This is Part 11 of cloud computing tutorial. In this video, we'll understand what is
infrastructure as a service also called IaaS. In addition to infrastructure as a service we also
have Platform as a Service PaaS and Software as a Service SaaS. Up until recently these
are the three main cloud services offered by most cloud service providers. With cloud technologies
advancing and maturing so fast, in addition to these three cloud offerings, we also have
Containers as a Service CaaS and Functions as a Service FaaS or this is also called
serverless computing. So in this video, let's understand what is infrastructure as a service?
Who uses this service and the benefits it provide. If we are not using cloud, we manage everything
on-premise. Basically our organization is responsible for managing pretty much everything.
Procuring physical servers, storage and related hardware. Install and set up the network. Setting
up the server room or data center. Make sure there is main power supply, backup power supply,
cooling system etc are in place. Install and configure virtualization software, operating
system any middleware or runtime components that your software development or other teams need.
Install, configure and manage your custom or packaged apps and data. So the point is,
with on-premise data center, our organization is responsible for managing pretty much everything.
Now, what is infrastructure as a service. As the name implies, with infrastructure as a service
you rent or lease IT infrastructure from a cloud service provider like Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web
Services or some other cloud service provider. To understand this better, take a look at this
diagram. As the name implies with infrastructure as a service, the cloud service provider provides
the infrastructure over an internet connection or through a virtual private network. We'll discuss
what a virtual private network is in our upcoming videos. For now you can think of it as a dedicated
and secure private tunnel between you, that is your organization and the cloud service provider.
So the important point to keep in mind is, there is no need for your organization to procure
and manage the infrastructure. It is the cloud service provider that is responsible for procuring
physical service, storage and related hardware. Install and set up the network. Make sure there is
proper power supply, backup power supply, cooling system etc are in place. Pretty much the cloud
service provider is responsible for setting up, securing and managing the cloud data center. So,
in simple terms this is how it works. The cloud service provider hosts the infrastructure
at their data center. You as a customer provision this infrastructure on demand over the internet or
through a virtual private connection. For the duration that you use the infrastructure
you pay a fee and you're only charged based on the number of machines and resources that are actually
being used. As you can see from the image, all the yellow boxes that is networking, storage,
servers and virtualization are managed by the cloud service provider. The rest, that is the
operating system, middleware, runtime, data and applications are still managed by you, that is
your organization. This means you have better control and you can install any operating system
of your choice, windows or linux for example. So the point is, you can use this infrastructure for
anything you want, computational or storage needs. Maybe you have a web application which you can
host and run for example. You can also use it for storage needs. For example, install SQL Server,
Oracle or some other relational database and store your relational data. I mean a diverse
set of use cases are supported. Infrastructure as a service is also known as Hardware as a Service.
So, who uses infrastructure as a service? In most organizations, it is the infrastructure team
that procures servers and computers, install software and provide systems to employees,
set up and manage networks. So in most cases, it is usually your infrastructure
team that uses infrastructure as a service. Sometimes, even software development teams
use this service if they want to have enhanced control over the underlying hardware and network.
Now, let's look at the benefits of infrastructure as a service. There is a reduced financial risk
for organizations. Let's say for example you want to try something new. Maybe you're launching
a new business or a product line or experimenting something entirely new, and for that, we need
a software application. To host and run this application we need a physical server, all
the related infrastructure and workforce to set up and maintain. What if our new product launch
or experiment fails. We have already spent a fortune to purchase the server and the
related infrastructure. On the other hand, with infrastructure as a service,
you pay a fee for as long as you use the cloud infrastructure. Host your app and
run it from there. If your new product launch or experiment succeeds, well and good. If it doesn't,
shut things down and stop paying. Straight away, you can see how organizations can benefit
from the reduced financial risk. This encourages businesses and organizations to try new things,
experiment and innovate more. Deployment speed is another great benefit. Just imagine the time
it takes to procure physical servers, storage and the related infrastructure. You need to purchase,
get them shipped over, create a server room or data center, secure it, install power supply
and cooling systems, setup and configure network, the list goes on, and don't forget you also need
to hire skilled people to do all this. It takes a considerable amount of time to have
all these in place. Probably days, sometimes even months in worst case scenarios. On the other hand,
if you're using infrastructure as a service, you just point your browser to the cloud
service provider web portal and with a few clicks in just a few minutes you have
one or even many virtual machines procured. So you can see the speed with which we can procure
and start using cloud infrastructure. So you really get time to focus on what matters to your
business. Provision resources from geographically closer locations. Cloud service providers,
for example Amazon, Microsoft and Google have data centers all over the world. This means,
with infrastructure as a service you have the option of provisioning the servers
from geographic locations that are close to your customers. Unlimited scalability. You almost will
never run out of resources in a public cloud. It provides near unlimited scalability. You can even
set threshold limits to automatically scale up and down depending on the demand. In our next video,
we'll understand what is platform as a service. That's it in this video. Thank you for listening.