Cloud Computing Models

 Cloud Computing Models:

Cloud computing is providing developers and IT departments with the ability to focus on what matters most and avoid undifferentiated work like procurement, maintenance, and capacity planning. As cloud computing has grown in popularity, several different models and deployment strategies have emerged to help meet specific needs of different users. Each type of cloud service, and deployment method, provides you with different levels of control, flexibility, and management. Understanding the differences between Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service, as well as what deployment strategies you can use, can help you decide what set of services is right for your needs.

There are three main models for cloud computing. Each model represents a different part of the cloud computing stack.

Let’s delve into the three main cloud computing service models: IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS:

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS):

Definition: IaaS provides on-demand infrastructure resources (compute, storage, networking, virtualization) via the cloud. 

Organizations don’t manage their own data center infrastructure but are responsible for the operating system, middleware, virtual machines, and apps.

Example: Amazon Web Services (AWS) Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) allows users to provision virtual servers (VMs) on demand.

Platform as a Service (PaaS):

Definition: PaaS delivers and manages hardware and software resources for application development. Developers focus on writing code, while the cloud provider handles the underlying infrastructure.

Example: Google App Engine provides a platform for building and deploying web applications without worrying about server management.

Software as a Service (SaaS):

Definition: SaaS delivers complete software applications over the internet. Users access these applications via a web browser without needing to install or maintain them locally.

Example: Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) offers cloud-based productivity tools like Word, Excel, and Outlook.

Remember that each model has its benefits and drawbacks, and the choice depends on your organization’s needs. Additionally, there’s a rising trend in Containers as a Service (CaaS), which manages container-based applications. However, CaaS is often considered an extension of IaaS, using containers instead of VMs1