Software and technology are consistently moving towards efficiency and slickness. Efficiency in the sense that the user doesn’t know how complex the system within the hardware is. Slickness in the sense that the technology functions fast while meeting a standard of performance. For example, look at the development of cell phones. It used to be a box with an antenna that you could only make calls from. Now they are as thin as 7mm and perform so many functions that you hardly find yourself going to dial a number.
Of course, consumers want to have these kinds of advanced systems but the technicians behind the scenes need the resources to do so. The introduction of cloud computing has been a breakthrough and changed the way networks function within platforms. This is due to many factors, but primarily the speed of network deployment, scalability, security of data, and reduction in operating costs have been key contributors.
A dominant approach that is heavily innovative to software and, more specifically, useful for software developers is serverless architecture. Now the first thing to point out is that the name “serverless” is misleading since there are in fact servers running this process. However, it has earned its name because the server aspect is operated by machines, removing them from the responsibilities of the developer.
This cloud-native development tactic requires only that the developer run coding for the program. This is possible because the system only runs when in use and as a result is hardly idle. This is beneficial for organizations using this infrastructure as they will only pay for the bandwidth they use as opposed to paying a fixed monthly fee. This is night and day when compared to traditional server-based networks (or “client-server” networks) which are far more difficult and costly to manage.
Cloud computing services run serverless architectures to handle the level of data being processed by the platforms they’re serving. This allows developers to oversee the application in a decomposed state and focus on building and running services. An example of a company that uses a serverless architecture is Netflix. Netflix uses Amazon Web Services Lambda (AWS) to keep up with the amount of stored and processed data as well as scaling servers to the requirements of a network with a high volume of users. Now, this is not suggesting that serverless computing is only necessary for platforms with a huge budget and millions of users. Any business can use this whether it's IT, health care, retail, banking, manufacturing, and more.
In our increasingly digital society, a vast number of industries are moving towards scalability to be able to effectively operate while delivering a high quality of service to clientele. Let’s break down this information into digestible segments so you can understand whether serverless computing is going to benefit your business or not:
FaaS
This is the ground floor in the skyscraper of the serverless computing architecture. With the integration of cloud computing came services that not only managed applications but operated and innovated them. This is where FaaS (Functions as a Service) is important as it is what allows developers to maintain and build on the application without having to worry about the servers in the back-end. Additionally, this allows developers to update code when responding to a user's request within the application. AWS Lambda is an example of FaaS; when Netflix users navigate through the platform by selecting and searching, the FaaS system is ready to respond.
Scalability
It always comes back to this with cloud computing because there is no other way for a business to tailor its resources to the demands of its platform. If there is high traffic, more servers can be up and running to accommodate the requests and prevent a crash. Additionally, the resources can minimize themselves in times where there’s a low volume of requests which prevents wasted money.
Event-Based System
Going back to the statement that applications are decomposed when they go serverless, this is used so components of the application operate autonomously. The benefit of this is that if there is an issue, it only affects a minute part of the log. As opposed to stream-based where each service is interconnected.
Being UX-Oriented
The end-users of an application will have high standards for the experience aspect of your service as this is what allows you to retain clientele. Since architecture is now a low priority for developers, it allows them to focus on UX (user experience). This aspect is central not only to maintaining the application but to building a business that will expand in all directions. Now, it must not be forgotten that the user interface (UI) is central to UX.
Limitations
So now we’ve looked at all the upsides to serverless architecture, but there are two sides to every coin. If this is something worth considering implementing in your business, you must know the limitations of the service:
Reboots
In some cases, functions can become cold when faced with idleness requiring a “cold start”. This is when you’ll need to manually go into the system and invoke the functions to get them used to operate again. Cold starts can be mitigated by giving the system some level of activity, typically this involves going in once in a while to process requests.
Relying on a Third Party
The providers of your serverless architecture become the backbone of your application's operation. This limits your control and you may be subject to changes that come unexpectedly. This will of course be subjective based on the terms and conditions of the agreement you enter with your provider.
Best For Platforms With Fluctuating Volume
If your platform has a consistent workload, then serverless may not be the best option as scalability is not entirely necessary. For example, a web app whose visitor volume doesn’t go up or down significantly would not need to adjust its servers to relatively constant traffic.
Final Thoughts
Serverless computing will benefit developers and consumers just as much as business owners. This could save resources and allocate time to priorities, getting you ahead of the game by miles. Your users will love the flexibility just as much as you. However, implementation will not happen overnight and should instead be gradual to ease everyone under your IT umbrella.
Written By Ben Brown
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