I. General Information

1. Course Title:
Cloud Fundamentals

2. Course Prefix & Number:
COMP 2167

3. Course Credits and Contact Hours:

Credits: 3

Lecture Hours: 3

4. Course Description:

This course will teach you the knowledge and skills required to help make clear decisions about cloud technologies. You will learn to understand what cloud computing means from a business and technical perspective. This course enhances a student’s understanding of basic terms and definitions of cloud computing along with the different processes involved in the successful adoption of cloud computing and its implications for organizations' use. Topics covered are the following: Cloud Concepts, Business Principles of Cloud Environments, Management and Technical Operations, Governance, Risk, Compliance, and Security for the Cloud. Career Preparation: The studies in this course will help students prepare for careers in Service Desk Analyst, Data Support Technician, Help Desk Tech, Desktop Support Administrator, Technical Support Specialist, End User Computing Technician, Field Service Technician, Help Desk Technician, Office Administrative Support, Associate Network Engineer, System Support Specialist and Cloud Specialist.

5. Placement Tests Required:

Accuplacer (specify test):

No placement tests required

Score:

6. Prerequisite Courses:

9. Co-requisite Courses:

There are no corequisites for this course.

II. Transfer and Articulation

1. Course Equivalency - similar course from other regional institutions:

St. Cloud State University, St. Cloud MN CNA575 Cloud Networking, 3 cr.

Alexandria Technical College, Alexandria CVNP 2603, 3 cr.

3. Prior Learning - the following prior learning methods are acceptable for this course:

• Military Experience
• Written
• Oral
• Demonstration
• Portfolio

III. Course Purpose

1. Program-Applicable Courses – This course is required for the following program(s):

Computer Information Technology, AAS Degree

Computer Information Technology, Diploma

IV. Learning Outcomes

1. College-Wide Outcomes

College-Wide Outcomes/Competencies	Students will be able to:
Demonstrate written communication skills	Explain cloud principles, identify cloud networking concepts and storage techniques, and understand cloud design aspects.
Analyze and follow a sequence of operations	Understand risk management and response concepts related to cloud services and identify the importance and impacts of compliance in the cloud, such as regulatory concerns or international standards.
Utilize appropriate technology	Comprehend new technology concepts, solutions, and benefits to an organization.

2. Course Specific Outcomes - Students will be able to achieve the following measurable goals upon completion of the course:

• Understand the fundamental concepts of cloud computing
• Understand the business aspects and impact of cloud computing
• Be able to differentiate the types of cloud solutions and the adoption measures needed for each
• Be able to identify the technical challenges and the mitigation measures involved in cloud computing
• Be able to identify the steps to successfully adopt cloud services

V. Topical Outline

Listed below are major areas of content typically covered in this course.

1. Lecture Sessions

Understanding Cloud Concepts

• Service model: SaaS, IaaS and PaaS
• Deployment models: Public, Private and Hybrid
• Characteristics: Elastic, Self-service, Scalability, Broad network access, Pay-as-you-go and Availability
• Shared responsibility model

Cloud Networking Concepts

• Connectivity types: Direct connect and VPN
• Common access types: RDP, SSH and HTTPS

Cloud Storage Technologies

• Storage features: Compression, Deduplication and Capacity on demand
• Storage characteristics: Performance and Hot vs. cold
• Storage types: - Object storage, File storage and Block storage
• Software-defined storage
• Content delivery network

Important Aspects of Cloud Technologies

• Redundancy
• High availability
• Disaster recovery
• Recovery objectives: RPO and RTO

Business Principles of Cloud Environments Using Appropriate Cloud Assessments

• Current and future requirements
• Baseline
• Feasibility study
• Gap analysis: Business and Technical
• Reporting: Compute, Network and Storage
• Benchmarks
• Documentation and diagrams

Financial Aspects of Engaging a Cloud Provider

• Capital expenditures
• Operating expenditures
• Variable vs. fixed cost
• Licensing models: BYOL and Subscription
• Contracts
• Billing
• Request for information
• Human capital: Training and Professional development

Business Aspects of Vendor Relations in Cloud Adoptions

• Professional services:  Time to market, Skill availability, Support and Managed services
• Statement of work (SOW)
• Service level agreement (SLA)
• Training
• Evaluations: Pilot, Proof of value, Proof of concept, Success criteria
• Open-source vs. proprietary

Benefits or Solutions of Utilizing Cloud Services

• Identity access management: Single sign-on, Multifactor authentication and Federation
• Cloud-native applications: Microservices and Containerization
• Data analytics: Machine learning, Artificial intelligence and Big Data
• Digital marketing: Email campaigns and Social media
• Autonomous environments
• IoT
• Blockchain
• Subscription services
• Collaboration
• VDI
• Self-service

Compare and Contrast Cloud Migration Approaches

• Rip and replace
• Lift and shift
• Hybrid
• Phased

DevOps in Cloud Environments

• Provisioning: Infrastructure as code and Templates
• Continuous integration/ continuous delivery
• Testing in QA environments: Sandboxing, Load testing and Regression testing
• Configuration management: Orchestration, Automation and Upgrades and patching
• API integration

Financial Expenditures Related to Cloud Resources

• Storage
• Network
• Compute
• Chargebacks: Resource tagging
• Maintenance
• Instances: Reserved and Spot
• Licensing type
• Licensing quantity

Governance, Risk, Compliance, and Security for the Cloud

• Risk assessment: Asset inventory, Classification and Ownership
• Risk response: Mitigation, Acceptance, Avoidance and Transfer
• Documentation: Findings and Risk register
• Vendor lock-in
• Data portability

Policies or Procedures

• Standard operating procedures
• Change management
• Resource management
• Security policies: Incident response
• Access and control policies
• Department specific policies
• Communication policies

The Importance and Impacts of Compliance in the Cloud

• Data sovereignty
• Regulatory concerns
• Industry-based requirements
• International standards
• Certifications

Security Concerns, Measures, or Concepts of Cloud Operations

• Threat
• Vulnerability
• Security assessments: Penetration testing, Vulnerability scanning and Application scanning
• Data security: Public, Private and Sensitive
• Confidentiality: Encryption and Sanitization
• Integrity: Validation
• Availability: Backup and Recovery
• Breach
• Application and Infrastructure security: Audit, Access, Authorization and Hardening