“Why Serverless Architecture is Transforming Modern App Development”

 

Serverless Architecture; As we have written many blog articles on this topic, you can check it out to get more information on Serverless architecture . Now here you get to know some deep information.

What is Serverless?

Serverless is a way of building and running applications where cloud providers handle all the infrastructure for you. In simple terms, you don’t have to worry about managing servers, which makes it easier and faster to focus on writing and deploying your code. With serverless, you only pay for the resources you actually use, instead of keeping servers running all the time, even when they’re not needed.

In the past, developers had to buy and maintain physical servers to run their applications, which was both expensive and time-consuming. Cloud computing solved part of this problem by allowing developers to rent servers remotely. But even then, developers often over-purchased server space to handle spikes in traffic, wasting money and resources.

Later, auto-scaling came along to help deal with traffic changes, but it still had limitations, especially when facing unexpected events like DDoS attacks. That’s when serverless came into play, offering a flexible “pay-as-you-go” model. This means developers only pay for what they use, without having to worry about over-purchasing or managing unused capacity.

In a serverless setup, your application runs in short-lived, stateless containers, which are automatically triggered by events (like a user action or a scheduled task). These containers are fully managed by the cloud provider, so you don’t have to worry about provisioning or maintaining them.

The key idea behind serverless is simple: focus on building your application, and leave the infrastructure to the cloud provider.

Types of Serverless Computing

Serverless computing is usually categorized into two main types, depending on how you structure your application:

1. Backend as a Service (BaaS): This type is used when most of your application’s backend runs in the cloud. It’s ideal for apps that are front-end heavy, like mobile apps.
2. Functions as a Service (FaaS): With FaaS, small parts of your code are triggered by specific events. This type gives you more flexibility for server-side applications.

Pros and Cons of Serverless Architecture

Image Credit:https://www.cloudnowtech.com/blog/serverless-architecture-the-what-when-and-why/

Let’s look at some of the main advantages and disadvantages of using serverless architecture, so you can decide if it’s the right fit for your needs.

Pros of Serverless

1. Cost Efficiency: One of the biggest benefits of serverless is that it helps you save money. Since you’re outsourcing the servers and other backend components, you only pay for what you use. This also means less spending on human resources and infrastructure management.
2. Faster Deployment: With Serverless, deploying code can take minutes instead of days or weeks. Since you don’t have to set up or manage infrastructure, you can focus on coding and quickly roll out your application.
3. Focus on Front-End and User Experience: Serverless lets you dedicate more resources to improving the front-end (what users actually interact with). Since the cloud provider handles the backend, you can concentrate on enhancing the user interface and making the experience better for your customers.
4. Scalability: Serverless makes it easy to handle increasing loads as your application grows. Your cloud provider scales up or down based on the demand, so you don’t have to worry about buying extra servers or wasting resources when traffic is low.
5. Flexibility: Serverless allows you to implement changes quickly, making it easier to innovate and pivot when needed. Faster results mean you can move on to the next project sooner, and adapt to changes without needing major infrastructure adjustments.
6. Better Customer Experience: Since you can release features and updates faster, your customers benefit from quicker improvements and better service. Plus, developers can focus more on enhancing the user experience, leading to more satisfied customers.

Cons of Serverless Architecture

1. Dependence on Third-Party Providers: When you go serverless, you rely heavily on the cloud provider. This means you don’t have full control over the servers, and changes made by the provider could affect your app. The provider’s uptime and reliability are also dependent on their terms and conditions.
2. Cold Starts: One downside of serverless is that it can take some time to respond to the first request when the function hasn’t been used for a while, a delay known as a “cold start.” You can reduce this by keeping your functions active through regular requests.
3. Not Ideal for Long-Running Tasks: If your app has tasks that run for long periods, serverless might not be the best choice since you could end up paying more for the compute time. It’s better suited for short-term tasks or real-time processes.
4. Complexity: Serverless architecture can be complex, especially for developers new to the concept. Since functions are smaller units, it can be more difficult to manage deployment, versioning, and integration with other systems.

Popular Serverless Tools

♦ If OpenFaaS

OpenFaaS, a project launched by Alex Ellis, is one of the most popular and user-friendly serverless frameworks. It runs on Kubernetes and Docker, making it highly flexible. With OpenFaaS, you can easily deploy and run functions on existing hardware or in any cloud environment, whether it’s public or private.

Alex Ellis, currently a Senior Engineer at VMware, started this project to simplify the serverless experience for developers. OpenFaaS allows you to write functions in any programming language, and its architecture includes key components like the API Gateway, Watchdog, and Queue Worker, which work together to handle and manage serverless functions.

OpenFaaS also fully supports metrics, helping users track performance and usage. You can easily install it on OSX using Brew and manage it through the faas-cli command-line tool.

♦ OpenWhisk

Apache OpenWhisk is a serverless platform backed by big names like Adobe and IBM, and it’s even integrated into IBM Cloud Functions. OpenWhisk introduces a few unique concepts that make it stand out, such as Triggers, Alarms, Actions, and Feeds. Here’s a brief explanation of each:

• Triggers: These are event-driven actions that respond to certain events.
• Alarms: Used to set up time-based triggers, allowing for scheduled and periodic tasks.
• Actions: These represent the actual code or function that runs, and they can be written in various programming languages.

OpenWhisk works well with platforms like OpenShift, Mesos, and Kubernetes, and can be easily installed using a Helm chart. Although it may require some manual setup, you also have the option of running it as a hosted service on IBM Bluemix, giving you flexibility in deployment.

♦ Kubeless

Kubeless is a Kubernetes-native serverless framework that uses Kubernetes Custom Resource Definitions (CRD) to manage functions. It simplifies serverless function deployment by defining processes as CRDs, eliminating the need for an external database.

Kubeless features excellent documentation and a very active community, making it easy to use. It has three main CRD components: httptriggers, functions, and cronjobtriggers. These allow for various triggers, including time-based and HTTP requests, making it versatile and lightweight for Kubernetes environments.

♦ Fission

Fission, developed by Platform9, is a high-performance serverless framework built to run on Kubernetes. Designed for developers, Fission focuses on productivity and efficiency, and it’s written in Golang.

Like OpenFaaS, Fission introduces three core concepts: Environment, Trigger, and Function. It also offers executors that support zero-scale deployments, meaning unused functions won’t consume resources. Fission integrates with Prometheus for monitoring and provides a command-line interface (CLI) called fission that makes it easy to interact with the platform.

♦ Knative

Knative is a powerful framework that helps developers build and deploy serverless applications on Kubernetes. Developed by Google in collaboration with IBM, Red Hat, and Pivotal, Knative focuses on turning source code into containers and making it easier to manage serverless workloads.

Knative handles event consumption and production, and it integrates well with many open-source tools like Fluentd, Elasticsearch, and Zipkin for logging and tracing. Google has even released Cloud Run, a fully managed serverless service based on Knative, giving users a seamless way to deploy and scale containerized applications in a serverless environment.

Conclusion:

Serverless architecture has revolutionized the way modern applications are built and deployed. By offloading infrastructure management to cloud providers, organizations can focus more on innovation and less on the complexities of server maintenance. This architecture not only boosts scalability and efficiency but also reduces operational costs by allowing you to pay only for the resources you actually use. With tools like OpenFaaS, OpenWhisk, Kubeless, Fission, and Knative, adopting serverless computing is easier than ever, enabling developers to create robust, scalable applications without the hassle of managing servers. As the cloud landscape continues to evolve, serverless architecture will play an increasingly vital role in shaping the future of software development.