Advantages of IaaS

In the IaaS model, you have maximum control which means you can achieve the required flexibility as per your application need. These are the advantages of using the IaaS model:

• It offers the most flexibility of all the cloud models.
• Provisioning of compute, storage, and networking resources can be done quickly.
• Resources can be used for a few minutes, hours, or days.
• Complete control of the infrastructure.
• Highly scalable and fault-tolerant.

Disadvantages of IaaS

In the IaaS model, having more control means you need to put additional effort into maintaining, monitoring, and scaling infrastructure by yourself. Many of the disadvantages that apply to the SaaS and PaaS solutions – such as issues with data encryption and security, vendor lock-in, potential cost overruns, and configuration issues – are also applicable to the IaaS model. More specifically, the disadvantages of IaaS include the following:

• Security: In this case, customers have much more control over the stack, and for this reason, it is highly critical that they have a comprehensive plan in place for security. Since customers manage applications, data, middleware, and the operating system, there are possible security threats, such as if certain ports are left open and intruders guesses which ports are open. Attacks from insiders with unauthorized access and system vulnerabilities can leave data exposed between the backend servers and VMs from nefarious sources.
• Legacy systems: While customers can migrate legacy applications into AWS, the older hardware may not be able to provide the needed functionality to secure the legacy applications. Modifications to the older applications may be required, potentially creating new security issues unless the application is thoroughly tested for new security vulnerabilities.
• Training costs: As with any new technology, training may be needed for the customer’s staff to get familiar with the new infrastructure. The customer is ultimately responsible for securing their data and resources, computer backups, and business continuity. Without this training, it may be challenging to secure the necessary staff to support and maintain the new infrastructure.

Let’s look at some use cases where you want to use the IaaS model.