Cloud Computing - NIST Definition
The official NIST definition of 'cloud computing' with a detailed explanation.
1 min read
Contents
More than 5 years ago, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed an official definition of cloud computing in Special Publication 800-145 (PDF), which is considered the standard. In my opinion, some key points have occasionally been forgotten in the “cloud hype” of recent years or have been watered down by marketing promises.
Summary
NIST defines five cloud computing characteristics, three service models and four deployment models:
Characteristics
- On-demand self-service i.e. resource management by the customer
- Broad network access i.e. availability over the internet or other networks
- Resource pooling i.e. resources pooled by the provider
- Rapid elasticity i.e. high and fast scalability
- Measured service i.e. measurable service usage and usage-based billing
Service Models
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): An organization rents basic computing resources (servers, storage, networks).
- Platform as a Service (PaaS): An organization rents a complete platform, for example a database environment, including operating system, libraries and tools.
- Software as a Service (SaaS): An organization uses software without having to worry about the underlying infrastructure.
More on this in my article Shared Responsibility Model in the Cloud.
Deployment Models
- Private cloud: Resources are provided exclusively for one organization.
- Community cloud: Resources are used by a group of organizations with shared interests.
- Public cloud: Resources are provided to a broad audience over the internet. The best-known examples are AWS (Amazon cloud), Azure (Microsoft cloud) and GCP (Google cloud).
- Hybrid cloud: A combination of public and private cloud.