IaaS
IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) is a cloud computing model where you use resources like virtual servers, storage, and networking on demand — essentially renting virtual computing hardware instead of buying and maintaining physical equipment yourself.
How it works
It delivers virtualized computing resources over the internet, letting users deploy and manage operating systems, applications, and data directly in the cloud. This model allows businesses to scale their IT infrastructure up or down quickly while avoiding large upfront hardware investments and maintenance costs, making it a cornerstone of modern IT flexibility.
Examples
- 1.A startup rents virtual machines from a cloud provider to run its website and database, without building its own data center.
- 2.An e-commerce site temporarily adds more cloud servers during a promotion to handle a sudden spike in traffic.
- 3.A development team quickly spins up multiple test servers in the cloud for software development and performance testing, then releases the resources as soon as they're done.