Peer Review

This guide provides an accessible overview of cloud service models and explains how responsibilities shift between the service provider and the user. It covers Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS), as well as commonly used extensions such as managed services and serverless computing. The guide includes practical examples of typical workloads, outlines key benefits and trade-offs, and discusses important decision factors. It is suitable for university preparation and for individuals exploring careers in IT and cloud-related roles.

NOTE: This material is part of Prep4Uni.online, a free, independent learning hub dedicated to making high-quality university preparation accessible to all students. The platform offers a structured, top-down curriculum covering STEM, Humanities, and Business, designed to build strong academic foundations through practical tools and conceptual clarity. To ensure the highest standards of validity, the content is curated and led by Dr. Jacob Gan, a retired university professor with a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and over 20 years of experience in higher education and mentorship.

Reference Material

• For Faculty: The "Differences Table" serves as an ideal reference for creating comparative assessments or midterm review sheets. The inclusion of Numerical Problems (as mentioned in the text) allows for quantitative exercises regarding pay-as-you-go cost optimization.

• For Students: The "Why Study" sections provide a clear roadmap for career alignment, helping university-bound students decide whether they want to specialize in Systems Administration (IaaS), App Development (PaaS), or Enterprise Integration (SaaS).

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Learning Outcomes and Goals

• The Responsibility Mapping: Students will master the "Shared Responsibility Model," identifying exactly which layers (hardware, OS, application, data) are managed by the provider versus the user across IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS.

• Architectural Selection: Learners will develop the critical thinking skills to match specific business use cases (e.g., rapid web development vs. high-control legacy hosting) to the appropriate service model.

• Cloud-Native Transition: Students will understand the evolution from traditional virtualized infrastructure toward modern paradigms like Serverless (FaaS) and Containerization.

High School, College General Ed, College Lower Division, College Upper Division, Graduate School, Professional

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