CLOUD SERVICE MODELS

Abstract
Cloud computing, which relies on the Internet, has the most powerful
computational architecture. Cloud computing provides a shared pool of computing
resources that may be rapidly and elastically provisioned and released based on the
users’ demand to serve the perpetually increasing range of information processing
needs. It is said to be the next-generation computing platform that provides many
applications to the users in a seamless way and access the resources across the
network with no boundary. In this paper, we have given a brief description of cloud
computing. We’ve also covered the three service models provided by the cloud which
are Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a
Service (SaaS), their uses, advantages, and disadvantages. Furthermore, a comparative
study has been presented for the three service models thereby providing a better
understanding of the situations where each of the service models can be used.
Introduction
‘Clouds’ in the real world, are a collection of water molecules. Similarly, the
term ‘Cloud’ in Cloud Computing refers to the collection of networks. It is a set of
services and resources offered through the Internet. In Cloud computing, users
connect to the “Cloud”, which can be pictured as a single entity unlike the traditional
way of connecting to multiple servers located on company premises. Cloud computing
depends on the internet as a medium for users to access and utilise the desired services
at any time on the pay-per-use pattern. Users can find out and boot the specified
resources and they need to pay just for the specified resources. Thus, an important
objective of Cloud Computing is to provide a mechanism for efficient resource
management and assignment.
Cloud Computing was developed by Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider in the
1960s with his work on ARPANET to interact with people and data from any place
and at any time. In simple words, Cloud Computing can be said as the distribution of
Computing services including networking, databases, servers, software, storage, and
so on over the Cloud. This contributes to a faster revolution, resource flexibility, and
scale economies. It is the delivery of computing services such as storage, servers,
database, software, networking, intelligence, analytics, and more, over the Cloud
(Internet). It simply means storing and accessing the data and programs over the
internet rather than the computer’s hard disk. With Cloud Computing, users can access
the resources via the internet from anywhere in the world, for as long as they need,
without worrying about their management or maintenance. It is a combination of both
hardware and software-based computing resources delivered as a network service.
 The top cloud computing services include Amazon Web Services (AWS)
provided by Amazon, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) provided by Google and
Microsoft Azure provided by Microsoft. There are many other cloud providers like
Alibaba Cloud, IBM Cloud, Oracle, etc. Companies can either use the cloud provided
by such providers or they can have one on their own.

Cloud Computing Service Models

Service Models are the reference models on which cloud computing relies.
There are three models of service provided by the cloud. They are Infrastructure as a
Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS). Each
service model makes use of the underlying service model. This means that each model
inherits the security and management mechanism from the underlying model as shown
in fig 1.

Fig 1

1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

Infrastructure as a Service is a form of Cloud Computing that serves the
customer with the medium of the internet. This is the most communal service
method of the cloud as it offers the fundamental infrastructure of virtual
servers, operating systems, networks and data storage drives. It consents to the
flexibility, scalability and reliability that many businesses pursue with the
cloud, and remove the need for hardware in the office. IaaS users can access
the services employing a wide area network, like the internet. For example, a
user can create virtual machines by login into the IaaS platform.
It is the most fundamental level of service. IaaS can be defined as the
delivery of technology infrastructure as an on-demand scalable service. It
allows the users to run their applications on Cloud hardware of their choice.
Instead of purchasing software, servers, network equipment, the user can rent
those resources as a fully outsourced service on-demand model. Various
resources offered by IaaS include physical machines, virtual machines, virtual
local area networks, virtual machine storage, IP addresses, local balancers. All
these resources are made available to the user via Server Virtualisation.
Shifting your organisation's infrastructure to an IaaS solution aid in the
reduction of on-premises data centre maintenance, the reduction of hardware
expenditures, and the acquisition of real-time business information. IaaS
solutions allow you to scale your resources up and down in response to the
demand. They also aid in the speedy deployment of new apps and the
improvement of your underlying infrastructure's resilience.
You may avoid the cost and complexity of purchasing and managing
actual servers and datacentre equipment by using IaaS. Each resource is
available as a separate service component, and you just pay for it for the time
you want to utilise it. A cloud computing service provider manages the
infrastructure, while you buy, install, configure and manage your software—
including operating systems, middleware and applications.
Characteristics of IaaS
 Resources are distributed as a Service.
 It has variable costs.
 It allows dynamic scaling.
 Organizations retain complete control of the infrastructure.
 Platform virtualization technology.
 High reliability and resilience.
Uses of IaaS
IaaS is the best useful in the following situations:
 When the demand is volatile.
 For new enterprises without capital to invest in hardware.
 For a specific line of business, trial or temporary infrastructural needs.
 When the enterprise is growing rapidly and scaling hardware would be
problematic.
Advantages of IaaS
 Pay-as-you-go: Fees are computed via usage-based metrics.
 Highly flexible and scalable.
 Increased Performance and Decreased Capital Expenditure.
 Increased Security.
  IaaS enables instant recovery from outages, thereby reducing downtime.
 Save time and cost.
 Better Compatibility.
Challenges of IaaS
 Monthly fees can add up, or peak usage may be more than expected.
 Businesses are accountable for anything they host, while IaaS providers
secure the infrastructure.
 Lack of Support.
 Users of public clouds may have limited customization options.
Examples of IaaS:
 Cloud Hosting: The websites in cloud hosting are hosted on virtual servers
that pool resources from underlying physical servers.
 Business Networks: Expanding businesses will scale their infrastructure by
growth.
 Virtual Data Centre: There is a virtualized network of connected servers
that will improve cloud hosting capabilities, enterprise IT infrastructure or
integrate operations.
Some other examples of IaaS include Linode, Microsoft Azure, Amazon
Web Services (AWS), Google Compute Engine (GCE), DigitalOcean.

2. Platform as a Service (PaaS)

Platform as a Service provides a proper environment or platform in
which the developer can develop the applications and software to deploy them
through the internet without any need for installation or management of the
development environment. A development environment is given to the
consumers as a service in PaaS, upon which user can deploy their own software
and coding. PaaS allows the customer to rent virtualized servers and attached
services to execute available applications or develop and test the new ones.
PaaS providers offer a predefined composition of operating systems and
application servers to obtain the management capacity of the applications. The
customer has the freedom to construct his applications that may run on the
provider's infrastructure. The customer should keep an eye out for the
software's deployment, as the cloud provider will handle the majority of the
configurations. The customer does not have control over the cloud’s
infrastructure such as servers, storage, network or OS. He only has control over
the deployed applications and their configurations. The constraints to determine
the cost of the service are data transfer per GB, I/O requests per million, usage
per hour, storage use per GB and data storage requests per thousand.
 Platform as a service not only includes server, storage, and networking
but also database, tools, business services, and a lot more. It's designed to help
with application development, testing, deployment, management, and
modification. PaaS facilitates the delivery of simple cloud-based apps to more
complex cloud-enabled apps. The resources can be purchased on a pay-as-you-
go basis from the cloud service provider. The internet is used to gain access to
these resources. It is offered as software on a public IaaS platform.
The Platform as a Service (PaaS) paradigm originated from the
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) concept, which allows users to access
computer infrastructure resources via the Internet. It's a concept that represents
a computing platform that can be subscribed to as an integrated solution or a
specific solution stack capability that can be accessed via the internet. PaaS
services often span the application development lifecycle and comprise a
variety of services and service combinations. Source code control and tracking,
versioning, testing, and building process management tools are all common
service features.
Characteristics of PaaS
 Support multiple languages and frameworks.
 Multiple hosted environments.
 Flexibility.
 Ability to “Auto-scale”.
 Integrates web services and databases.
Uses of PaaS
 Development framework.
 Business Intelligence or Analytics.
 It is advantageous to design customised applications.
 Additional Services that enhance applications such as workflow, security.
Advantages of PaaS
 Available on multiple platforms.
 Helps in managing the application lifecycle efficiently.
 Adaptability: it can change if the circumstances are altered.
 Sophisticated tools can be used at economic costs.
 Enhance the development capabilities.
 Reduce coding time.
Challenges of PaaS
 Businesses are accountable for anything they build, while PaaS providers
secure the infrastructure and platform.
  Integrations.
 End-user operating capabilities are often limited by the platform.
 Very dependent upon the vendor’s capabilities.
 PaaS solutions may not be optimised for your preferred language and
framework.
 Customers may get locked in a language or interface they no longer need.
Examples of PaaS
Some examples of PaaS providers include:
 AWS Elastic Beanstalk.
 Microsoft Azure App Services.
 Google App Engine.
 Heroku.
 Force.com.
 Red Hat OpenShift.

3. Software as a Service (SaaS)

Software as a Service, often known as cloud application services, is the
most widely used cloud computing solution for enterprises. Cloud services are
offered by a third party over the internet in software as a service. SaaS is a
complete software solution that you can rent from a cloud service provider on a
pay-as-you-go basis. It's a service model that allows customers to rent and
utilise apps from the cloud provider without having to install them on
their computers. In place of installing the software on his computer, the user
can simply access it via the net. This way of carrying applications as a service
on the internet is known as software as a service.
Software as a Service is a service where the actual development of the
applications and software takes place on the platforms that are provided by the
PaaS layer. The SaaS layer is especially concerned with end-users because end
users can access and use these applications which were made by cloud
providers. The SaaS model is classified as the best way to get lightweight
applications such as Microsoft Word, Media Player, Microsoft access, and so
on. The problem here is that the slow network is causing dead the time of
processing the information for heavyweight applications like 3D games.
It is one of the common delivery models for many business applications
such as office software, payroll processing software, messaging software, and
many more. You rent the usage of an app for your company, and your users
connect to it via the internet, usually through a browser. The cloud provider's
data centre houses all of the underlying infrastructure, middleware, app
software, and app data. The cloud provider manages the hardware and software
and with an appropriate service agreement. The cloud provider also ensures the
availability and the security of the app and your data as well.
SaaS makes the user free from managing complex software and
hardware. SaaS users don't need to buy software or hardware, maintain, and
update. The only thing user must have is, an internet connection and then
access to the application is extremely easy. With SaaS, your company can
quickly get an app up and operating for a low upfront cost. SaaS is used by the
majority of Fortune 500 companies. Web-based software, hosted software, and
on-demand software are all terms used to describe SaaS applications.
Characteristics of SaaS
 A user subscription is required to use the service.
 It is controlled and managed from a central location.
 It is accessible through the internet.
 It is hosted on a remote server.
 The customer does not need to install any additional hardware.
 Updates are applied automatically without customer intervention.
Uses of SaaS
SaaS is the most useful in the following situations.
 Short-term projects that require easy, quick and affordable collaboration.
 Applications that aren't needed much often.
 SaaS technology may be used by larger firms for short-term initiatives or
apps that aren't needed all year.
Advantages of SaaS
 Highly Accessible.
 There are no upfront hardware expenditures, and payment methods are
flexible.
 Increased Security.
 No installation or equipment updates required.
 Highly Flexible and Scalable.
Challenges of SaaS
 SaaS solutions can have more latency than client/server apps.
 Everything is managed by the vendor, making the user vendor-dependent.
 Though the SaaS provider secures the application, strict measures should be
taken with sensitive data.
 Customization is limited in SaaS applications.
 The SaaS model is entirely reliant on the internet.
 Examples of SaaS
 Zoom.
 GoToMeeting.
 Google Workspace.
 Dropbox.
 Salesforce.
 Cisco WebEx.
Comparison among IaaS, PaaS, SaaS
On-premise is a software that’s installed in the same building as your business.
In an on-premises environment, everything has to be managed by the customer. The
three service models offered by the cloud are brought up to reduce the load on the
customers. Each cloud model offers specific features and functionalities, and it is
important for the organization to understand the differences. The layers of control are
what distinguishes the three cloud computing services. IaaS gives customers the most
control because they are in charge of their applications, data, runtime, middleware,
and the operating system. PaaS customers, on the other hand, are accountable for their
data and their applications, whereas SaaS customers are only responsible for the data
within the software. (refer fig: 2).

Fig 2:
Conclusion
In this paper, we described in short what Cloud Computing is and what
are the services provided by it. We examined the three service models of cloud
computing (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS). The paper has focused on the characteristics, uses,
advantages, and challenges associated with each model. Despite various advantages
attached to each model, there are also many security, privacy, customization issues
attached to each model which make the users think twice to shift their work to cloud
computing. We have also drawn a rough comparison among the three models and also
their differences which provides a better understanding of each model and helps in
drawing a conclusion of which model to be used in which scenario. The number of
applications for cloud computing will continue to grow. Today, approximately all
small and big industries are using cloud computing to manage traffic, storage,
hardware and software requirements. So, it is clear that there is a major impact of
cloud computing on society and business in the current trend.
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