Introduction

When developers deploy web applications, they have many choices for the hosting infrastructure. Platform as a Service (PaaS) products offer ease of use but less visibility and direct control over infrastructure. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) offer more control and potentially lower costs, but can be cumbersome to deal with directly. Understandably, some developers want to access the power of IaaS in a more accessible package.

To meet this need, we built Vizier, a free and open source platform for streamlined deployment to AWS. With the Vizier CLI, developers can deploy full stack web applications to their own AWS accounts, complete with an automated redeployment GitHub integration.

This case study gives background on the IaaS and PaaS cloud hosting paradigms, describes our target niche, and details some of Vizier’s implementation. Deployment is at the heart of web-based applications, and Vizier aims to make it easier for small developers.