TryHackMe Room Cloud Computing Fundamentals

Cloud Computing Fundamentals

This room is part of the Pre Security path, about 30 minutes, mostly reading plus one short hands-on cloud-console exercise (no hacking). It explains, in plain language, what “the cloud” actually is, why companies use it, and the words you will keep hearing later, like public cloud, IaaS, and EC2.

Think of a small app you built on your laptop. It works, but only you can use it, and if a lot of people show up, your laptop cannot keep up. The cloud is the fix for exactly this kind of problem. Let’s walk through the room task by task.

Task 01: Introduction

The first task just sets the scene: the cloud lets you use computing power over the internet instead of one computer in one place. There is nothing to type here, read it and click Complete.

Task 02: Cloud Computing Overview

This is the main reading task. Here are all the ideas, in simple terms.

How servers grew into “the cloud”

Cloud computing did not appear overnight. It is the result of years of small steps:

1. Physical servers, one company, one room full of machines.
2. Virtualization, many virtual servers running on a single physical machine.
3. Automation & remote management, controlling servers over the internet.
4. Cloud computing, renting computing power online, whenever you need it.
5. Modern / serverless, providers like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud handle the rest.

Why people love the cloud (benefits)

• Scalability, grow or shrink your app whenever the need changes.
• On-demand self-service, create servers and storage instantly, no waiting for hardware.
• Pay only for what you use, no big upfront cost.
• Security, the provider protects the underlying hardware.
• High availability, your app keeps running even if one part fails.
• Global access, anyone, anywhere can reach your app.

Ways to deploy a cloud (deployment types)

• Public Cloud, shared, cheap, and easy to scale. Used by startups and most websites. This is the most common one.
• Private Cloud, built for just one company, for more control and privacy. Used by banks, hospitals, and governments.
• Hybrid Cloud, a mix of both: keep sensitive data private, but scale publicly when things get busy (e.g. online stores on Black Friday).

Ways to use a cloud (service models)

A simple way to remember these is to compare them to renting a place to live:

• IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), you rent the basic parts (servers, storage, network) and manage the operating system and your app yourself. Like renting an empty apartment.
• PaaS (Platform as a Service), the provider manages the servers and the operating system; you only build and run your app. Like a furnished apartment.
• SaaS (Software as a Service), you just use a finished app in your browser, like Gmail or Zoom. Like a hotel room, everything is done for you.

The big cloud providers

AWS (Amazon Web Services) is the market leader. Other well-known ones are Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Alibaba Cloud, IBM Cloud, and Oracle Cloud. Real examples: Netflix, Spotify, and Instagram all run on the cloud so they can serve millions of people at the same time.

Task 2, Questions and Answers

What is the characteristic of cloud environments that enables you to handle an unexpected increase in access to your application?

Scalability

Scalability lets your app grow the moment more users arrive, so it does not crash under sudden traffic.

What is the most common type of cloud deployment used?

Public Cloud

The public cloud is cheap, easy to scale, and needs no hardware management, so it fits nearly every use case.

Suppose you want to deploy an application to the internet, focusing only on application development and leaving infrastructure to others. What type of cloud service is the best?

PaaS

With PaaS the provider runs the servers and operating system for you, so you only have to worry about your code.

Task 03: Deploying a Cloud Instance

This is the hands-on part. Click View Site to open the TryHackMe Cloud Console, a safe, simulated version of a cloud platform like AWS. You don’t need to memorise buttons; the goal is just to see how easily cloud machines (and their costs) can be created and changed.

Two words first:

• EC2 is a virtual computer in the cloud, it has a CPU and RAM and runs apps, just like a real machine. Adding an EC2 instance = adding a computer to your environment.
• Instance Type (like t3.micro or m5.large) describes how powerful that computer is. Bigger = more power = higher cost.

What to do in the console

1. Pick a Region (top-right), just a geographical location for your resources.
2. In Create Lab Machine, create your app machine, Name: application-interface, Type: t3.micro, Status: running.
3. Create two study machines for practising, study-machine-1 and study-machine-2, both m5.large, both running.
4. Open Billing to see the cost per machine and the total.
5. Stop both study machines, then check Billing again, the cost drops, because stopped machines cost nothing.

The console uses these simple prices (credits per month):

The environment starts with two machines already running, web-1 and db-1 (both t3.micro). So once you add your three, the full environment is web-1 + db-1 + application-interface (3 × t3.micro = 30) plus study-machine-1 + study-machine-2 (2 × m5.large = 140) = 170 credits/month when everything runs.

Task 3, Questions and Answers

What is the total cost of credits of the entire environment if study-machine-1 and study-machine-2 are stopped?

30

The two m5.large study machines stop (0 credits each), leaving the three t3.micro machines running: 10 + 10 + 10 = 30.

How many credits does an m5.large EC2 instance cost per month?

70

What is the total cost of credits if only the new instances we created are running?

150

Only the three you created run: application-interface (10) + study-machine-1 (70) + study-machine-2 (70) = 150.

What would be the total running cost of the entire environment you created if you add a third t3a.small study machine?

188

The full environment running is 170, and a t3a.small (same price as t3.small, 18 credits) adds 18: 170 + 18 = 188.

💡 Lesson: cloud billing is pay-for-what-you-run. Stopping machines you don’t need is the easiest way to cut your bill, exactly what the exercise shows.

Task 04: Conclusion

A quick recap of the words you learned in this room:

And the key benefits again: scalability, on-demand self-service, pay only for what you use, security, high availability, and global access.

I’m ready for the next module!

No answer needed

Wrap-up

That’s the whole room. The cloud is really just someone else’s computers that you rent over the internet, but that one simple idea is what lets small teams run apps used by millions. Next in the Pre Security path is Operating Systems, which explains how those rented machines actually run your software behind the scenes.

Happy learning! 🚀