Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is a cloud computing service that offers companies the necessary cloud storage, networking, and computing resources on demand that are essential for the DevOps pipeline. It is one of the four fundamental types of cloud services that include serverless (cloud-native development model abstracted away from application development), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS).
The IaaS model allows the business to rely on the cloud provider to manage all IT infrastructure and deliver them to subscriber organizations through virtual machines (VMs) accessed online. The service is especially beneficial for growing enterprises since it can make workloads more streamlined, flexible, faster, and cost-effective. By deploying a private cloud, companies can even become its own infrastructure services provider.
IaaS is a foundational component of DevOps practices, made of a collection of virtualized and physical resources that offer customers building blocks to help run applications and workloads in the cloud. A cloud provider usually hosts the infrastructure components in an on-premises data center for an IaaS model. The components include storage, servers, networking hardware, a hypervisor, and a virtualization layer.
The services that support IaaS components are commonly policy-driven and enable users to take advantage of greater levels of automation and orchestration for crucial infrastructure tasks. For instance: users can implement policies to drive load balancing and maintain application performance and availability.
IaaS is a cloud service model that, when combined with PaaS and SaaS, can give an organization all the benefits of on-premise computing resources cost-effectively. In an IaaS model, the end users handle data, operating systems, middleware, runtimes, and applications while the IaaS vendor manages infrastructure components. IaaS can be complemented by combining it with PaaS and SaaS.
PaaS builds on the IaaS model because, besides the infrastructure components, cloud providers host, manage, and provide OS, middleware, and other runtimes for cloud users. Although workload deployment becomes simpler with PaaS, it can also restrict the business’s flexibility in creating a suitable environment.
SaaS providers manage, host, and offer the entire infrastructure along with applications to users. This way, SaaS providers can simply log in and use the provider’s application on its infrastructure. They can configure the application to some extent, as the authorization allows, but the SaaS provider is mainly responsible for everything.
Most organizations choose the IaaS platform since it is more cost-efficient, faster, and easier to operate a workload without buying, managing, or supporting the underlying infrastructure.
Cloud providers offer globally distributed data centers that can scale applications in locations nearest to the customers. This is a difficult feat with limited geographic reach and server capacity but almost effortless with the help of IaaS. These solutions can also help organizations reduce network latency issues and increase computing performance.
IaaS allows a business to rent or lease that infrastructure from another business. It makes for an effective cloud service for businesses with temporary workloads or those changing unexpectedly. For instance, if a company is testing a new software product, hosting and testing the application using an IaaS provider would be more affordable.
After the testing and optimization stages, the business can traditionally shift the software from the IaaS environment to deploy it in-house. Alternatively, a business can also keep the software on IaaS deployment for the long term if it is affordable.
The biggest benefit of IaaS is its capability to scale the resources up or down as per the enterprise’s needs in real-time. This is especially advantageous to medium and large enterprises looking for cost-effective ways to invest in resources.
With IaaS, it becomes easier and more affordable for IT teams to spend more time on strategic tasks. Companies can acquire the necessary computing infrastructure without waiting for weeks which speeds up the development lifecycle and time for launch.
- Better business continuity and disaster recovery
High availability, business continuity, and disaster recovery can get expensive, especially for a large organization, since it requires a staff of knowledgeable professionals and numerous technological resources. However, with the proper service-level agreements (SLAs), IaaS can reduce these expenses and help organizations access data and applications as usual, even during an outage or unforeseen interruption.
With the cloud provider overseeing the setup and maintenance of the physical infrastructure of IaaS, businesses can save time and direct resources and IT teams toward more strategic activities.
With IaaS, users only have to pay for the services they use. This setup allows smarter resource management at an organization and boosts innovation. It also makes advanced infrastructures more accessible to companies that cannot host computing resources on-premises due to space or monetary constraints.
