> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://experience-digital-transform.gitbook.io/experience-digital-transformation/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://experience-digital-transform.gitbook.io/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-2.md).

# Chapter 2: How cloud environments support dependable public services

In an educational institution, a student-support service opens on Monday morning. Learners can reach the page, yet enrolment cannot be completed because the identity service is unavailable. The application team can see its software and the infrastructure provider can see its resources, but neither can promptly establish which dependency failed, which other services rely on it, or what must return before enrolment can safely resume.

The service has not failed because one person made a poor technical choice. It has failed because the public journey depends on several conditions working together. People need a route to the service, a way to prove who they are, an application that can process their request, records that remain correct, and the connections that allow the result to reach the right place. A reliable public service is therefore more than an application and more than the server on which it runs.

Cloud changes how some of these conditions are provided and operated. It can offer shared computing capacity, storage, networking and other technical capabilities as managed services. It does not remove the dependency chain. A public body still needs to know which parts of that chain matter to its service, who operates them, and what happens when one breaks.

This chapter follows that dependency chain from physical conditions and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) through the application packages and common platform capabilities that make deployment repeatable to the shared services, recovery conditions, and accountability that support a public outcome.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Companion material:** [HTML](https://git.vanillacore.net/giga/content/raw/branch/main/chapter-2/release/architecture-for-dependable-digital-public-services-accessible.html) · [PDF](https://git.vanillacore.net/giga/content/raw/branch/main/chapter-2/release/architecture-for-dependable-digital-public-services.pdf) · [DOCX](https://git.vanillacore.net/giga/content/raw/branch/main/chapter-2/release/architecture-for-dependable-digital-public-services.docx) · [Source](https://git.vanillacore.net/giga/content/src/branch/main/chapter-2/chapter-2.md)
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="success" %}
**Agent skills for this chapter:** [GIGA Cloud Learning Guide](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/agent-skills/learning-system/giga-cloud-learning-guide.md) · [Public Service Platform Architecture](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/agent-skills/learning-system/public-service-platform-architecture.md)
{% endhint %}

## In this chapter

* [The service is the starting point](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-2/the-service-is-the-starting-point.md)
* [Cloud begins with physical conditions](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-2/cloud-begins-with-physical-conditions.md)
* [IaaS turns capacity into a usable foundation](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-2/iaas-turns-capacity-into-a-usable-foundation.md)
* [The foundation, platform and service have different jobs](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-2/the-foundation-platform-and-service-have-different-jobs.md)
* [Containers give applications a clearer unit of operation](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-2/containers-give-applications-a-clearer-unit-of-operation.md)
* [Orchestration and platforms make common runtime work possible](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-2/orchestration-and-platforms-make-common-runtime-work-possible.md)
* [Shared capabilities can help many services, and interrupt many services](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-2/shared-capabilities-can-help-many-services-and-interrupt-many-services.md)
* [What decision makers should expect](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-2/what-decision-makers-should-expect.md)
* [Four distinctions to keep in view](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-2/four-distinctions-to-keep-in-view.md)
* [Further reading](/experience-digital-transformation/cloud-for-dpi/chapter-2/further-reading.md)


---

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