Cloud and Virtualization
Course Description
Cloud and Virtualization covers cloud computing fundamentals, the cloud service and deployment models, and how cloud technologies change the network. You’ll learn how server virtualization led to cloud computing, the difference between virtual machines and containers, and how network functions like routers and firewalls run as virtual appliances with NFV. We look at cloud architecture and design: performance, scalability, high availability, and security with the shared responsibility model. You’ll also learn the options to connect your network to the cloud, how to migrate workloads, and how cloud-managed networks work. The course finishes with the Internet of Things (IoT): the technology stack, standards and protocols, edge and fog computing, IoT security, and an example where we connect an ESP32 to AWS IoT.
Course Highlights
In this course you will learn:
- What cloud computing is and how it grew out of server virtualization.
- The cloud deployment models: public, private, community, and hybrid cloud.
- The cloud service models: IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS.
- Compute virtualization: hypervisors, virtual machines, and containers.
- Network Functions Virtualization: VNFs, NFVI, and the ETSI NFV framework.
- Cloud performance, scalability, and high availability.
- Cloud security: the shared responsibility model, compliance, threats, and policy.
- Cloud connectivity options and how to migrate workloads to the cloud.
- Cloud-managed networks like Cisco Meraki.
- The IoT technology stack, standards and protocols, edge and fog computing, and IoT security, with an example that connects an ESP32 to AWS IoT.
Presented to you by instructor Rene Molenaar, CCIE #41726
Course at a glance
- 15 lessons in 6 units.
- Format: self-paced lessons with diagrams and examples.
- Last updated: October 2026.
Requirements
- Basic networking knowledge: IP addressing, switching, and routing.
- No cloud or virtualization experience required; we start from the beginning.
- Optional: an ESP32 board and an AWS account if you want to try the AWS IoT example yourself.
Course Schedule
What is cloud computing?
Cloud computing is an approach where compute, storage, networking, and applications are delivered as a service, on demand, by a cloud provider or by your own IT department. It grew out of server virtualization: instead of one bare metal server per operating system, a hypervisor runs many virtual machines on a single physical server, and the cloud adds self-service, pay-as-you-go pricing, and the ability to scale up and down when you need it. NIST describes four deployment models (public, private, community, and hybrid cloud) and three service models (IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS) that decide how much the provider manages and how much you manage yourself.
Virtualization doesn’t stop at servers. Containers package an application with its dependencies and share the kernel of the host, which makes them lighter than virtual machines. Network functions like routers, firewalls, and load balancers run as virtual network functions (VNFs) on NFV infrastructure, so you can deploy a CSR1000v or ASAv as a virtual machine instead of buying hardware. And the network itself changes: traffic that used to stay in your data center now goes to the cloud over the Internet, a private WAN connection, or SD-WAN, and cloud-managed networks move the management of your switches and access points to a cloud dashboard.
Who needs this? Every network engineer, because the cloud changes where your traffic flows, who is responsible for security, and how you manage the network. It’s also the foundation for the Internet of Things, where billions of sensors and devices send their data to cloud platforms, and edge and fog computing bring processing closer to the devices to keep latency low. You’ll run into cloud and virtualization in every modern network design.
Cloud and Virtualization Learning Roadmap
This roadmap follows the course units. Each topic has a short explanation and links to the lessons where we cover it in detail.
Cloud Computing Fundamentals
We start with what cloud computing is, with a short history from bare metal servers to server virtualization, and how the traffic path to cloud services changes your WAN. NIST describes four deployment models: public, private, community, and hybrid cloud. The three service models, IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS, decide what the cloud provider manages and what you manage yourself, from the hardware up to the application and its data.
Virtualization
Compute virtualization lets a single physical server run multiple virtual machines and containers: a virtual machine has its own operating system on top of a hypervisor, while a container shares the kernel of the host and only packages the application with its dependencies. Network devices can be virtual too. A VNF (Virtual Network Function) is the virtual version of a router, firewall, or load balancer, like the CSR1000v or ASAv, and the ETSI NFV framework and Cisco NFVI describe the infrastructure these VNFs run on.
Cloud Architecture and Design
In the cloud, performance, scalability, and availability are related but not the same: performance is the throughput of a system under a given workload, scalability is how well it keeps up when the workload grows, and high availability keeps the application running when something fails. Cloud security starts with the shared responsibility model, which decides what the cloud provider secures and what you secure in each service model, and continues with compliance, the threats and risks of the cloud, and the policies you need.
Cloud Connectivity and Migration
Most organizations start with VPNs over the Internet to reach their public cloud. That’s cheap and available everywhere, but there are no bandwidth or latency guarantees. Cloud connectivity covers the alternatives, like private WAN connections, and how SD-Access, SD-WAN, and virtual switching fit in. Moving applications to the cloud takes planning, so workload migration walks through five steps, starting with the discovery of your on-premises applications and whether they are suitable for the cloud at all.
Cloud Management
Traditionally, we configure devices on the CLI and monitor them with SNMP, syslog, and NetFlow on our own hardware. A cloud-managed network, like Cisco Meraki, moves configuration and monitoring to a cloud dashboard with features like zero-touch provisioning, which makes it easier to roll out and manage many sites. You’ll learn the advantages, the disadvantages, and the products.
Internet of Things (IoT)
The Internet of Things connects sensors and other devices to the network, from a light switch at home to thousands of sensors on a factory floor. The IoT technology stack has four parts: devices, gateways, IoT platforms, and applications. IoT networks need open standards and protocols, with IPv6, 6LoWPAN, and RPL on the network side and lightweight data protocols for the devices. Many IoT applications can’t wait for a round trip to a distant data center, so edge and fog computing process data closer to the devices. IoT security is harder than IT security, because we connect operational technology that was never designed for the Internet. Finally, we walk through an example where an ESP32 running MicroPython connects to AWS IoT and sends a message when you press a button.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cloud computing delivers compute, storage, networking, and applications as a service, on demand, over a network. Instead of buying and maintaining servers, you use the resources of a cloud provider and pay for what you use. It builds on server virtualization, which lets a single physical server run many virtual machines. Read our introduction to cloud computing.
The service models describe who manages what. With IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), the provider manages the hardware, storage, networking, and virtualization, and you manage the operating system and everything on top of it. With PaaS (Platform as a Service), the provider also manages the operating system and runtime, so you only take care of your application and data. With SaaS (Software as a Service), the provider manages everything, and you just use the application. Compare the cloud service models.
A public cloud, like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, is owned by a cloud provider and shared by many customers over the Internet. A private cloud is used by a single organization, on its own premises or hosted by a third party. A hybrid cloud combines the two, for example to keep sensitive data in a private cloud and run public-facing applications in a public cloud. A community cloud is shared by organizations with common requirements. Learn about the cloud deployment models.
A virtual machine runs a complete operating system on virtual hardware that a hypervisor provides, so each VM has its own kernel. A container shares the kernel of the host and only packages the application with its libraries and dependencies, which makes it much smaller and faster to start. VMs give you stronger isolation; containers give you density and speed. Compare virtual machines and containers.
NFV (Network Functions Virtualization) replaces physical network appliances with software. A virtual network function (VNF) is the virtual version of a router, firewall, or load balancer, like the Cisco CSR1000v or ASAv, and it runs on NFV infrastructure (NFVI) made of standard servers, storage, and networking. The ETSI NFV framework describes how these pieces fit together. Learn about VNFs and NFVI.
In the cloud, security is split between the provider and the customer. The provider secures the underlying infrastructure, and the customer secures what they control, which depends on the service model: with IaaS that includes the operating system, with PaaS the application and data, and with SaaS mainly the data and user access. Learn about cloud security and policy.
The simplest option is a VPN over the Internet, which is cheap and available everywhere but offers no bandwidth or latency guarantees. For predictable performance, you use a private WAN connection to the cloud provider. SD-WAN combines multiple links and picks the best path per application. Learn about cloud connectivity.
Both process data closer to the IoT devices instead of in a distant cloud data center, to reduce latency and bandwidth. Edge computing processes data on or right next to the device itself, for example on a gateway. Fog computing adds a layer between the edge and the cloud, like a local server in a factory, that aggregates and processes data from many devices before it sends the results to the cloud. Learn about edge and fog computing.
Ready to master cloud and virtualization?
Get access to all 15 cloud and virtualization lessons and every other course on NetworkLessons.com.