Cloud Concepts

 Cloud Concepts

There are three main types of cloud computing services. These are IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS which are Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software as a Service. There are also different types of cloud computing platforms. These platforms are generally put into Private Cloud, Public Cloud, Community Cloud, Hybrid Cloud and Multi-Cloud types.

IaaS, PaaS and SaaS

Infrastructure as a Service is characterized as the service for people who want to control their operating system, applications, security, and any data that they have while letting the cloud provider handle all of the physical security, firmware updates, networking and cabling and things like that. Platform as a Service is used generally for an application development platform provided by a cloud provider.

In a PaaS solution, the cloud provider handles the operating system, operating system patches, security issues and all of the IaaS components that are below the operating system. This essentially leaves the application, application security, and data up to the developer. In a SaaS environment, there is essentially everything except for the data and some application security issues that the cloud provider takes care of.

Cloud Platform Types

Private Cloud is a type of cloud platform where the company owns the cloud infrastructure and hosts an internal cloud that is private. Public Cloud is where a company has infrastructure and services on a public cloud service provider like AWS, Azure or GCP. In a public cloud the infrastructure is shared with multiple tenants.

Community Cloud is where there is an industry or some common community of companies that use cloud infrastructure or services. Hybrid Cloud is a cloud platform type that uses more than one type of cloud platform like public and private cloud. The multi-cloud is where there are two or more cloud providers or cloud platform types available.

Conclusion

Knowing how the cloud is structured will help you with your studies of cloud computing. There are multiple cloud providers like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform. Knowing more about them can help in getting certain cloud certifications like the AZ-900 or the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certifications.

These cloud concepts can help on any cloud related certification exam. The way that you can calm some of the anxiety around studying for certification exams is by knowing the material through diligent and consistent practice. Other things like diet, exercise and sleep play a role in the study plan completion. I currently hold the AZ-900 exam and am going for my AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification later in March 2026. This will be my tenth IT certification, so I am excited about it. Use the certifications that you want to go for as steppingstones on the way to your career goals.