A software design pattern is a general, reusable solution to a commonly occurring problem within a given context in software design. An architectural pattern is a general, reusable solution to a commonly occurring problem in software architecture within a given context. The architectural patterns address various issues in software engineering, such as computer hardware performance limitations, high availability and minimization of a business risk.
Cloud computing is the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage and computing power, without direct active management by the user. The term is generally used to describe data centers available to many users over the Internet. Cloud computing architecture refers to the components and sub-components required for cloud computing. These components typically consist of a front end platform (fat client, thin client, mobile ),back end platforms (servers, storage), a cloud based delivery, and a network (Internet, Intranet, Intercloud). Combined, these components make up cloud computing architecture.
Cloud Development Challenges:
1. Availability - Availability is the proportion of time that the system is running, functional and working, usually measured as a percentage of uptime. It can be affected by system errors, infrastructure problems, malicious attacks, and system load.
2. Performance & Scalability - Performance is an indication of the responsiveness of a system to execute any action within a given time interval, while scalability is ability of a system either to handle increases in load without impact on performance or for the available resources to be readily increased.
Cloud applications typically encounter variable workloads and peaks in activity. Instead, applications should be able to scale out within limits to meet peaks in demand, and scale in when demand decreases. Scalability concerns not just compute instances, but other elements such as data storage, messaging infrastructure.
3. Management and Monitoring - Cloud applications run in a remote data-center(hybrid/public/private) where you do not have full control of the infrastructure or, in some cases, the operating system. This can make management and monitoring more difficult than an on-premises deployment. Applications must expose runtime information that administrators and operators can use to manage and monitor the system, as well as supporting changing business requirements and customization without requiring the application to be stopped or redeployed.
4. Security - Security is the capability of a system to prevent malicious or accidental actions outside of the designed usage, and to prevent disclosure or loss of information. Cloud applications are exposed on the Internet outside trusted on-premises boundaries, are often open to the public, and may serve untrusted users. Applications must be designed and deployed in a way that protects them from malicious attacks, restricts access to only approved users, and protects sensitive data.
Popular Cloud Design Patterns:
1. Asynchronous Request-Reply
2. Ambassador
3. Sidecar
4. Publisher-Subscriber
ref:
3. Distributed Systems Concepts and Design(5th Edition) - https://github.com/rangaeeeee/books-os/blob/master/Distributed%20Systems%20Concepts%20and%20Design%20-%205th%20Edition.pdf
4. Free-OReilly-Books - https://github.com/mohnkhan/Free-OReilly-Books