🌐 General Cloud Concepts (Part 1):What is cloud computing? (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS)

I find definitions kind of boring because noone will remember them anyway so… Let’s make it clear, the cloud does not exist.

Now imagine the resources of a company, the most imporant one I guess would be the servers. Let’s assume this company has a server room and an e-commerce application. The servers have enough capacity to handle the number of requests for the Black Friday Sales Day, which means that in the other days that it’s not Black Friday it will be way below it’s capacity. And If the number of requests excedes what the server can handle it WILL crash. So, wouldn’t it be nice to have a Hermione’s bag for this? (I hope you all have seen Harry Potter at this point, if not….please go away…JK)

Hermione’s bag is a backpack that its not heavy, it’s pretty small, but she has casted a spell on it to fill it with anything she wants. She literally has a house in there. So, inside, the bag has the size that it needs, by extending and shrinking to the required length.

You would say what does this have to do with the servers, and you are absolutely right it has nothing to do with it, but let’s say you are Hermione’s friend and you need for her to carry something for you, like a book (or game controller, or lipstick, can be anything), the bag will make place for it. And then you ask her to carry a second one, and the bag will. But when you ask for one to be returned to you? You don’t have to worry about the place that it’s left empty, cause the bag will shrink and there will not be any free place to be carried around until you need one.

Now in this case the bag is the cloud, or the servers, and Hermione is the company that offers the service to carry around things for you. You can access anything by telling her yourself or by the authorized persons that she is certain you sent.

1. IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)
IaaS is like Hermione giving you raw materials to make your own magical items, but you’re in charge of assembling everything. You get access to the basic “tools” (servers, storage, networking), but you must decide how to use them to create something useful for your journey.

Imagine Hermione gives you a magical backpack, but it’s just an empty bag at first. You can choose to fill it with potions, spell books, wands, etc. You’re in charge of how it all works together. Hermione doesn’t decide what you put inside, but she provides you with the resources needed to make it happen. If you need more space, Hermione will magically expand the bag, and if you need less, it’ll shrink.

Real-world example: Cloud services like Amazon EC2, Google Compute Engine, or Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines give you raw compute power and storage. You have to install and manage the software and resources yourself.

2. PaaS (Platform as a Service)
PaaS is like Hermione giving you a magical toolkit that already has the enchanted ingredients to build the perfect spell or potion. It’s a more advanced magical bag, and Hermione has already provided some specialized tools for you to use.

Let’s say Hermione provides a bag that already contains all the essentials: a wand, a potion bottle, and some enchanted paper to write your spells. You still get to decide what spells to cast (your application), but you don’t have to worry about the individual magical items , Hermione has already set them up for you. All you need to do is focus on your magic and how to use the tools at hand.

Real-world example: Google App Engine, Heroku, or Azure App Services provide you with a platform where the underlying infrastructure is managed for you. You only focus on building and deploying your applications.

3. SaaS (Software as a Service)
SaaS is like Hermione handing you a ready-made enchanted item, like a pre-built spellbook that does everything you need. You don’t need to do anything yourself. You just use the magical item and enjoy the results.

Imagine Hermione gives you a spellbook that’s already filled with finished spells for you to use. You don’t need to worry about how the spell was created or what ingredients were used , you just open the book and cast the spell. Whether it’s a healing spell, a weather-changing spell, or a summoning spell, everything is ready for you to enjoy.

Real-world example: Gmail, Dropbox, or Microsoft 365 are SaaS products. You simply use the service without worrying about the underlying infrastructure or the platform.

Recap with the Magical Analogy:
IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service): Hermione gives you an empty magical bag (the infrastructure), and you decide what to put inside it and how to use it. You have full control but need to manage everything.

PaaS (Platform as a Service): Hermione gives you a bag that already contains all the tools for a magical spell (the platform). You only need to use the tools to cast your spell (develop your application), and Hermione handles the rest.

SaaS (Software as a Service): Hermione hands you a fully-prepared spellbook (the software). You just use it without worrying about how it was created or what’s inside.