied correctly. These measures are typically used as part of
an identity and access management (IAM) solution and in combination with role-based access
controls (RBAC).
9. Encryption—alters data content according to an algorithm that can only be reversed
with the right encryption key. Encryption protects your data from unauthorized access even if
data is stolen by making it unreadable. Learn more in guide to data encryption.
10. Endpoint protection—protects gateways to your network, including ports, routers, and
connected devices. Endpoint protection software typically enables you to monitor your network
perimeter and to filter traffic as needed.
11. Data erasure—limits liability by deleting data that is no longer needed. This can be
done after data is processed and analyzed or periodically when data is no longer relevant.
Erasing unnecessary data is a requirement of many compliance regulations, such as GDPR. For
more information about GDPR, check out our guide: GDPR Data Protection.
12. Disaster recovery—a set of practices and technologies that determine how an
organization deals with a disaster, such as a cyber-attack, natural disaster, or large-scale
equipment failure. The disaster recovery process typically involves setting up a remote disaster
recovery site with copies of protected systems, and switching operations to those systems in
case of disaster.

3.2.3 Understand what a digital footprint is and the positive and negative aspects of these.
A digital footprint is the trail of information we leave behind while using digital technology.
We create these footprints by using the Internet, social media, credit cards, loyalty cards, GPS
systems, etc. Third parties (like card issuers, advertisers, and law enforcement) can get access
to this data in order to piece together our identity and use it in some way.
It’s easy to look at the negative aspects of a digital footprint, but there are in fact some positives
as well.
More than ever, our lives are intertwined with digital technology and the best thing we can do
is to remain aware and educated. I did some research and below are some pros and cons that
result from third parties tracking our digital footprint . . .
Advantages:

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 Fraud or legal issues can more easily be detected
 Personalization (like suggested products or related advertising) serves to add value to
our use of the Internet
 Companies can more easily offer incentives based on interests and needs, sometimes
resulting in cost savings
Disadvantages:
 Personal data can be used to generate revenue without our knowledge
 It can be annoying and distracting to be constantly inundated with advertisements and
information
 Purchase behavior data may be used as a basis to reduce credit limits or increase interest
rates

3.3 Online communities

3.3.1 Understand the concept of an online community and that online communities exist
for social and professional purposes.

WHAT IS AN ONLINE COMMUNITY?

You’re probably part of an online community or two, whether it’s Next-door for neighborhoods
or a Facebook or LinkedIn group around a common interest or shared value. You might think
of a sub-Reedit around a certain topic as a community. However, sometimes the concepts
behind what an online community is can feel a bit abstract.
Aren’t communities built in person? How can an army of stranger’s online make a customer
feel seen? Before you go look for concrete examples of online communities, take a look at this
definition:
At its root, an online community or internet community is a group of people with a shared
interest or purpose who use the internet to communicate with each other. Online communities
have their own set of guidelines and needs, like online community engagement, moderation,
and management.
But the type of community we’ll focus on today is a big one: Branded online communities, or
communities run by organizations.

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Branded Online Communities in Practice
Once community members log in for the first time (you can make a branded community easily
accessible from a website), they can participate in a variety of ways, like:
 Ask another member a question about how they did something
 Read top discussion posts from the week
 Suggest an improvement to something you offer
 Sign up to become a speaker at one of your events

4 CHARACTERISTICS OF GREAT ONLINE COMMUNITIES

1. Great Online Communities are built for Engagement & Empowered Communal
Support
Not all communities look and feel the same – they take many shapes and forms to fit the needs
of their unique members and organization.
In order to bring everyone to your online destination, you need to think broadly about everyone
involved – how will they benefit from the community, and how inclusive is the space?
To answer that, back up: What’s your online community for? The answer will influence your
tactics and strategies to achieve high engagement.
Think of your community as being for a specific group with a specific purpose. If it’s a
community for people who use a specific tool or product, the purpose would be to learn,
educate, and network with similar people. Or, if the community you build online is for a local
cycling group, the purpose might be to connect, plan biking events and advocate for bike
safety. No matter the community, it functions best when interactions are easy, secure, and
intuitive.
2. Great Online Communities are Vibrant & Multi-Dimensional
A great community is multi-dimensional, diverse, and vibrant. And it thrives because of the
people who are part of it. People are unpredictable, creative, and diverse, and bringing them
together in a place where they can interact and engage can seem overwhelming. But it doesn’t
have to be – and this gathering of unique people usually advances your organization.
By breaking down the traditional one-way exchange of information and opening up your
communication, your community will deliver value far beyond expectations. When you can

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tap into people’s unique perspectives and invite them to share their expertise and knowledge
with others, you inspire engagement and connections that are relevant and meaningful.
In the end, you’ll probably discover that people who feel like a critical part of the community
because of their distinctive contributions are also those people who remain most loyal and
lasting. This cycle of distinctiveness – tapping into the unique qualities of people and allowing
them to influence others – is just one way a community can enhance an organization’s ability
to communicate, grow and remain relevant.
3. Great Online Communities Grow from Shared Purpose
After looking at all these examples, we can look back at our original question: what makes a
community a community? Shared purpose, or people coming together to achieve a goal or solve
a problem. Golf players want to know which clubs to buy. Sephora consumers want the latest
beauty tips. Marketers want inspiration for new campaigns.
Your organization may have a larger goal for your community, like ticket deflection, member
retention, or increased revenue, but we always have to come back to the basics. We create
communities for people, people who want to connect and learn about something together.
How can you get back to or discover a shared purpose this year?
4. Great Online Communities are Thoughtfully Moderated
Making sure your online platforms feel safe and enjoyable for all your participants is essential
for the long-term health of your community.
That’s where community moderation becomes so important. And it’s another reason why
having dedicated community management is so important. A large part of becoming a good
online community moderator is knowing how to strike the balance between controlling
conversations to maintain order, contributing to keep conversations fresh, and giving members,
employees or customers enough freedom to feel like they can express themselves. You don’t
want mayhem, but you don’t want to discourage discussions before they even get going.
Members should genuinely feel like the online community is a place where they can express
their knowledge and opinions without being stifled, but having guidelines helps protect you
and the community.
8 BENEFITS OF BRANDED ONLINE COMMUNITIES
Benefits from a branded community trickle down to increase satisfaction, revenue, and help
grow entire organizations, including growing customer loyalty. With a community, you can:

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 Create real connections
 Stand out from the competition with a better customer experience
 Generate leads and acquire new members
 Improve your products and programs by gathering and addressing feedback
 Decrease support costs by crowdsourcing support
 Increase revenue through in-community advertising and more
 Drive referrals by giving your advocates a voice in the community
 Grow your organization
3.3.2 Understand the impact of online communities on individuals and organizations.
Benefits of online and/or social communities for organizations
You can benefit from online communities in many ways. They provide insights in customers’
preferences and needs, can increase customer retention and loyalty, improve reputation and
thought leadership, decrease support costs, and allow more collaborative ways of working,
including crowdsourcing.
Customer support and social customer service
Online communities can get filled with members who are eager to help others. When customers
post questions about products or services, there is a good chance that another member of the
community will answer the question, and that answer will be there for anyone else who thinks
up the same question. This doesn’t mean a community for customer support should only be
run by customers themselves.
Self-supporting customer support communities require a high degree of community
maturation. You need to offer other ways of support as well and actively participate, certainly
in the early stages. Articles and forums help to educate customers as well, leading to fewer
issues. There is a strong link between online communities, social business and information
management. This, way an online community can lower support costs. Furthermore, it’s not
just about lowering costs. Probably even more important is growing customer loyalty by being
supportive. The first rule of community engagement is listening. When done in a customer
support, this is even more important.
Not responding via social channels such as communities can lead up to a 15 percent increase
in churn rate for existing customers according to Gartner. It’s probably the strongest reason
why we can’t ignore social customer service anymore. If customers expect response, and they

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don’t get it the result will be a loss of business. Nothing is worth more than a satisfied customer.
Unfortunately, the importance of customer satisfaction and customer service is still overlooked
in social media marketing but also in virtually all marketing tactics and approaches.
Social collaboration
When people are brought together in a community to discuss new ideas or address problems,
unexpected solutions are often the result. This is one of the main reasons why internal
communities become more popular. However, public communities can also be used for
collaboration if they are properly designed for it and enable you to identify and involve the
members in a mutually relevant way. This can be used for co-creation or crowdsourcing efforts
whereby members are involved to strive towards a common goal with you and thus feel
involved.
An online community creates a space available around the clock for customers, suppliers,
employees, and partners to share ideas and collaborate. Online communities are not only
available more in terms of time, but also accommodate more people, leading to jumps in
innovation that meetings in person could never hope to match. Your personal communities can
be great ways to invite people to collaborate as well, especially if you have a strong, engaged
and focused community. It’s another reason why looking after your personal community is
important. Content marketing plays an important role here too.
Reputation
Another great thing about online customer and branded communities is that the community
members freely discuss the pros and cons of what we do, have to offer and share. If members
of the community are happy with what we do, it’s likely that they will share their praises with
the rest of the community and beyond. This reputation will spread outside the community as
well.
When participating in communities, being transparent and letting your audience know about
you is important. Typically, it’s easier to establish credibility when you show the face behind
your profile and activities instead of being elusive.
Providing solutions and being a trusted advisor
When customers have questions or concerns about services, they tend to search for the answers
on the Internet. Keywords from online customer communities or topic- and content-related

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communities will show up in search results. For this reason, online communities can serve as
great places for customers to find answers to their research questions.
When we join relevant communities and actively participate, prospective customers can find
us. Members who appreciate the content and answers we provide will discover our solutions
and also start seeing us as trusted advisors. When we participate in our own branded and online
communities, this will strengthen reputation and retention. Trusted advisorship and reputation
also are called thought leadership and in a social media context increasingly “influencership”.
But there’s a difference.
Saving costs
In good customer communities, customers interact with one another and questions get
answered by other community members. Customer communities can lead to cheaper costs in
support but also in up-selling, generating new contacts, etc.
Gartner states that if organizations integrate communities into their customer support, it can
lead to cost reductions of up to 50 percent. An average of 75 percent of all customer interactions
threaten to undermine the customer’s attraction to specific brands in 2012, making it critical
for customer service organizations to figure out a way to come together and compose new
customer service processes. The cost savings will come through by the amount of calls to the
community; the cost will be less than 5 percent of the cost of a technical support agent. By
2014, organizations integrating communities into customer services will realize the cost
reduction, and the reduction will range from 10 to 50 percent.
Attention: it’s important to prioritize and respond in due time. There is a cost in being too late,
in an offline world as well.
Customer loyalty
The most powerful sales increases come from communities where customer retention/loyalty
is the goal and helping existing customers to succeed better the focus. The other way around,
as said, failing to use community efforts for essential yet crucial business functions such as
customer support, can lead to diminished loyalty.
According to Gartner, customer fallout will drive down customer satisfaction into 70 percent
of organizations if they fail to integrate communities into support. With that said, there will
also be unsuccessful community deployments. Unsuccessful deployments happen when an
organization believes that if it creates community self -help sites, customers will flock to it. It

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 is also believed that these deployments can operate purely by peer to peer communities with
no administration. This perception is incorrect, companies should provide moderation.

3.3.3 Understand the monetization opportunities provided by online communities:

 Create a membership site

 Sell an online course
 Start a coaching program
 Promote products as an affiliate
 Advertising
 Sell branded merchandise
 Ask for donations
 Start monetizing your community

Create a membership site

This is one of the best ways to monetize an online community. Membership sites allow you to
leverage the interest your people already have in your content.
You can start by creating free content for your website that captures audience attention and
gets them hooked. Once you see demand for your content growing, you add a paywall into the
mix. This means that people will need to sign up for paid memberships to access certain pieces
of exclusive content.
You can easily add payment options for subscriptions to your site through Tribe and Zapier,
giving your fans the chance to pay through Stripe or PayPal.
The key is finding the right value to offer to your paid subscribers and one of the best ways to
determine your content strategy is by surveying your community members.
For instance, the Harley Owners Group offers members not just “Insider” content, but also
archive access, roadside assistance, and a “touring handbook”.
Options for your members may include:
 Access to bonus information or content
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 Premium eBooks, webinars, and videos
 Discounted event and course prices
 Profile customization options
 Extensive archive access
Sell an online course
Running an online course is another great way to monetize your community. The online e-
learning market was estimated to be worth around $101 billion in 2019. In 2026, it is projected
to reach $167 billion.
Courses allow you to curate valuable knowledge into a useful tool for your audience. If your
customers already love the tips and tricks that you share in your community, they’ll appreciate
the chance to learn more.
The key to success with online courses is picking the right idea. Start by looking at your website
analytics and finding out which topics your customers visit most often.
You can also think about the kind of issues that people in your industry face and examine what
your competitors are doing to help customers just like yours.
The more you know about your audience, the better.
Remember, when creating an online course, it’s important to go beyond high-level overviews
of topics. Get deep into a specific issue or concern that your customer has and deliver the value
they can’t get anywhere else.
Extra resources like videos, quizzes, and tools that your audience can use to increase their
understanding can be very helpful.
Start a coaching program
Similar to online courses, coaching programs are an excellent way to monetize your expertise.
Self-development is a trending concept in the digital world, and your community is sure to
have skills they’d like to improve with your help.
If you have expertise in a certain area, you can offer coaching without even having to create a
product upfront. Like consulting, coaching means that you listen to the unique needs of your
customer and offer advice specific to them.
You can start with one-on-one interactions where people pay for a snippet of your time to help
them with a specific problem.

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If you find a lot of your followers have similar problems, you may decide to begin a group
coaching format instead, where people can sign up for larger webinar-style classes. Group
coaching is a great way to generate more income at once, and you can even offer one-on-one
sessions at the same time.
Promote products as an affiliate
Affiliate marketing stands out as one of the simplest strategies for monetizing your online
presence. About 81% of brands use affiliate marketing to drive more sales to their store, which
makes it easy to find a company you can work with.
The key to making your fortune here is choosing the products that appeal most to your
community. Search for items that you know your followers will be interested in.
Basically, you should stick to products that are relevant to your niche and target audience as
this will help you appear more authentic compared to other advertisers online.
The great thing about affiliate marketing is that you can advertise several products at once.
Plus, you can add affiliate marketing as an extra avenue of profit to any other strategies you’re
using to monetize your online audience. Affiliate marketing works brilliantly alongside content
marketing, online courses, and more.
Advertising
Native advertising is another excellent solution for generating revenue from a community.
These days, companies of all sizes want to strengthen their connection with their audience by
advertising on various platforms.
If you already have a strong following for your website or magazine, then you can appeal to a
lot of brands in search of promotional reach.
There are various ways to advertise on your website and create cash as a result. For instance,
you can have the companies that want to work with you pay for you to place a banner ad inside
your community.
This is the most popular advertising option and Tribe allows you to easily display a banner at
the top of your community’s home page feed.
Another option could be to have sponsored content added to your site. For instance, if you run
a community that’s all about SEO, and a marketing agency wants to advertise on it, they could
write a blog post for your community with the top tips on what to look for in an SEO agency.

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This sponsored post would link back to the other company’s website, and make the brand look
good to your customers.
Sell branded merchandise
If you gain a significant following online, then there’s a chance that your community will begin
to feel an emotional connection with you. This could mean that they’re keen to show their
support of your brand by purchasing products with your logo or colors on them.
If you’ve ever proudly worn a customized t-shirt with the name of a podcast company you love
on it, you’ll know how valuable branded merchandise can be.
Thanks to print-on-demand tools, you can allow your customers to choose from a range of
different branded products, from mugs and hoodies to pieces of home artwork.
Branded merchandise is excellent for making your followers feel like a more dedicated part of
the community.
For instance, the Couch Surfing store allows customers to show their appreciation of the brand
through t-shirts, journals, and more. The products they sell are all relevant to the company’s
focus on travel too, such as hoodies, and stickers that you can place on your car.

Ask for donations

Finally, if you don’t want to sell to your community, and you can’t think of any branded
products or specific items that you’d like to advertise, consider donations.
Unlike other monetization options which require a like-for-like exchange of value, donations
are all about helping a company to grow. If you stand for values that you believe that your
customers appreciate, then they may be willing to donate to help your business grow.

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To receive donations, you need to have a deep emotional connection with your audience that
generates some intangible value.
For instance, you might be able to get donations if you convince your audience that your
content can help them to improve the amount they sell on their own websites.
You could also convince people to donate to your cause so that you can continue creating the
videos that they find entertaining.
It’s extremely easy to implement donation opportunities into your community, as all you need
to do is create a donation form using a form builder.
To make donations more likely, remember to thank your audience for what they give you. A
bonus sticker on their member profile that shows they’ve donated could be a great way to show
your appreciation.
Start monetizing your community
People will always be the most valuable asset a business can have. The more loyal followers
you gather for your organization or brand, the more you can leverage their dedication and
passion for your company.
Once you have a thriving community, there are dozens of great ways to monetize it, whether
you choose to sell courses and coaching, or you prefer to brand products and sell them online.
The key to your success will be thinking about how you can successfully generate profit from
your followers, without damaging the relationship you’ve built. Basically, you need to balance
your brand reputation with your need to make an income.

3.4 The cloud

3.4.1 Understand the concept, use and impact of cloud storage.
What is cloud storage?
Cloud storage allows you to save data and files in an off-site location that you access either
through the public internet or a dedicated private network connection. Data that you transfer
off-site for storage becomes the responsibility of a third-party cloud provider. The provider
hosts, secures, manages, and maintains the servers and associated infrastructure and ensures
you have access to the data whenever you need it.
Cloud storage delivers a cost-effective, scalable alternative to storing files on on-premise hard
drives or storage networks. Computer hard drives can only store a finite amount of data. When

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users run out of storage, they need to transfer files to an external storage device. Traditionally,
organizations built and maintained storage area networks (SANs) to archive data and files.
SANs are expensive to maintain, however, because as stored data grows, companies have to
invest in adding servers and infrastructure to accommodate increased demand.
Cloud storage services provide elasticity, which means you can scale capacity as your data
volumes increase or dial down capacity if necessary. By storing data in a cloud, your
organization save by paying for storage technology and capacity as a service, rather than
investing in the capital costs of building and maintaining in-house storage networks. You pay
for only exactly the capacity you use. While your costs might increase over time to account for
higher data volumes, you don’t have to overprovision storage networks in anticipation of
increased data volume.

How does it work?

Like on-premise storage networks, cloud storage uses servers to save data; however, the data
is sent to servers at an off-site location. Most of the servers you use are virtual machines hosted
on a physical server. As your storage needs increase, the provider creates new virtual servers
to meet demand.
Typically, you connect to the storage cloud either through the internet or a dedicated private
connection, using a web portal, website, or a mobile app. The server with which you connect
forwards your data to a pool of servers located in one or more data centers, depending on the
size of the cloud provider’s operation.
As part of the service, providers typically store the same data on multiple machines for
redundancy. This way, if a server is taken down for maintenance or suffers an outage, you can
still access your data.
Cloud storage is available in private, public and hybrid clouds.
 Public storage clouds: In this model, you connect over the internet to a storage cloud
that’s maintained by a cloud provider and used by other companies. Providers typically make
services accessible from just about any device, including smartphones and desktops and let
you scale up and down as needed.
 Private cloud storage: Private cloud storage setups typically replicate the cloud
model, but they reside within your network, leveraging a physical server to create instances

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of virtual servers to increase capacity. You can choose to take full control of an on-premise
private cloud or engage a cloud storage provider to build a dedicated private cloud that you
can access with a private connection. Organizations that might prefer private cloud storage
include banks or retail companies due to the private nature of the data they process and store.
 Hybrid cloud storage: This model combines elements of private and public clouds,
giving organizations a choice of which data to store in which cloud. For instance, highly
regulated data subject to strict archiving and replication requirements is usually more suited
to a private cloud environment, whereas less sensitive data (such as email that doesn’t contain
business secrets) can be stored in the public cloud. Some organizations use hybrid clouds to
supplement their internal storage networks with public cloud storage.
Advantages
 Off-site management: Your cloud provider assumes responsibility for maintaining
and protecting the stored data. This frees your staff from tasks associated with storage, such
as procurement, installation, administration, and maintenance. As such, your staff can focus
on other priorities.
 Quick implementation: Using a cloud service accelerates the process of setting up and
adding to your storage capabilities. With cloud storage, you can provision the service and
start using it within hours or days, depending on how much capacity is involved.
 Cost-effective: As mentioned, you pay for the capacity you use. This allows your
organization to treat cloud storage costs as an ongoing operating expense instead of a capital
expense with the associated upfront investments and tax implications.
 Scalability: Growth constraints are one of the most severe limitations of on-premise
storage. With cloud storage, you can scale up as much as you need. Capacity is virtually
unlimited.
 Business continuity: Storing data offsite supports business continuity in the event that
a natural disaster or terrorist attack cuts access to your premises.
Disadvantages
 Security: Security concerns are common with cloud-based services. Cloud storage
providers try to secure their infrastructure with up-to-date technologies and practices, but
occasional breaches have occurred, creating discomfort with users.

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 Administrative control: Being able to view your data, access it, and move it at will is
another common concern with cloud resources. Offloading maintenance and management to
a third party offers advantages but also can limit your control over your data.
 Latency: Delays in data transmission to and from the cloud can occur as a result of
traffic congestion, especially when you use shared public internet connections. However,
companies can minimize latency by increasing connection bandwidth.
 Regulatory compliance: Certain industries, such as healthcare and finance, have to
comply with strict data privacy and archival regulations, which may prevent companies from
using cloud storage for certain types of files, such as medical and investment records. If you
can, choose a cloud storage provider that supports compliance with any industry regulations
impacting your business.

3.4.2 Understand the concept, use and impact of cloud computing.

What is cloud computing?
Cloud computing is a general term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over
the internet. These services are divided into three main categories or types of cloud computing:
infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and software as a service (SaaS).
A cloud can be private or public. A public cloud sells services to anyone on the internet. A
private cloud is a proprietary network or a data center that supplies hosted services to a limited
number of people, with certain access and permissions settings. Private or public, the goal of
cloud computing is to provide easy, scalable access to computing resources and IT services.
Cloud infrastructure involves the hardware and software components required for proper
implementation of a cloud computing model. Cloud computing can also be thought of as utility
computing or on-demand computing.
The name cloud computing was inspired by the cloud symbol that's often used to represent the
internet in flowcharts and diagrams.
How does cloud computing work?
Cloud computing works by enabling client devices to access data and cloud applications over
the internet from remote physical servers, databases and computers.
An internet network connection links the front end, which includes the accessing client device,
browser, network and cloud software applications, with the back end, which consists of

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databases, servers and computers. The back end functions as a repository, storing data that is
accessed by the front end.
Communications between the front and back ends are managed by a central server. The central
server relies on protocols to facilitate the exchange of data. The central server uses both
software and middleware to manage connectivity between different client devices and cloud
servers. Typically, there is a dedicated server for each individual application or workload.
Cloud computing relies heavily on virtualization and automation technologies. Virtualization
enables the easy abstraction and provisioning of services and underlying cloud systems into
logical entities that users can request and utilize. Automation and
accompanying orchestration capabilities provide users with a high degree of self-service to
provision resources, connect services and deploy workloads without direct intervention from
the cloud provider's IT staff.
Types of cloud computing services
Cloud computing can be separated into three general service delivery categories or forms of
cloud computing:
1. IaaS. IaaS providers, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), supply a virtual
server instance and storage, as well as application programming interfaces (APIs) that let users
migrate workloads to a virtual machine (VM). Users have an allocated storage capacity and
can start, stop, access and configure the VM and storage as desired. IaaS providers offer small,
medium, large, extra-large, and memory- or compute-optimized instances, in addition to
enabling customization of instances, for various workload needs. The IaaS cloud model is
closest to a remote data center for business users.
2. PaaS. In the PaaS model, cloud providers host development tools on their
infrastructures. Users access these tools over the internet using APIs, web portals or gateway
software. PaaS is used for general software development, and many PaaS providers host the
software after it's developed. Common PaaS products include Salesforce's Lightning Platform,
AWS Elastic Beanstalk and Google App Engine.
3. SaaS. SaaS is a distribution model that delivers software applications over the internet;
these applications are often called web services. Users can access SaaS applications and
services from any location using a computer or mobile device that has internet access. In the

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SaaS model, users gain access to application software and databases. One common example of
a SaaS application is Microsoft 365 for productivity and email services.

Three cloud service categories

Cloud computing deployment models

Private cloud services are delivered from a business's data center to internal users. With a
private cloud, an organization builds and maintains its own underlying cloud infrastructure.
This model offers the versatility and convenience of the cloud, while preserving the
management, control and security common to local data centers. Internal users might or might
not be billed for services through IT chargeback. Common private cloud technologies and
vendors include VMware and OpenStack.
In the public cloud model, a third-party cloud service provider (CSP) delivers the cloud service
over the internet. Public cloud services are sold on demand, typically by the minute or hour,
though long-term commitments are available for many services. Customers only pay for the
central processing unit cycles, storage or bandwidth they consume. Leading public CSPs
include AWS, Microsoft Azure, IBM and Google Cloud Platform (GCP), as well as IBM,
Oracle and Tencent.
A hybrid cloud is a combination of public cloud services and an on-premises private cloud,
with orchestration and automation between the two. Companies can run mission-critical
workloads or sensitive applications on the private cloud and use the public cloud to handle

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workload bursts or spikes in demand. The goal of a hybrid cloud is to create a unified,
automated, scalable environment that takes advantage of all that a public cloud infrastructure
can provide, while still maintaining control over mission-critical data.

The three main cloud deployment models

In addition, organizations are increasingly embracing a multi-cloud model, or the use of
multiple IaaS providers. This enables applications to migrate between different cloud providers
or to even operate concurrently across two or more cloud providers.
Organizations adopt multi-cloud for various reasons. For example, they could do so to
minimize the risk of a cloud service outage or to take advantage of more competitive pricing
from a particular provider. Multi-cloud implementation and application development can be a
challenge because of the differences between cloud providers' services and APIs.
Multi-cloud deployments should become easier, however, as providers' services and APIs
converge and become more standardized through industry initiatives such as the Open Cloud
Computing Interface.
A community cloud, which is shared by several organizations, supports a particular community
that shares the same concerns -- e.g., the same mission, policy, security requirements and
compliance considerations. A community cloud is either managed by these organizations or a
third-party vendor and can be on or off premises.

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Characteristics and advantages of cloud computing
Cloud computing has been around for several decades now, and today's cloud computing
infrastructure demonstrates an array of characteristics that have brought meaningful benefits
for businesses of all sizes. Some of the main characteristics of cloud computing are the
following:
 Self-service provisioning. End users can spin up compute resources for almost any
type of workload on demand. An end user can provision computing capabilities, such as server
time and network storage, eliminating the traditional need for IT administrators to provision
and manage compute resources.
 Elasticity. Companies can freely scale up as computing needs increase and scale down
again as demands decrease. This eliminates the need for massive investments in local
infrastructure, which might or might not remain active.
 Pay per use. Compute resources are measured at a granular level, enabling users to pay
only for the resources and workloads they use.
 Workload resilience. CSPs often implement redundant resources to ensure resilient
storage and to keep users' important workloads running -- often across multiple global regions.
 Migration flexibility. Organizations can move certain workloads to or from the cloud
-- or to different cloud platforms -- as desired or automatically for better cost savings or to use
new services as they emerge.
 Broad network access. A user can access cloud data or upload data to the cloud from
anywhere with an internet connection using any device.
 Multi-tenancy and resource pooling. Multi-tenancy lets numerous customers share
the same physical infrastructures or the same applications yet still retain privacy and security
over their own data. With resource pooling, cloud providers service numerous customers from
the same physical resources. The resource pools of the cloud providers should be large and
flexible enough so they can service the requirements of multiple customers.

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 An overview of cloud features and characteristics
These characteristics support a variety of important benefits for modern business, including the
following:
 Cost management. Using cloud infrastructure can reduce capital costs, as
organizations don't have to spend massive amounts of money buying and maintaining
equipment. This reduces their capital expenditure costs -- as they don't have to invest in
hardware, facilities, utilities or building large data centers to accommodate their growing
businesses. Additionally, companies don't need large IT teams to handle cloud data center
operations because they can rely on the expertise of their cloud providers' teams. Cloud
computing also cuts costs related to downtime. Since downtime rarely happens in cloud
computing, companies don't have to spend time and money to fix any issues that might be
related to downtime.
 Data and workload mobility. Storing information in the cloud means that users can
access it from anywhere with any device with just an internet connection. That means users
don't have to carry around USB drives, an external hard drive or multiple CDs to access their
data. Users can access corporate data via smartphones and other mobile devices, enabling
remote employees to stay up to date with co-workers and customers. End users can easily
process, store, retrieve and recover resources in the cloud. In addition, cloud vendors provide
all the upgrades and updates automatically, saving time and effort.

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 Business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR). All organizations worry about
data loss. Storing data in the cloud guarantees that users can always access their data even if
their devices, e.g., laptops or smartphones, are inoperable. With cloud-based services,
organizations can quickly recover their data in the event of emergencies, such as natural
disasters or power outages. This benefits BCDR and helps ensure that workloads and data are
available even if the business suffers damage or disruption.
Disadvantages of cloud computing
Despite the clear upsides to relying on cloud services, cloud computing carries its own
challenges for IT professionals:
 Cloud security. Security is often considered the greatest challenge facing cloud
computing. When relying on the cloud, organizations risk data breaches, hacking of APIs and
interfaces, compromised credentials and authentication issues. Furthermore, there is a lack of
transparency regarding how and where sensitive information entrusted to the cloud provider is
handled. Security demands careful attention to cloud configurations and business policy and
practice.
 Cost unpredictability. Pay-as-you-go subscription plans for cloud use, along with
scaling resources to accommodate fluctuating workload demands, can make it tough to define
and predict final costs. Cloud costs are also frequently interdependent, with one cloud service
often utilizing one or more other cloud services -- all of which appear in the recurring monthly
bill. This can create additional unplanned cloud costs.
 Lack of capability and expertise. With cloud-supporting technologies rapidly
advancing, organizations are struggling to keep up with the growing demand for tools and
employees with the proper skill sets and knowledge needed to architect, deploy, and manage
workloads and data in a cloud.
 IT governance. The emphasis on do-it-yourself capability in cloud computing can
make IT governance difficult, as there is no control over provisioning, deprovisioning and
management of infrastructure operations. This can make it challenging to properly
manage risks and security, IT compliance and data quality.
 Compliance with industry laws. When transferring data from on-premises local
storage into cloud storage, it can be difficult to manage compliance with industry regulations

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through a third party. It's important to know where data and workloads are actually hosted in
order to maintain regulatory compliance and proper business governance.
 Management of multiple clouds. Every cloud is different, so multi-cloud
deployments can disjoint efforts to address more general cloud computing challenges.
 Cloud performance. Performance -- such as latency -- is largely beyond the control of
the organization contracting cloud services with a provider. Network and provider outages can
interfere with productivity and disrupt business processes if organizations are not prepared with
contingency plans.
 Building a private cloud. Architecting, building and managing private clouds --
whether for its own purpose or for a hybrid cloud goal -- can be a daunting task for IT
departments and staff.
 Cloud migration. The process of moving applications and other data to a cloud
infrastructure often causes complications. Migration projects frequently take longer than
anticipated and go over budget. The issue of workload and data repatriation -- moving from the
cloud back to a local data center -- is often overlooked until unforeseen cost or performance
problems arise.
 Vendor lock-in. Often, switching between cloud providers can cause significant issues.
This includes technical incompatibilities, legal and regulatory limitations and substantial costs
incurred from sizable data migrations.

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