Cloud Paradigms
Top > Transversal > Cloud > Cloud Paradigms
- FaaS - Function as a Service (FaaS) is a more extreme take on the PaaS paradigm since it not only assumes a given programming language but it also abstracts away from the program's entry point. For example, in a regular PaaS, the programmer has to provide the embedded HTTP server for a microservice, whereas in a FaaS platform, the HTTP is implemented by the platform. 🌐
- HCI - Hyper Converged Infrastructure (HCI) is characterised by being fully software-defined and by virtualising all elements of the stack (compute, storage, etc.). It is a term increasingly used by Cloud vendors to define their on-prem solutions wherein "convergence" is, naturally, with their cloud native offerings. 🌐
- IaaS - Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) abstracts away from the hardware (blades, racks, storage devices and so on) but it typically leaves operating system installation and further software-related concerns to the customer. 🌐
- PaaS - A Platform as a Service (PaaS) offering typically involves an application server (or runtime environment) so that the customer is only responsible for providing high-level software artefacts such as JAR files in Java or DLL assemblies in .NET. It is appropriate for monoglot teams targeting one of the PaaS' supported languages who write functionally-rich rather than performance-tuned code; this is because compiling custom kernels or tuning the underlying runtime environment (e.g. JVM heap settings) is typically beyond the intended level of abstraction conceived under the paradigm. 🌐
- SaaS - Software as a Service (SaaS) typically refers to third-party services that can only be used in a cloud fashion, such as SalesForce or Expensify, or that offer a choice between SaaS and custom installation (be it on-premise or in the cloud) such as Atlassian Confluence. In this sense, SaaS is a model for third-party vendors for offering one's software to customers rather than a workload abstraction level such as IaaS, Paas, and FaaS. 🌐
Before You Leave
🤘 Subscribe to my 100% spam-free newsletter!