PaaS – things to consider
Cloud PaaS has revolutionized software development and the means through which it is delivered to customers and users. Market entry barriers have been reduced dramatically by lower cost, accelerating time to market, and promoting innovative cultures within many organizations.
As PaaS providers are considered, the languages and frameworks supported are key. A provider that supports multiple relevant languages and frameworks can help avoid productivity pitfalls later. Developers need to write code in their preferred language that meets specified design requirements. Recent advances include options for open source development stacks and many new infrastructure deployment styles including OpenStack infrastructure, various containerization engines, and serverless (FaaS) options. PaaS providers that support multiple languages and deployment options reduce vendor lock-in and interoperability issues as applications grow and deployment locations change.
Applications are never static. They are continually changing, updating, and growing. Being able to deploy and move the application across different hosting environments is also a key PaaS benefit. Supporting multiple hosting environments helps the developer or administrator easily migrate the application if required. With this option, PaaS can also be used for contingency operations and business continuity to ensure continued availability. It is important to consider the final environment as platforms used by early users to test for functionality. These environments transition to a run environment at some point. The final environment may not be the same as originally intended as many things change throughout the process and testing. Multiple deployment options are an important consideration when picking a platform provider.
Many platform providers started with the idea of adding value by assembling platforms. Make the platform proprietary with their unique workflows, combinations, components and create a sort of lock-in mentality. Providers wanted clients to use only their specific platform and direction. The goal was to make things very sticky with limited ability to transition between provider platforms. Recent changes have added much-needed flexibility matching developer needs and requirements. To stay relevant, platform providers needed to respond or lose the developers and their communities to more flexible environments and open source options.
The application programming interfaces (APIs) are required for nearly every form of software in our space today with RESTful being elevated to the de-facto standard in most cases. A service provider always offers specified APIs or integration. Developers could run their application in various environments based on common and standard API structures. This ensured consistency and quality for customers and users. PaaS pushed forward infrastructure concepts like auto-scaling where software could now take the responsibility of scale up and scale down and manipulating the infrastructure through APIs, as needed. This would help accommodate cyclical, less predictable demand patterns, seasonal business, and event-driven activities. Mother's Day would bring down Hallmark's online card servers every year until they were able to implement auto-scaling. Before auto-scaling, Hallmark would have to build and engineer infrastructure for a guesstimated utilization level. With auto-scaling, the platform allocates resources and assigns them these applications, as required. This capability is a key driver for any seasonal organizations that experience spikes and drops in usage.
When thinking through platform providers, look for flexibility and future migration options. Look for the right combinations of services and support with expertise in areas relevant to project needs and direction. Look for providers that not only provide the platform but also offer the other versions of the cloud as well. Where your project starts is not where it stays. Plan to move and change. It may not change often, but change happens. Plan for it up front.
Notable PaaS providers include Microsoft, Lightning, and Google.