Mirco Cloud PrimerMethodology & Sources
This page explains where our content comes from and how we keep it from going stale.
Primary sources we rely on
- NIST SP 800-145 — "The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing," the standard reference for terms like IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, and the public/private/hybrid/community deployment models.
- NIST SP 800-53 — security and privacy control guidance, used as background for our identity, access, and monitoring concepts.
- Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) RFCs — for example, RFC 1918 on private network addressing and RFC 8446 on TLS 1.3, used where a topic touches an actual internet standard.
- Official documentation published by major public cloud providers — consulted for how real-world implementations work in practice, cited generically rather than promoting any single provider.
What we deliberately leave out
- Pricing and cost comparisons between providers — service pricing changes constantly and comparing it fairly is beyond this site's scope.
- Step-by-step operational security instructions — our security content explains concepts, not configuration walkthroughs.
- Invented statistics, quotes, or case studies — if we can't trace a claim to a real source, we don't publish it.
Review cadence
Every article shows a "last reviewed" date, and every glossary entry in the Concept Library shows its own "last reviewed" date individually. A review means re-checking the content against current public documentation. Cloud terminology and provider product names shift over time — that's precisely why we date everything instead of presenting it as timeless.
How the Concept Library is built
Each of the roughly 100 entries in the library follows the same structure: a one-sentence definition, an everyday analogy, guidance on when to use and when to avoid the concept, a common beginner mistake, and links to related concepts. The Explorer searches this structured data entirely inside your browser — no search query is sent to any server.
Questions about a specific claim?
If you want to check where a specific statement came from, or think we got something wrong, use our Corrections page or contact us directly.