Cloud Computing

Overview

The Cloud Computing module will provide an opportunity for you to learn about and explore a wide range of concepts, technologies, providers, and applications of cloud computing. Initially the module will focus on concepts including how we design, deploy, and manage cloud software and infrastructure to ensure both high availability and elastic scaling (being able to go from thousands of users to millions of users seamlessly). You will learn in detail how software can be developed in such a way as to easily allow (or not) cloud deployment including concepts of functional and stateless programming. After covering general concepts and generic technologies such as containerisation for micro-services, virtualisation, and devops pipelines, the module moves on to look at specific modern cloud providers such as AWS, GCP, and Azure. You will examine the differences between these platforms, learn how to deploy to them, and also gain experience of meta tools which are platform-agnostic and can be used to specify and manage cloud estates covering multiple providers.

Learning Objectives

On completion of this module, students will be able to:
• Demonstrate knowledge, understanding and the application of:
o Core cloud concepts including data synchronisation, performance management, security, and infrastructure design
o Virtual machines and virtualisation stacks
o Container technology including coordinated container swarms and approaches
o Elastic scalable computing with automatic adjustment to load conditions
• Demonstrate knowledge, understanding and the application of the principles and application of appropriate software development considerations to ensure developed software is cloud-deployable
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the principles of functional and stateless programming
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the principles of modern devops pipelines including automated infrastructure, continuous integration, continuous deployment, and monitoring
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding and the application of common widely used cloud hosting platforms and management tools

Skills

None

Assessment

Students must complete all elements of module assessment and attain an overall pass.