An IT manager is migrating the production environment to the cloud but needs to keep control of the operating systems, patches, and settings of all…

The Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) model provides fundamental computing resources such as virtual machines, storage, and networking. In this model, the cloud consumer is responsible for managing the operating system (OS), including its configuration, patching, and security, as well as the applications and data that run on it. The cloud provider manages the underlying physical infrastructure. This directly aligns with the IT manager's requirement to maintain control over the OS, patches, and settings while migrating to the cloud. The other service models abstract the OS away from the consumer, offering less control.

A. FaaS: In a Function as a Service model, the cloud provider manages the entire infrastructure stack, including the operating system. The consumer only manages the application code (functions).

B. PaaS: In a Platform as a Service model, the provider manages the operating system, middleware, and runtime. The consumer is only responsible for their applications and data.

D. SaaS: In a Software as a Service model, the provider manages the entire stack, including the application itself. The consumer has the least control, typically only managing user access.

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1. NIST Special Publication 800-145

The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing.

Reference: Page 3

Section "Service Models

" under "Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)."

Quote: "The capability provided to the consumer is to provision processing

storage

networks

and other fundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy and run arbitrary software

which can include operating systems and applications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems

storage

and deployed applications..."

2. Microsoft Azure Documentation

Shared responsibility in the cloud.

Reference: The responsibility matrix diagram on the main page.

Details: The diagram explicitly shows that for the IaaS model

the customer is responsible for "Information and data

" "Applications

" "Network controls

" and "Operating system." The provider's responsibility ends at the virtualization layer.

3. Armbrust

M.

Fox

A.

Griffith

R.

Joseph

A. D.

Katz

R.

Konwinski

A.

... & Zaharia

M. (2009). Above the Clouds: A Berkeley View of Cloud Computing. University of California

Berkeley. Technical Report No. UCB/EECS-2009-28.

Reference: Page 3

Section 3.1

"Classes of Utility Computing."

Details: The report describes the lowest-level service

Hardware-as-a-Service (an early term for IaaS)

where users are given access to raw virtual machines. It states

"In this case

the user is responsible for managing the virtual machines

including the OS

and can run any software." This confirms the consumer's control over the OS in an IaaS model.