What Is a Public Cloud? - How It Works & Benefits

What is a public cloud? The term "public cloud" refers to an information technology architecture in which a third-party provider handles the management of computer resources and provides them on demand to various clients through the Internet. As an alternative to hosting their own data center, businesses may outsource their IT needs to public cloud service providers and pay a monthly or per-use price for access to cloud-based services. As the cloud has been heavily used in recent years, businesses are actively hiring employees possessing the best Cloud Computing Certification. If you possess questions such as, what is an example of public cloud or How to do public clouds function, then this article is curated to answer your questions. 

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What Is a Public Cloud?

So the question arises, “what are public clouds?”. To answer your question, in public cloud computing, a service provider makes their system's resources accessible to anybody with an internet connection. Storage space, software, and virtual machines are only a few examples of the resources available. Without the public cloud infrastructure, it would be impossible for a single company to achieve the scalability and resource sharing that is now feasible. 

Some public cloud services provide their services without charging their customers anything, while others charge on a subscription or per-use basis. Anyone may make use of the cloud's services, with pricing that varies in accordance with how much of a user's resources they need. Big data organizations should plan their migration to the cloud carefully before selecting a cloud service provider. 

Businesses, educational institutions, or government agencies may own, operate, and administer public clouds, or a hybrid of these may exist. Examples of public cloud providers are Amazon Web Services or AWS, Microsoft Azure, IBM Blue Cloud, Sun Cloud, and Google Cloud. So, the next time you are sitting in for that cloud computing interview and you’re asked, “what is a public cloud with example?” we hope you will be able to list the top cloud service providers.

What is Public Cloud Computing?

We have learned about what is a public cloud, now before diving more into why a public cloud, we will touch briefly about what is public cloud computing. Public cloud computing refers to a type of cloud computing in which cloud services, such as computing resources, storage, and applications, are provided by third-party service providers over the internet. Public cloud computing is highly scalable, flexible, and cost-effective, making it an attractive option for individuals and organizations of all sizes. 

Why Public Cloud?

The public cloud is appealing to many large companies because it allows them to increase their Computing resources when needed without investing in additional physical IT infrastructure. An organization may, for example, get a public cloud deployment model to use virtual machines in place of buying an actual desktop computer. The remote desktop may be enabled or disabled in a matter of minutes and moved to a new location at any time. 

Since data kept in the public cloud is replicated and available from anywhere, it has become a popular option for archival purposes. Information that is seldom accessed may be kept inexpensively in the public cloud, which offers a variety of storage options. 

Since businesses that host applications with spikes in demand for their services may benefit greatly from the scalability and flexibility of the public cloud, it is a natural fit for these situations. 

How Does Public Cloud Infrastructure Work? 

Let us discuss what public cloud infrastructure is. The term "cloud infrastructure" refers to the collection of technology and software that makes it possible to provide cloud services to end users. Cloud infrastructure relies heavily on networking hardware, server hardware, and data storage devices. The hardware abstraction layer in cloud architecture allows for the virtualization of resources, which in turn helps to reduce costs through economies of scale.

Public cloud providers employ a multi-tenant environment architecture to minimize clients' processing and storage costs. Multi-tenant environments reduce the cost of computing resources but may raise privacy problems for organizations with sensitive data. Each element of cloud infrastructure contributes to the overall goal of facilitating the smooth deployment and distribution of apps and other services for these businesses. The main components of the public cloud infrastructure are network, servers, storage and virtualization. 

How Is the Public Cloud Structured?

What does public cloud mean in terms of its structure? The public cloud is equipped with fail-safes to ensure your data is safe. To make sure catastrophe recovery goes off without a hitch, a service provider could keep copies of customer data in many locations. Most people believe that information saved in the cloud is secure there. 

Depending on the nature of the service being offered, the structure of public clouds may vary. SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS are the top three models now available. 

To put it simply, SaaS is a cloud architecture in which a supplier makes available cloud-based software to end users. The SaaS program is accessed through the web. With this setup, users won't need to download and set up any software on their local devices. It lessens the business's reliance on hardware, which in turn lowers the price of both support and upkeep. 

To create software without worrying about the underlying infrastructure, businesses may make use of the "platform as a service" (PaaS) computing paradigm. Providers essentially create and maintain an optimum setting, which they then make available to their customers through high-speed Internet. The term "platform as a service" (PaaS) refers to a collection of services that may be used to build and manage software applications. 

If you're unfamiliar with the term, "infrastructure as a service" (IaaS) refers to a model in which an enterprise transfers all of its data center operations to a third-party cloud provider. The provider is responsible for hosting all hardware, including storage servers, networking hardware, and virtualization software. Infrastructure as a service simplifies moving to the cloud. It is more cost-effective to use the system than to buy and maintain hardware locally in many cases.

Benefits and Challenges of Public Clouds 

With the usage of public clouds in businesses today, there arises many challenges along with the benefits a business reaps off it. These benefits and challenges have been mentioned below:

Benefits 

• Low Cost: Pricing for public clouds typically works on a per-user basis. Price increases are seen when more customers are added. Clouds may be purchased in a variety of ways, with some charging more for more storage. As it is on a per-user basis, there is no overhead that you would need to account for, making it a low-cost option. Hence check the Architecting on AWS price and how it would be a more efficient option. 
• Location Independent: Since the services provided by a public cloud are accessible over the internet, they are not restricted to a specific physical location. A separate server room in each office is unnecessary for an organization.
• Save Time: By outsourcing the tasks of setting up network connections, releasing software updates, configuring and assembling servers, and so on, to the cloud service provider, the user of a public cloud saves valuable time and effort. 
• Quickly and easily set up: A public cloud may be quickly purchased by companies through the internet, and then remotely installed and configured by working with a cloud service provider. This whole process can be completed in a matter of hours. 
• Business Agility: Business agility offers a structure for the company to adapt to new circumstances without sacrificing the demands of the whole. Public cloud computing allows for agility because of its adaptability and scalability. With the use of IT, resources may be deployed rapidly and scaled up or down to suit fluctuations in the market. This adaptability allows businesses to launch new offerings and respond to shifting market demands. 
• Scalability and reliability: Services in the public cloud are scalable and dependable. Applications deployed in the public cloud have the flexibility to scale up or out as needed to deal with fluctuating resource demands. 

Challenges 

Along with the benefits provided by the public cloud, there exists a set of challenges for public clouds to overcome. Some of these challenges have been mentioned below:

• Low Security: When using a public cloud, security measures are often supplied by the cloud service providers themselves. There may not be sufficient privacy and security rules in place for data kept in the public cloud, albeit this may vary by industry and data type. These gaps make public cloud infrastructures more inviting targets for hackers, especially those using sophisticated malware.
• Performance: Delays in availability, in the network, and the processing of applications are the primary causes of performance problems in the public cloud.
• Less customizable: Due to its multi-tenant nature, public clouds don't let users make many adjustments to the way their data is stored and accessed. Particularly unfavorable is this to businesses with intricate network designs.

Public Cloud Security 

To automate security activities and monitor the system for irregularities, providers engage professional security personnel for handling public cloud security. Once you deploy your application on the public cloud, security is not your responsibility and has to be handled by the personnel at the public cloud providers.

Since the public cloud receives consistent revenue from a large number of consumers simultaneously, each client is only responsible for a tiny portion of these expenditures.

Private Cloud vs Public Cloud vs Hybrid Cloud

So we usually come across the terms ‘public cloud’, ‘private cloud’, and ‘hybrid cloud’ in cloud computing. So, what are public, private and hybrid clouds? 

Computing in which information technology services are provided through the internet is known as "the public cloud." The most widely used kind of cloud service, the "public cloud," provides users with a wide range of options for both computing needs and how those needs might be met. 

Any cloud service that is only used by one company is known as "the private cloud." When using a private cloud, your data and applications are kept securely away from any other users. The data center infrastructure might either be housed on-site or provided by a remote service provider. In this model, each client receives their own dedicated set of computer resources over a private network. 

The term "hybrid cloud" refers to any cloud architecture setting where both public and private cloud services are used. Usually, the infrastructure is coordinated as a single unit. Applications and data workloads may use both public and private cloud deployments, depending on the business and technical policies of the deploying enterprise. 

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Conclusion 

Businesses should use cloud computing because it helps them to expand, be flexible, and devote resources to running the company rather than the IT infrastructure. Working with a cloud service provider is one of the greatest ways to maximize the benefits of cloud computing for your company. If you are a person looking for a career shift into cloud computing to be hired by multinational companies such as Amazon and Microsoft, KnowledgeHut best Cloud Computing Certification is here to offer you everything to achieve the same. We hope that this read has covered the main topics of discussion, what is meant by public cloud, and many more.