2. Introduction to PAAS
Platform-as-a-Service offers the runtime environment for
applications. It also offers development and deployment tools
required to develop applications. PaaS has a feature of point-
and-click tools that enables non-developers to create web
applications.
Disadvantage of using PaaS is that, the developer locks-
in with a particular vendor. For example, an application
written in Python against API of Google, and using App
Engine of Google is likely to work only in that environment.
4. PAAS Explained
1. Programming languages
PaaS providers provide various programming languages for the developers to
develop the applications. Some popular programming languages provided by PaaS
providers are Java, PHP, Ruby, Perl, and Go.
2. Application frameworks
PaaS providers provide application frameworks to easily understand the application
development. Some popular application frameworks provided by PaaS providers
are Node.js, Drupal, Joomla, WordPress, Spring, Play, Rack, and Zend.
3. Databases
PaaS providers provide various databases such as ClearDB, PostgreSQL,
MongoDB, and Redis to communicate with the applications.
4. Other tools
PaaS providers provide various other tools that are required to develop, test, and
deploy the applications.
5. PAAS Explained
•PaaS offers browser based development environment. It allows the
developer to create database and edit the application code either via
Application Programming Interface or point-and-click tools.
•PaaS provides built-in security, scalability, and web service
interfaces.
•PaaS provides built-in tools for defining workflow, approval
processes, and business rules.
•It is easy to integrate PaaS with other applications on the same
platform.
•PaaS also provides web services interfaces that allow us to connect the
applications outside the platform.
6. What are the differences between IaaS, PaaS and SaaS?
IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS are three distinct cloud service models.
What these categories have in common is that they provide
computing resources to users as services delivered via the
internet. The difference between them is that they deliver
different amounts or types of such components. In particular,
IaaS delivers cloud computing infrastructure, such as servers,
networking and storage, while PaaS offers infrastructure,
software and middleware as a single framework for building and
deploying applications. SaaS provides access to applications.
7. Advantages of PAAS
Simplified Development
PaaS allows developers to focus on development and innovation without
worrying about infrastructure management.
Lower risk
No need for up-front investment in hardware and software. Developers
only need a PC and an internet connection to start building applications.
Prebuilt business functionality
Some PaaS vendors also provide already defined business functionality
so that users can avoid building everything from very scratch and hence
can directly start the projects only.
Instant community
PaaS vendors frequently provide online communities where the developer
can get the ideas to share experiences and seek advice from others.
8. Advantages of PAAS
Scalability
Applications deployed can scale from one to thousands of users without any changes
to the applications.
Lower administrative overhead
Customer need not bother about the administration because it is the responsibility of
cloud provider.
Lower total cost of ownership
Customer need not purchase expensive hardware, servers, power, and data storage.
Scalable solutions
It is very easy to scale the resources up or down automatically, based on their demand.
More current system software
It is the responsibility of the cloud provider to maintain software versions and patch
installations
9. Use case of PAAS
•API development and management. Application programming
interfaces (APIs) are often used in modern
applications enabling them to share data and
functionality. PaaS offers built-in frameworks that
make API development faster and easier.
•Internet of Things (IoT). PaaS is a key technology for
Internet of Things (IoT) solutions because it offers
several advantages for use with such a network of
physical objects. In particular, PaaS supports
programming languages (Java, Python, etc.) applied in
IoT application development and provides capabilities
related to storage and filtering of data generated by
IoT devices.
•Agile development and DevOps. PaaS provides an
10. Use case of PAAS
•Mobile development. PaaS is often applied to accelerate
the building of mobile applications. Users get a
simple drag-and-drop interface for developing apps and
access to sensors, GPS, accelerometer, camera, and
other features of the mobile device.
•Development of cross-platform apps. In order for a
business to remain competitive, it often requires a
cross-platform solution that can be leveraged to
create web, desktop, and mobile applications available
for any particular device. PaaS is the best option for
this purpose because it provides a singular
development environment that can be used instead of
using different development frameworks for specific
11. Vendors who provide PAAS Solution
•Google App Engine: enables teams to develop scalable
applications in any programming language in cloud-
based data centers managed by Google;
•Heroku: a polyglot platform on which you can develop
consumer-facing applications across most programming
languages like Python, Java, Ruby and Node.js using
Unix-style container computing instances;
•Cloud Foundry: a popular open source, multi-cloud
platform as a service that allows to write software in
any language and deploy such software to production in
your own datacenter, on-premise (via VMware’s vSphere
or OpenStack), or off-premise atop a public cloud such
as AWS, GCP, or Azure.
12. Vendors who provide PAAS Solution
•Red Hat OpenShift PaaS offers a wide range of
languages, databases, and components to develop open
source applications;
•Azure DevOps: this Azure PaaS solution makes it
possible to develop applications using .NET, Java,
Python, PHP, Ruby, and efficiently deploy them using
Azure DevOps;
•AWS Elastic Beanstalk, this PaaS offering from Amazon
is similar to Google App Engine, and it enables
developers to deploy and scale their applications on
the AWS cloud. This AWS PaaS offering supports Java,
.NET, Python, PHP, Ruby, Node.js, Go, and Docker, and
is a good fit for web applications;
13. Types Of PaaS
These three basic types have spawned several other
formats. Here are the most popular:
•communication PaaS;
•mobile PaaS;
•open PaaS;
•business analytics PaaS (baPaaS).
Communication PaaS (CPaaS) represents a cloud-based
platform that adds real-time communication features
(voice, video, and messaging) to the apps being built
by developers without the need for back-end
infrastructure and interfaces.
14. Types Of PaaS
Mobile PaaS (mPaaS) provides developers with a paid
integrated development environment (IDE) to configure
mobile apps. With mPaaS, users utilize a drag-and-drop
interface to access various features such as the
device’s GPS, sensors, cameras, and microphone.
Open PaaS provides free, open-source software to run
applications. It also represents a collaboration
platform.
Business analytics PaaS (baPaaS) represents a platform that
delivers services involving data storage, data
processing, data integration, and business
intelligence. The analytics platform-as-a-service also
supports big data.
15. Summary
Platform-as-a-Service (abbreviated as “PaaS”) is one of
three cloud computing models (the other two
include Infrastructure-as-a-Service – IaaS – and Software-
as-a-Service – SaaS), where a platform (hardware and
software) is provided by a third-party vendor to customers
over the internet. The platform is generally used to
develop, run, and manage applications. A cloud services
provider hosts and maintains all of the hardware and
software included in the platform in its own data centers.
The cloud, and specifically PaaS, have significantly
changed how applications are developed, deployed, and
managed. With PaaS, applications can be delivered fast and
without worrying about the underlying infrastructure and
software.
However, PaaS is not for every application scenario.