Cloud VM

Cloud Virtual Machine

Rented virtual machines run by a cloud provider.

Where It Sits

The small stack marks its layer. Beside it, each related technology links to its own page.

  1. App
  2. Framework
  3. Web Server
  4. Runtime
  5. Containers
  6. OS
  7. HypervisorCloud VM
  8. Firmware
  9. Hardware
  10. Data

It Runs

Cloud VMVirtualisation

Runs On

See It in the Stack

About

A cloud virtual machine is a server you rent from a provider such as AWS or Azure, instead of owning the hardware. The provider runs the hypervisor and the hardware beneath it, and you manage the operating system and everything above it. This split is called the shared responsibility model.

How to Spot It

These are signs that a system runs Cloud VM, seen from outside without signing in, such as a response header, a cookie, a path or a default port. They help you find where it runs across your own estate. A version shown to the world also tells anyone scanning which flaws might apply, so it is worth hiding.

Reverse DNS (AWS)
ec2-203-0-113-10.eu-west-2.compute.amazonaws.com
DNS name (Azure, opt-in)
<label>.uksouth.cloudapp.azure.com

If It Has a Flaw

You own the risk from the operating system up, and the provider owns the hypervisor and the hardware. The metadata service, an address each virtual machine can reach that tells it about itself, is a common target because it can hand out cloud credentials.

A flaw exposes what runs on it.

Operating System
Windows ServerLinux

Rivals

Rivals do the same job on the same layer, so a system usually runs one of them in any one place. A flaw in a rival does not reach Cloud VM.

Sources

Product names and logos are trademarks of their owners, shown only to name each product, with no endorsement implied. npm is a registered trademark of npm, Inc.

Apache, Apache HTTP Server, Tomcat and Log4j are trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation. Node.js® is a registered trademark of the OpenJS Foundation, and Kubernetes® of LF Projects, LLC.

Linux® is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries. Docker and the Docker logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Docker, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

MongoDB® is a registered trademark of MongoDB, Inc. Redis® is a registered trademark of Redis Ltd. Any rights therein are reserved to Redis Ltd.

PHP logo by Colin Viebrock, CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab). Ruby logo © 2006 Yukihiro Matsumoto, CC BY-SA 2.5 (opens in a new tab). Tux by Larry Ewing, with Garrett LeSage and IFo Hancroft.

Puma logo © Evan Phoenix and contributors, CC BY-ND 3.0 (opens in a new tab). NuGet logo from NuGet's Media repository, CC BY 2.0 (opens in a new tab).

Gunicorn logo © Benoît Chesneau and Paul J. Davis, MIT licence for the Gunicorn logo (opens in a new tab). Packagist logo © 2011 Jordi Boggiano and Nils Adermann, MIT licence for the Packagist logo (opens in a new tab).

MIT Licence Notices for the Gunicorn and Packagist Logos

Gunicorn logo

2009-2024 (c) Benoît Chesneau <benoitc@gunicorn.org> 2009-2015 (c) Paul J. Davis <paul.joseph.davis@gmail.com>

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

Packagist logo

Copyright (c) 2011 Jordi Boggiano, Nils Adermann

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.