CompTIA Cloud Essentials+ (CLO-002)Management and Technical OperationsMedium
A company is migrating a legacy application to the cloud. The application has a complex, monolithic architecture and relies heavily on specific operating system configurations and installed middleware. The development team wants to minimize code changes during migration while still leveraging some cloud benefits. Which cloud service model is BEST suited for this scenario?
- APlatform as a Service (PaaS)
- BFunction as a Service (FaaS)
- CSoftware as a Service (SaaS)
- DInfrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: D. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
IaaS provides virtualized computing resources (VMs, networks, storage) where the customer manages the operating system and applications. This model is ideal for 'lift-and-shift' migrations of legacy monolithic applications, as it allows for minimal code changes while leveraging cloud infrastructure.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. PaaS provides a platform for development and deployment, abstracting the OS, which would require refactoring the monolithic application.
- B. FaaS (serverless) is for event-driven functions and would require a complete re-architecture of a monolithic application.
- C. SaaS offers fully managed applications; it would require significant re-architecture, not minimal code changes.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
A cloud service model that provides virtualized computing resources over the internet, allowing customers to manage their operating systems, applications, and middleware.
- Offers highest level of control over infrastructure.
- Suitable for 'lift-and-shift' migrations.
- Customer is responsible for OS, applications, and data.
Memory trick: IaaS for VMs, PaaS for Dev, SaaS for Apps.