Explore types of cloud services

IaaS Advantages Agility.

Applications can be made accessible quickly, and deprovisioned whenever needed.

Common PaaS usage scenarios

Development framework. Analytics or business intelligence.

Common SaaS usage scenarios

Examples of Microsoft SaaS services include Office 365, Skype, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.

IaaS characteristics Upfront costs. .

IaaS has no upfront costs. Users pay only for what they consume

IaaS Advantages Flexibility

IaaS is the most flexible cloud service as you have control to configure and manage the hardware running your application.

Define IaaS

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is the most basic category of cloud computing services. With IaaS, you rent IT infrastructure servers and virtual machines (VMs), storage, networks, and operating systems from a cloud provider on a pay-as-you-go basis. It's an instant computing infrastructure, provisioned and managed over the internet.

IaaS disadvantage

Management.

Common IaaS usage scenarios:

Migrating workloads. Test and development. Website hosting. Storage, backup, and recovery.

PaaS Advantages

No CapEx. Agility. Consumption-based model. Skills. Cloud benefits. Productivity.

IaaS Advantages

No CapEx. Agility. Consumption-based model. Skills. Cloud benefits. Flexibility:

SaaS advantages

No CapEx. Agility. Pay-as-you-go pricing model: Flexibility.

PaaS Advantages Skills

No deep technical skills are required to deploy, use, and gain the benefits of PaaS.

IaaS Advantages Skills

No deep technical skills are required to deploy, use, and gain the benefits of a public cloud. Organizations can leverage the skills and expertise of the cloud provider to ensure workloads are secure, safe, and highly available.

Common IaaS usage scenarios: Storage, backup, and recovery.

Organizations avoid the capital outlay and complexity of storage management, which typically requires a skilled staff to manage data and meet legal and compliance requirements.

IaaS Advantages Cloud benefits.

Organizations can leverage the skills and expertise of the cloud provider to ensure workloads are made secure and highly available.

IaaS Advantages Consumption-based model.

Organizations pay only for what they use and operate under an OpEx model.

PaaS Advantages Agility

PaaS is more agile than IaaS, and users do not need to configure servers for running applications.

Common PaaS usage scenarios Development framework.

PaaS provides a framework that developers can build upon to develop or customize cloud-based applications. Similar to the way you create a Microsoft Excel macro, PaaS lets developers create applications using built-in software components. Cloud features such as scalability, high-availability, and multi-tenant capability are included, reducing the amount of coding that developers must do.

Define PaaS

Platform as a Service (PaaS) provides an environment for building, testing, and deploying software applications. The goal of PaaS is to help create an application as quickly as possible without having to worry about managing the underlying infrastructure. For example, when deploying a web application using PaaS, you don't have to install an operating system, web server, or even system updates. PaaS is a complete development and deployment environment in the cloud, with resources that enable organizations to deliver everything from simple cloud-based apps to sophisticated cloud-enabled enterprise applications.

PaaS Disadvantages:

Platform limitations.

Common IaaS usage scenarios: Website hosting.

Running websites using IaaS can be less expensive than traditional web hosting.

Define SaaS

Software as a Service (SaaS) is software that is centrally hosted and managed for the end customer. It allows users to connect to and use cloud-based apps over the internet. Common examples are email, calendars, and office tools such as Microsoft Office 365.

SaaS disadvantages

Software limitations.

Common IaaS usage scenarios: Test and development.

Teams can quickly set up and dismantle test and development environments, bringing new applications to market faster. IaaS makes scaling development testing environments up and down fast and economical.

IaaS characteristics Cloud provider ownership.

The cloud provider is responsible for ensuring that the underlying cloud infrastructure (such as virtual machines, storage and networking) is available for the user.

PaaS characteristics Cloud provider ownership.

The cloud provider is responsible for operating system management, and network and service configuration. Cloud providers are typically responsible for everything apart from the application that a user wants to run. They provide a complete managed platform on which to run an application.

SaaS characteristics Cloud provider ownership.

The cloud provider is responsible for the provision, management, and maintenance of the application software.

Iaas disadvantage management

The shared responsibility model applies; the user manages and maintains the services they have provisioned, and the cloud provider manages and maintains the cloud infrastructure.

PaaS characteristics User ownership.

The user is responsible for the development of their own applications. However, they are not responsible for managing the server or infrastructure. This allows the user to focus on the application or workload they want to run.

IaaS characteristics User ownership.

The user is responsible for the purchase, installation, configuration, and management of their own software operating systems, middleware, and applications.

PaaS characteristics Upfront costs.

There are no upfront costs, and users pay only for what they consume.

PaaS Disadvantages: Platform limitations.

There may be some limitations to a cloud platform that could affect how an application runs. Any limitations should be taken into consideration when considering which PaaS platform is best suited for a workload

SaaS disadvantages: Software limitations.

There may be some limitations to a software application that might affect how users work. Any limitations should be taken into consideration when considering which PaaS platform is best suited for a workload.

Common PaaS usage scenarios Analytics or business intelligence

Tools provided as a service with PaaS allow organizations to analyze and mine their data. They can find insights and patterns, and predict outcomes to improve business decisions such as forecasting, product design, and investment returns.

Common IaaS usage scenarios: Migrating workloads.

Typically, IaaS facilities are managed in a similar way as on-premises infrastructure and provide an easy migration path for moving existing applications to the cloud.

IaaS characteristics

Upfront costs. User ownership. Cloud provider ownership.

PaaS characteristics

Upfront costs. User ownership. Cloud provider ownership.

SaaS characteristics

Upfront costs. User ownership. Cloud provider ownership.

SaaS advantages Flexibility

Users can access the same application data from anywhere.

PaaS Advantages Productivity

Users can focus on application development only, as all platform management is handled by the cloud provider. Working with distributed teams as services is easier, as the platform is accessed over the internet and can be made globally available more easily.

PaaS Advantages Cloud benefits.

Users can leverage the skills and expertise of the cloud provider to ensure their workloads are made secure and highly available. In addition, users can gain access to more cutting-edge development tools and toolsets. They then can apply these tools and toolsets across an application's lifecycle.

SaaS advantages Agility

Users can provide staff with access to the latest software quickly and easily

SaaS advantages No CapEx

Users don't have any upfront costs.

IaaS Advantages No CapEx

Users have no upfront costs.

PaaS Advantages No CapEx

Users have no upfront costs.

SaaS characteristics Upfront costs

Users have no upfront costs; they pay a subscription, typically on a monthly or annual basis.

SaaS characteristics User ownership.

Users just use the application software; they are not responsible for any maintenance or management of that software.

SaaS advantages Pay-as-you-go pricing model:

Users pay for the software they use on a subscription model, typically monthly or yearly, regardless of how much they use the software.

PaaS Advantages Consumption based model

Users pay only for what they use, and operate on an OpEx model.

IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS each

contain different levels of managed services. You may easily use a combination of these types of infrastructure. You could use Office 365 on your company's computers (SaaS), and in Azure you could host your VMs (IaaS) and use Azure SQL Database (PaaS) to store your data. With the cloud's flexibility, you can use any combination that provides you with the maximum result.

Cloud providers offer considerable advantages

for security and compliance efforts, but these advantages do not absolve the customer from protecting their users, applications, and service offerings.

The importance of understanding the shared responsibility model

is essential for customers who are moving to the cloud.

PaaS

requires less user management. The cloud provider manages the operating systems, and the user is responsible for the applications and data they run and store.

SaaS

requires the least amount of management. The cloud provider is responsible for managing everything, and the end user just uses the software.

IaaS

requires the most user management of all the cloud services. The user is responsible for managing the operating systems, data, and applications.

When using IaaS, ensuring that a service is up and running is a shared responsibility:

the cloud provider is responsible for ensuring the cloud infrastructure is functioning correctly; the cloud customer is responsible for ensuring the service they are using is configured correctly, is up to date, and is available to their customers.