IaaS vs. PaaS vs. SaaS: Here's What You Need to Know ...

IaaS builds the infrastructure of a cloud-based technology. PaaS helps developers build custom apps via an API that can be delivered over the ... Service|9minread IaaSvs.PaaSvs.SaaS:Here'sWhatYouNeedtoKnowAboutEach WrittenbySophiaBernazzani @soph_bern WhenIfirststartedworkinginthetechindustry,I'lladmitthatittookmeawhiletofigureouttheanswertothistop-of-mindquestion: Whattheheckis"thecloud"? Itseemedlikesuchasimplequestion,butIdidn'thavethecouragetocomeoutandaskit.So,likeanygoodblogger,Iresortedtotheinternettofigureitout. AndwhatIlearnedis,"thecloud"isaprettybigdealthatpowershowalotofmoderntechnologycompaniesoperate. Yousee,thecloudreferstohowandwheredataisstored—andperhapsmoreimportantly,whereitisn't.Thecloudallowssoftwareandservicestorunontheinternet,insteadofonlylocallyononedevice,becausethedataisstoredremotelyacrossavarietyofdifferentservers. Asyoumighthaveguessed,thinkingaboutalloftheotherservicesyoucanaccessfromanyonlinedevice,thecloudisabigdeal.Youmightalsobewondering,howarethesecloud-basedservicesbuilt? You'lllearnhowdifferentcloudcomputingservicesareusedtobuildthetechnologiesyouuseeverydayinthisblogpost.Andifyou'restillconfusedaboutthecloud,don'tworry—clearerskiesareahead. Inthispost,I’llcover: IaaSvs.PaaSvs.SaaS:What'stheDifference? IaaSDefinition PaaSDefinition SaaSDefinition IaaSvs.PaaS PaaSvs.SaaS IaaSvs.PaaSvs.SaaS:What'stheDifference? IaaS,PaaS,andSaaSstandforthethreemaincategoriesofcloudcomputing.Cloudcomputingisthepracticeofusinganetworkofdifferentserversthathost,store,manage,andprocessdataonline—in"thecloud,"asImentionedearlier. Let’sgooveraquickdefinitionforeachoftheseservices. IaaS(InfrastructureasaService):IaaSproductsalloworganizationstomanagetheirbusinessresources—suchastheirnetwork,servers,anddatastorage—onthecloud. PaaS(PlatformasaService):PaaSproductsallowbusinessesanddeveloperstohost,build,anddeployconsumer-facingapps. SaaS(SoftwareasaService):Byfarthemostcommoncloudservice,SaaSproductsofferbothconsumersandbusinessescloud-basedtoolsandapplicationsforeverydayuse. Thesesoftwareandservicescanbeaccessedonanyinternetbrowser,orviaonlineappsthatcanbeusedondifferentdevices.Onekeyexample:thecloudletsyourteamcollaborateonGoogleDocsinsteadofforcingyoutoworkononeMicrosoftWorddocumentandsenditaroundtoeachother. Comparethatwithon-premisessoftware,whichisinstalledlocallyonaserverordeviceatanorganization’sphysicallocation. On-PremisesSoftware On-premisesservicesaredeployed,hosted,andmaintainedonhardwareatanorganization’sbuildingorcampus.Whilecloud-basedsoftwarecanbeaccessedviatheinternet,on-premisessoftwarerequiresyoutobuyalicense,whichcanthenbeinstalledontheorganization’shardware.Forcloud-basedservices,you’dtypicallypayasubscriptioninstead. Sincemostsoftwareandplatformprovidersnowrunonacloud-computingmodel,it’schallengingtofindactiveexamplesofon-premisessoftware.OneexamplewouldbeAdobePhotoshopElements.Whileyoucanstillinstallitviathecloud,youcanbuyalicenseinCD-ROMformatandinstallitlocally. Nowthatyouhaveanoverviewofthedifferentcloudservices,let’sbreakitdownalittlefurther. IaaS(InfrastructureasaService) IaaS,orinfrastructureasaservice,isacloud-basedservicethatallowsresourcestobedeliveredtoorganizationsvirtually(orthroughthecloud).IaaStoolshelporganizationsbuildandmanageservers,networks,operatingsystems,anddatastoragewithoutneedingtobuyhardware. IaaScustomerscancontroltheirdatainfrastructurewithouthavingtophysicallymanageiton-site.Instead,theystoredataontheserversofIaaSproviders,anduseadashboardorAPI(applicationprogramminginterface)toaccessandmanagetheirresources. WhatdoesIaaSdo? IaaShelpscompaniesbuildandmanagedataastheygrow,payingforthestorageandserverspacethat’sneededwithouthavingtoactuallyhostandmanageserversthemselveson-site.IaaSproductsmakeupthefoundationsofbuildingnewtechnologiesdeliveredoverthecloud. IaaSprovidersmanagetheircustomers’dataonphysicalserversacrosstheworld.ThinkofanIaaStoolasaserver—onlyyoudon’thavetomanageaphysicalserver,becausetheIaaSproviderdoesitforyou. IaaSDelivery IaaSproductsdeliverstoragesystems,networks,andserversvirtuallytoenterprisebusinesses.Organizationscanaccessandmanagetheirdatathrougheitheradashboardorbycreatinganativedashboard,thenconnectingittotheIaaSprovider’sAPI. IaaSPros IaaScloudinfrastructureofferscompaniesandadministratorsthegreatestlevelofcontrolandpoweroversoftwareandhardware.Italsohasotherbenefits: Itspay-as-you-gomodelallowsbusinessestoonlypayfortheresourcestheyuse. Organizationshavecompletecontrolovertheirinfrastructure. Itcanbescaledordownsizedasneeded. There’snoneedtobuyaphysicalserverormaintainit. IaaSCons TheprincipaldrawbackofrelyingonanIaaStoolisthatyou'restillresponsibleforbeing“technologically”secure.Inaddition: Youhavetomakesurethatyourappsandoperatingsystemsareworkingproperlyandprovidingutmostsecurity. You’reinchargeofthedata—ifanyofitislost,it’suptoyoutorecoverit. Becauseitprovidesthegreatestamountofcontrol,IaaStoolsarealsothemosthands-on.IaaSfirmsonlyprovidetheserversanditsAPI,andeverythingelsemustbeconfiguredonyourend. IaaSExamples AmazonWebServices(AWS):AWSisoverseenbyAmazonandisusedforon-demandcloudcomputingandpurchasedforonarecurringsubscriptionbasis.AWShelpscompaniesstoredataanddelivercontent—infact,it'shelpingyoureadthisblogpostrightnow. MicrosoftAzure:MicrosoftAzureisacloud-computingIaaSproductthatallowsforbuilding,testing,andmanagingapplicationsthroughanetworkofMicrosoftdatacenters. GoogleCloud:GoogleCloudisanIaaSplatformthatbusinessescanusetonativelyrunWindows,Oracle,andSAP.Additionally,abusinesscanmanageitsenterprisedatabaseanduseAIsolutionstoincreaseoperationalefficiencywithinthefirm. IBMCloud:IBMCloudisanotherIaaSproductthatallowsbusinessesto“allocateyourcomputer,network,storageandsecurityresourcesondemand.”Inotherwords,businessesonlyuseresourceswhenneeded,increasingefficiency. PaaS(PlatformasaService) APaaS,orplatformasaservice,providesdeveloperswithaframeworktheycanusetobuildcustomapplications.PaaSdoesn’tdeliversoftwareovertheinternet,butratheraplatformthatdeveloperscanusetocreateonlinesoftwareandapps. WhatdoesPaaSdo? PaaSproductsletdevelopersbuildcustomapplicationsonlinewithouthavingtodealwithdataserving,storage,andmanagement. ThinkofPaaSasamuch,muchmorescaled-downversionofIaaS.Aplatformasaservicestillprovidescustomerswithserversanddatacentersonwhichtheycanstoretheirinformation(inthisinstance,anapp),butitscustomerisadevelopercreatingasingleappthatwillthenbedeliveredovertheinternettoconsumers.YoucanthinkofPaaSastheplatformwhereSaaSapplicationsaremade. PaaSDelivery PaaSprovidesasecureplatformonwhichdeveloperscancreatesoftwareandappsforconsumeruse.DevelopersaccessPaaStoolsovertheweb.Forinstance,takealookattheHerokudashboard,whereIwaspromptedtocreateanapp. PaaSPros DevelopersusePaaSbecauseit’scost-effectiveandallowsforeasycollaborationforanentireteam.Considerbuildinganapponyourlocaldrive,thentryingtodeployitonline—that’sdifficultormighttaketoomanysteps. WithaPaaS,developersbuildtheirapprightontheplatform,thendeployitimmediately. Inaddition: PaaStoolsareveryeasytouseandsign-upfor. Developerscancollaboratewithotherdevelopersonasingleapp. Developerscaneasilycustomizeandupdateappswithoutthinkingaboutsoftwareupkeeponthebackend.Justcodeandgo. Iftheappgrowsinadoptionandusage,PaaSplatformsoffergreatflexibilityandscalability. PaaSCons ThedisadvantageofthePaaSmodelisyoucanonlycontrolwhat'sbuiltontheplatform—ifthere’sanoutageorissuewiththehardwareoroperatingsystem,itwilltakeoutthesoftwarewithit. Otherdrawbacksinclude: It’sverylimitedinthatyouonlyhavecontroloverthecodeoftheappandnottheinfrastructurebehindit.Onlysmalltomediumfirmsshoulduseit. Thedataisn’tstoredbyyou,butratherbythePaaSorganization.Thisposesasecurityrisktoyourapp’susers. You’relimitedbythePaaStermsofservice,soyoucan’textensivelycustomizehowtheplatformworksonyourend. PaaSExamples GoogleAppEngine:GoogleAppEngineallowsdeveloperstobuildandhostwebapplicationsincloud-baseddatacentersthatGooglemanages. RedHatOpenShift:RedHatOpenShiftisanon-premisescontainerizationPaaSsoftware. Heroku:DeveloperscanusethisPaaStooltobuild,manage,andgrowconsumer-facingapps. Apprenda:ApprendaisaPaaSproductthatallowsdevelopersandbusinessestohostanentireapplicationportfolio.Buildanddeployapplicationsofalltypesonthisplatform. Nextup,let'sdiveintoSaaS—theacronymyou'relikelymostfamiliarwith. SaaS(SoftwareasaService) SaaS,orsoftwareasaservice,referstocloud-basedsoftwarethatishostedonlinebyacompany,isavailableforpurchaseonasubscriptionbasis,andisdeliveredtobuyersviatheinternet. WhatdoesSaaSdo? SaaSproductsareamongthemostpopularcloudcomputingservicesusedbycompaniestobuildandgrowbusinesses.SaaSiseasytouseandmanage,andit'shighlyscalable,asitdoesn'tneedtobedownloadedandinstalledonindividualdevicestodeployittoanentireteamorcompany.Thisisparticularlyhelpfulfordistributedglobalteamswhodon'tworkincloseproximity. SaaSDelivery SaaScompaniesdelivertheirproductsoverthewebtoendusers.Thesetoolscaneitherbeusedasawebapp(suchasGoogleDocs)ordownloadedandinstalledonthedevice(suchasAdobeCreativeCloud).WithaSaaSapp,there’snoneedforaspecialisttocomeinandmanuallyinstallitoneachlaptopusingapurchasedlicense. SaaSPros ThebiggestadvantageofusingSaaSproductsishoweasytheyaretosetupandstartusing.BecauseSaaSproductsarecloud-based,allyouneedtodoislogonlinetostartaccessingtheapplications,withoutneedforlocallyhostingthesoftwareonon-premisesservers. Additionalbenefitsinclude: Youdon’thavetomanageorupgradethesoftware.ThisistypicallyincludedinaSaaSsubscriptionorpurchase. Itwon’tuseanyofyourlocalresources,suchasspaceonyourphysicalserver(ifyouhaveone). It’sextremelyeasytofindandpurchaseaSaaSproduct. YourITteamwon’thavetoworryabouttheupkeepofaSaaSproduct. SaaSCons SaaStools’easeofuselendsitselftoasignificantdisadvantage:WhenyouuseaSaaSproduct,youhavenocontroloverthecloud-basedinfrastructureitrunson,soifthesoftwareproviderexperiencesanoutage,sodoyou.Thiscanleadtowidespreadwebsiteoutageandissuesthatcan,inturn,impactyourSaaS-dependentbusinessprocesses. Somemoredrawbacksinclude: SaaStoolsmaybeincompatiblewithothertoolsandhardwarethatarealreadyinuseatyourbusiness. Integrationsaretypicallyuptotheprovider,soit’simpossibleto“patch”anintegrationonyourend. You’reatthemercyoftheSaaScompany'ssecuritymeasures—ifaleakhappens,allofyourandyourbusiness’datamaybeexposed. SaaSExamples HubSpot:HubSpotisaCRM,marketing,sales,andserviceSaaSplatformthatbusinessesusetoconnectwithandretaincustomers. JIRA:JIRAisaprojectmanagementsoftwarethat'sdeliveredbyAtlassianandcanbepurchasedonasubscriptionbasisbycustomers. Dropbox:Dropboxisafile-sharingSaaStoolthatallowsmultipleuserswithinagroupororganizationtouploadanddownloaddifferentfiles. DocuSign:DocuSignisaSaaSproductthatbusinessesusetosendcontractsandotherdocumentsthatrequiresignatures. What'stheDifference? ToexaminethedifferencesbetweenIaaS,PaaS,andSaaS,thinkofthesetermsasundertheumbrellaofcloud-computing(building,creating,andstoringdataoverthecloud),andthinkaboutthemintheorderwe'vepresentedthem. Everytypeofcloud-computingisdifferentandhasprosandconsthatvaryfromtherest.Understandingthestructureofeachonewillhelpyoudeterminetherightapproachforyourbusiness. Tostart,let'sbeginwithcomparingIaaStoPaaS. IaaSvs.PaaS ThemostdistinctdifferencebetweenIaaSandPaaSisthatIaaSoffersadministratorsmoredirectcontroloveroperatingsystems,butPaaSoffersusersgreaterflexibilityandeaseofoperation. Let'ssayIwantedtostartawebsite.IwouldneedanIaaSproduct,likeAmazonWebServices,tohostitanditsapplications.IfIwantedtocreateacustomfeature,IcoulduseaPaaSproductlikeGoogleAppEnginetodesignitandinstallitonmysite. IaaSbuildstheinfrastructureofacloud-basedtechnology.PaaShelpsdevelopersbuildcustomappsviaanAPIthatcanbedeliveredoverthecloud.And,SaaSiscloud-basedsoftwarecompaniescansellanduse. ThinkofIaaSasthefoundationofbuildingacloud-basedservice—whetherthat'scontent,software,orthewebsitetosellaphysicalproduct.PaaSistheplatformonwhichdeveloperscanbuildappswithouthavingtohostthem,andSaaSasthesoftwareyoucanbuyorselltohelpsoftwarecompanies(orothers)togetitalldone. Now,let'scompareSaaStoPaaS. SaaSvs.PaaS SaaSproductsarefullymanagedbyanothercompany,fromtheapplicationstothedatatotheservers,whereasPaaSproductscanbeusedasthefoundationforbuildingnewproductsontopoftheplatform'snetwork. Forexample,ifIwantedtocreateanappformybusiness,IwoulduseaPaaSproduct.Thiswouldactastheplatformformyapptorunon.Onceitwasfinished,myappwouldbeconsideredSaaS.That'sbecausemysoftwareapplicationisnowprovidingaservicetoitsusers. Withbothproducts,there'sariskofexternalmanagementdataissuescompromisingthefunctionalityorsecurityofthetoolsyou'reusing.SaaSisbestforcompanieslookingforanout-of-the-boxeaseofuse,andPaaSisbestforcompanieslookingtobuildasolutiononanexistingnetwork. UsingCloud-BasedSoftwareIncreasesProductivityandEfficiency Cloud-basedsoftwareserversareconvenientandeasytouseformostbusinesses,allowingthemtovirtuallymanagetheirorganization’stechnicalinfrastructure,createapps,andaccessawidearrayoftoolswithoutneedingtobuyandmaintainaphysicalserver.Theseservicescanboostproductivityandefficiencyatyourcompany—andhelpyougrowbetterasaresult. Editor'snote:ThispostwasoriginallypublishedinMay2018andhasbeenupdatedforcomprehensiveness.   OriginallypublishedApr30,20215:15:00PM,updatedNovember052021 Topics: SaaS Don'tforgettosharethispost! 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