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Cloud architecture concepts

Short explainers for landing zones, multi-cloud, FinOps, IAM, networking, failure domains and cost allocation.

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    What is cloud architecture?

    Cloud architecture is the set of tenancy, identity, network, failure-domain, and cost-ownership decisions that determine how workloads run on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, or Alibaba Cloud.

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    What is a landing zone?

    A landing zone is the baseline multi-account or multi-subscription environment that applies identity, network, logging, and policy before the first production workload is deployed.

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    What is multi-cloud?

    Multi-cloud is running production workloads on more than one provider, each with its own identity, network, billing, and failure-domain model.

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    What is FinOps?

    FinOps is the FinOps Foundation's operating practice for technology value: timely cost data, shared accountability, and decisions made by engineering, finance, and the business together.

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    What is AI FinOps?

    AI FinOps is FinOps applied to AI spend: GPU capacity, idle time, managed-model tokens, and unit costs that generic cloud allocation does not show.

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    Regions, availability zones and failure domains

    Regions, zones, and provider-specific isolation boundaries define which failures a multi-AZ design can survive and which ones require another region.

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    Shared responsibility model

    Each provider documents a split between security of the platform and security of your configuration, data, and identities. The line moves by service model.

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    Cloud networking fundamentals

    AWS VPCs are regional, Azure VNets are regional, Google Cloud VPCs are global with regional subnets, and Alibaba Cloud VPCs are regional with zonal vSwitches.

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    Identity and access management fundamentals

    AWS IAM, Azure RBAC, Google Cloud IAM, and Alibaba Cloud RAM evaluate identity and authorization differently. Federation does not merge those models.

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    Cloud cost allocation fundamentals

    Cost allocation maps provider usage to an owner using accounts or subscriptions first, then activated tags or labels. Untagged spend is part of the report.