Welcome

Fortaspen.com aims to be the destination of choice for explainers and case studies on the principles and application of cloud computing.

Virtual Machines

At the core of cloud computing are virtual machines. These provide the raw processing power. Each cloud provider has their own “compute” offering but you can get used to using virtual machines on your own system without incurring cloud charges using VirtualBox.

Containers

Setting up a virtual machine to perform a specific task can be repetitive and time consuming. Enter the “container”: isolated units of work, many of which can run on a single virtual machine. A container includes all the configuration to prepare for and perform their task and can be simply and quickly deployed at scale.

Kubernetes

When you need to run a large number of containers, often of different types, then you should consider “orchestration”. Orchestration software spreads loads across multiple virtual machines and includes automatic monitoring, scaling and correction. The most widely used orchestration software is Kubernetes.

Supporting Tech

We also look at supporting technologies like