The Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) Model | Pros and Cons

Infrastructure as a Service or IaaS, is the cloud-based service model that enables businesses to run applications in the cloud environment.

It is a virtualization technology used to run various software applications. It is also a model where the cloud provider gives you full access to a vast pool of computing, storage, and network resources.

Frequently, this includes housing specialised hardware that has been acquired or rented specifically for that application. While the IaaS model also offers the infrastructure necessary to execute the applications, the cloud computing approach enables a pay-per-use model and dynamic service scaling.

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)

Infrastructure-as-a-service is an umbrella term to refer to a collection of tools and methodologies used to support cloud computing. The model revolves around cloud computing provider offering an abstraction, or layer, on top of the infrastructure, tools and a variety of pre-configured services, that makes it easy for organizations to provision computing, networking, and storage services through a well-defined API.

The laaS paradigm is similar to utility computing in that it is based on the concept of offering computer services in the same way that utilities are offered. That is, you only pay for the processing power, disc space, and other resources that you really use.

IaaS is frequently used in conjunction with cloud computing and refers to online services that abstract the user from infrastructure elements such as actual computing resources, location, data segmentation, scaling, security, and backup. The supplier retains complete control of the infrastructure in cloud computing.

On the other hand, utility computing consumers desire a service that enables them to develop, administer, and grow online services while utilising the provider’s resources and paying for the resources consumed. However, the customer desires control over the infrastructure’s physical location and the software that runs on each server.

Features available for a typical IaaS system include:

Flexible and elastic computing environments.

With the IaaS model, virtual machines can be configured to your needs at the moment of installation and can be scaled up or down on the fly to match those needs. As a result, you get flexible and cost-effective computing environments that are ready to use whenever you need them.

Pay as you go

On average, IaaS costs less than on-site infrastructure. For example, the average cost per Gb of storage for an IaaS solution is 10% of that for an on-site solution. And, because you only pay for what you use, there is no need to invest in physical servers that you will likely never use.

The public cloud computing model had evolved since the early days of cloud computing when a customer needed to manage the infrastructure and provide software. Now, it’s even possible to deliver software without a pre-defined infrastructure and to be paid only for the computing resources used. It’s a model in which the customer is charged for only the resources they use.

Best-of-breed technology and resources

Access to best-of-breed technology solutions and superior IT talent for a fraction of the cost.

Advantages in laaS (Infrastructure as a Service)

Lift-and-shift

Lift-and-shift migration is a method of moving items from one location to another. This is the quickest and most cost-effective way to move an application or workload to the cloud. You can boost scale and performance, improve security, and lower the expenses of operating an application or workload without rewriting its underlying architecture.

Development and testing

Your team will be able to swiftly set up and disassemble test and development environments, allowing you to get new apps to market faster. IaaS allows developers and testers to scale up and down their environments quickly and affordably.

In addition, the IaaS model offers more comprehensive support and a wider array of services than a physical server solution. It is thus much easier to solve a system problem.

Backup, recovery, and storage

Your company avoids the cost of storage and the complexity of storage management, which usually necessitates hiring qualified personnel to handle data and fulfil legal and compliance standards. IaaS is effective for dealing with fluctuating demand and continuously increasing storage requirements. It can also make backup and recovery system design and administration easier.

Web-based applications

IaaS provides all of the infrastructure required to run online apps, including storage, web and application servers, and networking. When demand for the apps is unexpected, your company may swiftly build web apps on IaaS and simply scale infrastructure up and down.

Computing at a high level

Supercomputers, computer grids, and computer clusters are used to handle large problems requiring millions of variables or calculations. Protein folding and earthquake simulations, climate and weather forecasting, financial modelling, and product design reviews are just a few examples.

Disadvantages in Iaas (Infrastructure as a Service)

Safety and Security

The most common challenge has to do with security: the cloud is still in the process of developing standards for information security that will make the cloud safe for business, and that will enable the security of data as it travels through the cloud.

Upgrading and Maintenance

While the cloud promises a variety of benefits, such as the ability to scale up resources up or down instantly, and the ability to deploy updates without disrupting your business rapidly, many large companies are taking a wait-and-see approach before fully adopting the model for a variety of reasons.

Privacy

The next challenge is privacy: data stored in the cloud is subject to the provider’s terms of service jurisdiction. And finally, there is the challenge of data sovereignty: because the cloud is, by its very nature, located outside of your company’s network, data stored in the cloud may be subject to foreign laws, such as European laws, that might be inconsistent with your internal policies.

Why should you consider Infrastructure as a Service?

As you might expect, Infrastructure as a Service has many advantages, including the ease of deployment, the ability to scale resources up or down instantly, and the ability to deploy updates without disrupting your business rapidly.

In cloud computing, data is stored in virtual machines that run on physical computers in the cloud. This means that your data is safely stored in a server in the cloud, is therefore protected from unauthorized access, and can be available to your employees anytime, anywhere.

On the other hand, data stored on the physical network is accessible to your employees only when they are on that network. In a way, the cloud is more secure than your on-premise network because data is stored in a virtual machine instead of directly on your physical network.

Another benefit of Infrastructure as a Service is the ability to take advantage of the pay-as-you-go model. Many applications, such as Microsoft’s Office 365, allow you to pay for resources based on your usage rather than having to buy them all upfront.

An advantage of Infrastructure as a Service is that it can give you instant access to your data. On-premise servers may be large, bulky, and inefficient for certain uses, but the cloud instantly gives you access to resources.