Infrastructure as a Service vs Application as a Services - which is better for my case

Question

Hi.

Let's see if this the right platform or place to ask this question as I am new to all this.

I have a digital signage CMS software that runs on Windows Server that requires MS-SQL or MS-SQL Express. My customers will log in, upload the content to the CMS, for signage players to download and play.

I am currently running on VM on Azure as a test and POC. I subscribe (still) to this and almost happy. I just do not like to have to worry about backup among other things.

I am just wondering if instead of having my own VM and taking care of it, would I be better off if I go for the Application as a Service model instead. What are the benefits and specifically, looking at the cost-benefit?

Thank you.

Answer 1

Thanks once again.

Answer 2

Thanks for reaching here and asking question! As you might be aware of that PaaS (Platform as a service) is a managed hosting cloud service model which means the cloud provider manages the virtual machines and networking resources, and the cloud tenant deploys their applications into the managed hosting environment.
For example, Azure App Services provides a managed hosting environment where developers can upload their web applications, without having to worry about the physical hardware and software requirements.

PaaS provides same benefits and considerations as IaaS, but there are some additional benefits to be aware of as below:

Advantages:

• No Capital expenditure (Is the up-front spending of money on physical infrastructure, and then deducting that up-front expense over time. The up-front cost from CapEx has a value that reduces over time.) Users have no up-front costs.
• Agility. PaaS is more agile than IaaS, and users don't need to configure servers for running applications.
• Consumption-based model. Users pay only for what they use, and operate under an Operational Expenditure (Is spending money on services or products now, and being billed for them now. You can deduct this expense in the same year you spend it. There is no up-front cost, as you pay for a service or product as you use it.) to elaborate on this Azure IaaS requires your organization to acquire and maintain development tools and other software from the start, entailing potentially significant financial outlay. With Azure PaaS, you pay for tools only when you need them.
• Skills. No deep technical skills are required to deploy, use, and gain the benefits of PaaS.
  Azure PaaS allows tapping of pre-built application components and thus allowing your current staff to train and develop using these components. Your organization does not need to ramp up personnel although Azure IaaS does not offer prebuilt components.
• Cloud benefits. Users can take advantage of the skills and expertise of the cloud provider to ensure that their workloads are made secure and highly available. In addition, users can gain access to more cutting-edge development tools. They can then apply these tools across an application's lifecycle.
• Productivity. Users can focus on application development and deployment only, because the cloud provider handles all platform management. Azure PaaS frees your organization from managing the platform and other software, thereby speeding up development work.
  With multiple development tools at your disposal on Azure PaaS, developers are ready to start working immediately. With IaaS, you need to install and configure your development platform. You also need to maintain the database software and/or middleware required in your applications.

Disadvantage:

Platform limitations. There can be some limitations to a cloud platform that might affect how an application runs. When you're evaluating which PaaS platform is best suited for a workload, be sure to consider any limitations in this area.

To conclude if your organization does not have trained administrators and it just wants to go into development straight away, Azure PaaS may work for you but If you want flexibility and have personnel that can help maintain your development platform, you may want to go with Azure IaaS instead.

Check this link: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-in/overview/what-is-paas/

Suggest you refer below links for Pricing information as per your requirements:

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/faq/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/overview/cost-optimization/

Hope this helps. Let us know if further query.