Assignment 7
Tackle as many of these problems as you can, submitting your answers along the way via this Google Form, which should autosave your answers. Be sure to click SUBMIT at the bottom of the Google Form when you have completed the assignment. You should receive an email receipt when the form has been properly submitted. You can resubmit, too, as many times as you’d like before the assignment’s deadline. Refer to these instructions for guidance on submitting.
Please be mindful of the course’s policy on academic honesty as you complete this assignment. When you engage with others regarding this assignment in peer learning sessions, be aware of our guidelines for assignment-related discussions. With the above in mind, the solution for the first item below denoted with an asterisk (*) may be openly discussed without restriction during peer learning sessions.
Not to worry if you run into trouble. Do just attend office hours for help! Further, consult our AI-based tool, cs50.ai.
Question 1*
In your own words, just what is “the cloud”?
Question 2
Why might it make more sense to scale a web-based application using multiple low-end servers instead of just one high-end server?
Question 3
What are some technical challenges that arise when using multiple low-end servers to host a web-based application that are avoided when using just one high-end server?
Question 4
How is a virtual machine different from an actual (physical) machine?
Question 5
Suppose that you work for an internet startup. Argue in a paragraph why your startup SHOULD use cloud computing for its infrastructure.
Question 6
Suppose that you work for an(other) internet startup. Argue in a paragraph why your startup should NOT use cloud computing for its infrastructure.
Question 7
Suppose that a vendor promises 99% uptime for some service, per an SLA (service-level agreement). How many HOURS might that service be offline each year, without violating the SLA?
Question 8
Suppose that a (better) vendor promises 99.999% uptime (aka “five nines”) for the same service, per another SLA. How many MINUTES might that service be offline each year, without violating that SLA?
Question 9
What features might the 99.999% vendor’s underlying architecture have that allows the vendor to commit to more nines?
Question 10
Why might you nonetheless want to contract with the 99% vendor?