Tools of Cloud computing- An account of IaaS and PaaS

Cloud computing mainly refers to the available data centers, and internet users have access to it. Data can be stored, and direct management of users is not necessary. In cloud computing, IaaS delivers infrastructure, including operating systems and servers (Garg, Versteeg, & Buyya, 2013). However, PaaS clients do not need to manage applications. Here, a brief description will be given, along with benefits and disadvantages.

Definition and description of IaaS and PaaS

IaaS or Infrastructure as a Service is a type of cloud computing that delivers virtualized resources for computing. The Internet is used as a medium. The cloud provider is responsible for hosting infrastructure components in the case of the IaaS model. The IaaS provider is also responsible for providing multiple services such as billing, log access, security, billing, clustering, and load balancing. Along with that, the services given by the IaaS provider are also policy-driven. The users of IaaS services can implement automation and can maintain the performance and availability of the application. The customers of IaaS services use the services with the help of WAN or Wide Area Network (Madni et al., 2016). For instance, any random user can easily log in to an IaaS platform and install OS, create VM or Virtual Machine, create bucket storage and can track costs, balance traffic, monitor their performance, and manage DR or Disaster Recovery.

PaaS or Platform as a Service is a service based on a platform. It is different from IaaS because it allows customers to run, manage as well as develop applications without dealing with the complications of infrastructure maintenance (Van Eyk et al., 2018). PaaS mainly includes a programming language, web server, operating system, and database. A few examples of PaaS include Google App Engine, Windows Azure, BeanStalk, and others. Fotango, a company based in London, first launched the public platform that can be used as a service. It was named Zimki. The service did not involve any startup costs and used the “pay-as-you-go” tactic to enable developers to develop web services as well as applications. Google also launched its App Engine, and initially, it was accessible to ten thousand developers. PaaS were available on the public cloud. Using PaaS can speed up the app development process, and consumers mainly manage data and applications. Management of storage, networking, runtime, and virtualization is done by service providers.

Benefits of IaaS and PaaS

Organizations are willing to choose IaaS because it offers a range of benefits. Services are faster and cost-effective. A detailed outline has been given below-

• Scalability– The infrastructure ensures the availability of resources for the users. Consequently, delays are less likely to occur, and capacity expansion of services eventually increases (Dowling, 2019).
• Pay-per-use– On-demand services are available to users, and they are required to pay only for the resources that will be used.
• Saves cost and time– The service provider is accountable for maintaining physical hardware and setting up a suitable environment. The services can save costs along with time. Users can easily afford the services.
• Independent location– One of the vital advantages of using IaaS service is that users can have access to services from anywhere in the world. The Internet is the medium for assessing services. The only requirement is users must abide by specific security protocols related to the cloud network.

The advantages or benefits of a platform service or PaaS has been outlined below-

• Complete usage of time– PaaS can be built more quickly, and developers have access to an environment that includes sample code along with in-built components.
• In-built sophisticated tools– The developers are able to create applications by utilizing pre-built components of the software. Hence, developers can take complete advantage of sophisticated tools that could have been expensive to build, develop, and test for real purposes (Rajkumar Buyya, & Goscinski, 2019).
• Future security– PaaS allows users to shift their focus on real business activities as the platform offers bug fixes, new features, and enhanced capabilities. The need to maintain the complexity of an IT infrastructure is not needed in this platform.

Disadvantages of IaaS and PaaS

After discussing the benefits of both the cloud computing services, it is necessary to highlight the disadvantages. Both the services are useful. However, certain drawbacks exist. In the case of IaaS, the drawbacks are-

• Technical issues- It is common for organizations to face downtime while handling IaaS. Technical faults put restrictions and organizations face issues while assessing data or applications.
• Poor flexibility- The issue occurs because service providers are less likely to upgrade software from time-to-time.
• Too-much dependency- IaaS creates the need for organizations to completely depend on the third party or service provider for the data, and organizations lose their independence (Abdalla & Varol, 2019).
• Issues with user privacy and virtualization- The privacy of users is at stake because IaaS restricts the customization process. Moreover, infrastructure depends on the process of virtualization that might be a disadvantage.

Similarly, in the case of PaaS, certain issues arise that are challenging for developers and service users. These have been illustrated below-

• Issues related to data privacy- PaaS can create havoc and privacy-related issues if data is not secured within the boundary of the firm. Since it is dependent on the cloud, privacy issues are common and difficult to avoid.
• The complexity of usage- Complexity arises because the developed applications might fall into two categories. These may be local or cloud-based. Therefore, users face complexity while handling PaaS.
• Vendor migration- Problems arise during migration or transfer of one PaaS application of vendor to another vendor. The migration process might create long-term issues.

In the age of cloud computing, tools such as IaaS and PaaS are used increasingly to benefit users. Facilities provided by both the services have been described. The first services launched by organizations have been highlighted. Lastly, few drawbacks of these cloud computing tools have been mentioned. It can be concluded that services can be managed either by users or by developers and both pros and cons exists due to this arrangement.

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