The Little Book of Cloud Computing, 2012 Edition

by Lars Nielsen

NOTE: The publisher is continuing to make this 2012 edition available for those readers who might want it. However, please be advised that a new and thoroughly revised/expanded 2013 edition is available in both Kindle and paper editions as of January 4th, 2013.


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The critically-acclaimed bestseller comprehensively revised and expanded to reflect the very latest innovations, implementations and offerings for 2012 ...

Using an approach geared toward non-techies, noted systems developer Lars Nielsen explains the state-of-the-art (and the state of the industry) in Cloud Computing - that powerful approach to enterprise systems by which today's smart organizations cut costs while still having access to all the digital capacity they need.

In a concise 18,000 words, Nielsen describes tested, effective strategies for maximizing the latest Cloud Computing tools and economies, putting them to work for your organization. He also provides a vivid snapshot of the major industry players, surveys current trends in the cloud marketplace, and lays out vital issues of cloud security.


CONTENTS

Introduction * The Basics * Technology and Business Fundamentals * Amazon Web Services (Including the New AWS Security Partnership with Check Point) * IBM Cloud Services (Including the New Green Hat and Platform Computing Acquisitions) * Microsoft and the Cloud (Including BizSpark: Cloud on the Cheap for Small Startups, and Azure's Coming Persistent Image/Linux Support) * Google and the Cloud (Including Google Apps - The Cloud for Free - and Google's New Cloud Robotics Strategy) * Red Hat (Including the Latest Update for the JBoss Operations Network, and the Acquisition of Gluster) * Cloud in a Box, the Pre-Fab Track to a Robust Private Cloud * Apple and Other Purveyors of Consumer Cloud Services * Hewlett-Packard, Oracle/Sun Microsystems, Cisco Systems, Virtual Computing Environment Coalition/Acadia, VMware, Rackspace and GoGrid * Cloud Security * The Amazon Crash of April 2011 and the Importance of the "Design for Failure" Model * Big Data (Including Hadoop and the Startups Zillabyte and Cloudability) * EMC, Greenplum and Big Data


ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lars Nielsen has more than thirty years experience as a systems developer and administrator for a range of Fortune 500 companies. Nielsen is also the author of New Street's popular COMPUTING: A BUSINESS HISTORY as well as THE LITTLE BOOK OF CLOUD COMPUTING SECURITY, 2012 EDITION. He resides in Amsterdam.

Genres: Nonfiction

71 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 11, 2011

Reviews

[Kapileshwar Patil · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is the very best book

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a decent overview of the services out there, in one way. LIke it's good to sort of get your head around what Red Hat or VMWare is offering, and I have to say, Windows Azure seemed strangely kind of awesome. But in another way it's not particularly useful. Like it doesn't really help you understand what you can DO in the cloud, except only in abstract terms. But really its biggest failing is its over-reliance on PR releases and quotes. It feels very cobbled together. And then it sort of advertises that it was updated in the wake of the amazon crash, but all it really did was tell you there was a crash, so, hey, watch out!

I dunno, it's probably me. I am looking for a specific type of cloud computing book, but everything I can find is either too zeitgeisty, academic, or "move your business into the cloud" ish. This one is mostly the latter.

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is largely a compilation of what cloud service vendors say about themselves. It's useful in the sense that the author has taken the trouble to identify the services and piece together their collateral. It makes no attempt to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses or appropriate uses of the different approaches or of cloud computing as a whole.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you want a general non technical overview of what popular public clouds have to offer and don't feel like googling them one at a time... then this is the book for you.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good overview.