Cloud Computing
IaaS
Definition
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a cloud computing service model where a provider hosts the fundamental infrastructure components traditionally present in an on-premises data center, including servers, storage, and networking hardware, as well as the virtualization layer.
Why It Matters
IaaS provides the highest level of flexibility and management control over your IT resources. It is the closest to a traditional on-premises data center, but without the need to physically maintain the hardware.
Contextual Example
A company uses Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) to rent virtual servers. They are responsible for installing and managing the operating system, applications, and data, while Amazon manages the physical servers and networking.
Common Misunderstandings
- With IaaS, the customer is still responsible for managing the operating system, security patches, and applications.
- It is one of the three main service models, along with PaaS and SaaS.