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What is the IBM Cloud platform?

What is the IBM Cloud platform?

The IBM Cloud® platform combines platform as a service (PaaS) with infrastructure as a service (IaaS) to provide an integrated experience. The platform scales and supports both small development teams and organizations, and large enterprise businesses. Globally deployed across data centers around the world, the solution you build on IBM Cloud® spins up fast and performs reliably in a tested and supported environment you can trust!

IBM Cloud provides solutions that enable higher levels of compliance, security, and management, with proven architecture patterns and methods for rapid delivery for running mission-critical workloads. Available in data centers worldwide, with multizone regions in North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, you are enabled to deploy locally with global scalability.

IBM Cloud offers the most open and secure public cloud for business with a next-generation hybrid cloud platform, advanced data and AI capabilities, and deep enterprise expertise across 20 industries. Solutions are available depending on your needs for working in the public cloud, on-premises, or a combination:

  • With public cloud, the resources are made available to you over the public internet. It is a multi-tenant environment, and resources like hardware and infrastructure are managed by IBM®.
  • A hybrid cloud solution is a combination of public and private giving you the flexibility to move workloads between the two based on your business and technological needs. IBM uses Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud, the market-leading hybrid cloud container platform for hybrid solutions that enables you to build once and deploy anywhere. With IBM Cloud Satellite, you can create a hybrid environment that brings the scalability and on-demand flexibility of public cloud services to the applications and data that runs in your secure private cloud.
  • Support for multicloud and hybrid multicloud solutions is also available, which makes it easy for you to work with different vendors. IBM Cloud Paks are software products for hybrid clouds that enable you to develop apps once and deploy them anywhere.
  • Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) is available as a public cloud service that lets you establish your own private cloud-like computing environment on shared public cloud infrastructure. With VPC, enterprises can define and control a virtual network that is logically isolated from all other public cloud tenants, creating a private, secure place on the public cloud.

With our open source technologies, such as Kubernetes, Red Hat OpenShift, and a full range of compute options, including virtual machines, containers, bare metal, and serverless, you have the control and flexibility that's required to support workloads in your hybrid environment. You can deploy cloud-native apps while also ensuring workload portability.

Whether you need to migrate apps to the cloud, modernize your existing apps by using cloud services, ensure data resiliency against regional failure, or use new paradigms and deployment topologies to innovate and build your cloud-native apps, the platform's open architecture is built to accommodate your use case.

What's built into the platform?

As the following diagram illustrates, the IBM Cloud platform is composed of multiple components that work together to provide a consistent and dependable cloud experience.

  • A robust console that serves as the front end for creating, viewing, managing your cloud resources
  • An identity and access management component that securely authenticates users for both platform services and controls access to resources consistently across IBM Cloud
  • A catalog that consists of hundreds of supported products
  • A search and tagging mechanism for filtering and identifying your resources
  • An account and billing management system that provides exact usage for pricing plans and secure credit card fraud protection

Components of the IBM Cloud platform.
Components of the IBM Cloud platform

Whether you have existing code that you want to modernize and bring to the cloud or you're developing a brand new application, your developers can tap into the rapidly growing ecosystem of available services and runtime frameworks in IBM Cloud.

Setting up your account

If you're a developer and you're just trying out IBM Cloud, you can go straight to the catalog and browse the products that you'd like to explore. Try filtering for all Lite and Free pricing plans to test out IBM Cloud with no costs. When you're ready to get started with an environment and get apps running in production, consider setting up the basics in your account:

  • Access groups for organizing users and service IDs into one entity to make assigning access a streamlined process
  • Resource groups for organizing your resources to make assigning access to a set of resources quick and easy
  • IAM access policies for your access groups or individual developers

For more information, see the best practices for organizing your resources and assigning access.

As a financial officer for your company, you might be interested in simplifying how you manage billing and usage across multiple teams and departments. With a Subscription account, you can create an IBM Cloud enterpriseA hierarchical structure of accounts with centralized account and billing management in a cloud environment., which offers centralized account management, consolidated billing, and top-down usage reporting. An enterprise consists of an enterprise account, account groups, and individual accounts.

  • The enterprise account is the parent account to all other accounts in the enterprise. Billing for the entire enterprise is managed at the enterprise account level.
  • Account groups provide a way to organize related accounts. And, you get a unified view of resource usage costs across all accounts that are included in an account group.
  • Similar to stand-alone accounts, accounts in an enterprise contain resources and resource groups and independent access permissions.

For more information, see the Enterprise account architecture white paper and the best practices for setting up an enterprise.

IBM Cloud catalog

Discover all that IBM Cloud has to offer. From services, software, and deployable architecturesCloud automation for deploying a common architectural pattern that combines one or more cloud resources that is designed for easy deployment, scalability, and modularity. ranging from containers, compute, security, data, AI, and more, find what you need to transform your business.

The available services include options for compute, storage, networking, end-to-end developer solutions for app development, testing and deployment, security management services, traditional and open source databases, and cloud-native services. The lifecycle and operations of services are the responsibility of IBM.

You can also find a number of software products, including Cloud Paks, Terraform-based templates, Helm charts, and Operators. The preconfigured software solutions help you build faster. And, with a simplified installation process, you can get started quickly. You manage the deployment and configuration of the software on your own compute resources.

If you're looking for more robust solutions for your enterprise business goals, IBM Cloud offers deployable architectures that use cloud automation for deploying common architectural patterns that combine one or more cloud resources that are designed for easy deployment, scalability, and modularity.

And, if you're looking for help in your journey to cloud, check out our professional services. Browse your options for scheduling a consultation with technical experts depending on your needs, such as cloud migration, creating business solutions with IBM Garage, or developing a container security solution that works for you.

The catalog supports command-line interfaces (CLIs) and a RESTful API for you to use to retrieve information about existing products.

Open source offerings

In addition to the generally available offerings in the IBM Cloud catalog, you can find additional offerings for deploying and building solutions in the module registry and community registry.

IBM module registry
Discover modules that work with deployable architectures for your customization and building needs. This is a collection of assets that is separate from the IBM Cloud catalog and is governed and maintained by the process in the terraform-ibm-modules GitHub organization. The modules that you find here meet a specific quality checks, indicated by the Graduated or Stable badge, and are confirmed to work with deployable architectures in the IBM catalog. For more information, see Badges for modules. You can view usage information and one or more runnable examples for each module. Example's aren't deployable from the module registry, but you can copy the usage code to get started with any module.
Community registry
This is a collection of real world examples of coded industry solutions to jumpstart your building needs. The collection maintained by the owners of the originating GitHub repository and solutions might change frequently or be discontinued at short notice. Note that these solutions are't supported by the IBM Cloud Support Center. If you have questions about the solution, you can open an issue in the originating GitHub repository.

The offerings in the module registry and community registry might include the following badges:

  • TIM Approved indicates that the solution is sourced in the terraform-ibm-modules GitHub organization, a collection of IBM Cloud Terraform modules.
  • IBM open source indicates that the solution is sourced in the ibm GitHub organization, a collection of open source repositories provided by IBM under the open source software license.
  • Recommended indicates that an internal team of experts has reviewed and endorses the offering for solving common or complex cloud use cases.

Searching the catalog for services

All products that are available in IBM Cloud are displayed by default in the catalog. You can filter the catalog by type to view a specific type of product, for example, only services, software, or deployable architectures. Enter keywords or set additional filters to further scope your view of the catalog. For example, if you want to deploy an analytics instance to Red Hat® OpenShift® on IBM Cloud®, you can select the Analytics category, and filter the results by selecting Red Hat OpenShift as the deployment target.

See the following table for the list of filters that you can use to search the catalog.

Options for filtering by category
Use the buttons before the table to change the context of the table. The column headers identify the options for fitering based on filter type.
Option Description
AI / Machine Learning Products that enable systems to learn from data rather than through explicit programming
Analytics Products that facilitate the analysis of data, typically large sets of business data, by the use of mathematics, statistics, and other means
Blockchain Products that facilitate the process of recording transactions and tracking assets in a business network
Compute Infrastructure resources that serve as the basis for building apps in the cloud
Containers A standard unit of software that packages up code and all its dependencies so the app runs quickly and reliably from one computing environment to another
Databases Products that provide some form of access to a database without the need for setting up physical hardware, installing software, or configuring for performance
Developer tools Products that support developing, testing, and debugging software
Enterprise applications Bundle of compatible products that deliver enterprise-grade app solutions for information sharing, automation, and agility
Integration Products that facilitate the connection of data, apps, APIs, and devices across an organization to be more efficient, productive, and agile
Internet of Things Products that support receiving and transferring data over wireless networks without human intervention
Logging and monitoring Products that support storing, searching, analyzing, and monitoring log data and events. And, products that support reviewing and managing the operational workflow and processes being logged
Mobile Products with specific or special utility for users creatings things to be used on mobile devices
Networking Products that support or augment the linking of computers so they can operate interactively
Security Products that provide the protection of stored data from theft, leakage, and deletion
Storage Products that support data to be created, read, updated, and deleted
Options for filtering by compliance
Use the buttons before the table to change the context of the table. The column headers identify the options for fitering based on filter type.
Option Description
EU Supported Support for the service is restricted to IBM Cloud support team members that are located in the European Union (EU) region. This filter is available only if the EU Supported setting is enabled in the account.
Financial Services Validated Services are designated as Financial Services Validated when the IBM Cloud service or SaaS, or independent software vendor (ISV) product, evidences compliance with the IBM Cloud Framework for Financial Services. This filter is available only for IBM products, and if the Financial Services Validated setting is enabled in the account.
HIPAA Enabled The service is designated as HIPAA ready, meaning processing, storing, and handling Protected Health Information (PHI) in the service is supported. This filter is available only if the HIPAA Supported setting is enabled in the account.
IAM-enabled The service is enabled to use IBM Cloud Identity and Access Management (IAM) for access control. Access policies are used to assign users and service IDs access to specific resources in an account.
Service Endpoint Supported The service can be connected to over the IBM Cloud private network instead of the public network. Connecting directly to service endpoints doesn't require internet access, providing increased security.
Options for filtering by pricing plan
Use the buttons before the table to change the context of the table. The column headers identify the options for fitering based on filter type.
Option Description
Free The service includes monthly free allowances for only Pay-As-You-Go or Subscription accounts.
Lite The pricing plan for the service is structured as a free quota. The quota might operate for a specific time period, for example, a month or on a one-off usage basis.
Options for filtering by release
Use the buttons before the table to change the context of the table. The column headers identify the options for fitering based on filter type.
Option Description
Beta The service is available for evaluation and testing purposes. Beta services aren't intended for production use.
Deprecated Deprecated products are in the process of being withdrawn from service and are eligible to be removed after the deprecation period.
Options for filtering services by support type
Use the buttons before the table to change the context of the table. The column headers identify the options for fitering based on filter type.
Option Description
IBM supported Products that are supported by IBM Cloud.
Third party supported Products that are provided by individual service entities.
Community supported Products that are provided by open source communities.
Options for filtering by run-time environment
Use the buttons before the table to change the context of the table. The column headers identify the options for fitering based on filter type.
Option Description
HPC Products that enable High Performance Computing (HPC) workloads on IBM Cloud. For more information, see High-performance computing on IBM Cloud
SAP certified An infrastructure service that is certified by SAP to run production SAP workloads. For more information, see IBM Cloud® for SAP.
Satellite enabled A service that is enabled for use with IBM Cloud Satellite. You can run apps consistently across on-premises, edge computing, and public cloud environments. For more information, see IBM Cloud Satellite.
Quantum Technologies A service that is compatible with quantum technologies. For more information, see IBM Quantum services.

You can also scope your view of the catalog by using the Provider filter to browse by individual providers, and the Location filter to view products available in specific regions.

Searching the catalog for software

The following table lists the filter options you can use when searching the catalog for software.

Options for filtering by category
Option Description
AI / Machine Learning Products that enable systems to learn from data rather than through explicit programming
Analytics Products that facilitate the analysis of data, typically large sets of business data, by the use of mathematics, statistics, and other means
Blockchain Products that facilitate the process of recording transactions and tracking assets in a business network
Compute Infrastructure resources that serve as the basis for building apps in the cloud
Containers A standard unit of software that packages up code and all its dependencies so the app runs quickly and reliably from one computing environment to another
Databases Products that provide some form of access to a database without the need for setting up physical hardware, installing software, or configuring for performance
Developer tools Products that support developing, testing, and debugging software
Enterprise applications Bundle of compatible products that deliver enterprise-grade app solutions for information sharing, automation, and agility
Integration Products that facilitate the connection of data, apps, APIs, and devices across an organization to be more efficient, productive, and agile
Internet of Things Products that support receiving and transferring data over wireless networks without human intervention
Logging and monitoring Products that support storing, searching, analyzing, and monitoring log data and events. And, products that support reviewing and managing the operational workflow and processes being logged
Mobile Products with specific or special utility for users creatings things to be used on mobile devices
Networking Products that support or augment the linking of computers so they can operate interactively
Security Products that provide the protection of stored data from theft, leakage, and deletion
Storage Products that support data to be created, read, updated, and deleted
Options for filtering by delivery method
Use the buttons before the table to change the context of the table. The column headers identify the options for fitering based on filter type.
Option Description
Cloud Paks A cloud solution that integrates a container platform, containerized IBM middleware and open source components, and common software services for development and management.
Helm charts A format for packaging a collection of files that describe specific configurations of infrastructure in the form of code.
OVA images Open Virtual Appliance that contains a compressed installable version of a virtual machine.
Operators A method of packaging and deploying a Kubernetes-native application.
Server Images A template that is used to create instances of virtual servers.
Terraform Infrastructure as code to deploy your application.
Options for filtering by deployment target
Use the buttons before the table to change the context of the table. The column headers identify the options for fitering based on filter type.
Option Description
IBM Kubernetes Service Used to create a Kubernetes cluster of compute hosts to deploy and manage containerized apps on IBM Cloud.
IBM Cloud Schematics Used for infrastructure as code automation by using terraform templates.
Power Virtual Server Used to create a Power server that is distinct from the IBM Cloud servers with separate networks and direct-attached storage. The internal networks are fenced but offer connectivity options to IBM Cloud infrastructure or on-premises environments.
Red Hat OpenShift Used to create a Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud cluster of compute hosts to deploy and manage containerized apps on IBM Cloud.
VMware vCenter Server Provides deployment and management of VMware virtualized environments.
Virtual private cloud Deploy and manage your server images on virtual private cloud as your infrastructure target.
Options for filtering software by pricing plan
Use the buttons before the table to change the context of the table. The column headers identify the options for fitering based on filter type.
Option Description
Free The service includes monthly free allowances for only Pay-As-You-Go or Subscription accounts.
Lite The pricing plan for the service is structured as a free quota. The quota might operate for a specific time period, for example, a month or on a one-off usage basis.
Options for filtering software by support type
Use the buttons before the table to change the context of the table. The column headers identify the options for fitering based on filter type.
Option Description
IBM supported Products that are supported by IBM Cloud.
Third party supported Products that are provided by individual service entities.
Community supported Products that are provided by open source communities.
Options for filtering software by run-time environment
Use the buttons before the table to change the context of the table. The column headers identify the options for fitering based on filter type.
Option Description
HPC Products that enable High Performance Computing (HPC) workloads on IBM Cloud. For more information, see High-performance computing on IBM Cloud
SAP Certified An infrastructure service that is certified by SAP to run production SAP workloads. For more information, see IBM Cloud® for SAP.
Satellite Enabled A service that is enabled for use with IBM Cloud Satellite. You can run apps consistently across on-premises, edge computing, and public cloud environments. For more information, see IBM Cloud Satellite.
Quantum Technologies A service that is compatible with quantum technologies. For more information, see IBM Quantum services.

You can also scope your view of the catalog by using the Provider filter to browse by individual providers, and the Location filter to view products available in specific regions.

Pricing and billing

You can view the pricing details for each service when you're browsing the catalog. If you choose a service plan with a paid plan, you can estimate your costs by using the cost estimator tool. For more information, see Estimating your costs.

IBM Cloud billing provides multiple services that ensure the IBM Cloud platform can securely manage pricing, accounts, usage, and more.

Account management

Account management maintains the billing relationship with the customer. Each account is a billing entity that represents a customer. This service controls account lifecycle, subscription, user relationship, and organization.

Usage metering

With usage metering, service providers can submit metrics that are collected for resource instances that are created by IBM Cloud users. Third-party service providers that deliver an integrated billing service are required to submit usage for all active service instances every hour.

Usage reports

Usage reports return the summary for the account for the specified month. Account billing managers are authorized to access the reports.

Managing security and compliance

The IBM Cloud® Security and Compliance Center offers a single location where you can validate that your resources are meeting continuous security and compliance.

You can create profiles and config rules to ensure that specific areas of your business adhere to your defined requirements or industry regulations. From the Security and Compliance Center dashboard, you can download detailed reports that you can use to provide evidence to stakeholders or external auditors. The Security and Compliance Center also offers security insights that you can use to detect potential threats when observing your account activity. For more information, see Getting started with Security and Compliance Center.

Creating resources

The resource controller is the next-generation IBM Cloud platform provisioning layer that manages the lifecycle of IBM Cloud resources in your account. Resources are created globally in an account scope. The resource controller supports the creation of resources both synchronously and asynchronously. Examples of resources include databases, accounts, processors, memory, and storage limits.

In general, resources that are tracked by the provisioning layer are intended to associate usage metrics and billing, but that isn’t always the case. In some cases, the resource might be associated with the provisioning layer to ensure that its lifecycle can be managed along with the account lifecycle. The resource controller uses IBM Cloud Identity and Access Management (IAM) for authentication and authorization of actions that are taken against the provisioning layer.

The resource controller provides common APIs to control the lifecycle of resources from creating an instance to creating access credentials to removing access to deleting an instance.

Managing your resources

A collection of resources is managed by resource groups. A resource group is associated with your account. All IBM Cloud resources must be assigned to a resource group. When you create an account, a default resource group is created for you. All IBM Cloud IAM-enabled resources must be created within a resource group. If you have a Lite account, you can have only one resource group, but with a a Pay-As-You-Go or Subscription account, you can create more than one resource group. If an account is suspended, the corresponding resource group is suspended as well, and all resources within the resource group are suspended.

Managing Infrastructure as Code (IaC) deployments with projects

IBM Cloud projectsA collection of artifacts that define and manage resources and Infrastructure as Code deployments. are a named collection of configurations that are used to manage related resources and Infrastructure as Code (IaC) deployments across accounts. They enable teams to configure, deploy, and monitor deployments by using DevOps best practices. If you select a deployable architecture from the catalog, you can add it to a project to configure and deploy it into your different environments. For more information, see Learn about IaC deployments with projects.

Searching and tagging resources

The search service is a global and shared resource properties repository that is integrated within the IBM Cloud platform. It is used for storing and searching a cloud resource's attributes, and it categorizes and classifies resources. Resources are uniquely identified by a Cloud Resource Name (CRN) identifier. The properties of a resource include tags and system properties. Both properties are defined within an IBM Cloud billing account, and span across many regions.

This service also manages tags that are associated with a resource. You can create, delete, search, attach, or detach tags with the Tagging API. Tags are uniquely identified by a CRN identifier. Tags have a name, which must be unique within a billing account. You can create tags in key:value pairs or label format.

Monitoring your resources

Observability offers a single location where you can monitor and observe your applications and services in IBM Cloud.

With the IBM® Log Analysis service, you can add log management capabilities to your IBM Cloud architecture and you can manage system and application logs. It offers advanced features to monitor and troubleshoot, define alerts, and design custom dashboards. For more information, see Getting started with IBM Log Analysis.

You can gain operational visibility into the performance and health of your applications, services, and platforms with the IBM Cloud Monitoring service. It offers a full stack telemetry with advanced features to monitor and troubleshoot, define alerts, and design custom dashboards. For more information, see Getting started with IBM Cloud Monitoring.

Monitoring your account

Use the IBM Cloud® Activity Tracker service to monitor the activity of your IBM Cloud account, investigate abnormal activity and critical actions, and comply with regulatory audit requirements. In addition, you can be alerted on actions as they happen. The events that are collected comply with the Cloud Auditing Data Federation (CADF) standard. For more information, see Getting started with IBM Cloud Activity Tracker.

Viewing status

The IBM Cloud Status page is the central place to find all unplanned incidents, planned maintenance, announcements, and security bulletin notifications about key events that affect the IBM Cloud platform. You can filter these categories by selecting specific locations, components, types of ongoing events, or by using keyword searches. For more information, see Viewing cloud status.

Notification preferences

Depending on your IBM Cloud account type, you can choose to receive email notifications about IBM Cloud platform-related items and resource-related items from the Notification preferences page. Platform-related items include announcements, billing and usage, and ordering. Resource-related items include incidents, maintenance, security bulletins, and resource activity. For more information, see Setting email preferences for notifications.