Cloud vs. On-Premises: Understanding the Choice That Runs Modern IT
See what makes the cloud different from your server room, then step into Azure yourself, free and in about an hour.
Start With a Free AZ-900 Skill: Understand the Point of the Cloud
The first skill in CBT Nuggets' AZ-900 course, Understand the Point of the Cloud, is free. In about an hour, it explains why the cloud changed how IT builds and runs applications, then walks you through setting up your own Azure account and taking a first look at the portal. No prior experience is required.
For anyone starting out in IT, cloud vs. on-premises is the choice running underneath most of the work. Servers, applications, storage, identity management, all of it eventually comes back to where the infrastructure lives and who maintains it. Understanding that choice is the foundation for any cloud role, this skill builds that foundation before any certification prep begins.
What to Expect in This Skill: Understanding the Point of the Cloud
Knox Hutchinson teaches this skill. He didn't enter IT until age 30, and in less than three years went from not knowing an IP address to running IT infrastructure for a large organization. Now a full trainer, he brings that learner's perspective to every lesson. His philosophy: understand the topic deeply, then explain it naturally. That's what you'll find in this skill.
The skill runs 1 hour 4 minutes and requires no prior experience. Knowledge checks after lessons confirm understanding before moving on. The six lessons cover a logical progression: Understand Cloud Fundamentals sets the stage; Create an Azure Account gets you into the portal immediately; Define a Cloud gives a working definition you can actually use on the job; Defining a Data Center explains the physical infrastructure that makes cloud reliability possible; Defining DevOps connects the cloud to how modern software teams work; and Explore What You Can Do closes with a hands-on look at Azure resources, the portal layout, and billing.
Cloud vs. On-Premises: What's the Difference?
On-premises means an organization owns and maintains its own servers, physical hardware in a server room or a private data center. The IT team purchases the equipment, provisions the capacity, applies patches, and handles failures. The infrastructure is under direct organizational control, which matters for certain workloads.
The cloud means using computing resources in a provider's data center, accessed over the internet. A useful starting point from the skill: Microsoft's cloud is really just Microsoft's computers. That framing sounds simple, but it immediately raises the right question: What makes Microsoft's computers different from the ones in your server room? The answer is how those computers are built, managed, and interconnected, and that's what the rest of the skill explains.
| Dimension | On-Premises | Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Who owns the hardware | Your organization | The cloud provider |
| Where it lives | Your facility | Provider's data centers |
| Adding capacity | Purchase and provision new hardware | Provision through the portal |
| Physical redundancy | Managed by your team | Built into provider's infrastructure |
| App update model | Typically larger, less frequent releases | Continuous delivery via DevOps practices |
On-premises infrastructure is still the right fit for some workloads, including regulatory requirements, latency-sensitive applications, or environments with existing hardware investment. Cloud vs. on-premises is rarely an all-or-nothing decision, which is one reason understanding both sides matters.
Why Data Centers Make the Cloud Different
A cloud provider's data center isn't a scaled-up server room. It's a purpose-built facility engineered around redundancy at every layer. Power comes from multiple feeds with generator backup and uninterruptible power supplies. Connectivity runs through multiple network paths so that a single line cut doesn't take services offline. Cooling systems are designed to maintain safe operating temperatures at scale, around the clock. Physical security layers protect the hardware itself.
The practical result is a level of resilience that most organizations cannot economically match in their own facilities. Replicating even a fraction of that infrastructure (redundant power, diverse network uplinks, proper cooling capacity) requires significant capital investment and ongoing operational expertise. For most workloads, paying to use infrastructure that already has those properties built in is more practical than building it from scratch.
How the Cloud Changed App Development: DevOps and Microservices
Before the cloud, most applications were built as a single, tightly coupled system called a monolith. Updating one part of the application often meant deploying the whole thing, which made releases slow and risky. Scaling meant buying more hardware in advance of demand.
The cloud made a different model practical. Applications can now be built as many independent, small services (microservices), where each service can be updated, scaled, or replaced without touching the rest. The cloud provides the on-demand infrastructure that makes it economical to run dozens of small services rather than one large application.
For IT professionals moving into cloud roles, this shift matters. Cloud engineers, solutions architects, and DevOps engineers all work in environments built on these patterns. Understanding why the cloud enabled them, not just that it did, is part of working effectively in those roles.
Get Hands-On: Set Up a Free Azure Account
The skill doesn't just explain concepts. It puts you in the Azure portal. One of the lessons walks through creating an Azure account and then exploring what's actually there: the resources available, how the portal is organized, and where billing information lives.
Getting into the portal early matters because Azure's interface is one of the things that looks intimidating before you've seen it and straightforward after you have. By the end of the skill, you'll have your own account and a working orientation to the environment you'll keep using through the rest of the AZ-900 course.
What You Can Do After Completing the Skill
After finishing "Understand the Point of the Cloud," you'll be able to:
- Explain the practical difference between cloud and on-premises infrastructure in terms that apply to real architectural decisions
- Describe what makes cloud data centers reliable and why that level of resilience is difficult to replicate on-premises
- Explain how the cloud enabled DevOps practices and microservices-based application development
- Navigate the Azure portal in your own account and identify where to find resources and billing
Where This Skill Fits in the AZ-900 Certification
This skill is 1 of 10 in CBT Nuggets' AZ-900 Microsoft Azure Fundamentals course. It's the starting point for a course designed specifically for people who are new to cloud, from complete beginners to IT professionals with one to two years of experience.
The skills that follow build directly on this foundation. The course covers cloud concepts and economics, including CapEx vs. OpEx and total cost of ownership; deployment models including public vs. private cloud and hybrid configurations; service models such as IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS; core Azure services across storage, networking, containers, and serverless; and security fundamentals including the shared responsibility model and role-based access control.
AZ-900 maps to roles including cloud engineer, solutions architect, and DevOps engineer.It's also a practical credential for IT professionals in adjacent roles (help desk, desktop support, junior sysadmin) who need working cloud fluency without specializing immediately.
Keep Learning With the Full AZ-900 Course
Practice exams and quizzes built into the course let learners check their readiness before test day. Rather than waiting until a full mock exam to find gaps, the quizzes after each skill surface misunderstandings early, when there's still time to go back and address them.
IT Trainerbot, CBT Nuggets' AI learning assistant, is available for questions that come up while studying. Ask something like 'What's the difference between IaaS and PaaS?' and IT Trainerbot answers with a citation to the specific CBT Nuggets video and timestamp that covers it, so learners can jump directly to the lesson rather than searching.
If you're a team lead or training manager considering AZ-900 for your team, see how CBT Nuggets fits your team's training plan.
Cloud vs. On-Premises: Common Questions
What's the difference between cloud and on-premises infrastructure?
On-premises infrastructure means your organization owns the hardware, houses it in your own facility, and is responsible for maintaining it. Patches, failures, capacity planning, and physical security all fall to your team. Cloud infrastructure means you're using computing resources in a provider's data center over the internet. You provision and manage what you use through a web portal or API, but you don't own or physically maintain the underlying hardware. The practical difference shows up in how quickly you can add capacity, how resilience is handled, and who's accountable for the physical layer.
Is the first AZ-900 skill really free?
Yes. "Understand the Point of the Cloud" is the first skill in CBT Nuggets' AZ-900 course, and it's available with no purchase required. No purchase is needed to access it. You can start immediately. The full course of 10 skills and all other CBT Nuggets courses require a subscription, but the first skill of every course on the platform is available this way.
Do I need experience to start the AZ-900 course?
No prior experience is required for the first skill or for the full AZ-900 course. The course is designed for people who are new to cloud, including career changers, students, and IT professionals whose work hasn't involved cloud infrastructure yet. Knox Hutchinson builds the concepts from the ground up, starting with what the cloud actually is before moving into Azure-specific content.
What can I do in Azure after this skill?
The skill walks you through creating an Azure account and exploring the portal, so by the time you finish, you'll have a real working environment. You'll be oriented to where resources live, how the portal is organized, and where billing information appears. It's a starting point. The full course builds on it with hands-on work across Azure's storage, networking, and compute services.
What roles does AZ-900 apply to?
AZ-900 is foundational for cloud engineer, solutions architect, and DevOps engineer roles. It's also relevant for IT professionals in support and infrastructure roles who need to understand cloud concepts to work effectively in hybrid environments, communicate with cloud teams, or prepare for a role transition.