Some of the terminology used in dealing with the Amazon Web Services cloud can be confusing at first. Amazon provides a much more detailed set of guides, and information on Wikipedia can also help those who want to get a fuller understanding of the technologies involved. Here we attempt to list and explain some of the basic terms you may encounter.
SaaS
Software as a Service is a new name for an updated approach to an old solution. Instead of packaging and deploying software to end user desktops or client’s servers, the software is offered on a subscription basis via a web application. User connect using a standard web browser, login, and make use of the software. This keeps the amount of money invested in the software by the client low, as they do not make a big initial outlay, and provides incentive for the vendors to keep making updates as clients can cancel their subscriptions. This also makes deployment and maintenance much easier, as the vendor does not need to package and test the software server on multiple different server configurations and can deploy updates much more rapidly by simply pushing them out to the production hosting servers. The client no longer needs to keep dedicated hardware or staff to manage it. SaaS does not always make sense, but where it does, it has become a very popular solution for many users. CoSolvent Community Server is currently offered exclusively via a SaaS hosting model.
AWS
Amazon Web Services. Amazon.com runs a virtualized “cloud” environment, where computer resources can be rented on an as-needed basis. The overall economics offered by the scale of Amazon’s reach are quite attractive. Instead of purchasing (or renting) a physical server, or using a virtual private host, user’s can start and stop as many “instances” of virtual servers as they want (and can pay for) quickly and inexpensively via AWS, billing is typically per hour of “CPU” time, per GB of data stored, and per GB of bandwidth used, without having to by “blocks” of any of these.
Cloud
In this context the term refers to the paradigm of “Cloud Computing” where a service provider (such as Amazon.com) offers a networked service for computing resources. The term is somewhat vague because different vendors have adopted it and used it to refer to products that are sometimes very different. The basic concept is that computer resources such as CPU power, data storage, etc… can by turned on and off “at will” within the cloud without the user having know or see the actual details. In our context, we are dealing with the Amazon Web Services “cloud” which offers a strong value proposition for those wishing to do small to medium scale internet hosting, as well as other computer activities.
Image
In the AWS system the base configuration and software for a server is packaged into an “Image”. Images can be stored, created, and deleted, as well as launched. An image can be launched as many times are you want, each time it acts as the “template” to start a running server.
Instance
In order to help differentiate between a virtualized server running in the AWS “cloud” and the actual, physical servers used to run the cloud, Amazon calls the former an “Instance”. When an “Image” is launched, it creates a new “Instance” which uses the “Image” as its initial template. Amazon supports several different “sizes” for “Instances”, although depending on the “Image” it may only be suitable for launching into certain sizes (this is mainly a 32 bit vs. 64 bit issue). Each “size” has a different price associated with its use, billed based on hours of CPU time.
Terminology
Some of the terminology used in dealing with the Amazon Web Services cloud can be confusing at first. Amazon provides a much more detailed set of guides, and information on Wikipedia can also help those who want to get a fuller understanding of the technologies involved. Here we attempt to list and explain some of the basic terms you may encounter.
SaaS
Software as a Service is a new name for an updated approach to an old solution. Instead of packaging and deploying software to end user desktops or client’s servers, the software is offered on a subscription basis via a web application. User connect using a standard web browser, login, and make use of the software. This keeps the amount of money invested in the software by the client low, as they do not make a big initial outlay, and provides incentive for the vendors to keep making updates as clients can cancel their subscriptions. This also makes deployment and maintenance much easier, as the vendor does not need to package and test the software server on multiple different server configurations and can deploy updates much more rapidly by simply pushing them out to the production hosting servers. The client no longer needs to keep dedicated hardware or staff to manage it. SaaS does not always make sense, but where it does, it has become a very popular solution for many users. CoSolvent Community Server is currently offered exclusively via a SaaS hosting model.
AWS
Amazon Web Services. Amazon.com runs a virtualized “cloud” environment, where computer resources can be rented on an as-needed basis. The overall economics offered by the scale of Amazon’s reach are quite attractive. Instead of purchasing (or renting) a physical server, or using a virtual private host, user’s can start and stop as many “instances” of virtual servers as they want (and can pay for) quickly and inexpensively via AWS, billing is typically per hour of “CPU” time, per GB of data stored, and per GB of bandwidth used, without having to by “blocks” of any of these.
Cloud
In this context the term refers to the paradigm of “Cloud Computing” where a service provider (such as Amazon.com) offers a networked service for computing resources. The term is somewhat vague because different vendors have adopted it and used it to refer to products that are sometimes very different. The basic concept is that computer resources such as CPU power, data storage, etc… can by turned on and off “at will” within the cloud without the user having know or see the actual details. In our context, we are dealing with the Amazon Web Services “cloud” which offers a strong value proposition for those wishing to do small to medium scale internet hosting, as well as other computer activities.
Image
In the AWS system the base configuration and software for a server is packaged into an “Image”. Images can be stored, created, and deleted, as well as launched. An image can be launched as many times are you want, each time it acts as the “template” to start a running server.
Instance
In order to help differentiate between a virtualized server running in the AWS “cloud” and the actual, physical servers used to run the cloud, Amazon calls the former an “Instance”. When an “Image” is launched, it creates a new “Instance” which uses the “Image” as its initial template. Amazon supports several different “sizes” for “Instances”, although depending on the “Image” it may only be suitable for launching into certain sizes (this is mainly a 32 bit vs. 64 bit issue). Each “size” has a different price associated with its use, billed based on hours of CPU time.