In this chapter, we introduced you to a few cloud computing concepts and terminologies. We described the basic features of public, private, and hybrid clouds. We introduced the main cloud delivery models, namely, IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. We described various multi-tenancy models, and some of their main implications and challenges. We also described typical cloud-based workloads including both traditional in-premise systems and new generation applications built for cloud-only environments. Finally, we listed the steps for creating your AWS account and described the salient features of the AWS management console.

With the basics out of the way, in Chapter 2, Designing Cloud Applications – an Architect’s Perspective, we will describe some familiar and not-so familiar architectural best practices in the cloud context. We will deep dive into the technical details of how multi-tenanted cloud applications are different from traditional multi-tiered applications. We will also walk you through creating a sample application (using Spring and MySQL) that will be used to illustrate key cloud-application design concepts through the rest of this book.