Here is a glossary of fundamental cloud computing concepts:

Availability Zone (AZ): A physically separate location within a region, built to operate independently from other zones to avoid single points of failure.

Cloud Computing: On-demand delivery of computing services—servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics—over the Internet ("the cloud").

Cloud Migration: the process of transferring digital assets, such as data, applications, and IT resources, from on-premises infrastructure to the cloud.

Containerization: a method of packaging applications and their dependencies into lightweight, portable, self-sufficient units called containers.

Data Redundancy: storing multiple copies of data in different locations to prevent data loss due to hardware failure or disaster.

Disaster Recovery (DR): A collection of policies, tools, and procedures designed to restore or maintain critical technology infrastructure and systems after a natural or human-made disaster.

Elasticity: The ability to quickly and automatically adjust computing resources up or down to handle changing demands without human help.

Hybrid Cloud: An environment that combines a private cloud with one or more public cloud services, orchestrated between the two platforms.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): a cloud service model providing essential computing resources such as virtual machines, networks, and storage over the internet.

Latency: the delay before data transfer starts after an instruction is given, or the time it takes for a data packet to travel from source to destination.

Load Balancer: A device or service that distributes network traffic across multiple servers to ensure optimal resource use and prevent overloads.

Microservices: An architectural style where an application is created as a collection of small, independently deployable services, each operating its own process.

Multi-Cloud: The utilization of multiple cloud services from different providers within one architecture to prevent vendor lock-in and boost resilience.

On-Premises: Refers to IT infrastructure and applications hosted and managed within an organization's own physical data center.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): cloud service model that offers a platform enabling customers to develop, run, and manage applications without the complexity of building and maintaining infrastructure.

Private Cloud: A cloud computing environment dedicated solely to one organization, which can be managed internally or by a third party.

Public Cloud: Cloud services provided by third-party providers over the public internet, accessible to anyone who wishes to purchase or use them.

Region: a geographical area containing multiple, isolated availability zones, designed for higher fault tolerance and disaster recovery.

Resilience: The ability of a system to recover from failures and continue functioning, often through redundancy and automatic failover mechanisms.

Scalability: the capacity of a system to manage growing workloads or demands by adding or removing resources, either vertically or horizontally.

Serverless Computing: a cloud execution model where the cloud provider dynamically manages server allocation and provisioning, executing code only when triggered.

Service Level Agreement (SLA): a contract between a service provider and a customer outlining the expected level of service.

Software as a Service (SaaS): A cloud service model offering ready-to-use applications over the internet, fully managed by the provider.

Virtual Machine (VM): a software-based emulation of a physical computer that can run an operating system and applications just like a real machine.

Virtual Private Cloud (VPC): A logically isolated section of a public cloud where users can deploy resources within a virtual network they create.