Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900)Describe cloud conceptsMedium
A company is migrating its existing data center applications to the cloud. They want to maintain significant control over the operating systems and middleware, but they don't want to manage the underlying physical hardware, virtualization, or networking infrastructure. Which cloud service type best fits these requirements?
- AInfrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
- BFunction as a Service (FaaS)
- CPlatform as a Service (PaaS)
- DSoftware as a Service (SaaS)
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
IaaS provides virtualized computing resources over the internet, allowing the customer to manage operating systems, applications, and middleware while the cloud provider handles the underlying physical infrastructure, virtualization, and networking. This perfectly matches the company's need for control over OS/middleware without managing hardware.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. FaaS (serverless) abstracts even more than PaaS, focusing on individual function execution.
- C. PaaS abstracts away OS management, focusing on application deployment.
- D. SaaS provides a complete, ready-to-use application, with no infrastructure control.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
A cloud service model where the provider manages the underlying infrastructure (physical servers, networking, virtualization), and the customer manages operating systems, applications, and data.
- Highest level of control for the customer among cloud services.
- Pay-as-you-go for virtual machines, storage, networks.
- Requires IT expertise to manage OS and applications.
- Common uses: lift-and-shift migrations, dev/test environments.
Memory trick: IaaS builds the foundation, PaaS provides the tools, SaaS gives you the finished product.