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Unit 1 of 1 · M.Sc IT Sem 3

Unit 1: Cloud platform and virtualization practice

Cloud Computing Laboratory notes · PTU syllabus (PGCA1938)

3 min read6 topics10 exam questions
On this page
  1. Unit summary
  2. Survey of cloud businesses and their offerings
  3. Warehouse application with SaaS tools
  4. Virtualisation with VirtualBox or VMware Workstation
  5. Using public cloud tools
  6. Cloud storage management
  7. Setting up a private cloud with OpenStack
  8. Key terms
  9. Quick revision
  10. Important questions

Unit summary

This lab explores cloud platforms and virtualisation in practice: surveying cloud businesses and their SaaS, PaaS and IaaS offerings, building a warehouse application with SaaS tools, virtualisation with VMware Workstation or Oracle VirtualBox (creating, migrating, cloning and managing VMs), using public cloud tools, managing cloud storage (buckets, file transfers, ACLs and IAM), and setting up a private cloud with open-source tools such as OpenStack.

After this unit you can

  • Classify real cloud offerings as SaaS, PaaS or IaaS
  • Build a simple business application with SaaS tools
  • Create, clone, migrate and manage virtual machines
  • Manage cloud storage and access, and set up a private cloud

PTU syllabus topics

  • Surveying cloud businesses and their SaaS/PaaS/IaaS offerings
  • building a warehouse application using SaaS tools
  • para-virtualization implementation using VMware Workstation or Oracle VirtualBox (VM creation, migration, cloning, management)
  • exploring public cloud provider tools for IaaS/PaaS/SaaS usage
  • cloud storage management tasks (bucket creation, file transfers, ACL permissions, IAM configuration)
  • setting up a private cloud using open-source tools (Eucalyptus/OpenStack)
ProcessCreating and managing a VM
  1. 1

    Install VirtualBox or VMware

  2. 2

    Create a VM

    CPU, RAM, disk

  3. 3

    Install the guest OS

  4. 4

    Take a snapshot

  5. 5

    Clone the VM

  6. 6

    Migrate or export it

1

Topic 1

Survey of cloud businesses and their offerings

ComparisonExample offerings
Description
Examples

SaaS

Ready applications used through a browser

Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Zoho, Tally on cloud

PaaS

Platforms to build and run apps without managing servers

Google App Engine, Azure App Service, Heroku, Firebase

IaaS

Virtual machines, storage and networks

AWS EC2 and S3, Azure VMs, Google Compute Engine, Indian providers such as Yotta and CtrlS

  • Lab task: pick five providers, list their services under SaaS, PaaS and IaaS, note pricing models (free tier, pay-as-you-go, reserved) and regions in India, and present the findings as a table.
2

Topic 2

Warehouse application with SaaS tools

ProcessBuilding a warehouse app without coding
  1. 1

    Create a sheet or no-code database (Google Sheets, Airtable or Zoho Creator) with Items, Suppliers, Stock In and Stock Out

  2. 2

    Add forms for receiving and issuing goods

  3. 3

    Use formulas or rollups for current stock = opening + in − out

  4. 4

    Add a reorder alert when stock falls below the reorder level

  5. 5

    Build a dashboard of stock value and movement

  6. 6

    Share with role-based access (viewer, editor)

Example

Item "A4 paper": opening 50, received 120, issued 140 → stock 30; reorder level 40 → alert e-mailed to the purchase officer.

3

Topic 3

Virtualisation with VirtualBox or VMware Workstation

  • Virtualisation: running multiple operating systems on one physical machine through a hypervisor — Type 1 (bare metal: VMware ESXi, Hyper-V) and Type 2 (hosted: VirtualBox, VMware Workstation).
ProcessInstalling Ubuntu in VirtualBox
  1. 1

    Install VirtualBox

  2. 2

    New VM — name, type Linux, version Ubuntu (64-bit)

  3. 3

    Allocate RAM (2–4 GB) and CPUs

  4. 4

    Create a virtual hard disk (VDI, 20+ GB, dynamically allocated)

  5. 5

    Attach the Ubuntu ISO to the optical drive

  6. 6

    Start the VM and install

  7. 7

    Install Guest Additions for better display and shared folders

  • Benefits: safe experimentation, snapshots, running multiple OSes, testing.
Key termsVM management tasks
Clone
Full clone (independent copy) or linked clone (shares the parent disk)
Snapshot
Saved state to roll back to after experiments
Export and import
OVA/OVF appliance files to move VMs between hosts
Migration
Move a VM to another host — cold (powered off) or live (vMotion in vSphere)
Resource settings
CPU, RAM, network mode (NAT, bridged, host-only)
  • Para-virtualisation: install guest additions or VMware Tools so the guest uses optimised paravirtual drivers for disk, network and display, improving performance.
4

Topic 4

Using public cloud tools

ProcessLaunching a virtual machine on a public cloud
  1. 1

    Sign in to the console (use the free tier)

  2. 2

    Choose a region near users (Mumbai or Hyderabad)

  3. 3

    Launch an instance — image, size, key pair, security group allowing SSH and HTTP

  4. 4

    Connect with SSH and install a web server

  5. 5

    Open the public IP in a browser

  6. 6

    Stop or terminate the instance to avoid charges

bashssh -i lab-key.pem ubuntu@<public-ip>
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y nginx
echo "<h1>Hello from the cloud - SBS</h1>" | sudo tee /var/www/html/index.html
  • Also try PaaS (deploy a small app to App Engine or Azure App Service) and SaaS (collaborative document editing) to compare responsibilities.
5

Topic 5

Cloud storage management

bash# AWS CLI examples (Google Cloud uses gcloud storage, Azure uses az storage)
aws s3 mb s3://sbs-lab-2026-roll21                          # create bucket
aws s3 cp notes.pdf s3://sbs-lab-2026-roll21/               # upload
aws s3 ls s3://sbs-lab-2026-roll21/                         # list
aws s3 cp s3://sbs-lab-2026-roll21/notes.pdf ./copy.pdf     # download
aws s3 presign s3://sbs-lab-2026-roll21/notes.pdf --expires-in 600   # temporary link
aws s3 rb s3://sbs-lab-2026-roll21 --force                  # delete bucket and contents
Key termsAccess control
IAM users and roles
Identities with policies granting least privilege
IAM policy
JSON document allowing or denying actions on resources
Bucket policy
Rules attached to the bucket
ACLs
Older per-object permissions (now usually disabled in favour of policies)
Block public access
Setting that prevents accidental public exposure
json{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [{
    "Effect": "Allow",
    "Action": ["s3:GetObject", "s3:PutObject"],
    "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::sbs-lab-2026-roll21/*"
  }]
}
6

Topic 6

Setting up a private cloud with OpenStack

  • OpenStack is an open-source cloud platform; Eucalyptus (AWS-compatible) is no longer actively developed, so OpenStack is the usual lab choice.
Key termsOpenStack services
Keystone
Identity
Nova
Compute (virtual machines)
Neutron
Networking
Glance
Images
Cinder and Swift
Block and object storage
Horizon
Web dashboard
ProcessLab installation with DevStack
  1. 1

    Create an Ubuntu VM with at least 8 GB RAM and 2 vCPUs

  2. 2

    Create a stack user and clone DevStack

  3. 3

    Write local.conf with admin passwords

  4. 4

    Run ./stack.sh (takes 20–40 minutes)

  5. 5

    Log in to Horizon; upload an image, create a network and launch an instance

  6. 6

    Attach a volume and assign a floating IP

bashsudo useradd -s /bin/bash -d /opt/stack -m stack && echo "stack ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL" | sudo tee /etc/sudoers.d/stack
sudo -u stack -i
git clone https://opendev.org/openstack/devstack && cd devstack
printf "[[local|localrc]]\nADMIN_PASSWORD=secret\nDATABASE_PASSWORD=secret\nRABBIT_PASSWORD=secret\nSERVICE_PASSWORD=secret\n" > local.conf
./stack.sh

Key terms

Linked clone
VM copy sharing the parent's virtual disk
Snapshot
Saved VM state for rollback
Bucket
Top-level container in object storage
IAM policy
JSON rules granting permissions
DevStack
Scripts installing OpenStack for development and labs

Quick revision

  • Classify offerings into SaaS, PaaS, IaaS; pricing models.
  • No-code warehouse app: items, stock in and out, reorder alerts, dashboard, sharing.
  • VirtualBox or VMware: create, clone, snapshot, export, migrate; guest additions.
  • Public cloud: launch instance, security groups, SSH, stop to save cost.
  • Buckets, upload, download, pre-signed URLs, IAM and bucket policies; OpenStack services and DevStack.

Important exam questions

Practice questions written to the PTU exam pattern for this unit's syllabus: short answers (Section A style) and long answers (Sections B and C style).

Short-answer questions

  1. Q1.Give one example each of SaaS, PaaS and IaaS.
  2. Q2.Distinguish a full clone and a linked clone.
  3. Q3.What is a VM snapshot?
  4. Q4.What is a security group?
  5. Q5.What does a pre-signed URL provide?
  6. Q6.Name four OpenStack services.

Long-answer questions

  1. Q1.Survey cloud providers and classify their services.
  2. Q2.Create, clone and migrate a virtual machine using VirtualBox or VMware.
  3. Q3.Explain cloud storage management with access control.
  4. Q4.Explain how a private cloud is set up with OpenStack.

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