Objective

To perform a quantitative and qualitative analysis of two common architectural choices: a self-managed application on IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) versus a fully managed deployment on PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service). Upon completing this lab, you will be able to:

• Create a "back-of-the-envelope" cost estimate for a web application using both IaaS and PaaS models.
• Quantitatively compare the financial trade-offs between the two approaches.
• Identify the scale threshold where one model becomes more cost-effective than the other.
• Analyze key qualitative and strategic factors that influence architectural decisions beyond simple cost, such as operational burden, security, and scalability.

Start Where You Are

This is an opportunity to brush up on your spreadsheet modeling skills, and presenting quantitative analysis used to arrive at a decision. Keep in mind that for this assignment it is not just about FINDING the correct answers, but also about PRESENTING the quantitative findings in a way that is compelling. So I will be looking for you to build a clear and well structured Excel spreadsheet that other people can potentially play around with, and even test out different scenarios on. If you are not comfortable with your spreadsheet skills, there are excellent videos on YouTube that will give you a crash course.

Tools/Resources Needed

• A web browser with an internet connection.
• A spreadsheet tool (e.g., Google Sheets, Excel) or a document editor for calculations.
• Pricing Pages for Reference:
  • Find the pricing page for a popular relational database (e.g., MySQL on PaaS) from a major cloud provider.
  • Find the pricing page for a virtual machine instance (e.g., General Purpose T4g instances) and a corresponding disk type (e.g., SSD volume) from the same cloud provider.
  • You can also use the cost calculators
    • https://cloud.google.com/products/calculator?hl=en
    • https://calculator.aws
    • https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/calculator/
    • https://www.oracle.com/cloud/costestimator.html

Description of Assignment

Background

As discussed in Chapter 7, the choice between IaaS and PaaS profoundly impacts an organization's resources, operational burden, and long-term costs. This lab places you in the role of a solutions architect tasked with choosing the best path for a growing e-commerce application. You will compare the control and responsibility of the IaaS "leased farm" approach with the convenience and managed service of the PaaS "Costco" model.

The Scenario

Your new e-commerce application, "QuickCart," is moving from a prototype to a production-grade system. It is a stateful web application that requires a server to run the application code and a database to store customer and order information.

Key Assumptions for Year 1: