Microsoft offers different types of cloud service in Azure. The most commonly known services are the following:
- Infrastructure as a service (IaaS): This type of cloud service allows you to run VMs on the cloud. The cloud service provider will take care of the underlying infrastructure, such as hardware, network, storage, and virtualization platform. However, you will be responsible for managing and maintaining what's inside your VM.
- Platform as a service (PaaS): This type of cloud service allows you to run your applications on Azure. The cloud service provider will take care of managing and maintaining the underlying infrastructure. Running your web app/container/microservices on Azure would unburden the headache of the hardware, network, storage, virtualization, operating system, and IIS. You only need to develop your application and run it.
- Software as a service (SaaS): This type of cloud service allows you to use software on the cloud. The cloud service provider will handle the underlying infrastructure, such as hardware, storage, network, virtualization, operating system, and even the application itself. For example, Office 365 provides a variety of solutions ready to be used by you, such as email services, VOIP services, and so on, without implementing Exchange or Skype.