A development team wants to deploy a Python web application to AWS without managing load balancers, auto scaling groups, or the underlying EC2 instance operating systems. They want to upload their code and have AWS handle the infrastructure. Which cloud service model does this represent?
Trap 1: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
IaaS requires the customer to manage the OS, middleware, and runtime. If the team had to set up EC2 instances, install Python, configure nginx, and set up auto scaling themselves, that would be IaaS.
Trap 2: Software as a Service (SaaS)
SaaS provides a complete end-user application (email, CRM). The team is deploying their own application, not consuming a vendor-provided one.
Trap 3: Serverless
Serverless (like Lambda) is event-driven and runs individual functions. While Elastic Beanstalk manages servers on your behalf, serverless implies no persistent server at all. Elastic Beanstalk uses EC2 under the hood.
- A
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Why wrong: IaaS requires the customer to manage the OS, middleware, and runtime. If the team had to set up EC2 instances, install Python, configure nginx, and set up auto scaling themselves, that would be IaaS.
- B
Platform as a Service (PaaS)
PaaS abstracts infrastructure management. Elastic Beanstalk is PaaS — the developer uploads code and AWS manages the servers, load balancers, auto scaling, and OS patches automatically.
- C
Software as a Service (SaaS)
Why wrong: SaaS provides a complete end-user application (email, CRM). The team is deploying their own application, not consuming a vendor-provided one.
- D
Serverless
Why wrong: Serverless (like Lambda) is event-driven and runs individual functions. While Elastic Beanstalk manages servers on your behalf, serverless implies no persistent server at all. Elastic Beanstalk uses EC2 under the hood.