Platform-as-a-Service

Platform-as-a-Service or commonly known as PaaS provides a complete environment to build, test and deploy software applications in the cloud. It provides resources that enable you to deliver various types of applications.

Users purchase the services that they need from the Cloud provider on pay-as-you-go basis and access them over the Internet. This helps users to create the applications quickly without worrying about the management of infrastructure.

PaaS provides all the things that IaaS provides like Storage, Network and Compute. In addition to this, PaaS also provides Virtual Machine, Operating System and Runtime that is the middleware. This includes development tools, business intelligence services, database management systems etc. Hence, Cloud Consumers do not have to take the responsibility of configuring VMs.

PaaS is designed to support complete web application lifecycle – building, testing, deploying, managing and updating.

Cloud Provider, in this case it is Microsoft, will manage underlying servers running Active Directory, Microsoft SQL Server.

Cloud Consumers have to manage the applications that they develop and other things will be taken care by the cloud provider like infrastructure, software licenses, development tool and any other resource. They have to take care of the contents within AAD (user accounts) and SQL Databases.

Cloud Consumers can use Azure Portal, Azure CLI, Azure PowerShell cmdlets and Azure REST API to manage Azure services.

Examples of PaaS: AWS Elastic Beanstalk, Windows Azure, Heroku, Force.com, Google App Engine, OpenShift, Azure SQL Database, Azure App Service, Azure Logic App, Azure Web App, Azure Active Directory (AAD), Azure Search, Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN)

PaaS Characteristics

• Upfront Cost: There is no upfront cost and users pay only for what they use
• User Ownership: User is only responsible for the development of their application.
• Cloud Provider Ownership: Cloud Provider is responsible for providing and management of infrastructure, operating system, network, service configuration and any other resource that is required to build and run the application.

Common Usage Scenarios

• Development framework: PaaS provides a framework that developers can build upon to develop or customize cloud-based applications. Similar to the way you create an Excel macro, PaaS lets developers create applications using built-in software components. Cloud features such as scalability, high-availability, and multi-tenant capability are included, reducing the amount of coding that developers must do
• Analytics or business intelligence: Tools provided as a service with PaaS allow organizations to analyze and mine their data, finding insights and patterns and predicting outcomes to improve forecasting, product design decisions, investment returns, and other business decisions.
• Additional Services: PaaS providers may offer other services that enhance applications, such as workflow, directory, security, and scheduling.

Advantages of PaaS

• Cut the coding time as most of the components are reconfigured in the environment
• Add development capabilities without adding staff
• Develop for multiple platforms like mobile making it cross-platform
• Use sophisticated tools affordably because of pay-as-you-go model
• Support geographically distributed development teams as the environment is access over Internet from ant location across the globe
• Efficiently manage the application lifecycle including building, testing, deploying, managing and updating

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