SaaS vs PaaS vs IaaS: Examples, Differences and How To ...

Examples of IaaS include Rackspace, Amazon Web Services (AWS) Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Microsoft Azure, Google Compute Engine (GCE) and ... SaaSvsPaaSvsIaaS:Examples,DifferencesandHowToChooseArunAravamudhan December17,2021 BookaDemo SUMMARYCloudcomputingservicemodelscomeinthreebroadcategories: SoftwareasaService(SaaS) PlatformasaService(PaaS) InfrastructureasaService(IaaS)Thisarticleoutlinesthekeydifferences,examples,advantagesanddisadvantagesforeachcloudcomputingservicemodelsoyoucanchoosethebestoptionforyourapplication’sneeds.Keydifference–levelofcontrolEachcloudservicemodelprovidesadifferentlevelofcontrolthattranslatestovaryinglevelsofresponsibilityonyou.InaSaaSsolution,theserviceprovidermanageseverything,andyoucanchangesomeconfigurationsonceyousign-up.WithIaaS,youhavefullcontrolbecauseyourent(notown)theinfrastructure.WithPaaSsolutions,youcontroltheapplicationanddatawhiletheserviceprovidermanagestherestofthestack.Youwillneedtodecidehowmuchyouwanttomanageyourselfandhowmuchyouwantyourserviceprovidertomanage.Here’sa graphicalrepresentationofhowthethreemodelscompare intermsofwhomanageswhat.ExamplesforSaaS,PaaSandIaaSBeforewejumpintotheconceptualunderstandingforeachcloudservicemodel,let’slookatcommonexamplesforeachcloudservicemodel.CloudservicemodelExamplesTypicalcategoriesSaaSSalesforce,SAPconcur,Shopify,MailChimp,Dropbox,Hubspot,GoogleApplications(GSuite).TypicalSaaSapplicationsincludeindustryapplicationssuchas: Businessprocessautomation Customerrelationshipmanagement(CRM) Enterpriseresourceplanning(ERP) Collaboration EmailmarketingPaaSAWSElasticBeanstalk,WindowsAzure,Heroku,Force.com,GoogleAppEngine,OpenShift,SAPCloud,AWSLambda,AzureFunctions.PaaSsub-categoriesinclude: Loadbalancers,firewalls Middleware–Applicationservers,HTTPservers Runtimes LibrariesandIntegrateddevelopmentenvironment(IDE)IaaSAmazonWebServices(AWS),MicrosoftAzure,GoogleComputeEngine(GCE),IBMCloud,Rackspace,DigitalOcean,OracleCloud.IaaScategoriesofphysicalandvirtualizedresources: Compute Loadbalancers Network StorageWhatisIaaS?Infrastructure-as-a-Service(IaaS)isaformofcloudcomputingservicethatofferscompute,storageandnetworkingresourceson-demand,usuallyonapay-as-you-gobasis.Businessescanpurchaseresourceson-demandandas-neededinsteadofhavingtobuythehardwareoutright.WhileIaaSgivesyouvirtualizedresourcessuchasservers,disks,networks,andIPaddresses,youarestillresponsibleforadministeringtheoperatingsystem,data,applications,middlewareandruntimes.AdashboardoranAPIgivesyoucompletecontrolovertheentireinfrastructure.IaaSgivesyoutheflexibilitytopurchaseonlythecomputingyouneedandscalesthemupordownasneeded.Ifyouarelookingtomigrateanapplicationas-isfromanon-premisesdatacentertothecloud,choosetheIaaSmodel.Youwillbeabletoproceedwiththemigrationwithminimumchanges.Becauseofitsspeedofdeployment,IaaSisaquickandflexiblewaytobuildupandtakedowndevelopmentandtestingenvironments.ExamplesofIaaSincludeRackspace,AmazonWebServices(AWS)ElasticComputeCloud(EC2),MicrosoftAzure,GoogleComputeEngine(GCE)andJoyent.IaaSUseCases Disasterrecovery–Deployyourapplicationinfullyindependentcloudzones.Thechancesofanaturaldisasterimpactingtwoclouddatacentersareverylow.Mostclouddatacentersgetpowersupplyfromindependentutilityprovidersspanningmultiplegrids.Theyareconstructedwithenoughgeographicalseparation,whiletakingfloodzonesandseismicactivityintoconsideration.​ Cloudbursting–Deployacloudarchitecturethatallowsaprivatecloudtooverflowtraffictothepubliccloudresourcesbasedonpre-definedresourcecapacitythresholds.​ ​Automatedscalingandclustermanagement–Reducetheoperationalcostofmanagingclusters,optimizeyourclustersforproduction,andyieldhigherworkloadavailability.Thecloudcanmakedecisionstolaunchnewnodesandterminatethemtoreduceschedulinglatenciesandinfrastructurecosts.ExamplesincludeAWSKarpenterandGKEAuto-pilot.​ Highperformancecomputing(HPC)andBigDataanalytics:Cloudinfrastructureenablesstorage,real-timeprocessing,andhigh-performancecomputeatscaleonapay-as-you-gobasis.Yougetcost-effectiveandscalableinfrastructuretosupportbigdataandbusinessanalytics.AdvantagesofIaaS: IaaSisadvantageouswhenscalabilityandquickprovisioningarekey.CloudServiceProviderscanprovideavarietyofhardwareconfigurationwithpre-configuredoperatingsystemssuchasLinuxorWindows.YoucanalsouserapidprovisioningpatternswithInfrastructureasCode(IaC)tocreatepackagesofITresourcesthatcanbebundledanddeployedintoready-madeenvironments.​ Enablesdynamicscaling–addcapacityduringpeaktimes,scaledownasneeded. EliminatestheneedforlargeCAPEX.Cloudserviceprovidersoffer“payasyouuse”pricingmodelswhereyouonlypayresourcesyouusethusresultinginlowercosts.Ifyoustopavirtualmachine,yourbillingisalsostopped.Thisofferssignificantcostsavingssinceyouarebilledonlyforactualutilizationinsteadoftraditionalflat/fixedfees. Provisioninganddeploymentofresourcesareverysimple. Easesthemanagementoftheenvironmentwithnear-nilpersonnelasopposedtotheon-premisesinfrastructure. Globalinfrastructurewithedgelocationsaroundtheworld. Yougetservice-levelagreementsfromthecloudproviderforstandardsofservice.DisadvantagesofIaaS: Sincetheinfrastructureisunderthecontroloftheserviceprovider,outagesintheserviceprovidercontrolledinfrastructurecanaffectthecustomerinfrastructure. TroubleshootingismoredifficultbecauseIaaScustomersdonothavecompletevisibilitytothecloudserviceproviderinfrastructure. Ifpeakusageishigh,monthlycostsmaybemuchhigherthanexpected. Sinceinstancesareeasytocreate,instancesprawlcouldhappen–i.e.,instancesarecreated,butadministratorsforgettotakethemdown. Theprovidermayshareinfrastructureacrossmultipleclients,andthisaddstothesecurityriskifyouareinahighlyregulatedindustry.WhatisPaaS?Platform-as-a-Service(PaaS)providesaframeworkforapplicationcreationanddeployment.Thetechnicalstack(e.g.,AWSBeanstalk,GoogleAppEngine)requiredforapplicationdevelopmentisavailableonthecloud,whichrequiresnodownloadorlocalinstallation.WithPaaS,developerscanfocusonbuildingtheirapplicationswithouthavingtoworryaboutoperatingsystems,softwareupdates,storageorinfrastructure.Yougeta“platform”withbuilt-insoftwarecomponentsforbothhardwareandsoftwaresuchasruntimelibraries,tools,applications,emailandHTTPservers.Thisallowsdeveloperstorapidlydevelop,run,andmanagetheirownappswithouthavingtobuildandmaintaintheinfrastructureorplatformusuallyassociatedwiththeprocess.PaaSapplicationsarescalableandhighlyavailableastheytakeoncertaincloudcharacteristics.PopularPaaSservicesincludeAWSElasticBeanstalk,EngineYard,RedHatOpenShift,GoogleAppEngine,Heroku,AppfogandAzureAppService.PaaSisbeneficialifyouneedtocreateanddeployapplicationsquicklyorifyouneedtostreamlineworkflowswhenmultipledevelopersareworkingonthesamedevelopmentproject.PaaSUseCasesThe“platform”inPaaSreferstothecomplete“techstack”ecosystem.Let’slookatatypicalexampleofhowPaaScanhelpyoucomposeanddelivermodernapplications.​Let’sassumeyouareamobilegamedeveloper.Youneedtheabilitytoconfigurearobustandrichbackend(suchasaJSONin-memorykey-valuestore),seamlesslyconnectReactoriOSweb/mobilefrontendsviaaGraphQLAPI,attachtoitavisualizationengine,andperformsomeanalytics.YoumayalsowantPubSubtopassmessagesbetweenyourappinstancesandpushnotificationsforthemobileapptoimprovecustomerengagement.​​Youalsowanttodeploythisinahighavailabilityenvironment.​AllthisispossiblewithafewclicksinaPaaSenvironmentwithminimalprogrammingeffort.PaaSsolutionscanalsomakeyourenvironmentshighlyredundanttoprotectagainsthardwarefailures.MostPaaSsolutionscanoffertripleredundancybysupplyingyourproductionenvironmentwiththreeversionsofyourappdeployedacrosscloudregions.Ifoneregioncrashes,theothertwocanpickupuserrequestsduringthedowntime.Inessence,PaaSisfocusedonfull-cycleautomationandcomposableservicesforrapidapplicationdevelopment.PaaSallowsyourdeveloperstospendmoreoftheirtimebuildingtheapplicationwhiletheinfrastructureneedsaretakencareofbytheprovider.AdvantagesofPaaS:WhileIaaSoffersresourcessuchasservers,disks,networks,andIPaddresses,PaaSoffersyouasetofpredefinedandready-to-usebuildingblocksforcomposableapplicationssuchasmiddleware,applicationserversanddevelopmenttools.Thishassomedistinctadvantages: Fastertimetomarketandagility:PaaScancutthetimeittakestoprototype,designanddevelopnewapplicationswithpre-craftedapplicationcomponentssuchasgitrepository,authentication,workflow,searchanddirectoryservicesandIDEssuchasEclipseorVisualStudiobuiltintotheplatform.Developersandoperationscanfocusontheapplicationinsteadofdealingwiththeoverheadofmanagingvirtualmachines,networks,disksetc.Geographicallydistributedremoteteamscanworkinunisonbecausethedevelopmentenvironmentisstandardizedandistypicallyaccessedovertheinternet. Lowerskillrequirementsthroughstandardization:InthemodernITlandscape,developmenttoolsandmiddlewarearerarelystandardized.Thelearningcurveoneachtoolissteepandtalentishardtoacquireandretain.SincePaaSprovidessophisticatedandoff-the-shelfcomponentsaswellasbuilt-insecurity,dataprotectionandresiliencecapabilitiesoutofthebox,youcanscaleyourdevelopmenteffortswithoutneedingtoaddstaffhavingtherequiredskills. Scalabilityandreliabilitywhileretainingcontrol:WithPaaS,yougetautomaticloadbalancing,scalingandmultipleavailabilityzonestoimproveapplicationreliabilityandavailability.YoustillhavethefreedomtochoosetheunderlyingVMinstancetypeviathecommandlineandconsole.DisadvantagesofPaaS: Servicesvaryfromvendortovendor,andhence,theselectionofservicesbecomesimportant. Theriskoflock-inwithavendorcouldimpacttheecosystemyouneedforyourdevelopmentenvironment.WhatisSaaS?SoftwareasaService(SaaS)isaweb-basedsoftwaredeploymentmodelthatmakesthesoftwareaccessiblethroughawebbrowser.AsauserofSaaSsoftware,youdon’tcarewherethesoftwareishosted,whichoperatingsystemituses,orwhichlanguageitiswrittenin.TheSaaSsoftwareismadeaccessiblefromanydeviceaslongyouhaveaninternetconnection.WithSaaS,youdonotincurthecapitalcostofbuyingserversorsoftware.TheserviceprovidershieldsyoufromsoftwaremaintenanceandyousimplyconnecttotheSaaSapplicationviaaconsoledashboardorAPI.TypicalexampleswouldincludeMicrosoftOffice365,Intuit,SalesforceCRM,Zoom,ZoomInfo,Dropbox,GoogleAppsandmanymorethatareforconsumptionbyend-users.Theseapplicationsrunonthecloudandneednotbedownloadedtoalocaldevice.WebmailsuchasOutlook,Gmail,Yahoo,etc.,isoneoftheearliestformsofSaaS.SaaSmakesiteasyforyoutofocusonyourcorebusiness.Itisagreatoptionforbusinessesthatdon’thavethestafforbandwidthtohandlesoftwareinstallationandupdates.WithSaaS,youtradeofflossofcontrol,security,andperformanceinexchangefortimeandmaintenancesavings.ChooseSaaSvendorswiselybasedonseveralfactorsincluding: security,privacyandcompliance​ reliabilityandperformance​ supportlevels​ vendorlock-in​ thevendor’sroadmapandfinances.AdvantagesofSaaS: Offersoff-the-shelfconvenienceandeaseofuse. Providesflexibilityduetoaccessacrossdevicesandgeographies. Asasubscription-basedmodel,itallowsforbudgetingandplanningahead. Self-provisioning(abilitytoaddusersasneeded). Nomaintenanceorinstallationrequirements. Youdon’tpayforthehardwarethatrunstheapplication. Youdon’tneedtoworryaboutmaintenanceorlicensingfees. Nothingtoinstallandnosupportworries.DisadvantagesofSaaS: Limitscustomizationandlossofcontrolonupdates. Regulatoryissuesmayrequireyoutostoredatainspecificlocations.IftheSaaSprovidercannotguaranteeyouthis,SaaSmaynotbeanoption. Servicelock-inwithSaaSprovider.AnanalogytoilluminatetheIaaS,PaaSandSaaSdifferencesThefollowingtransportationanalogycangiveyouaddedmeaningtothedifferencesamongthethreecloudservicemodels.ReadRubyGarage’sblogpostforadetailedexplanation.ConclusionInthisarticle,welookedatthethreemaincloudcomputingservicemodels–IaaS,PaaSandSaaS.Welookedatthemajordifferences,examplesandguidingfactorsforhowtochoosebetweenthem.Themodelthatyouultimatelychoosedependsonyourapplicationobjectives.Here’saquickrecap: IaaSprovidesvirtualserverswithallnecessarysoftwareinstalledonthemsothatcustomerscaninstalltheirownapplicationsoruseanexistingapplicationdevelopedbyathird-partyvendor.Ifyouwantmaximumcontrolwithinthecloud,chooseIaaS. PaaSprovidesaplatformwhereyoucandevelopyourownapplicationswithouthavingtomanageanyunderlyinginfrastructureresources.Ifyouwanttorapidlyrolloutmodernapplicationsusingcomposableservices,butdon’tmindthevendorlock-in,choosePaaS. SaaSgivesyouaccesstopre-builtbusinessappswithoutinstallinganythingthemselves.Ifyouwanteaseofuseanddon’tneedmuchflexibility,chooseSaaS. Taggedas:cloudIaaSPaasSaaSYoumayalsolike SystemMonitoringforAWSEC2CloudInstanceswithAWSCloudWatchbyShashiShah eGInnovationsatCloudExpoEurope2022byPeterClaridge CloudTechnologyAdoptionTrendsbyPeterClaridgeLeaveaCommentCommentName*Email*WebsiteSavemyname,email,andwebsiteinthisbrowserforthenexttimeIcomment. seven  +  3  =  Discover,Diagnose,andResolveITPerformance IssueswithFullStackObservabilityGetStartedFree30DayTrialFindtheroot-causeofyourcloud,hybrid-cloudoron-premperformanceissues ThankyouforyourinterestinafreetrialofeGEnterprise.YouwillberedirectedsoontotheeGEnterpriseportalwhereyoucansetupyourtrialinminutesbyyourself. 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