Cloud computing review: concepts, technology, challenges and security

Cloud computing delivers IT-related capabilities as a service through internet to multiple customers and these services are charged based on consumption. Many cloud computing providers such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, IBM and Amazon are moving towards adoption of cloud technology leading to a considerable escalation in the usage of various cloud services. Amazon is the pioneer in this field because of its more number of architectural features compared to others. To meet the needs of cloud service providers and customers various open source tools and commercial tools are being developed. Though many more developments have been taken place in the cloud computing area, many challenges such as security, interoperability, resource scheduling, virtualisation etc. are yet to be fine tuned. This paper reviews cloud computing paradigm in terms of its historical evolution, concepts, technology, tools and various challenges. Systematic literature review (SLR) of 77 selected papers, published from 2000 to 2015 is done to properly understand the nuances of the cloud computing paradigm. Since security is the major challenge in cloud computing, it is discussed separately in detail. This review paper helps researchers who would like to begin their research career in cloud computing area.