Cloud Computing Guide on PaaS will guide you the proper usage of PaaS, which is a type of cloud computing service model which is delivered as a service. In PaaS, not only the hardware but also the platform that abstracts the hardware itself and allows use of a set of features that allow for load balancing, storage, networks, virtual machines on Cloud Computing Platform. We wrote about an detailed article on Cloud Computing service model PaaS or Platform as a Service in details before.
Cloud Computing Guide : Basics of PaaS
PaaS in Cloud Computing is seen as the next lower level to cloud computing IaaS, a line between PaaS and SaaS is evolving . PaaS offers the advantage you to focus exclusively on the development of the application ignoring all the problems related to the environment in which it will be distributed, this significantly reduces the time to market and cost of application development. It often happens that the PaaS cloud provider makes the API available through which, the user can write applications that can interact with the service. Specifications depend on the functionality offered by the API service and their implementation is ensured by service provider.
You can not ignore cloud computing today and also a big market players has become aware of this reality. The solution of PaaS cloud allows the management of applications developed in PHP, Node.js, Java, Python, Ruby and many more Languages plus flexible options of Databases.
Cloud Computing Guide : Mainly Git Versioning Based versus Mainly PI Based
Notice the sentence carefully – Mainly Git Versioning Based versus Mainly PI Based PaaS. It is never that any PaaS will not support any API or Git or any combination. But the offering to the developers or users can be different. Amazon based PaaS like Heroku Cloud is mainly Git based, where as Red Hat OpenShift, AppFog are mainly API based. We have separate many guides on their usage, like installing WordPress on them. We write on Heroku PaaS mainly as the user will become easy with command line tools and ultimate can graduate to IaaS or Cloud Server very easily. That simply means, AppFog, OpenShift offers easy one click installation of the required platform or software like WordPress via API, whereas, with Heroku, practically we need to fight with command line.
The use of the PaaS platform is usually free up to a level, with more access later the client is charged according to the additional computational resources like memory and bandwidth are used as a part of function of needs. In Google App Engine applications are running in a secure environment, a kind of sandbox, which is necessary in order to ensure the proper execution of applications in a distributed and dynamic structure. The environment of Google App Engine poses some limitations, related to the impossibility for the applications to have writing access to the file system, applications can only read from files that are uploaded to Google App Engine with the application code etc.
In Cloud Computing, PaaS is never a long term solution for an immense serious need. Whatever showcase or data statistics the PaaS providers can show the users, it is basically good for running hardly a personal blog, an application that is less serious on security side. PaaS again is nice because for your learning it is fully free.