Cloud as-a-Service Delivery models (IaaS vs PaaS vs SaaS)

Clouds are those IT environments that abstract, pool, and share scalable resources across a network. Cloud Computing is the act of running workloads within these clouds. Neither clouds nor cloud computing are the technologies unto themselves. “As-a-Service” is a cloud computing service provided by a third-party provider. They are helpful to the businesses that are aiming to focus on more important company tasks. Gone are the days when the user used to manage on-premises infrastructure. These delivery models provide on-demand services that are trouble-free.

It is expensive to build an IT infrastructure specific to your business needs. On-site management of all the software and hardware equipment is hectic. As it’s your job to keep the system updated and replace the components as needed. Cloud computing solves this problem. It proposes a cost-effective, simple, and reliable alternative. It allocates one, many, or all parts of the user’s infrastructure to another management. This saves them from all the complexity and lets them focus on what they do best.

As-a-service Delivery Models:

Cloud services include the technologies, platforms, software, or infrastructures that users can access without any additional software installations and configurations. Each one of these services covers a level of management for its customers. Cloud services have the following three main types of as-a-Service delivery models.

1. Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
2. Platforms-as-a-Service (PaaS)
3. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

We will further discuss these types in detail and their benefits. We will also learn their usage to create a cloud computing environment that is suitable to your needs. A basic working of these models is understandable from their names. Infrastructure-as-a-Service provides user demanded infrastructure to build their applications on it. Platform-as-a-Service provides users a platform to run their application on it. Software-as-a-Service provides software applications to users to work further on their products.

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)

The user manages everything on their own for on-premises infrastructure setup. Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) is a little different from on-premises infrastructure. A third-party service provider delivers infrastructure services such as virtualization and storage services. It’s a prepaid service, accessed by users over the internet.

Services:

The providers maintain and update the data center. It gives users access to the management of servers, networks, and virtualization. Also, storage capacity if needed. The user handles the operating system, applications, middleware software, runtimes, and any data. The client manages these in their own on-premises data centers. They can get access and control to infrastructure via the dashboard or an application programming interface (API).

IaaS is flexible to buy, you only need to pay for components you use and scale them as needed. IaaS is affordable with no maintenance cost and low overhead. But there are some cons to IaaS model and that are:

1. The possibility of security issues in provider’s management.
2. Shared Infrastructure resources (many tenants).
3. Service reliability.

Choosing a well-reputed service provider with a trusted and reliable history can overcome these issues.

Use-case:

A simple and quick usage of an IaaS service is the development and testing environments. The user can create a development environment by using the infrastructure they need. They can make it scalable and use it for as long as required. They also can discontinue when the services are no longer needed. And the best part is they only pay for what they used.

Example:

Examples of IaaS are the public cloud providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)

Platform-as-a-service (PaaS) is a little more different from on-premises infrastructure. A third-party service provider delivers a platform to users which lets them build their application on it. It’s a pay-and-go service, accessed by users over the internet.

Services:

The provider hosts its own software and hardware infrastructure as a platform to users. They build and maintain the demanded platform and take care of the framework updates. The developers can access this platform as an integrated solution or service over the internet. They can code, develop, build, and manage their apps without worrying about building and deployment of the environment.

Use-Case:

Creating a framework to build and customize web-based applications is the quickest way to use the PaaS model. Built-in software components are useful for developers to create their own applications. They can save time and effort it takes in writing chunks of codes themselves.

Example:

A few examples of PaaS are OpenShift, Google App Engine, and AWS Elastic Beanstalk.

Software-as-a-service (SaaS)

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) is the most comprehensive model. The provider delivers an entire application and manages this software service through a web browser. It is also known as cloud application services.

Services:

The provider handles general software maintenance, fixes the bugs, and takes care of software updates. The user does not need any software installations on their personal machines. They only need to connect to the provider’s app through a dashboard or API. The group access is as smooth and reliable as individual access.

Use-Case:

A perfect example of the SaaS model is having an email account of a web-based service such as Google’s Gmail or Microsoft’s outlook. The user can receive and send emails from any PC anywhere in the world.  You can access the service by just logging into your account.

SaaS is best suitable for small businesses looking for budget options to meet their staff needs. Also, to fulfill the bandwidth requirements to handle software updates and installations. It is best for those applications that require less customization or that will only be used sometimes.

It’s true that SaaS saves users time and maintenance efforts. But it could cost them the control, performance, and security. So, choosing a trusted and well-known service provider is important.

Example:

Some examples of SaaS are Salesforce, Dropbox, and Google Apps.

The table below summarizes the differences between the cloud service models. It lists down the services provided by the cloud service providers to the users.