Cisco Certified Support Technician Networking Exam 100-150 Exam Questions with Experts Answers Updated Recently

PaaS — Platform as a Service

IaaS — Infrastructure as a Service

SaaS — Software as a Service

The three primary cloud computing service models are Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). Each provides a different level of abstraction and customer responsibility.

1. PaaS — Platform as a Service

PaaS supplies a managed environment for developing, testing, deploying, running, and managing applications. The cloud provider maintains the underlying infrastructure, operating systems, and middleware, while customers focus primarily on application code and data. Examples include Azure App Service and Google App Engine.

2. IaaS — Infrastructure as a Service

IaaS provides on-demand access to computing infrastructure, including virtual machines, virtual storage, and networking resources. Customers provision these resources as needed and typically pay according to consumption. The provider manages physical infrastructure and virtualization, while customers manage guest operating systems, applications, and associated configurations. Examples include Amazon EC2 and Azure Virtual Machines.

3. SaaS — Software as a Service

SaaS delivers fully managed software applications over the internet. Users access these applications through web browsers or supported clients without maintaining the underlying servers or application infrastructure. Examples include Microsoft 365 and Cisco Webex.

The essential distinction is the level of management responsibility: IaaS provides infrastructure, PaaS provides an application platform, and SaaS provides complete applications. Cisco ' s cloud computing documentation confirms these service model definitions.