Components of a Cloud Computing Model

This article provides the architectural overview of a Cloud Computing platform to communicate a brief and clear overview of the target IT system in a Cloud.

At the topmost level, every cloud can be viewed as:

Starting from the lowest level, here’s a brief description of various components:

System Virtualisation infrastructure	This is infrastructure components that provide virtualisation of a specific architecture (H/W or O/S), server, storage and network. This is the base layer that is “virtualised” into the cloud. All components above this layer are enablers that make the cloud usable.
Installation	The installation component installs software on the managed environment.
Process Automation	Automated workloads for installation of software (which in turn, deliver a “service”).
Provisioning	Provision of network resources, software, servers/workloads, storage, etc. This component has pre-packaged workflows for common installation scenarios, delivered in a private cloud.
Authentication and Authorisation	Component which controls access
Virtualisation Management	Provides high-level management tools for dynamic manipulation of the virtualised environment.
Configuration management database	The central repository which stores the underlying configuration (such as software, server, storage and network), as well as access credentials, type of workloads provisioned, available, etc.

The OSS and BSS layer on top of this cloud then provides integration points for Service Providers and Service Consumers