IaaS, PaaS, SaaS

Intro

To start a new web-based project (mainly HTTP/HTTPS-related things), we do have multiple choices for the platform. We can host a whole virtual machine, like AWS or Linode. Or, we can host put our code on Google Appengine or Heroku. They all have different pros and cons, and we should pick the one which matches the purpose of the project.

SaaS: Software as a Service

Examples

• Gmail
• Google+

PaaS: Platform as a Service

One can develop applications and let them execute on top of the platform which take care of the execution.

Vendors manage:

• runtime
• middleware
• O/S
• virtualizatoin
• server
• storage
• networking

Users manage:

• application
• data

Examples

• Heroku
• Google App Engine

IaaS: Infrastructure as a Service

Users buy fully outsource service (the whole virtual machine)

Examples

• AWS(Amazon Web Services)
• Linode

Reference

• http://apprenda.com/library/paas/iaas-paas-saas-explained-compared/
• http://blog.frost.tw/posts/2014/01/15/getting-started-paas-1