2.6 Managed application platforms
You can deploy a normal web app without touching a virtual machine.
Before:01. Cloud FoundationsUnlocks:03. Storage & Databases
The same thing, three names
One idea, sold under a different brand by each provider. Learn it once and you can read any job advertisement.
- On AWS
- App Runner / Elastic Beanstalk
- On Azure
- App Service / Container Apps
- On Google Cloud
- Cloud Run / App Engine
A managed application platform deploys a normal web app straight from a repository, with runtimes, builds and scaling handled — no virtual machine touched. This topic covers the deploy-from-repo flow, what build packs hide, and scaling to zero with its latency cost. It sits near the end of compute as the highest comfortable abstraction before the case study. The honest half is the ceiling: every platform has one, and the topic teaches recognising the moment a workload needs to step down to containers rather than fighting the platform.
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Container-based app hosting and the deploy-from-repo flow
A managed platform takes your repository or container image and runs it, handling the machines underneath. The deploy-from-repository flow is what makes it feel like a different kind of product.
Runtime versions, build packs and what they hide
Build packs and pinned runtime versions do useful work invisibly, right up to the day you need something they do not support. Knowing what they hide tells you where the ceiling is.
Scaling to zero and its latency cost
Scaling down to nothing when idle removes the cost of a quiet service and adds a delay for the first visitor afterwards. Whether that trade is acceptable is a product decision.
When a PaaS ceiling forces a move to containers
Every managed platform has a limit, and hitting it usually means moving to containers with more control and more work. This item is about recognising the limit before you are in a hurry.
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