Following a bottom-up approach, let’s start from the lowest level of abstraction and climb step by step to the top of the cloud computing stack.
The first step right after the hardware itself is known as IaaS or Infrastructure as a Service and is the basic element of cloud computing.
Cloud Computing IaaS – Infrastructure as a Service
Rather than purchasing or leasing space in an physical datacenter and all of the utilities to maintain and deploy physical servers, networks and storage, a IaaS Infrastructure as a Service customer rents space in a virtual data center from a provider and they access it via the Internet. This type of cloud computing provides the basic elements and clients only pay for the resources they consume. These resources usually include at least CPU cores, RAM, Hard Disk or Storage space, Virtual Network Switches, vLANs and IP addresses. The users are then able to create servers and networks and tie them together forming architectures. An IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) provider provide its users with the hardware and the provisioning software that allow them to work as if they owned a physical datacenter.
The IaaS provider takes responsibility for the hardware and performs all the maintenance to ensure the servers run correctly.
Some of the basic characteristics of an IaaS are the following:
– Resources are distributed as a service (CPU, RAM, DISK, Switch, IP, VLAN, etc…)
– Allows dynamic scaling
– Has a variable cost
– Generally includes multiple users on a single piece of host
Now that we have explained what IaaS is, a question the next question that will come into your mind is for sure: How do I know if Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is the right choice for my business? There are different ways to find that out. The first thing you must find out is what your situation is and what you are trying to do with your infrastructure.
If the answer of any of these questions is yes, then you will most likely get some benefits from choosing a IaaS. As a general rule, if your team knows how to manage a datacenter and you are in one of the following scenarios, then IaaS is the right choise for you:
– You have a variable demand of resources
– Your organization is new and without the capital to invest in hardware
– Your organization is growing rapidly and scaling hardware would be problematic
– You have a temporary infrastructure need for a specific project
In a traditional model, every component of the stack is a separate entity: You have separate compute, networking, storage and so on. When it comes to IaaS, everything is software defined so you will need fewer people to manage all, because your provider will take care of the underlying level for you. Another great advantage of IaaS is that monitoring is built into it so you won’t need to worry about that.
If you are interested in having more information about IaaS take a look at CriticalCase’s Virtual Data Center or contact us with the form below. One of our experts will help you finding the right solution for your need.
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