A development team wants to deploy its web application code to the cloud using the provider's languages, runtimes and tools, without managing servers, operating systems or storage, while still controlling the application and its configuration. Which NIST SP 800-145 service model is this?

NIST SP 800-145 defines Platform as a Service as the capability to deploy consumer-created or acquired applications onto the cloud infrastructure using programming languages, libraries, services and tools supported by the provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying network, servers, operating systems or storage, but has control over the deployed applications and possibly configuration settings for the application-hosting environment. That matches a team deploying its own code without managing servers or operating systems. Infrastructure as a Service gives the consumer processing, storage and networks on which it deploys and runs arbitrary software, including operating systems, so the team would manage operating systems, which the scenario excludes. Software as a Service provides the provider's applications for consumer use; the consumer does not deploy its own application code, so a team wanting to run its own web application does not fit. Private cloud is a deployment model describing who the infrastructure serves, not a service model describing which layers the consumer manages, so it answers a different question. Exam caveat: serverless functions and containers-as-a-service are often classified as PaaS-like, but the exam relies on the three NIST service models. Operational check: list which layers the team patches and configures; if the answer starts at the application and its settings, the service is PaaS.