Recent our posts were about NIST SP 800-137 and NIST SP 800-53A. In this post, we are going to review NIST SP 800-145. The title of this article is: Evaluation of Cloud Computing Services. This publication published in 2010. The PDF file of this publication consists of 32 pages and 7 chapters. These chapters are:

  • Chapter 1: Introduction
  • Chapter 2: The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing
  • Chapter 3: Analysis of the Essential Characteristics of Cloud Computing
  • Chapter 4: Analysis of Cloud Service Models
  • Chapter 5: Analysis of Cloud Deployment Models
  • Chapter 6: Worksheets
  • Chapter 7: Example Cloud Service Marketing Terms

This article is a summary from of the nist.gov website. With the following link:

NIST SP 800-145 (DOI)

For more info please refer to nist.gov

NIST SP 800-145 provides a one sentence definition of cloud computing as “a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.” The NIST Cloud Computing Definition is composed of 14 interrelated terms and their associated definitions:

  • Five essential characteristics
  • Three service models
  • Four deployment models are

Five essential characteristics include:

  1. On-demand self-service
  2. Broad network access
  3. Resource pooling
  4. Rapid elasticity
  5. Measured service

Three service models are:

  1. Software as a Service (SaaS)
  2. Platform as a Service (PaaS)
  3. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Four deployment models are:

  1. Public
  2. Private
  3. Community
  4. Hybrid

Source: nist.gov

 

 

Analysis of the Essential Characteristics of Cloud Computing 

This section provides a detailed analysis of the five Essential Characteristics of Cloud Computing found above.

In the context of SP 800-145 and this document, “essential” means each cloud service provider (CSP) must have the capability to offer and to provide each essential characteristic to the cloud service customer (CSC) for a given service. This document allows flexibility in determining that a computing capability qualifies as a cloud service by providing options for evaluating each capability.

This document explicitly defines each of the attributes, which we have enclosed in a pair of quotation marks. These definitions are as follows:

  • On-demand self-service: “A consumer can unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as needed automatically without requiring human interaction with each service provider.”
  • Broad network access: “Capabilities are available over the network and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and workstations).”
  • Resource Pooling: “The provider’s computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer demand. There is a sense of location independence in that the customer generally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of the provided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher level of abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter). Examples of resources include storage, processing, memory, and network bandwidth.”
  • Rapid elasticity: “Capabilities can be elastically provisioned and released, in some cases automatically, to scale rapidly outward and inward commensurate with demand. To the consumer, the capabilities available for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can be appropriated in any quantity at any time.”
  • Measured service: “Cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level of abstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can be monitored, controlled, and reported, providing transparency for both the provider and consumer of the utilized service.”

Source: nist.gov

 

 

Analysis of Cloud Service Models 

The NIST Cloud Computing Definition provides three possible cloud services categories (called service models):

  • Software as a Service (SaaS): The capability provided to the CSC is to use the CSP’s applications running on a cloud infrastructure. The applications are accessible from various client devices through either a thin client interface, such as a web browser (e.g., web-based email), or a program interface. The CSC does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage, or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exception of limited user-specific application configuration settings.
  • Platform as a Service (PaaS): The term “platform” in the PaaS context refers to a development platform and/or deployment platform for cloud-enabled applications. The capability provided to the CSC is to deploy onto the cloud infrastructure CSC-created or acquired applications created using programming languages, libraries, services, and tools supported by the provider. The CSC does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, or storage, but has control over the deployed applications and possibly configuration settings for the application-hosting environment.
  • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): The capability provided to the CSC to provision processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources where the CSC can deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include operating systems and applications. The CSC does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage, and deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networking components (e.g., host firewalls).

These services are made available in the Service layer, which is part of the Service Orchestration stack. SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS are best distinguished by two factors:

  1. The computing capability that is provisioned
  2. The primary CSCs (end user, developer/deployer, or IT operations)

Source: nist.gov

 

 

Analysis of Cloud Deployment Models 

  • Private cloud: The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a single organization comprising multiple CSCs. A private cloud gives a single CSC’s organization the exclusive access to and usage of the cloud service and related infrastructure and computational resources. It may be managed either by the CSC organization or by a third party, and may be hosted on the organization’s premises (i.e., on-site private clouds) or outsourced to a hosting company (i.e., outsourced private clouds).
  • Community cloud: The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a specific community of CSCs from organizations that have shared concerns (e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and compliance considerations).
  • Public cloud: The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for open use by the general public. It may be owned, managed, and operated by a business, academic, or government organization, or some combination of them. It exists on the premises of the cloud provider. A public cloud is owned by an organization providing cloud services, and serves a diverse pool of clients.
  • Hybrid cloud: The cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or more distinct cloud infrastructures (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities, but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting for load balancing between clouds).

Source: nist.gov

 

 

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Source:

This article is a summary from of the nist.gov website. With the following link:

NIST SP 800-145 (DOI)

For more info please refer to nist.gov