Fundamentals are the building blocks of fun.Mikhail Baryshnikov

Continuing on towards our learning cloud computing and Microsoft Azure, lets go over what is IaaS, PaaS and SaaS in Microsoft Azure?.

Definitions

IaaS

IaaS

IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) : refers to the delivery of computing resources, such as servers, storage and networking, over the internet. This allows companies to rent, rather than own, the infrastructure that they need to run their applications and services. Examples of IaaS Cloud providers include Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform, etc.

Restaurant Analogy
If we use a restaurant analogy then IaaS can be compared to a restaurant that rents out its kitchen space to different chefs. The chefs can come in, use the kitchen’s equipment (such as ovens, stoves, and utensils) to cook their own dishes, and serve them to their customers. The restaurant provides the infrastructure (kitchen space and equipment) and the chef provides the recipe and cooks the dishes.

IaaS Advantages:

  • Agility. Applications can be made accessible quickly, removed and decommisioned whenever needed.
  • No CapEx. There is no up-front costs.
  • Consumption-based model. Organizations pay only for what they use and operate under an Operational Expenditure (OpEx) model.
  • Flexibility. IaaS is the most flexible cloud service because you have control to configure and manage the hardware running your application.
  • 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.
  • Skills. No deep technical skills are required to deploy, use, and gain the benefits of a public cloud. Organizations can use the skills and expertise of the cloud provider to ensure workloads are secure, safe, and highly available.
  • Cloud benefits. Organizations can use the skills and expertise of the cloud provider to ensure workloads are made secure and highly available.
PaaS

PaaS

PaaS (Platform as a Service): builds on top of IaaS by providing a platform for developers to create and run their applications, without having to manage the underlying infrastructure. PaaS providers typically offer a range of tools and services for building, testing, deploying and scaling applications. Examples in Microsoft Azure includes, Azure Active Directory, Azure SQL Server, Azure HDInsight, etc. Other similar platform of PaaS includes Heroku, Salesforce Lightning Platform and Google App Engine.

Restaurant Analogy
Again with a restaurant analogy PaaS (Platform as a Service) can be compared to a restaurant that not only rents out its kitchen space, but also provides the chefs with a pre-made menu and a team of sous chefs to assist them. The chefs can still create and serve their own dishes, but they don’t have to worry about managing the kitchen or creating the menu. The restaurant provides the platform (kitchen space, equipment, menu, and assistance) and the chef provides the recipe and cooks the dishes.

PaaS Advantages:

  • Agility. PaaS is more agile than IaaS, and users don’t need to configure servers for running applications.
  • No CapEx. Users have no up-front costs.
  • Consumption-based model. Users pay only for what they use, and operate under an OpEx model.
  • Skills. No deep technical skills are required to deploy, use, and gain the benefits of PaaS. Most servies are easily configurable through the internet/web interface or SDK.
  • Cloud benefits. Users can take advantage of the skills and expertise of the cloud provider to ensure that their workloads are made secure and highly available. In addition, users can gain access to more cutting-edge development tools. They can then apply these tools across an application’s lifecycle.
  • Productivity. Users can focus on application development only, because the cloud provider handles all platform management. Working with distributed teams as services is easier because the platform is accessed over the internet. You can make the platform available globally more easily.

PaaS Disadvantage

Platform limitations. There can be some limitations to a cloud platform that might affect how an application runs. When you’re evaluating which PaaS platform is best suited for a workload, be sure to consider any limitations in this area. Example: Certain modules/plugins for the services may not be provided out of the box. Plus customers usually cannot load/plug their custom modules or plugins into the service. E.g a database plugin that you may rely on is not supported in the PaaS service.

SaaS

SaaS


SaaS (Software as a Service) is the most common and widely used cloud computing service model. It refers to the delivery of software applications over the internet, typically on a subscription basis. SaaS applications are typically accessed through a web browser, and the provider is responsible for managing the infrastructure and ensuring that the software is always up-to-date. Examples of SaaS include Microsoft Office 365, Salesforce, and Zoom.

Restaurant Analogy
Continue with a restaurant analogy SaaS (Software as a Service) can be compared to a restaurant that not only rents out its kitchen space, provides the chefs with a pre-made menu and assistance but also provides the dishes to the customers. The customers can come in and order from a set menu, and the restaurant takes care of everything from cooking the dishes to serving them. The restaurant provides the software (dishes) and the customer just orders and consumes them.

SaaS Advantages:

  • Agility. Users can provide staff with access to the latest software quickly and easily.
  • No CapEx. Users have no up-front costs.
  • 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.
  • Skills. No deep technical skills are required to deploy, use, and gain the benefits of SaaS.
  • Flexibility. Users can access the same application data from anywhere.

SaaS Disadvantage

Software limitations. There can be some limitations to a software application that might affect how users work. Because you’re using as-is software, you don’t have direct control of features. When you’re evaluating which SaaS platform is best suited for a workload, be sure to consider any business needs and software limitations.

Additionaly if we look a diagram of a pizza restaurant it would look something like below:

pizza-as-a-service

pizza-as-a-service

Conclusion

In this section we learned about IaaS, PaaS and SaaS and what they stand for in Microsoft Azure. In the upcoming sections we will go deeper into Azure subscriptions, managemnt groups, resources and region. Stay tuned.

Additional Resources
Here is a list of resources that may be helpful as you continue to explore Microsoft Azure.

Excercise

Question 1
Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services using a pay-as-you-go pricing model.Which of the following statements are true of the pay-as-you-go pricing model?

Select all options that apply.

A. You can immediately stop paying for resources that are no longer needed.
B. You rent compute power and storage from someone else’s datacenter.
C. You must pay a fixed fee in advance for all Cloud services.
D. You rent physical hardware such as compute power and storage and maintain them within your own datacenter.

Question 2
Cloud Computing provides several benefits over a physical environment. Which of the following are benefits of cloud computing?

Select all options that apply.

A. Full control
B. Agility
C. Elasticity
D. High availability

Question 3
Which of the following options is not defined as a type of cloud deployment model?

A. Distributed cloud
B. Public cloud
C. Hybrid cloud
D. Private cloud

Question 4
Cloud computing provides computing services over the internet using a pay-as-you-go pricing model. With this model you typically only pay for the cloud services you use. Which of the following are benefits of the pay-as-you-go pricing model?

Select all that apply.

A. Lower operating costs.
B. You can run your infrastructure more efficiently.
C. You can scale as your business needs to change.

Question 5
True or False?
The Azure Portal updates continuously and requires no downtime for maintenance activities.

A. True
B. False

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