IaaS, as the name suggests, is a way of providing Cloud computing infrastructure such as virtual machines, storage drives, servers, operating systems & networks, which is also an on-demand service like that of SaaS. Rather than purchasing servers or developing software, clients buy those resources as a fully outsourced service based on their requirements. "Public cloud" is considered as an infrastructure that consists of shared resources, based on a self-service over the Internet. In a word, it is the only layer of the cloud where the customer gets the platform for their organization to outsource IT infrastructure on a pay-per-use basis.
IaaS provides users with:
- Load balancers
- Disk storage via virtual machines
- Software Packages
- IP address
- VLANs
Advantages of IaaS are:
- Dynamic: Users can dynamically opt & configure devices such as CPU, storage drive, etc.
- Easy Access: Users can easily access the vast cloud computing power.
- Renting: Flexible and efficient while renting IT infrastructures.
- Full control of computer resources along with portability.
Disadvantages of IaaS are as follows:
- Internet connection is a must.
- IaaS depends on virtualization services.
- This service restricts user-privacy & customization.