COM1008 An Overview of Cloud Computing

Common Core Curriculum Office (CCCO) > COM1008 An Overview of Cloud Computing
Department
Computing
Semester
AY2019/20 Sem 2, AY2020/21 Sem 1, AY2020/21 Sem 2, AY2021/22 Sem 1, AY2021/22 Sem 2, AY2022/23 Sem 1, AY2022/23 Sem 2, AY2023/24 Sem 1, AY2023/24 Sem 2, AY2024/25 Sem 1
Method
Laboratory 3 hours
Cluster
3 (Science and Technology)

Prerequisite

GEN1000 Perspectives on General Education / Subject to Discretion of Module Coordinator

Exclusion

Nil

Module Description

The module aims to provide an overview of cloud computing to students. Students are expected to learn what cloud computing means and its significance to the modern world. The history, development and impacts of cloud computing are discussed in the module. The module trains students to use state-of-the-art cloud computing tools and applications, such as virtual machine (VM) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to deal with daily-life challenges, and to scientifically analyse and evaluate the cloud computing methods to solve the challenges. The module is designed for students without prior computing or programming background.

Module Intended Learning Outcomes (MILO)

Upon completion of this module, students should be able to: 
a. Understand the meaning and significance of cloud computing 
b. Describe the history and development of cloud computing
c. Evaluate the impacts of cloud computing to the modern world 
d. Apply cloud computing methods to deal with daily-life challenges 
e. Evaluate cloud computing methods in solving daily-life challenges

Module Content

1. Introduction

1.1 What is cloud computing?
1.2 Clouds everywhere
1.3 Virtualization
1.4 Pay-as-you-go model
1.5 Business values of cloud computing

2. History and development

2.1 Mainframe and thin client computing
2.2 Data centres
2.3 As-a-service models: IaaS, PaaS, SaaS
2.4 Private clouds
2.5 Hybrid architecture

3. Impact to modern world

3.1 Difference from traditional purchase and ownership
3.2 Important properties of cloud computing, such as scalability, elasticity
3.3 Successful cases of cloud computing applications

4. State-of-the-art cloud computing tools and applications, such as

4.1 Virtual machine software, e.g., VMWare
4.2 Cloud platform, e.g., AWS, Microsoft Azure
4.3 Cloud distributed system, e.g., Hapdoop
4.4 Cloud framework, e.g., MapReduce, Spark, Swift applications

5. Evaluation of cloud computing methods, such as

5.1 Significance of scale
5.2 Charactering workload variability
5.3 Response time and availability
5.4 Security and privacy concerns
5.5 Legal issues

Assessment Methods

1. Class participation (10%)
2. Exercises/Assignments (20%)
3. Test (20%)
4. Project
a. Presentation (20%)
b. Individual report (30%)

Texts & References

1. Weinman, J. (2012). Cloudonomics: The Business Value of Cloud Computing. John Wiley & Sons
2. Buyya, R., Broberg, J., and Goscinski, A. M. (2011). Cloud Computing Principles and Paradigms. Wiley Publishing
3. Hurwitz, J. S. and Kirsch, D. (2019). Cloud Computing For Dummies, 2nd Edition. For Dummies
4. Tounsi, W. (2019). Cyber-Vigilance and Digital Trust: Cyber Security in the Era of Cloud Computing and IoT. John Wiley & Sons
5. Le, D., Kumar, R., Nguyen, G. N., and Chatterjee, J. M. (2018). Cloud Computing and Virtualization. Wiley-Scrivener
6. Williamson, L., Ponzo, J., Bohrer, P., Olivieri, R., Weinmeister, K., and Kallner, S. (2017). Swift in the Cloud. John Wiley & Sons P&T
7. Murugesan, S. and Bojanova, I. (2016). Encyclopedia of Cloud Computing. John Wiley & Sons
8. Faynberg, I., Lu, H., and Skuler, D. (2016). Cloud Computing: Business Trends and Technologies. Wiley-Blackwell
9. Hugos, M. H. and Hulitzky, D. (2010). Business in the Cloud: What Every Business Needs to Know About Cloud Computing. Wiley
10. White, T. (2015). Hadoop: The Definitive Guide: Storage and Analysis at Internet Scale 4th Edition. O’Reilly Media
11. Gunarathne, T. (2015). Hadoop MapReduce v2 Cookbook Second Edition. Packt Publishing
12. Luu, H. (2018). Beginning Apache Spark 2: With Resilient Distributed Datasets, Spark SQL, Structured Streaming and Spark Machine. Apress