What's cloud computing? Let's understand it with a pizza analogy.
In simple terms, cloud computing is a place where instead of buying expensive servers, one can rent them over the internet.
Owning servers has massive disadvantages. They are expensive, difficult to maintain and generate lots of heat.
That's where cloud computing comes in.
Cloud servers only need an internet connection. They can host your favourite movies(Netflix) or store images/videos of your pet.
Types of cloud computing
There are three types of cloud computing: IaaS, PaaS, SaaS.
A pizza analogy will help explain the difference.
IaaS - Here servers are provided by giant platforms - like AWS EC2. Entire OS along with code, networks etc has to be installed by you.
-You go to the kitchen, bring your dough, topping, sauce. Restaurant will provide you an oven.PaaS - Everything is provided by cloud companies (Microsoft, Google, Amazon) including server, networks, OS. You only have to bring the code. An example is Heroku.
You walk into the kitchen where the base and sauce are ready. You bring only your toppings.
SaaS - Back in the day, there was a floppy disk or CD to install software on our desktop. Since invention of the cloud things have become easier - to use the services one must have an account. The software sits on cloud, it can be free of cost like "Gmail" or it can come with monthly subscription like "Netflix".
you go to the restaurant and eat ready-made pizza.
Which type provides more control?
- IaaS provides the most control. You get the server and the rest is yours to manage.
- PaaS provides intermediate control with just your code, the rest being provided.
- SaaS provides the least control with ready-made services to use.
What are the top cloud computing platforms?
- Microsoft has Azure
- Google has Google Cloud Platform
- Amazon has AWS
All three offer IaaS, PaaS, SaaS services.
Why do businesses use cloud computing?
Many apps and websites are hosted on the cloud.
- Cost: Ready-made servers are available for hosting which reduces the cost of setting up servers.
- Scale: If more users arrive, you can add server capacity quickly.
- Access: You can reach your servers from anywhere with an internet connection.
- Speed: A new server is ready in minutes, not weeks.
Which one would you choose?
It depends on how much control you need.
Least control - SaaS
Intermediate control - PaaS
Almost full control - IaaS
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