Everything You Need to Know About PaaS

PaaS stands for platform as a service and complements the concept of SaaS. Both are forms of business intelligence.

What is PaaS?

Cloud platform services, or "platform as a service," provide cloud components for certain software, but are mainly used for applications. PaaS allows developers to create custom applications in a better environment. Servers, storage, and networking can be managed by the company or a third party, while developers retain full control over the applications. Like SaaS, PaaS has many features that define it as a cloud service.

• Based on cloud technology, you can easily scale your resources up or down as your business grows.
• It offers a variety of services that make developing, testing, and deploying applications easier.
• It can be accessed by multiple users through the same developer’s application.

How to Use PaaS

The PaaS delivery model is similar to SaaS, but instead of providing software over the Internet, PaaS delivers a platform on which software is built. Since the platform is distributed over the Internet, developers can focus on building their software without worrying about operating systems, software updates, storage, or infrastructure. PaaS enables companies to design and build applications that integrate with PaaS using special software components. Sometimes called "middleware," these applications inherit certain cloud features, making them highly scalable and available.

Here are some examples:

AWS Elastic Beanstalk Windows Azure Force.com Google App Engine

Why Use PaaS?

• A cost-effective solution: users only pay for the services they actually use, so there’s no waste of valuable resources. With PaaS, you can overcome basic application component configuration issues that can be expensive.

• Improve speed and flexibility: PaaS offers much better flexibility, agility, and speed, making the entire development process smoother. By providing a predictable application infrastructure, businesses aren’t hindered by application deployment and can easily meet customer needs.

• No extra backup costs: With PaaS, you no longer have to worry about storage space and backups. It also doesn’t increase electricity or maintenance costs. PaaS literally reduces the need for storage and backup, resulting in significant savings.

• No need for software maintenance: Since PaaS can handle all system management and upgrades, there’s no need to spend on maintenance.

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PaaS Limitations

• Less secure data: PaaS solutions let organizations run their own applications and services, but data resides on third-party cloud servers controlled by the provider, creating security risks and issues. Security options may be limited because customers may not always be able to enforce a specific hosting policy.

• Operational limitations: Custom cloud operations with administrative automation workflows may not apply to PaaS solutions, as platforms tend to limit end-user operability. This aims to reduce the operational burden on end users, but the loss of operational control can impact the management, deployment, and operation of PaaS solutions.

In conclusion, using PaaS can be advantageous if your developers want more flexibility. And if you’re also ready to take on more responsibility for your cloud.

Don’t Get Confused

Be careful not to mix up the different types of cloud computing: SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS. To clarify, here’s an explanatory table:

| Features | IaaS | PaaS | SaaS | |----------|----------|----------| | Applications | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | | Data | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | | Runtime | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | | Middleware | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | | Operating System | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | | Virtualization | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Servers | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Storage | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Networking | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |

✅: What you manage ❌: What the provider manages