Terminology Index

Glossary

2953 terms

Open concept maps
I
32

IaaS

Infrastructure as a Service: a cloud model where the provider supplies virtualized compute, storage, and networking, and the customer manages everything above that, operating systems, applications, and most security configuration.

IaaS gives customers raw cloud infrastructure, virtual machines, storage, and networks, to build on, while the provider handles the physical hardware and virtualization. Under the shared-responsibility model, this leaves the customer responsible for securing the OS, applications, data, and configuration. IaaS offers the most control and flexibility of the cloud service models, but also the most security responsibility, contrasted with PaaS and SaaS where the provider handles more.

Introduced in: Cloud Security Foundations

Examples

  • Renting virtual machines and storage to run your own applications.
  • The customer patching and hardening the OS on an IaaS instance.
  • Configuring network and access controls for IaaS resources.