Resource virtualization technique creates room for the adoption of dynamic approach in computing resource provisioning. The dynamic resource provisioning approach in turn creates the scope for developing scalable computing systems and applications. Scalability of systems and applications is an essential feature of cloud computing.
Computing cost depends on the total volume of resources acquired by an application. Any acquired and unutilized resource unnecessarily increases computing cost. Again, low acquisition of resource may affect application performance during higher demand. Hence, any system must run with minimum volume of required resources and should have the ability to expand itself with growing workload which is critical from business point of view. Again, a system should also have the ability to reduce itself with declining workload in terms of acquired resources. Otherwise unnecessary resource acquisition increases the cost.
This ability of expanding and shrinking of a system as per workload is known as scaling. Dynamic resource provisioning plays a key role in building of a scalable system but that alone cannot ensure the scaling. A system should also have the ability to integrate the provisioned resources effectively into itself (or release extra resources) and still run as the same system without any interruption or hitch. This ensures smooth user experience and at the same time reduces cost of computing and improves performance of applications.
WHAT IS SCALING?
Scaling is the characteristic of a system, model or function that describes its ability of growing or shrinking whenever required. In computing, scaling represents the capability of a system or application to deal with varying workload efficiently without bringing in a situation where resource shortage hampers performance or resource surplus increases the computation cost.
In simple words, scaling is defined as the ability of being enlarged (or shrunk) for accommodating growth (or fall-off) to fulfill the business needs. A system or application architecture can be termed as scalable if its performance improves on adding new resources and the improvement is proportional to the capacity added.
A system that scales well can maintain its level of performance or efficiency when it works under larger or growing operational demands.
Review the options below to login to check your access.
Log in with your Cambridge Higher Education account to check access.
If you believe you should have access to this content, please contact your institutional librarian or consult our FAQ page for further information about accessing our content.