What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services—such as servers, storage, databases, and networking—over the internet. It's cost-efficient, scalable, and follows a pay-as-you-go model.

Cloud Service Models

IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service): Provides virtual servers and storage for users to manage.
PaaS (Platform as a Service): Lets developers deploy apps without managing the underlying infrastructure. (e.g., AWS Elastic Beanstalk)
SaaS (Software as a Service): Delivers software applications via the web. (e.g., Netflix)

Key Characteristics

On-demand self-service for provisioning
Resource pooling across users
Elastic scalability
Measured service for usage tracking

Cloud Deployment Models

Public Cloud: Shared infrastructure offered by providers like AWS or Azure.
Private Cloud: Dedicated environments for a single organization.
Hybrid Cloud: Combines public and private to balance flexibility with security.

Virtualization

Virtualization is the process of turning physical resources into multiple virtual ones to maximize efficiency.

Types

Server Virtualization: Split one server into many virtual servers using hypervisors.
Storage Virtualization: Pool multiple devices into one virtual storage system.
Network Virtualization: Create virtual network infrastructure.
Desktop Virtualization: Host desktops in the cloud, accessible from anywhere.

Networking Basics

Networking allows devices and systems to communicate and share data—it's essential to how cloud services operate.

IP Addresses

IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses (about 4.3 billion unique addresses), but due to device growth, it's running out.
IPv6 was introduced to solve this, using 128-bit addresses—enough for virtually unlimited devices.
Static IPs stay the same (used for servers), while dynamic IPs are temporarily assigned via DHCP.
Subnetting divides networks into smaller segments to organize and secure traffic—common in cloud setups like AWS VPCs.

Routers vs Switches

Routers direct data between different networks—like from your cloud VPC to the internet.
Switches connect devices within the same network and forward data based on MAC addresses.

Protocols and Tools

Key protocols: TCP/IP, HTTP/HTTPS, SMTP, and FTP.
Tools we used:
- ping – test connectivity
- traceroute – trace data path
- curl – make HTTP requests
- ipconfig / ip addr – check IP settings

Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)

We covered the SDLC process, which includes:

Planning
Requirements gathering
Design
Coding
Testing
Deployment
Maintenance

We discussed how cloud engineers are involved in every step—from designing scalable infrastructure to deploying and maintaining cloud environments.

Databases

Databases are essential in every cloud app. We explored:

Relational databases (SQL): Structured data, table-based.
Non-relational (NoSQL): Flexible formats like key-value or document-based.

Cloud Career Paths

A major part of this week was understanding different cloud career paths:

Role	Key Responsibilities
Cloud Engineer	Builds and manages infrastructure, implements IaC, and handles disaster recovery.
DevOps Engineer	Automates testing, deployment, and infrastructure through CI/CD pipelines and monitoring.
Solutions Architect	Designs high-level cloud architectures based on business needs.
Cloud Developer	Builds serverless apps and event-driven systems with cloud-native tools.
Cloud Security Engineer	Implements cloud security controls and responds to incidents.
AI/ML Engineer	Develops and deploys machine learning models using cloud services.
Platform Engineer	Builds tools, templates, and platforms to streamline developer workflows.
Site Reliability Engineer (SRE)	Ensures availability, resilience, and performance of cloud systems.

I really appreciated learning about how flexible the field is—you can transition between paths as your interests grow and your skills evolve.

My Career Direction

Based on what I've learned and what excites me most, I’m particularly interested in:

Containerization and DevOps: Working with tools like Docker and Kubernetes, automating pipelines, and building scalable, resilient systems.
Cloud Architecture & Security: Designing efficient, secure infrastructure and learning how to protect systems in dynamic environments.

To support these goals, I plan to pursue the following certifications:

AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
AWS Certified Security – Specialty
AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional
Explore Kubernetes certifications (CKA, CKAD) down the line

Final Thoughts

Week 1 laid the foundation for everything to come. We covered core cloud concepts, virtualization, networking, SDLC, databases, and career options—all in one week! I’m already excited about the direction I want to take and motivated to keep building on this knowledge in the weeks ahead.

Cloud Engineer Academy Week 1