The term Utility Computing refers to utility computing technologies and business models, which provides a service provider to its customers IT services, and they charge you by consumption. Examples of such IT services are computing power, storage or applications.
As a service provider to the computer center of a company comes into question, in which case the customer would be the individual divisions of the company.
The term utility refers to utility services such as electricity, telephone, water and gas that are provided by a utility company. Similar to the electricity or telephone if the customer receives the utility computing, the computing power on a shared computer network, its consumption is measured and billed on that basis.
Utility computing is very similar to virtualization so that the total amount of web storage space along with the computing power that is available to the users is much larger compared to that of the single time-sharing computer.
Multiple backend web servers are often used to make this kind of web service possible. The dedicated web servers may be used in cluster forms which are specifically created and then leased to the end users. The method of using a single such calculation on multiple web servers is called the distributed computing.
Examples of computational resources
Computation time (CPU time) is the leading resource along with the memory usage. Not limited to physical equipment, the files and network connections, and other resources as well as virtual memory space are also considered computer resources.
- CPU time
- Physical memory and virtual memory
- Hard drive space and access time
- Network bandwidth
- Environment variable, etc. are also some of the computer resources.
Properties of utility computing
Although there are many different definitions of utility computing, it will normally include the following five characteristics of utility computing.
- Scalability
The utility computing must be ensured that under all conditions sufficient IT resources are available. Increasing the demand for a service may, its quality (e.g., response time) does not suffer. - Demand pricing
So far, companies have to buy his own hardware and software when they need computing power. This IT infrastructure must be paid in advance of the rule, regardless of the intensity with which the company uses them later. Technology vendors to achieve this link, for example, the fact that the lease rate for their servers depends on how many CPUs has enabled the customer.If it can be measured in a company as much computing power to claim the individual sections in fact, may be the IT costs in internal cost directly attributable to the individual departments. Other forms of connection with the use of IT costs are possible.
- Standardized Utility Computing Services
The utility computing service provider offers its customers a catalog of standardized services. These may have different service level agreements (Agreement on the quality and the price of an IT) services. The customer has no influence on the underlying technologies such as the server platform. - Utility Computing and Virtualization
To share the web and other resources in the shared pool of machines can be used virtualization technologies. This will divide the network into logical resource instead of the physical resources available. An application is assigned no specific pre-determined servers or storage of any but a free server runtime or memory from the pool. - Automation
Repetitive management tasks such as setting up a new server or the installation of updates can be automated. Moreover, automatically allocate resources to services and the management of IT services to be optimized, with service level agreements and operating costs of IT resources must be considered.
Different Types of Utility Computing
Utility computing is of two types: Internal Utility and External Utility. Internal utility means that the computer network is shared only within a company. Used by several different computer companies to pool together a special service provider is called External Utility. In addition, various hybrid forms are possible in this type of Utility Computing.
Advantages of Utility Computing
Utility computing reduces the cost of IT, given that existing resources can be used more effectively. Moreover, the costs are transparent and the various departments of a company can be directly assigned. In the IT departments will be fewer people needed for operational activities.
The companies achieve greater flexibility, because their IT resources more quickly and easily adapt to fluctuating demand. Overall, it is easier to manage the entire IT structure, as there will no longer be made for each application, which is a benefit for specific IT infrastructure.
