Cloud cost glossary: simplify and master the basics

The process of distributing cloud costs across different departments, projects, or business units within an organization.

The process of identifying patterns in data that deviate significantly from expected behavior.

The process of automatically adjusting the amount of computational resources based on the actual demand.

A logical data center in a region available for use by any AWS customer.

The act of planning and allocating financial resources for effective cloud cost management.

A licensing model that allows customers to use their existing software licenses on the cloud platform of their choice.

The process of minimizing costs while maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of resources in a cloud environment.

The process of distributing cloud costs across different departments, projects, or business units within an organization.

The detailed analysis of the different components contributing to the total cost of cloud services.

The practice of attributing the costs of cloud services back to the business units, departments, or projects that use them.

Detailed records of costs and resource usage associated with cloud services.

The costs associated with transferring data between different services or regions within a cloud environment.

Pricing models offered by cloud providers that allow customers to save costs in exchange for certain commitments.

A facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems.

A distributed computing paradigm that brings computation and data storage closer to the location where it is needed.

The ability to quickly expand or decrease computer processing, memory, and storage resources to meet changing demands.

The degree to which a system is able to adapt to workload changes by provisioning and de-provisioning resources in an autonomic manner.

A web service from Amazon Web Services (AWS) that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud.

The property that enables a system to continue operating properly in the event of the failure of some of its components.

A network security system that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules.

A category of cloud computing services that provides a platform allowing customers to develop, run, and manage application functionalities.

A model of cloud computing that involves integrating and coordinating multiple cloud services from different providers.

The process of making predictions of the future based on past and present data.

The use of a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) together with a CPU to accelerate computation in applications.

The practice of designing, manufacturing, and disposing of computers, servers, and subsystems efficiently with minimal impact on the environment.

The practice of storing duplicate instances of data in geographically diverse locations to ensure availability during a failure or catastrophe.

A node in a computer network that serves as an access point to another network.

A computing environment that combines a public cloud and a private cloud by allowing data and applications to be shared between them.

A characteristic of a system which aims to ensure an agreed level of performance, usually uptime, for a higher than normal period.

The practice of aggregating computing power in a way that delivers much higher performance than one could get out of a desktop computer

The process of adding more machines to a network or server pool to manage increased load.

A cloud computing model where a third-party provider hosts  core infrastructure, including hardware, software, servers, and storage.

A framework of policies and technologies for ensuring that the right people have the appropriate amount of access to technology resources.

A virtual server in the cloud that emulates computer hardware and allow you to create, configure, and customize to suit your computing needs.

A managed service that makes it easy for you to create and control the cryptographic keys used to encrypt your data

A device that distributes network traffic across a number of servers to enhance the responsiveness and availability of applications, websites, and other services.

The automated configuration, coordination, and management of computer systems, applications, and services.

A type of instance that you can launch whenever you need it and terminate when you're done using it. Also known as Pay-as-you-go pricing.

A cloud computing model that provides customers a complete platform for developing, running, and managing applications without maintaining the infrastructure.

A type of cloud computing that delivers similar advantages to public cloud, including scalability and self-service, but through a proprietary architecture dedicated to a single organization.

A type of computing in which a service provider makes resources available to the public via the internet.

A pair of cryptographic keys used for encryption and decryption or to create digital signatures.

A request for data or information from a database, which is usually in the form of a formal programming statement.

The process of improving the speed and efficiency of data retrieval operations in a database.

A billing option for Amazon EC2 instances that provides significant discounts compared to on-demand pricing.

The duplication of critical components or functions of a system to increase its reliability.

The process of managing the usage of resources in a cloud environment, including compute, storage, and network resources.

The process of optimizing the size of your cloud resources based on your workload requirements.

A pricing model for Amazon EC2 that lets you use spare compute capacity at a discounted rate.

A cloud computing model where the cloud provider automatically manages the provisioning and allocation of compute resources.

A cloud computing model where applications are hosted by a service provider and made available to customers over the internet.

The ability of a system to handle increased load by adding more resources or making better use of existing resources.

A metadata system used to organize, track, and manage resources in a cloud environment.

A virtual network dedicated to your cloud account where you can launch resources in a virtual network that you define.

An emulation of a computer system that runs on a physical computer and behaves like a separate computer system.

A general term for the delivery of anything as a service, including platform, software, infrastructure, database, etc.

A language designed to query collections of XML data.

A declarative access control policy language implemented in XML and a processing model, describing how to interpret the policies.

A distinct location within a cloud provider's region that is insulated from failures in other zones and provides low-latency connectivity to other zones in the same region.

Resources in a cloud platform that are tied to a specific zone (Availability Zone) and can't be used or accessed outside of that zone.