SaaS is the basic and most important form of cloud services that represents the largest portion of the cloud market. It uses the web to distribute applications that are hosted and run by third-party vendors. However, there are no third-party resources or developments for end users to deal with. As a client, you can run SaaS applications directly via a web browser without having to download or install anything. You may require some small plugins in some cases though. Office365 is the best example of SaaS. Characteristics of SaaS:

• Access to commercial software on the web
• Centralized software management
• One-to-Many software delivery model
• Managed software upgrades and integration of different software parts with help of APIs

The second important segment of the cloud, PaaS is majorly used for application development. It allows developers to use proprietary Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to build applications that can be run within a specific environment. PaaS is without doubt the best and easiest way to make application development and deployment cost-effective. PaaS Characteristics:

• Develop, test and deploy software and applications
• Multi-tenant design that allows users to deploy the same application in different environments
• Built-in scalability for load balancing and failover
• Web-based tools for the creation, modification and flawless deployment of User Interfaces
• Enables collaboration of development teams with help of communication tools and project planning solutions
• Tools for hassle-free handling of subscription management and billing

IaaS is the last and most fundamental segment of cloud computing services. It is the most inclusive cloud platform mainly used by big enterprise customers and professional developers. IaaS provides you with infrastructure for smooth development, testing and utilization of applications within the cloud environment. Google Computer Engine (GCE) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are the best examples. Characteristics of IaaS:

• Distribution of resources as a service
• Designed for dynamic scaling
• Utility pricing model and variable costs
• Allows multiple users to work on a single set of hardware

The management of the three flavors of cloud is different per flavor. So, there are three different types of management for the cloud depending on your choice. As we focus on Microsoft Azure, these are the options:

Let us start with the easiest, Saas. As the application is run in the cloud and managed by the application provider, what remains for you is to be certain that this application runs. This can be done through monitoring of the application. As most of the time, this is an application provided by the application provider, your monitoring will be limited to end-user experience monitoring and that what has been foreseen by the provider. This might seem trivial, but it is not. A lot of users are frustrated because the applications they must use are either underperforming or not working as expected. So, a good monitoring is a start to verify the functioning and performance of the application. This can also be used to challenge the SLA of the provider.

The role of our Platform Ops team is to provide operational services to development teams in a way that allows them to go on to self-serve. Services include monitoring, dashboarding, infrastructure creation, CI/CD pipeline creation, bootstrapping of new projects, security services and testing. In short, any area where there needs to be consistency between development and operations.

Managing azure application resources is part of our OpsNow PlatformOps. This service provides Managed Services for your cloud resources and applications in the cloud. PlatformOps is for customers that use applications and microservices in the Azure cloud. We manage your cloud environment for your applications and interact with the development teams to provide fast deploys and operational excellence in the cloud.

While IAAS provides you with resources in the cloud, the management of these resources remains your responsibility. Migrations, configurations, governance, security, monitoring and protection remain your responsibility. A good management of your resources in the cloud is as important as your resources in your own datacenter.

Using Azure Lighthouse and our own toolset, OpsNow provides Azure managed services for horizontal migrations to the Azure cloud. We manage and maintain your Azure cloud resources through our own tenant integration and provide all services required for the management of your cloud.

We use an automated approach to management and will automate what is worth to be automated. Examples are the monitoring, automated updates and patches, automated deploys, operational job scheduling … We try as much as possible to go for automated operations and use AIOps as supporting technology to faster find root causes for troubleshooting and use the necessary APIs to automate regular tasks.