Businesses that use cloud computing solutions can benefit from several functions and advantages that the cloud environment offers. These benefits range in size from minimal (easier access, consolidated infrastructure) to significant (cost efficiency, no physical repairs). All of these advantages are undoubtedly helpful for businesses, but the majority of them are also present in other technologies. Cloud elasticity, however, is a feature unique to cloud computing.
Cloud elasticity is among the most crucial characteristics of cloud computing and a big selling point for companies looking to migrate from on-premises infrastructure. However, what exactly is cloud elasticity, and what are the advantages of cloud elasticity?
In this blog, we’ll go over everything that you need to understand about elasticity in cloud computing and its importance.
What Is Elasticity in Cloud Computing?
Simply put, elasticity refers to the capacity to expand or reduce the resources used by a cloud-based app. Cloud computing elasticity enables you to scale memory, processing, and storage capacity to satisfy changing demands. Scalability will relieve you of the burden of capacity planning and peak engineering.
Cloud elasticity also restricts you from paying for unused capacity or inactive resources, which means you won’t have to purchase or maintain additional equipment.
Elastic computing is a more efficient alternative to on-premises infrastructure. It is also almost all automated, ensuring that services run smoothly by mitigating slowdowns & interruptions.
Cloud elasticity can be triggered and executed automatically depending on workload trends, or it can be initiated manually. With cloud elasticity, it’s simple to eliminate capacity as demand decreases. By doing so, you only pay for the resources you use at any given time. As a result, you won’t have to engage in or emigrate on-premises infrastructure to match surges in demand.
Why is Cloud Elasticity Important?
Without Cloud Elasticity, organizations would be forced to pay for mostly unused capacity, as well as control and maintain that capacity through patches, OS upgrades, & component failures. Cloud Elasticity defines cloud computing in many ways and distinguishes it from other traditional computing concepts such as client-server, legacy infrastructure, or grid computing.
Cloud Elasticity enables companies in avoiding either over-provisioning (i.e., deploying & allocating more IT resources than are required to satisfy current demands) or under-provisioning (deploying & allocating fewer IT resources than are required to meet current demands).
Over-provisioning companies spend more than is needed to fulfill their needs, simply wasting capital that could be used elsewhere. Even if a company is already using the public cloud, without elasticity, several thousand dollars in unused VMs could be wasted each year.
Under-provisioning can result in an inability to meet existing demand, which can lead to unconscionable latency, client dissatisfaction, as well as ultimately loss of business as customers forego long-term online relationships and shift their business to more efficient companies. As a result, a lack of Cloud Elasticity can result in lost business & serious bottom-line consequences.
What are the Benefits of Cloud Elasticity?
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Agility –
Cloud Elasticity eliminates the necessity to buy, configure, and install new infrastructure while demand changes, allowing companies to meet any unexpected demand, whether because of a seasonal spike, Reddit mention, etc.
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Pay-as-required pricing –
Instead of paying for infrastructure regardless of how it is used, Cloud Elasticity allows companies to pay just for the resources that are utilized at any given time, closely tracking IT expenditures to market demands in real-time. As a result, even if spending fluctuates, companies can ‘right-size’ their infrastructure because elasticity automatically assigns or deallocates resources based on real-time demand. Amazon claims that companies that use its instance scheduler with the EC2 cloud service can save more than 60% compared to firms that do not.
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Efficiency –
The ability to independently adjust cloud resources as necessary as with most automation, allows the IT crew to redirect their attention away from provisioning and toward projects that are more valuable to the firm.
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High Availability –
Because VMs or containers can be reproduced if they seem to be failing, cloud elasticity supports both high availabilities as well as fault tolerance, ensuring that company services are unabated and users do not encounter downtime. This ensures that users have a consistent & predictable experience, even when resources are provisioned or de-provisioned instantaneously and without affecting operations.
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Time-to-market –
Organizations can access capacity in minutes rather than the weeks or months that a traditional procurement method might take.
Cloud Elasticity Use Cases
The primary objective of elasticity in cloud computing is to ensure that the resources allocated correspond to the volume of resources required at any given time. As a result, cloud elasticity is critical in a wide range of use cases. Take a look at some examples:
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E-commerce –
Sales, promotions, and the release of special items on e-commerce websites may attract a much greater number of shoppers than usual. Cloud elasticity enables these sites to allocate resources adequately throughout periods of high demand, allowing customers to complete their purchases.
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IT & SaaS –
SaaS & IT businesses must frequently handle larger fluctuations in both services along with product usage. They must also plan for exponential rise with as few disruptions as possible along the way. Cloud elasticity is required to accomplish this.
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Streaming channels –
Streaming services must manage events like the official launch of a popular latest album, movie, or TV series in a proper manner. For example, Netflix claims that it can add “thousands of virtual servers & petabytes of storage in minutes,” allowing users to continue watching their preferred shows regardless of how many other viewers are watching.
Cloud elasticity is essential in pay-as-you-go services because it enables resources to be constructed dynamically. It is also a highly affordable option for startups because the company is not paying for more infrastructure than is required to get started. In another scenario, elasticity can be beneficial for a company dealing with seasonal sales, such as an e-retailer.
Final Words
After AWS, Microsoft is the world’s second most popular cloud platform. Microsoft is constantly increasing cloud capacity to satisfy the rising demand for Azure and Microsoft cloud services. In terms of market share, it has been rapidly closing the gap with AWS. Microsoft Azure is in high demand and rapidly expanding worldwide public cloud business.
This suggests that the global public cloud sector has a bright future ahead of it, with cloud demand rising by the day. This means that now is the best time to learn the skills you’ll need to progress in your career.
Whether you’re setting up a short-term testing workload or transferring production capabilities over time, determining your Cloud budget and utilizing Azure efficiently is critical. With thorough Azure training, you will learn how cloud computing works and how to enhance your career.
Cognixia’s Microsoft Azure training prepares learners for the Microsoft AZ-104: Microsoft Azure Administrator certification exam.
The course offered will prepare you for the Microsoft AZ-104: Microsoft Azure Administrator certification exam.
With this course, IT professionals will learn how to manage Azure subscriptions, secure identities, configure virtual networking, administer the infrastructure, and connect Azure & on-premises sites. That’s not all. They will also be able to implement storage solutions, manage network traffic, create & scale virtual machines, implement web apps & containers, back up and share data, as well as monitor their solution in this course.
In this AZ-104 training, you will learn the following –
- Identity
- Governance and Compliance
- Azure Administration
- Virtual Networking
- Inter-site Connectivity
- Network Traffic Management
- Azure Storage
- Azure Virtual Machines
- Serverless Computing
- Data Protection
- Monitoring
