Question

What is the difference between Infrastructure as a Service (IAAS) and Platform as a Service (PAAS)? Why would a company want to take advantage of such services? What requirements for the end-user and the service provider do these services impose?

Answer 1

Q1What’s The Difference Between IaaS & PaaS ?

Infrastructure as a Service

IaaS is comprised of highly automated and scalable compute resources, complemented by cloud storage and network capability which can be self-provisioned, metered, and available on-demand.IaaS providers offer these cloud servers and their associated resources via dashboard and/or API. IaaS clients have direct access to their servers and storage, just as they would with traditional servers but gain access to a much higher order of scalability. Users of IaaS can outsource and build a “virtual data center” in the cloud and have access to many of the same technologies and resource capabilities of a traditional data center without having to invest in capacity planning or the physical maintenance and management of it.

IaaS is the most flexible cloud computing model and allows for automated deployment of servers, processing power, storage, and networking.

Platform as a Service

PaaS provides a platform on which software can be developed and deployed. PaaS providers give clients an environment in which the operating system and server software, as well as the underlying server hardware and network infrastructure are taken care of, leaving users free to focus on the business side of scalability, and the application development of their product or service.As with most cloud services, PaaS is built on top of virtualization technology. Businesses can requisition resources as they need them, scaling as demand grows, rather than investing in hardware with redundant resources.

Examples of PaaS providers include Heroku, Google App Engine, and Red Hat’s OpenShift.

Q2Why would a company want to take advantage of such services?

PaaS Advantages:

No matter what size your company may be, there are numerous advantages for using PaaS:

    Makes the development and deployment of apps simple and cost-effective
    Scalable
    Highly available
    Gives developers the ability to create customized apps without the headache of maintaining the software
    Greatly reduces the amount of coding
    Automates business policy
    Allows easy migration to the hybrid model

IaaS Advantages

There are many benefits of choosing IaaS, such as:

    It’s the most flexible cloud computing model
    Easily allows for automated deployment of storage, networking, servers, and processing power
    Hardware can be purchased based on consumption
    Gives clients complete control of their infrastructure
    Resources can be purchased as-needed
    Is highly scalable

QWhat requirements for the end-user and the service provider do these services impose?

Ans: If the end-user is a team that needs extra computing power without wanting to worry about operating systems, server administration, and associated costs (energy, acquisition, maintenance, human resources etc.) or an organization that experiences frequent spikes in computing requirements, or those who don’t have the resources or don’t want to manage IT infrastructure internally should go for PaaS. IaaS is a flexible solution that can be utilized by everyone who wants to manage software without having to worry about hardware. It is also a great choice for organizations that only need computing power on the short term, or for certain operations that require high capacity computing resources (ex.large batch processing).