Everything You Need to Know About Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) (FAQs)
What Is A Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) Solution?
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) is a cloud computing service model that provides a platform and environment where developers can build, deploy, and manage applications. PaaS solutions provide the hardware, software, and development tools required to develop and host and applications, all delivered over the internet.
PaaS solutions include necessary infrastructure like servers, storage, and networking, alongside middleware, development tools, database management systems, and business analytics. These solutions support multiple programming languages and frameworks, meaning that developers can work with their preferred tools, thereby improving productivity.
A good Platform as a Service solution should be scalable, easily integrate with other tools in your organization’s tech stack, offer robust security, and efficiently streamline the development processes to allow the business to focused their energies and resources on coding and innovation, without having to overly concern themselves with underlying infrastructure management.
How Do Platform-As-A-Service (PaaS) Solutions Work?
PaaS Solutions provide a platform with an integrated set of developer tools, features, and runtime environments to build, test, and deploy applications. By leveraging the cloud-based infrastructure of PaaS, developers can focus more on coding and less on managing infrastructure, application stacks, and other non-developmental tasks.
PaaS includes infrastructure – servers, storage and networking – but also middleware, business intelligence (BI) tools, development tools, database management systems, etc. PaaS solutions are designed to support the complete web application lifecycle, which includes building, testing, deploying, managing, and updating. These solutions allow users to avoid the added expense and complexity that comes with buying and managing software licenses, the underlying applications infrastructure and middleware, container orchestrators like Kubernetes, or development tools and other resources. The applications and services you developed are managed by you, and cloud service provider typically manages the rest.
What Features Should You Look for When Choosing a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)?
When evaluating PaaS solutions for your organization, the following core features are some you should expect to see:
- Automatic Updates. The maintenance requirements for underlying infrastructures includes tasks like conducting server maintenance, applying security updates, and managing software patches. A good PaaS platform should automatically undertake these tasks to help ensure that the environment is properly secured and up-to-date, which helps to reduce the burden on more administrators and developers.
- Database Management. PaaS solutions will often provide managed database services, which includes tools and services designed to support the creation, configurating, and management of databases. Developers can work with databases through database management systems (DBMS) without needing to handle the low-level tasks of database administration.
- Integration. A good PaaS solution should integrate seamlessly with your existing business systems and other software tools. This allows for more streamlined workflows, efficient data exchange, and enhanced functionality.
- Data Security. This refers to the measures and protocols implemented to secure and protect data against unauthorized access, breaches, and other cyber threats. Effective data security helps to safeguard sensitive information, minimize the risk of data breaches, and protect against financial and reputational loss. Robust security practices, including data encryption, access controls, and audit trails.
- Development Tools. PaaS solutions offer a variety of development tools and services, made accessible through a cloud-based environment. These tools include frameworks, programming languages, and integrated development environments.
- Scalability. PaaS solutions are designed to scale horizontally, meaning that when you application experiences increased demand or higher volumes of traffic, computing resources can be added to accommodate the load. Similarly, periods of lower demand that require fewer resources can be scaled appropriate, helping to optimize spending.
