Amazon Web Services which is popularly known as AWS has become the market leader in professional web services for the last few years. With an estimated revenue of $25.65 Billion in the year 2018, it has surely secured its place as a leader in the cloud computing sector as well. The AWS professional services consultant in the market has its own story to tell in terms of success as it has been providing managed services to thousands of big and small businesses worldwide connecting its traditional business model to cloud computing. The customers of AWS are spread to around 190 countries which clearly shows its popularity as compared to its peers. The biggest of the IT giants in the world have adopted AWS as that has given them a huge boost in their business.
Cloud computing uses a network of different servers that host, manage, process, and store data online. When it comes to cloud computing, the three main categories that make cloud are IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS and in this article, we will be understanding all three in-depth so that your concept regarding the cloud and its categories is clear.
IaaS
IaaS stands for “Infrastructure as a service” which is a cloud-based infrastructure that provides managed services and helps organizations to build and manage their servers, operating systems, networks, and data storage via virtualization technology. Without needing to physically manage the data on-site, the IaaS customers can control their own data infrastructure which is exceptional. Instead of this, they can store and access data on servers via a dedicated dashboard or an Application Programming Interface also called API.
Functions of IaaS
IaaS eliminates the need of the organizations to host and manage servers themselves on-site. Instead, it helps the companies to manage data by paying for the storage and server space that they need to build hardware or software. IaaS products act as a base for building new technologies that are delivered over the cloud.
Examples of IaaS
It will be easy to understand the whole concept of IaaS if we see some examples
Amazon Web Services– AWS is a cloud-based service from Amazon that is used for on-demand cloud computing and has to be purchased on a subscription basis where you have to pay only for the services you choose. The main purpose of AWS is to help companies store data and deliver content
Microsoft Azure– Microsoft Azure is a cloud-based IaaS product that allows managing, building, and testing applications through a network of Microsoft data centers across the world
Advantages and disadvantages of IaaS
After learning everything about IaaS, you need to understand the pros and cons of it so that you can make vital decisions regarding it. One of the major advantages of IaaS is that the cloud infrastructures on IaaS provide companies and administrators a great level of control over hardware and software. The disadvantage is that the IaaS cloud must always run properly to ensure that no or minimum outages are caused to your company’s operations
PaaS
PaaS stands for “Platform as a service” and is a cloud-based platform service that provides a framework to the developers where they can develop or build custom applications. PaaS is giving an online platform to the developers to build their applications and not providing them with online software directly. In this way, the developers can create software delivered over the internet.
Functions of PaaS
To understand PaaS, we must understand its functions and the way it works. PaaS eliminates the need for the developers to deal with data serving, storage, and management and provides an online platform for the developers where they can create and build applications delivered on the internet
Examples of PaaS
Understanding the examples will give you a clear picture of PaaS
Google App Engine- Google app engine allows developers to build, host, and manage web applications in the cloud-based data centers that are managed by Google
OpenShift- OpenShift is an on-premises containerization PaaS software
Advantages and disadvantages of PaaS
The whole concept and implementation of PaaS will be understood clearly only when you come to know about its Pros and Cons. The biggest advantage of PaaS is the level of control it provides over the software platform and the applications that are being built on it to the IT administrators. The disadvantage of PaaS is that if there is an issue with the hardware or the operating system that the platform is built upon, you won’t be able to control it as you have control only over what is built in the platform.
SaaS
SaaS stands for “Software as a Service” and refers to cloud-based software that is purchased on a subscription basis and is delivered via the internet. SaaS is always hosted online by a company
Functions of SaaS
To understand SaaS better, we must understand how it works and what its functions are. SaaS products are the most common and widely used cloud computing services used by companies to build and grow their businesses in the competitive market. SaaS does not need to be downloaded and installed on individual devices for deploying to a company which is the reason it is extremely easy to use and manage hence scalable. For people who have global businesses and do not work physically close, this becomes very much helpful.
Examples of SaaS
Some of the examples of SaaS which will help you to better understand its working are given below
- JIRA– JIRA is a project management software that can be purchased on a subscription basis and is delivered by Atlassian.
- Dropbox– Dropbox is a SaaS tool that allows the sharing of files across multiple users within a group or an organization where the files and be uploaded and downloaded as well
Advantages and disadvantages of SaaS
The ease of usage is one of the biggest advantages of SaaS and it is known that worldwide. Since SaaS products are cloud-based and managed IT services corona has deployed it on many businesses, the organization just needs to start using it online without any hassle. When it comes to disadvantages you do not have any control over the cloud-based infrastructure it runs so if there is any problem with the software provider, you will experience problems at your end too.
