Platform-as-a-Service
• PaaS offers the runtime environment for applications. It also offers
development & deployment tools, required to develop applications.
• PaaS has a feature of point-and-click tools that enables non-developers to
create web applications.
• Google's App Engine, [Link] are examples of PaaS offering vendors.
Developer may log on to these websites and use the built-in API to create
web-based applications.
• But the disadvantage of using PaaS is that the developer lock-in with a
particular vendor. For example, an application written in Python against
Google's API using Google's App Engine is likely to work only in that
environment.
• Therefore, the vendor lock-in is the biggest problem in PaaS.
• The following diagram shows how PaaS offers an API and development tools
to the developers and how it helps the end user to access business
applications.
• Benefits
• Following are the benefits of PaaS model:
• LOWER ADMINISTRATIVE OVERHEAD
• Consumer need not to bother much about the administration because it's the
responsibility of cloud provider.
• LOWER TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP
• Consumer need not purchase expensive hardware, servers, power and data
storage.
• SCALABLE SOLUTIONS
• It is very easy to scale up or down automatically based on application
resource demands.
• MORE CURRENT SYSTEM SOFTWARE
• It is the responsibility of the cloud provider to maintain software versions and
patch installations.
• Issues
• Like SaaS, PaaS also place significant burdens on consumer's browsers to
maintain reliable and secure connections to the provider systems. Therefore,
PaaS shares many of the issues of SaaS. However, there are some specific
issues associated with PaaS as shown in the following diagram:
• LACK OF PORTABILITY BETWEEN PAAS CLOUDS
• Although standard languages are used yet the implementations of platforms
services may vary. For example, file, queue, or hash table interfaces of one
platform may differ from another, making it difficult to transfer workloads
from one platform to another.
• EVENT BASED PROCESSOR SCHEDULING
• The PaaS applications are event oriented which poses resource constraints on
applications, i.e., they have to answer a request in a given interval of time.
• SECURITY ENGINEERING OF PAAS APPLICATIONS
• Since the PaaS applications are dependent on network, PaaS applications
must explicitly use cryptography and manage security exposures.
• Characteristics
• Here are the characteristics of PaaS service model:
• 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 and approval
processes and defining business rules.
• It is easy to integrate with other applications on the same platform.
• PaaS also provides web services interfaces that allow us to connect the
applications outside the platform.
• PaaS Types
• Based on the functions, the PaaS can be classified into four types as
shown in the following diagram:
• STAND-ALONE DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENTS
• The Stand-alone PaaS works as an independent entity for a specific function.
It does not include licensing, technical dependencies on specific SaaS
applications.
• APPLICATION DELIVERY-ONLY ENVIRONMENTS
• The Application Delivery PaaS includes on-demand scaling and application
security.
• OPEN PLATFORM AS A SERVICE
• Open PaaS offers an open source software that helps a PaaS provider to run
applications.
• ADD-ON DEVELOPMENT FACILITIES
• The Add-on PaaS allows to customize the existing SaaS platform.
