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Cloud Provisioning in Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing | Cloud Provisioning: In this tutorial, we will learn about cloud provisioning, types of cloud provisioning, why cloud provisioning, and the challenges of cloud provisioning. By Rahul Gupta Last updated : June 03, 2023

What is Cloud Provisioning in Cloud Computing?

Provisioning is the IT infrastructure set-up operation. Cloud provisioning refers to the processes for the implementation and integration of cloud computing resources within an enterprise IT infrastructure. It may relate to and make accessible users and systems; the steps taken to manage access to data and resources.

Software for cloud provisioning refers to the use of tools (software for orchestration, automation, and provisioning) to monitor the installation, configuration, and management of cloud computing services automatically. This helps businesses make informed choices about their capital for cloud computing.

The following IT activities are involved in cloud provisioning software:

• Compliance and protection
• Space and Backups
• Deployment of Code
• Modifications of settings and configurations

Types of Cloud Provisioning

Followings are the categories of cloud provisioning –

• Service provisioning: Provisioning of services requires setting up a service and handling the data relating to it.
• User provisioning: User provisioning is a method of identity management that tracks rights of access and privileges of authorization. Provisioning is characterized by user artifacts, such as personnel, suppliers, contractors, etc., and characteristics of the user. Provided services might include email, database access, or network access.
• Server provisioning: Server provisioning involves setting up a datacenter's physical infrastructure, installing and configuring software, including the operating system and apps, and linking it to middleware, networks, and storage.
• Network provisioning: The telecommunications industry has always used network provisioning as a means of referring to the provision of a telecommunications service to a customer, including the equipment and wiring necessary. Service activation of a wireless environment for a user may also be included.

Why Cloud Provisioning?

A company makes significant investments in its on-site infrastructure under the conventional IT provisioning model. This needs extensive planning and forecasting of infrastructure requirements since the on-site infrastructure is mostly planned to last many years. However, in the cloud provisioning model, based on short-term consumption criteria, companies can simply scale up and scale down their cloud resources.

Challenges of Cloud Provisioning

• Policy enforcement: A model of self-service provisioning helps streamline how cloud services are requested and handled by users but need strict guidelines to ensure that they do not include resources that they do not. Recognize that different user groups need different levels of access and frequency — several daily updates can be deployed by a team, whereas line-of-business users can use self-service provisioning. Set up rules that regulate who can provide, for what time and with what budgetary controls, including a chargeback mechanism, what types of services.
• Cost controls: Automated monitoring about consumption and pricing thresholds are important, beyond provisioning policies. Be aware that these might not be real-time warnings; in practice, hours or days after the fact, an alert about an approaching budget overrun for a cloud service may arrive.
• Resource and service dependencies: Cloud applications and workloads also tap into the capabilities of basic cloud infrastructure, such as processing, networking and storage. In addition to these, the major selling point of public cloud providers is higher-level ancillary services, such as fewer functions for servers, machine learning and big data capabilities. These services, however, can bear dependencies that may not be apparent, which can lead to unintended overuse and cost surprises.
• Complex management and monitoring: To optimize how they use cloud services, companies can need to rely on multiple provisioning tools. On more than one cloud platform, several companies often deploy workloads, making it much more difficult to provide a single console to display anything.