IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS: what they are and how to use them

The cloud is one of the most important elements for businesses today, from small businesses to global enterprises. But in practice, it remains a broad concept encompassing many possibilities. As you begin to consider moving your business to the cloud, whether for application implementation or infrastructure, it's essential to understand the differences and advantages of the various services.

Although the types of services are growing every day, there are generally three cloud models that you should consider as the most sought after:

• Software as a Service (SaaS)
• Platform as a Service (PaaS)
• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

These acronyms are everywhere and are often used indiscriminately and even incorrectly. Our goal here is to shed some light on what they are and how they can be used to help you develop your cloud computing .

For each of them, we will examine the concept, benefits, and applications. We will also help you understand the key differences between SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS so you can choose the right option for your organization.

Definitions of IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS

Let's now look at the definition of one of these solutions:

SaaS: Software as a Service

Software as a Service, also known as cloud application services, represents the most common option used by companies in the cloud market. SaaS uses the internet to deliver applications, which are managed by a third-party provider, to its users.

Most SaaS applications run directly through your web browser , meaning they don't require any downloads or installations on the client side.

SaaS offers numerous advantages for professionals and companies, significantly reducing the time and money spent on software installation, management, and updates. This frees up considerable time for the technical team to dedicate to more urgent matters and issues within the organization.

PaaS: Platform as a Service

Cloud platform services, also known as Platform as a Service (PaaS), provide cloud components for specific software.

In practice, this service offers a framework for developers to build and use to create custom applications . All servers, storage, and networking can be managed by the company or a third-party provider, while developers retain full management of the applications.

No matter the size of your company, using PaaS offers numerous advantages, including:

• Development and deployment of simple and cost-effective applications;
• It is highly available and scalable;
• Significant reduction in the amount of coding required.

IaaS: Infrastructure as a Service

Cloud infrastructure services, known as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), consist of automated and highly scalable computing resources, such as a virtual machine. IaaS is entirely self-service for accessing and monitoring computers, network, storage, and other services.

IaaS allows companies to purchase resources on demand as needed, instead of having to buy hardware outright.

IaaS offers many advantages, including:

• The most flexible cloud computing model;
• Easy to automate the deployment of storage, network, servers, and processing capacity;
• Customers retain complete control over their infrastructure;
• Highly scalable.

How and when to use IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS solutions?

Let's understand when the solutions can and should be used, depending on the problems existing in the organizations.

How to use IaaS

If you are responsible for an enterprise data center, you know that activating and maintaining any application requires considering absolutely every aspect related to the system's hardware and software.

The first set of concerns includes basic issues such as physical space, power and cooling, as well as setting up all the infrastructure for internet access, local network, load balancers, and secure remote access. Completing this set, you should think about the servers and storage devices that your application requires.

When we move to the cloud environment, this first block of elements is offered as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) . In other words, when you contract an instance or virtual machine as IaaS, you get a server with storage that is connected to a network, and you don't need to worry about any of the physical aspects of all that hardware.

It's up to you to access these machines and install all the necessary software. Among the major IaaS providers in the market are Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.

How to use PaaS

We know that for the application to function correctly, there are still important issues to consider, such as the operating system , its updates, adjustments, and protections. We also need some kind of front-end, such as HTTP servers or session virtualizers. Finally, we need to install and maintain a database on the available storage device.

When this second set of elements is part of the cloud offering, we are talking about Platform as a Service (PaaS) . PaaS offerings are usually tied to specific development frameworks.

This is important because operating system, database, and front-end issues are adjusted to work well with a specific environment. This way, you can hire PaaS to run your .NET, Java, PHP, Ruby on Rails, or Django application, among others.

Typically, the PaaS provider offers several environment options for each type of framework, and you will have to adapt to these restrictions. Therefore, you are responsible for developing the application code and only need to follow a few procedures to export that code to the PaaS infrastructure.

All maintenance of the production environment is handled by the PaaS provider, which keeps the entire system fully automated. Besides Google and Microsoft , other providers are available, and scaling an application is very simple.

How to use SaaS

Software as a Service (SaaS), on the other hand, is a complete solution where you only use the software that the provider has developed. In this case, your only concern is customizing the software to ensure its efficiency and proper use.

The vast majority of SaaS offerings are based on web applications that all users access via a browser. The most common examples include Google Apps and Microsoft Office 365, where you can purchase email services and cloud-based office applications, or Salesforce and Pipedrive, which offer sophisticated CRM solutions.

Solutions for Distinct Problems

As you can see, IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS serve different purposes and are therefore complementary solutions . If you have a specific application with many particularities, it is likely that only IaaS can meet your needs in the cloud.

If you have an application developed using the most popular frameworks on the market, PaaS is likely the fastest and simplest way to migrate to the cloud, taking advantage of all the automation that this model offers.

Finally, if your needs align with off-the-shelf market solutions, SaaS offers the fastest alternative for using the cloud.

Orchestration and Automation

For IaaS and PaaS models, it is crucial to analyze the orchestration and automation tools available from the provider and how you can interact with them to ensure the solution's scalability is as smooth and automatic as possible.

Furthermore, this tool facilitates all tasks related to the high availability of your system and the development of Disaster Recovery . Offerings vary between different providers, and generally the most complete and flexible solutions allow your application to be more easily ported to the cloud, taking advantage of the benefits of this environment more efficiently.

If you want to take this important step and rely on IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS solutions, contact our team and check out the options that Sky.One can offer to support your organization!

Written by Skyone