42891 Infrastructure for Cloud Computing

Warning: The information on this page is indicative. The subject outline for a particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.

Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.

UTS: Information Technology: Electrical and Data Engineering
Credit points: 6 cp

Subject level:

Postgraduate

Result type: Grade and marks

Requisite(s): 32524 LANS and Routing OR 49202 Communication Protocols
Anti-requisite(s): 41891 Cloud Computing Infrastructure

Recommended studies: 42904 Cloud Computing and Software as a Service; 32520 UNIX Systems Administration (or equivalent Linux/Microsoft certification); 32527 Internetwork Design

Description

This subject introduces the concepts and implementation of cloud computing infrastructure, and complements the existing cloud computing subjects. Topics such as cloud architecture, virtualisation and storage technologies, and data centre fundamentals, as well as security and compliance in the cloud, are explored. This subject is heavily influenced by industry interaction, and includes hands-on labs and workshops using and comparing commonly found tools within the cloud infrastructure industry.

Subject learning objectives (SLOs)

Upon successful completion of this subject students should be able to:

1.	Compare and contrast the components of Cloud computing infrastructure through summarising the current theory behind Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) platform and analysing alternatives. (C.1)
2.	Identify how virtualisation and cloud computing technologies come together to deliver a sustainable business advantage. (B.1)
3.	Design a cloud infrastructure solution for a small business, allowing for dynamic scaling of applications, delivery on Service-Level Agreements (SLAs) in the most efficient way possible and comparing the core architectures and technologies used within current Cloud Platforms. (C.1)
4.	Implement a small-scale enterprise cloud platform given cost, time, technical and business requirements. (D.1)
5.	Assess the limitations and business risks of cloud computing, especially the adoption of public and hybrid cloud deployments, including the Sovereignty, Jurisdictional and Security implications of the cloud. (B.1)

Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)

This subject also contributes specifically to the development of the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs):

Socially Responsible: FEIT graduates identify, engage, and influence stakeholders, and apply expert judgment establishing and managing constraints, conflicts and uncertainties within a hazards and risk framework to define system requirements and interactivity. (B.1)
Design Oriented: FEIT graduates apply problem solving, design thinking and decision-making methodologies in new contexts or to novel problems, to explore, test, analyse and synthesise complex ideas, theories or concepts. (C.1)
Technically Proficient: FEIT graduates apply theoretical, conceptual, software and physical tools and advanced discipline knowledge to research, evaluate and predict future performance of systems characterised by complexity. (D.1)

Contribution to the development of graduate attributes

Engineers Australia Stage 1 Competencies

This subject contributes to the development of the following Engineers Australia Stage 1 Competencies:

1.3. In-depth understanding of specialist bodies of knowledge within the engineering discipline.
1.4. Discernment of knowledge development and research directions within the engineering discipline.
1.5. Knowledge of engineering design practice and contextual factors impacting the engineering discipline.
2.1. Application of established engineering methods to complex engineering problem solving.
2.3. Application of systematic engineering synthesis and design processes.
3.3. Creative, innovative and pro-active demeanour.

Teaching and learning strategies

Students will learn the theoretical aspects of cloud computing infrastructure via formal and informal, in and out of class engagement by students, which constitutes a large part of the learning activities that are utilized in this subject. Besides formal lectures, students are required to watch the online introduction videos and pre-study some topics, e.g. what is the cloud, what is cloud computing, and what is cloud computing infrastructure.

The tutorials are combined with laboratories and will provide opportunities for students to link the theory which has been taught with practice. Students will need to finish the lab exercises every week, following the instructions given in lab documents. Students will need to collaborate in groups to develop solutions for some major lab tasks, especially when the major assignment is released.

Students are required to have discussions with their tutors every week to receive feedback for lab excercises 1-7. During these sessions, feedback, including suggestions on how to answer incomplete solutions, implementations and configerations of cloud platforms, will be duscussed to help students fill in any gaps in the knowledge required for this subject. The major assignments will encourage students to extend their study to outside of the formally taught subject content. Students will receive feedback on assignment 1 in week 7 during the tutorial/lab sessions. The feedback will be useful when preparing for the quiz. After Assignment 2 is released in week 6, students are required to discuss a learning contract with their tutor/s before they start the design and implementation. Students will get feedback on their progress of Assignment 2 during the discussions with their tutors after week 6 and will receive overall feedback on Assignment 2 in week 11.

Content (topics)

Major topics to be covered in this subject are:

What is Cloud Infrastructure? Deployment models such as Public/Private/Hybrid
Virtualisation, sustainability and techniques
Types of Virtualisation/Cloud Infrastructures. (Storage/Network Virtualisation, Types of hypervisors, etc)
Operating systems and architectures (including Hypervisors, Storage and Network)
Challenges in building an IAAS Platform
Datacentres - the foundation of any Cloud Computing Infrastructure (what are the core features to look for, redundancy characteristics, etc)
Resource management, deployment, capacity planning & high availability in the cloud
An overview of IAAS providers, technology stacks and their application
Security, Data Jurisdiction and Compliance aspects
The future of Cloud Computing infrastructure

Assessment

Assessment task 1: Assignment 1: Individual

Intent:	To allow students to demonstrate their knowledge of the concepts learnt in the subject, research skills and self-assess their progress in the subject.
Objective(s):	This assessment task addresses the following subject learning objectives (SLOs): 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 This assessment task contributes to the development of the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs): B.1, C.1 and D.1
Type:	Exercises
Groupwork:	Individual
Weight:	20%

Assessment task 2: Assignment 2: Group Major Project

Intent:	Whilst designing a cloud computing infrastructure and implementing a prototype for a small size organisation, students are expected to analyse stakeholder needs, implement and test solutions, and demonstrate their subject knowledge and communication/presentation skills.
Objective(s):	This assessment task addresses the following subject learning objectives (SLOs): 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 This assessment task contributes to the development of the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs): B.1, C.1 and D.1
Type:	Project
Groupwork:	Group, group and individually assessed
Weight:	40%

Assessment task 3: Quiz 1

Intent:	To allow students to demonstrate their knowledge of cloud computing infrastructure, e.g., cloud solutions, cloud core architectures, cloud platforms, cloud computing technologies, technical limitations, and so on.
Objective(s):	This assessment task addresses the following subject learning objectives (SLOs): 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 This assessment task contributes to the development of the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs): B.1, C.1 and D.1
Type:	Quiz/test
Groupwork:	Individual
Weight:	20%

Assessment task 4: Quiz 2

Intent:	To allow students to demonstrate their knowledge of cloud computing infrastructure, e.g. cloud solutions, cloud core architectures, cloud platforms, cloud computing technologies, technical limitations, and so on.
Objective(s):	This assessment task addresses the following subject learning objectives (SLOs): 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 This assessment task contributes to the development of the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs): B.1, C.1 and D.1
Type:	Quiz/test
Groupwork:	Individual
Weight:	20%

Minimum requirements

In order to pass the subject, a student must achieve an overall mark of 50% or more.

Required texts

No mandatory textbook is required.

Recommended texts

A list of recommended textbooks is as follows:

"Distributed and Cloud Computing: From Parallel Processing to the Internet of Things", Kai Hwang, Geoffrey C. Fox, and Jack J. Dongarra.
“Cloud Computing Principles and Paradigms”, by Rajkumar Buyya, James Broberg, Andrzej M. Goscinski.
“Cloud Computing: SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, Virtualization, Business Models, Mobile, Security, and More”, by Kris Jamsa.
“The Book of VMware: The Complete Guide to VMware Workstation”, by Brian Ward.
“Mastering VMware vSphere 5”, by Scott Lowe.
“Running Xen: A Hands-On Guide to the Art of Virtualization”, by Jeanna N. Matthews, Eli M. Dow, Todd Deshane, Wenjin Hu, Jeremy Bongio, Patrick F. Wilbur, and Brendan Johnson.
“Professional Xen Virtualization”, by William von Hagen.

References may be provided on Canvas.

References

A list of references will be provided on UTS Canvas.

Other resources

Online support for this subject will be provided through UTS Canvas: https://canvas.uts.edu.au