What is Cloud IT Inrastructure?
An abstraction technology or process - like virtualization - is used to separate resources from physical hardware and pool them into clouds; automation software and management tools allocate these resources and provision new environments so users can access what they need—when they need it.
As a term, cloud infrastructure can be used to describe a complete cloud computing system—once all the pieces are put together—as well as the individual technologies themselves.
Components of cloud infrastructure
1. Hardware: Although you probably think of clouds as being virtual, they require hardware as part of the infrastructure. The hardware includes networking equipment, like switches, routers, firewalls, and load balancers, storage arrays, backup devices, and servers. Virtualization connects the servers together, dividing and abstracting resources to make them accessible to users.
2. Virtualization: Virtualization is technology that separates IT services and functions from hardware. Software called a hypervisor sits on top of physical hardware and abstracts the machine's resources, such as memory, computing power, and storage. Once these virtual resources are allocated into centralized pools they’re considered clouds.
3. Storage: Within a single datacenter, data may be stored across many disks in a single storage array. Storage management ensures data is correctly being backed up, that outdated backups are removed regularly, and that data is indexed for retrieval in case any storage component fails.
4. Network: The network is composed of physical wires, switches, routers, and other equipment. Virtual networks are created on top of these physical resources.
