“Cloud Computing Architected – Solution Design Handbook” by John Rhoton and Risto Haukioja was published by Recursive Press in May 2011.

This book is a great addition to other books about cloud computing.

Why? It does NOT give a high-level overview of cloud computing. It does NOT explain the business value. Finally, it does NOT contain tutorials for any specific cloud products.

So what is the content of the book? It covers architectural options for designing a cloud. The book explains many important decisions which have to be done when creating a cloud service or a cloud application.

Everyone of the 31 chapters can be read on its own and explaines one of the different concepts. Some contents: Authentication, Storage, Elasticity, Payments and Administration. The book uses current products such as Amazon Web Service (IaaS) or Google App Engine (PaaS) as practical examples.

This book can be read by people who are new to cloud computing because everything is explained in detail and easy to understand. Nevertheless, I would recommend to read another (more theoretical) book first, which explains the basis concepts such as the business value of cloud computing. I already had some practical experiences with cloud services before reading the book, such as AWS (IaaS) or GAE and CloudFoundry (PaaS). If you already have experience with different cloud services, you should read the book anyway because you get a better overview about alternative cloud architectures.

Conclusion: A very good and easy to read book about cloud architectures.

Best regards,

Kai Wähner (Twitter: @KaiWaehner)