What is Elasticity in Cloud Computing and Its Benefits?

What is Elasticity in Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing elasticity is the capability to adjust resources depending on demand, allowing businesses to easily handle changing workloads. This cost-effective solution only charges for what is used and makes it suitable for businesses of all sizes.

How Does Elasticity Work in Cloud Computing?

Cloud elasticity allows businesses to easily adjust their capacity, manually or automatically, to meet increased demand. Cloud elasticity allows organizations to easily add or remove capacity based on workload trends. This eliminates the need for extra capacity or lengthy purchasing processes. Capacity can be adjusted within minutes, saving time and costs.

What is Scalability in Cloud Computing?

Scalability in cloud computing permits the system to handle increased or decreased demands efficiently and cost-effectively. It adjusts to accommodate more users and scales down to save resources when needed. This ensures optimal user experience and resource utilization.

How Does Scalability Work in Cloud Computing?

Scalability in cloud computing comes in two variables - Vertical and Horizontal, working in two ways.

Horizontal Scaling

Adding more servers to handle your needs. We usually scale by dividing the workload among servers to decrease the number of requests each server gets. In cloud computing, horizontal scaling involves adding more instances instead of using a bigger server.

Vertical Scaling

You can enhance a server by either increasing the number or speed of CPUs, memory, or I/O resources, or by swapping it out for a more robust one. In the earlier days, administrators would buy a new server and get rid of the old one to achieve vertical scaling. However, now cloud architects can achieve vertical scaling in AWS and Azure by changing instance sizes. Both AWS and Azure offer a variety of instance sizes, allowing for vertical scaling in cloud computing for EC2 instances and RDS databases.

Cloud Elasticity vs Cloud Scalability

Have a look at the following comparison chart for clarity:

Benefits of Elasticity in Cloud Computing

Cloud elasticity has many advantages. This includes,

• Agility: Cloud Elasticity prevents the need to predict unexpected increases in demand by getting rid of the need to buy, create, and install a new system when demand changes. This allows organizations to meet any unexpected need, whether it comes from a seasonal increase, a notification on Twitter, or a decision by Times Magazine.
• Efficiency: Automating cloud resource modifications allows IT professionals to focus on more beneficial tasks for the organization instead of provisioning.
• High Availability: Cloud elasticity enables the achievement of high availability and fault tolerance through the cloning of VMs or containers in case of potential failure. This ensures that business services remain uninterrupted, and clients do not experience downtime. Clients can expect a consistent experience even when resources are automatically added or removed without disrupting operations. 
• Pay-as-you-go Pricing: Cloud elasticity lets organizations connect their IT spending to current demand. This means they only pay for the resources they use at any given time. Moreover, elasticity enables the automatic redistribution or reallocation of resources in response to current demand, empowering businesses to adapt their infrastructure as necessary, regardless of any fluctuations in spending.
• Speed/Time-to-market: Organizations can swiftly access capacity instead of enduring lengthy waits associated with traditional procurement methods.

Use Cases of Elasticity in Cloud Computing

• E-commerce Applications

Cloud elasticity is best used by E-commerce websites such as Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, and Lenskart. Lenskart's special sales during holidays result in increased traffic and server stress. Elastic computing allows for scaling up resources during peak seasons and releasing extra capacity afterward.

• Streaming Services

Streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime utilize elastic computing to handle high traffic during popular releases. Elasticity allows for the addition and removal of resources based on demand, ensuring smooth streaming experiences and cost efficiency.

• Temporary Projects

Elastic computing helps companies in their digital transformation by enabling virtual desktops in the cloud for remote and temporary workers. It also handles urgent tasks such as media rendering, data processing, and analytics.

• Ticket Booking Platforms

When a new movie with a popular actor comes out, many people try to buy tickets for the first show at the cinema. This causes a lot of people to visit the ticket booking website, which can lead to problems. The same thing can happen with booking train or plane tickets during vacation time. To avoid these issues, companies can use elastic computing. This means they can quickly hire extra resources when they are needed and release them when they are not. This helps them handle high traffic without spending too much money.

Challenges and Considerations for Elasticity in Cloud Computing

1. Availability of Resources: To utilize cloud elasticity, organizations may need to make changes to their existing setups. If they do not outsource IT administration, they will have to hire technical staff to set up a suitable plan. This may lead to delays as new hires familiarize themselves with new environments and processes.
2. Security Impact: Cloud services that can expand or contract as needed may affect current security procedures and may need to be revised. The temporary nature of elastic systems could make it difficult to respond quickly to an event.
3. Time to Provision: You can start cloud VMs whenever needed, but there may still be a delay of a few minutes before they can be used. This delay could impact performance during sudden spikes, like a sign-on storm at the beginning of a business day.
4. Vendor Lock-In: All top public cloud providers offer the Cloud Elasticity solution. However, organizations can only work with one vendor for their cloud needs because of different architectures.

Choose The Right Cloud Computing Program For You

This table compares various cloud computing programs offered by Simplilearn, based on several key features and details. The table provides an overview of the courses' duration, skills you will learn, additional benefits, among other important factors, to help you make an informed decision about which course best suits your needs.

Program Name	AWS Solutions Architect	Cloud Architect Masters Program	Post Graduate Program in Cloud Computing
Geo	All	All	IN/ROW
University	Simplilearn	Simplilearn	Caltech
Course Duration	Self Paced	11 Months	11 Months
Coding Experience Required	Basic Knowledge	Basic Knowledge	Basic Knowledge
Skills You Will Learn	10+ Skills Including AWS Solution Planning, AWS Cost Estimation, AWS Data IO, etc.	30+ Skills Including EC2, ECS, Lambda, CloudFormation, ELB, etc.	10+ Skills Including Cloud Provider Selection, Cloud Workloads, Database Management, etc.
Additional Benefits	16+ Live Demos of AWS Services Real-Time Industry Projects Simulation Exams	Masters Certificate Capstone Projects Exam Voucher Included	Caltech PG Certificate 40+ Hands-on Projects Masterclasses by Caltech Instructors
Cost	$	$$	$$$
	Explore Program	Explore Program	Explore Program

Conclusion

You now know what is elasticity and scalability in cloud computing. Using elasticity in cloud computing helps allocate resources efficiently, save your money, and easily scale up or down. You can enjoy the pros of getting performance whenever you need it, making your cloud experience better than ever.

If you are looking to enhance your cloud computing skills further, we would highly recommend you to check Simplilearn’s Post Graduate Program in Cloud Computing. This program, in collaboration with Caltech CTME, can help you hone the right cloud computing skills and make you job-ready in no time.

If you have any questions or queries, please feel free to post them in the comments section below. Our team will get back to you at the earliest.

FAQs

1. How does elasticity help in cost optimization?

Elasticity optimizes costs by adjusting resources based on demand.

2. How can auto-scaling techniques improve application performance? 

Auto-scaling techniques enhance app performance by dynamically adjusting resources as needed.

3. What are the key considerations for security in elastic cloud environments? 

• Data protection
• Access controls
• Encryption
• Monitoring
• Regular updates

4. How does elasticity play a role in disaster recovery planning? 

Elasticity ensures efficient disaster recovery planning for scalability and flexibility.

5. What are some future trends and advancements in elasticity?

• Automation
• AI
• Dynamic resource allocation
• Edge computing

6. What are the potential risks of relying heavily on cloud elasticity?

• Data breaches
• Downtime
• Cost overruns
• Vendor lock-in