Serverless – DevopsCurry

“Serverless Architecture: Benefits, Challenges, and Best Practices”

Shiwani Sharma — Mon, 14 Oct 2024 05:12:41 +0000

“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:

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.
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

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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

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.
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.
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.
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.

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Common Popular Serverless Tools

Shiwani Sharma — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 11:24:48 +0000

Best 10 Serverless Tools

Popular Serverless Tools product means “NO server, no worries.” You can only concentrate on your application. By using serverless, you can capture numerous files without have to worry about hard drives or thinking of where to store these files or data. Many companies already had used Serverless in production and these companies are AOL, Netflix & Reuters etc. Serverless is best for applications with variable workloads, where resources are only required occasionally or in response to some specific event. Now, we will discuss best 10 Server less tool that are as follow:

1. OpenFaas

Alex Ellis launched this project and characterized Kubernetes and Docker as their framework with the help of metrics. OpenFaas is one of the popular Serverless frameworks which is very simple and easy to use.

Alex Ellis is doing a job in VMware as a Senior Engineer and after that he is working on this project. It has full support for metrics and can write functions in any language based on technology that operates on existing hardware or any cloud (Public/Private) like Kubernetes. The architecture of OpenFaas includes API gateway, Watchdog and Queue Worker. By utilizing faas-cli OpenFaas can handle and which can be installed on OSX us innating Brew.

2. OpenWhisk

OpenWhisk is a project of Apache which is endorsed by Adobe and IBM. It is utilized in IBM Cloud Functions and it also inaugurates some of the theories such as Triggers, Alarms, Actions, Feeds etc. Which we can understand this concept below:

Triggers: It implies an association of events.

Alarms: It is utilized to develop time-based triggers and periodic.

Actions: This function consists of application code of different languages.

OpenWhisk assistance deployment on OpenShift, Mesos, Kubernetes. By using the Helm chart you can easily install this project but it needs few manual interventions. It has the possibility where you can operate or expand a hosted version by utilizing IBM Bluemix itself.

3. Kubeless

It operates by putting the notion of a process in Kubernetes as (CRD) custom resource definition. It has elevated integrity documentation and an active community. It also has three Custom Resource Definition, on deployment known as httptriggers, functions and the last one is cronjobtriggers. For the requirement, it is very easy and it does not require a database but it utilizes CRD to stop serving the state.

4. Fission

It is created and maintained by Platform 9 for the high performance and the productivity of developers and also it is created for operating atop of Kubernetes. This tool Fission is written in the language Golang. Like the OpenFass, it also describes three theories: Environment, Trigger and last one is function. It has the option of executors that permits for zero scales and also has Prometheus integration. It furnishes CLI which is known as fission that is utilized to the fission platform and allocated as a binary.

5. Knative

For the support of creating source code into the containers, native gives tools and this framework was formulated with IBM and Red Hat by Google and Pivotal. It endeavors with the events that are consuming and producing. It included a huge amount of open-source tools that contain Fluentd, Elasticsearch, Zipkin. For operated Serverless service that is founded on Knative Google published Cloud Run.

6. Fn

It is launched as Iron Function and a serverless platform which helps any type of programming language and has the potential to operate on any premise or cloud. This tool is easy to use for the developers one of the reasons is it is written in the Go language.

7. Stackery

Stackery is focused to facilitate Serverless application development as well as the infrastructure of the management area that permits all the companies to build and operate infrastructure that is utilized for creating Serverless architectures. It is as similar as Sigma and that permits Cloud formation to pertain to the configuration to the account of the provider. It also delivers (CLI) Command- Line interface that is utilized rather than UI application which is web-based.

8. AWS Lambda

AWS Lambda is a Cloud Line Interface (CLI) that proposes event driven, serverless architecture, a better office arrangement, automation, provides useful techniques etc. It is deployed in the cloud and reprieve a user or developer to the database. Here we can use several things in a code but we can only use it for any reason.

9. Nuclio

It is one of the best and an elevated performance server-less framework. Nowadays many organizations as well as start up companies are using this framework as it started in 2017 which focus rates on the workload, data and I/O. A developer and a user can utilize it as a whole operated application service and which is totally free, you don’t have to pay for it. This tool Nuclio is very fast and it is safe as well. It can process a huge number of HTTP requests and record the data within a second.

10. Google Cloud Functions

Google Cloud Function is very simple and easy, you have to write your code only, the other work Google automatically does is like its operational infrastructure. It can operate a small code and you only have to pay what you are using.

Some of the cloud function are as follow:

It has no services to upgrade and manage.
One of the main functions is logging, integrated monitoring.
For multi-Cloud scenarios and hybrids have the capabilities of key networking.

Conclusion

The landscape of serverless computing is rapidly expanding, offering developers and organizations a plethora of tools to build, deploy, and manage applications without the need for traditional server management. The common popular serverless tools highlighted in this article demonstrate the diverse capabilities and advantages of going serverless, from simplified development processes to cost-efficient scaling and maintenance.

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A Beginner’s Guide: Understanding Serverless in 7mins in 2024

Shiwani Sharma — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 17:07:23 +0000

What is Serverless?

Serverless is a cloud-native development model that is also termed as FaaS (Function as a Service) . Serverless computing permits developers to operate the code and there is no need to handle traditional server infrastructure. In other words developers have to run the application and functions without having to spin up and operate a server. There are some famous serverless platforms that consist of Google Cloud Functions in Google Cloud Platform, IBM cloud function in IBM cloud, AWS Lambda in Amazon Web Services.

Serverless Adoption

As per the latest report by Datadog 2023, named’ State of Serverless 2023‘, an annual analysis tracking the adoption of serverless technologies in cloud workloads. The major cloud providers are witnessing substantial growth in serverless usage, especially for container-based solutions.

According to Datadog, a majority of organizations running workloads on AWS or Google Cloud now have at least one Serverless deployment in place, with MS-Azure following closely at 49 percent. Similarly, the latest CNCF Annual Survey reported growth of serverless architecture/FaaS to 53% of respondents.

IMAGE CREDITS: https://www.infoq.com/news/2023/09/state-serverless-report/

Image Credit: https://www.spiceworks.com/tech/devops/articles/what-is-serverless/#lg=1&slide=0

To understand the concept of serverless, let’s first clarify the term “Server.”

Server: A computer designed to work all day (24 hours) to provide services to other people on the networks. If you are using the internet, then you are communicating with so many servers, such as web servers that work to send your web pages, mail servers that work to send emails for communication purposes, file servers that work to send your files, etc. So, the server is designed to work quickly and have excess data with high-capacity internet speed.

However, servers are not flexible, which means if you manage your website with your own server, handling daily traffic becomes difficult for the server to manage on time, and this is known as over-provisioning. With servers, you can focus less on developing your website. To solve this type of problem, cloud-based Serverless Products were formulated.

In simple language, Serverless product means “NO server, no worries.” You can only concentrate on your application. By using serverless, you can capture numerous files without have to worry about hard drives or thinking of where to store these files or data. Many companies already had used Serverless in production and these companies are AOL, Netflix & Reuters etc. Serverless is best for applications with variable workloads, where resorces are only required occasionally or in response to some specific event.

Types of Serverless

Basically there are two types of Serverless, one is FaaS (Function As A Service) and the second one is BaaS (Backend As A Service).

Function as a Service (FaaS): In this type of serverless model, developers have to write some individuals functions that bring out specific tasks. Some famous FaaS platform that consists Google Cloud Functions, AWS Lambda, IBM Cloud functions and Azure functions.

Backend as a Service (BaaS): This serverless model provides backend services for web application, mobile and these backend services are pre-built. It also consists some characteristics like storage, push notifications, authentications & databases. Some of the example of BaaS provides that includes Backendless, Firebase & AWSAmplify.

Pros & Cons Of Serverless

Advantages of Serverless

IMAGE CREDIT: https://www.angleritech.com/5-benefits-serverless-architecture-business-transformation/

Here are some reasons why you can use Serverless or the benefits, as follows:

Money Saving: Serverless follows the model of pay-as-you-use, meaning while performing on the application, you only have to pay for the resources you are using. With serverless, it is not necessary to invest or to manage virtual machines or physical servers and this will helps to remove infrastructure costs, also decreases the initial capital expenditure that will help to save money.
Scalability: In terms of incoming requests, this platform automatically scales your application. When there is an increase in the number of users, the cloud provider immediately distributes a lot of resources to operate the workload. Some serverless platforms like Azure functions, Google Cloud functions & AWS Lambda automatically handle the scaling of your application.
Faster Work: It permits the developer to update the application much quicker. Here, the developer only has to concentrate on writing the code and creating new characteristics that will help lead to faster work coming to the market for more products and services. The platform of serverless automatically regulate the scaling of resources that depends on the latest workload. Without the help of any manual intervention the auto scaling of serverless assure that your application can handle increasing demand that provides the faster response time.
Decreases Administration Responsibility: Many tasks like security patches, software updates become the duty of the cloud provider, freeing developers from administrative tasks.
Decreases Operational Aloft: There is no need for the developer to worry about scaling, monitoring, server provisioning, and configuration because the cloud provider handles the underlying infrastructure. This decreases the operational tasks time, allowing the developer to concentrate on creating and deploying applications faster.

Cons Of Serverless

Limited Resources: The platform of serverless exploit the limitation of resources on functions as like memory, execution time and CPU. This can not be allowed for those application which have the high demand on resources and the tasks is running for the long time.

Vendor Lock-In: When you are accepting a serverless platform it means you are locking your application into a specific ecosystem of cloud provider’s. This will becomes very challenging to migrate from one provider to another or if there is any requirement for deploy on-premises because it become the dependency on single provider and that’s why it become the challenges to shift from one provider to another.

Cold Start: As the name suggest cold means the things which is not used for a while, so the functions of serverless can have a cold start time, that means the time that initialize the functions when it hasn’t used for a while. so, when the application is invoked for the first time then the infrastructure of serverless take some time for setting up the resources and this can introduce latency.

Examples Of Serverless

Mobile Backends: Serverless is used for mobile backend data and operates user notifications, file storage, and database interactions, providing a cost-efficient solution.
IoT (Internet Of Things): It can be used for Internet of Things applications, such as processing sensor data, sending notifications, and controlling devices.
File Processing: Serverless facilitates data storage in cloud storage, file uploads, and image processing.
Chatbots: It plays a role in customer interaction platforms like chatbots, combining functions with Natural Language Processing (NLP) services and backend systems communication.
Web Applications: It helps in developing web applications and also operates server-side logic & API endpoints.
Machine Learning: Serverless is used for machine learning applications requiring cost-efficient and scalable capabilities.

Conclusion

So definitely Serverless has gained a lot of attention from tech giants, cloud enthusiasts, engineers, and developers alike for its apparent advantages.It is being envisioned as the next evolutionary stage in the development of computing and network architectures

But we need to understand that Serverless computing continues to evolve as serverless providers come up with solutions to overcome some of its drawbacks. Serverless is still not in fully matured state.

It is a cloud-native development model that enables developers to run code without managing traditional server infrastructure. It goes by various names, such as FaaS and Serverless computing. Its pay-as-you-use pricing model stands out as one of its most significant advantages. It is a powerful tool for building efficient and scalable applications. However, it’s crucial to consider its plans and limitations carefully when implementing it in your projects.

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DevOps 2021: Key AWS Services to consider in 2021

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 08:39:38 +0000

Key AWS Services to consider in 2021

AWS (Amazon Web Services) has gained popularity in the cloud computing market. After implementing it, you do not have to spend on hardware and infrastructure needs. It offers you pay-per-use services allowing you to purchase appropriate resources. AWS has to offer more than 200 services with IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS offerings.

Using AWS services, we can create scalable applications and software which are designed to work with each other. It offers you robust, secure, and easily operable tools for managing databases, storage, and so on. These services are effective building blocks for developing and deploying cloud applications.

AWS offers immense featured resources, including infrastructure to machine learning. They ensure maximum usability and optimization of the application’s performance. AWS comes with more features than any other provider providing free tiers access to the AWS console. It is designed for those who are unaccustomed to software development utilities. AWS allows you to deploy web applications within seconds without provisioning servers.

Benefits of using AWS services

It enhances the flexibility and scalability of IT resources.
It provides a cost-effective infrastructure solution.
It ensures quick upscaling and downscaling of your infrastructure.
It helps in the efficient provisioning of resources.
It makes your infrastructure flawless.
Using AWS you can deploy your application in multiple regions across the globe with just a few clicks hence providing a lower latency and better customer experience at minimal cost.
AWS also provides APIs, in different programming languages to ensure that you can manage your infrastructure programmatically.
AWS provides an end-to-end approach which secures and hardens your infrastructure.

AWS services help in accelerating cloud performance and improves the quality of the operation. Below is the list of AWS’s services to make your development and deployment process more comfortable and efficient.

Key AWS Services to consider in 2021

1. Amazon EC2

Amazon EC2 allows you to create virtual machines rather than spending on expensive physical servers. It helps manage other server features like storage, security, and ports, ensuring scalability within the cloud environment. There is no need to spends hours creating servers with your chosen operating system. It will provide you various functionalities to maintain the server and allow developers to focus mainly on the deployment. Below are some features-

It is a simple web interface that allows you to access and set up the computing assets seamlessly.
You can have complete control over the resources.
It enables you to increase and decrease the computing powers within no time.
It provides you root access along with all the features on any other machine.
It comes with adaptable cloud hosting.
It allows you to choose your choice of operating system and software packages.

2. Amazon RDS (relational database services)

Amazon RDS allows you to make database configuration, management, and scaling easy and efficient in the cloud environment. It will enable you to run a relational database without worrying about provisioning resources for infrastructure management. It provides a dedicated instance for the database, which is handled by the AWS support team and supports various database engines. It also helps in reducing the maintenance time for the database servers. Also, you can migrate or reproduce your existing database to Amazon RDS. below are few features-

It is cost-effective and can be managed thoroughly.
This service is highly scalable and resizeable.
It helps in lowering administration efforts.
It enables you to perform automatic software patching.

3. Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)

This service works well when we talk about data stored within the cloud as they ensure infrastructure security. It comes with PCI-DSS, HIPAA / HITECH, FedRAMP integrations, and distributing the data among different regions to keep the data safe from being compromised. It ensures data availability that you can access it with a click and managing almost zero latency. It protects your data from failures and potential threats. It can be easily implemented by any company irrespective of the data size. Below are features-

It ensures high data availability.
It provides you data control with secured infrastructure.
It ensures data backup and recovery process is in place.
It enhances system performance with third-party integration.

4. Amazon VPC (Virtual private cloud)

Using a private cloud will ensure security as the data is available to those authorized to use it. This service will create an isolated space on AWS, which acts as an extra security layer for the underlying data and resources. You can have complete control over your environment, including subsets creation, route table management, and network access points. Below are the features-

It ensures data protection and reduces unnecessary risk.
It allows you to access information securely.
You can have control over VPC.
It helps in filtering the inbound and outbound requests.
It provides flexible dashboard management.

5. AWS Lambda

AWS Lambda helps in supporting the demands of your development and make it compatible with the underlying infrastructure. This instance provides a competent environment for current developments. It enables the developers to focus on coding, and the necessary resources will be taken care of by AWS. Lambda service will scale your code with high availability and run the code without the EC2 server. Below are the features-

You do not have to worry about managing the servers.
You do not have to provide extra administration.
It is a cost-effective service and allows you to pay for the required services.
It reduces the complexity and overhead of management.
It ensures the automatic scaling of the application.

6. AWS Autoscaling

AWS auto-scaling allows you to expand your applications and make them available for thousands of users. With auto-scaling service, you can manage the multiple servers that handle the incoming traffic demanded by the application. This service does not cost you anything but charges you for the number of running instances. This service will manage your application and tunes its capacity to maintain a stable performance efficiently. It offers you a feature-rich user interface for creating scalable plans. Below are the features-

It ensures predictive scaling along with the provisioning of EC2 instances.
It can easily integrate machine learning to detect daily patterns.
It handles seasonal spikes of traffic.

7. AWS IAM

AWS IAM helps in securing the access and management of involved resources securely. It allows you to create and manage users while maintaining their access to different resources within your infrastructure. It does not require extra costing and will be charged for the used services only. These services will protect your sensitive data and resources. It can be implemented as an extra layer to your security criteria.

8. Amazon ElastiCache

Amazon elastic cache is the memory caching system of AWS that supports the Memcache and Redis. This service helps set up, run, and scale the popular open-source and in-memory storage in the cloud. It helps in operating data-intensive applications. It enhances the database’s performance by evaluating data from high throughput and low latency data stores. It works well for real-time use cases that include caching, session, and queuing.

9. Amazon Kuberbetes Services (EKS)

AWS Kubernetes services allow you to run the Kubernetes on AWS efficiently. With EKS, you do not have to worry about installing and operating a Kubernetes control plane and worker nodes to run Kubernetes. EKS serves as a Container as a Service that simplifies the Kubernetes deployment on AWS. It allows the administrators to focus on the cluster and their workloads. It ensures that you will get a complete Kubernetes advantage without having an in-house expert to maintain the infrastructure. It helps in automating the load distribution and makes parallel processing faster. Below are the features-

You do not have to install and maintain your Kubernetes control plane.
It allows you to run Kubernetes tooling and plugins.
It simplifies the building process of cloud-native architecture in AWS.

10. Amazon ELB (Elastic Load balancing)

This service helps in distributing the load among different instances to ensure availability. It means if one instance is busy or failed to work, the other instance can handle the incoming traffic. This service helps in avoiding the server hotspots. This service provides three load balancers- application load balancer, network load balancer, and classic load balancer. Below are the benefits-

It helps in monitoring application performance.
It comes with robust security features and making applications fault-tolerant.
It ensures automatic upscaling and downscaling.
It provides user authentication to protect data.

11. Amazon Redshift

Redshift is a data warehouse service that offers you industry-leading performance that provides you with cost-effective data analysis. It helps store a massive amount of data, which can be easily scaled up and scaled down as per the changing business requirement. It allows to power mission-critical analytical workloads. AWS manages the clusters entirely, and this database shows third-party compatibility. Below are the features-

This service is cost-efficient and ensures fast performance.
It takes continuous backups and comes with data lake integration.

12. Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS)

This service allows you to send a notification to the users irrespective of their platform. The notification may be an email, text messages, or HTML endpoint messages. It helps to decouple the microservices, distributed systems, and serverless applications. It is an event-driven computing hub that alerts the subscribers by automating the tasks. Below are the features-

It ensures the high durability of messages.
It ensures services that are fully managed and keep the data secure.
It can be easily integrated with any application.
It provides low-cost infrastructure.

13. Amazon Athena

This service is for an online query that helps in simplifying the process of data analysis. It is a serverless service without configuring the infrastructure and can focus on analyzing the data only. You also do not have to worry about the data uploading for the service as it works directly with the data stored in S3. below are the features-

It comes with a user-friendly console.
It allows you to create queries using the SQL language.
It is cost-efficient as you have to pay for the used services only.
You can integrate this service with AWS Glue to enhance query performance.

14. Amazon KMS (Key Management Service)

This service will allow you to create and manage the cryptographic keys and control how to access them within your application. It uses hardware security modules to protect the keys. You can integrate this service with AWS CloudTail that provides you access to key usage logs to meet the compliance needs.

15. Amazon DynamoDB

This service offers you the complete NoSQL cloud database platform that allows you to store, process, and access the data to ensure the application’s high performance. You can use DynamoDB to scale up for large datasets. Below are the features-

It is fast and serverless.
It manages the in-memory cache.
It ensures low latency.
It helps you to manage mission-critical applications and workload.

You can also refer to our three part series on AWS Services Terminology to know more about other AWS Services

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DevOps and Serverless in 2020

Namrata Joshi — Tue, 20 Oct 2020 12:29:22 +0000

Serverless Architecture (FaaS) and when to use Serverless ?

Serverless Architecture is more than a buzzword. It’s the most-talked-about topic in the soaftware industry in the past few years. Everyone is trying their hands on Serverless environment. You also might have questions in your mind like – What exactly is Serverless? And when to use Serverless?

Serverless Architecture is a software design model where applications are hosted by a third-party service like Cloud Providers. Serverless does not mean there aren’t servers at all. All Serverless applications run on a server. The only thing to remember here is that Servers are managed by the vendors and not the developers. Hence, it is called Serverless Architecture.

Components of Serverless Architecture

The main components of Serverless Architecture are Serverless Functions & Serverless Backends.

Serverless Functions: serverless functions aka FaaS(Function as a Service) is the main platform for running the serverless logic code. The developers write independent code snippets which are called `functions` and then add these functions to the FaaS platform.This code is then triggered by an event or run on a schedule.Common examples of FaaS are AWS Lambda or Azure functions.

Serverless Backends: serverless backend aks BaaS (Backend as a Service) is a cloud computing offering that abstracts the backend logic, which is then executed on faraway servers.This helps the developers to focus on thier front-end code snippet and integrate with back-end logic that someone else has implemented. Common examples of BaaS are authentication service, storage services, geolocation services etc.

You can also read our post about “Some popular Serverless solutions in 2020” to know more about popular serverless solutions and tools in the market.

How Serverless or FaaS is different from PaaS?

Serverless or Faas (Function as a Service) and PaaS (Platform as a Service) both are pretty similar but majorly different at the same time. People often get confused between these two terms. We will give you some points to help you better understand the difference between FaaS and PaaS.

A Serverless app or FaaS does have a physical or virtual server that requires it to be managed. There is also a need to manage the operating system and other web server hosting process requests for your application to run.

Serverless Architecture focuses on the individual functions in your application code. It reduces physical hardware concerns.

On the other hand, PaaS offers the same benefits as Serverless or FaaS. But, PaaS eliminates the need for server hardware as well as software management.

The primary difference is how the application is composed and deployed in both services.

PaaS allows you to deploy applications and the rest of the things will be managed by the cloud. Cloud will manage how to deploy the servers to run the application.

FaaS offers the capability to deploy what is actually a single function or a part of a function.

Most PaaS hosting options can auto-scale the number of servers to handle workloads. PaaS makes it simple to deploy the entire function or application.

FaaS was created in a way so that it can work as a Serverless Architecture.

When an application spins-up, FaaS can be invoked in a much more agile manner than PaaS.

In PaaS, you will have a lot more control over the development environment, and in FaaS, you won’t have much control over the same.

Both, PaaS and FaaS can easily deploy and scale an application without having to configure the server.

Primary features of FaaS and PaaS

Check out some of the primary characteristics of FaaS and PaaS:

Serverless or FaaS Characteristics:

Cost provisioned.
Less dependency on code.
Micromanaged.
Operational with fewer errors.
Complete auto-scaling functionality.

PaaS Characteristics:

Easy to use and manage.
Highly efficient.
Scalable.
Offer better developer control.
Offer limited management responsibilities.

When to Use Serverless or FaaS?

Serverless Architecture does not work for every organization. However, it works for most of the companies because of the advantage of the pay-as-you-go feature. That means you only have to pay for what you have used. This way, companies can save a lot of money by not paying for idle time.
It is suitable for stateless applications. For example, applications that don’t maintain user state and data for long periods.
If your website is a high-traffic website, then serverless can be the best option. You can host your static website on S3 bucket which helps you with a global and faster cloud. It is cheaper and fast, but it’s highly available and scalable at the same time.
It is cost-effective for those applications that don’t need all of the components to run all the time. You can also run serverless to run a web server with routing.
The most popular use case is Multimedia Processing Applications. To store images and videos of your business you can use a scalable storage service like Amazon/AWS S3. You can automate this process by configuring a function to be invoked from an image or video to upload.
Serverless architecture is ideal for Mobile Backends. An API provides an entry point to functions. And these functions can be exposed as the rest API that your mobile app consumes. AWS AppSync allows you to securely access data from multiple sources in real-time.

Note that Serverless Architecture is not well-suited for long, compute-intensive apps. Because it can be expensive as compared to running code on a dedicated compute instance.

So before moving to a Serverless Architecture, measure and validate each use case and see if this will work for your organization or not. Serverless does have numerous advantages but it does come with some drawbacks, too.

We hope this article will help you to understand how to leverage Serverless Architecture for your business.

The post DevOps and Serverless in 2020 appeared first on DevopsCurry.

Some popular Serverless solutions in 2020

Namrata Joshi — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 12:12:38 +0000

Top Tools for Implementing Serverless in 2020

Adopting Serverless may be challenging because its new, and in some ways, it is complicated. 2020 marks the 6th year of AWS Lambda, also known as the birth of Serverless architecture. Serverless computing has developed with time and there are numerous tools available for implementing Serverless. Let us take you through some of the best tools for implementing Serverless in 2020.

You might be thinking – Why people talk more and more about Serverless? Well, Serverless architecture is scalable, flexible, and affordable. Its the best possible solution for your company’s architecture management.

You can read more about Serverless in our post: Understanding Serverlesss in 2020

In this post we are sharing some of the best Serverless solutions for 2020 below:

AWS Lambda – Serverless Computing AWS Lambda is one of the most popular serverless services. It defines the core values of Serverless – no need to worry about the servers and pay only for your consumption. Serverless allows you to run code for virtually any type of app or backend service.   Each Lambda function runs in its own container. AWS Lambda is used where tasks are self-contained, or individual tasks run for a long time. It is also beneficial when there is a large difference between the lowest and highest levels of application. AWS Lambda supports most of the languages and runtimes, if not all.

Azure Functions:  Azure Functions by Microsoft works perfectly for those who are already using Visual Studio Code. It is event-driven computing that supports a large number of programming languages like JavaScript, C, C#, Java, Python, PHP, PowerShell, etc.  Azure is quite similar to AWS Lambda. One of the biggest differences between Azure and Lambda is how they deal with the availability of functions. Monitoring in Azure is integrated via Azure Application Insights. It will help to troubleshoot any performance issues,  .

Cloudflare Workers : cloudflare introduced Cloudflare Workers in 2019. Cloudflare Workers enables serverless capabilities to run with low latency. It allows you to run JavaScript at their data centers around the world. This will help to give your code an exceptional performance, reliability, and scale.   Cloudflare is one of the world’s largest cloud networks. Cloudflare Workers offers unique features like: architecture based on V8 for fast access and low cost, budget-friendly, faster access, and coded in JavaScript. JavaScript will help developers to push out serverless functions in a familiar language.

Google Cloud Functions : google cloud functions is a fully-managed NodeJS environment. It is event-driven. Thus, it will trigger a function returning an event. It is meant to work for small units of code that are part of the heavy load.   Google Cloud supports functions written in JavaScript (Node.js), Python, and GO. Autoscaling of the functions is built-in. So Google will automatically allocate new resources to execute the functions. It offers everything that is required to build an enterprise-ready serverless application.

Alibaba Functions:  Alibaba Functions offers 1 million requests for free per month. It is more than just a FaaS (Function as a Service). Alibaba Functions manages your code as well as infrastructure. It supports languages like Node.JS, Python, Java, etc.  It is a fully-managed and event-driven service. Alibaba Functions is a low-cost compute functions that are also highly reliable. Other than programming languages, it also supports triggers.

Oracle Functions:  Oracle Functions are ideal for those organizations that are looking for a container-based option for serverless deployment. It is easy to build and deploy Oracle Functions because all functions are packaged as docker containers.   Users can build functions that will run in the Oracle Functions service or in Fn Project-based deployment. This means there are fewer chances of lock-in. Oracle Functions offers auto-scaling and integration with the wider Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. It also provides additional capabilities like identity and access control.

Knative : Knative is an open-source service that adds components for deploying, running, and managing serverless applications. Just like any other serverless service, it allows the developers to run code without having to worry about servers and infrastructure.  The three primary components of Knative are Build, Serving, and Eventing. It runs on any Kubernetes platform. Knative is managed by companies like RedHat, Google, and IBM.

Kinvey : kinvey helps developers to deliver their mobile, website, and chat applications to their customers in a quick and convenient way. Kinvey is innovative and a little different from other platforms. It offers no code or low code microservices.   Some of the principal features of Kinvey includes serverless backend, easy authentication, code sharing, angular and native script, and data pipeline. It will save you a lot of time. Also, the drag and drop builder can make things easier for you to connect backend services to your application. Kinvey can be considered as the fastest way to develop high-tech solutions.

IBM Cloud Functions:  IBM Cloud Functions are based on Apache OpenWhisk and is an open-source service. The biggest advantage of IBM Cloud Functions is that it can be installed on-premise. Thus. it offers a lot more control over your serverless applications.  It provides an open and portable serverless model that can run in the IBM cloud as well as other deployment options. Events can be triggered from other IBM Cloud services or via a REST API which makes it more extensible.

Although it is not possible to cover everything that Serverless computing offers in a single post. But here we have tried to include some of the best-known solutions for implementing Serverless in 2020.

Let us know your recommendations in different categories of Serverless tools in the comment section below.

The post Some popular Serverless solutions in 2020 appeared first on DevopsCurry.

Understanding Serverless in 2020

Namrata Joshi — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 14:57:21 +0000

Cloud computing and Serverless terms have gained tremendous popularity in the last few years. Most of the companies are adopting cloud computing for improved management of company architecture. People often come across the term serverless, but what exactly is Serverless? Does it mean there aren’t servers at all? NO, not exactly!!! Lets have a better knowledge of Serverless and its pros and cons in this article.

What is Serverless?

Serverless is a method where cloud providers allow users to write and deploy the code without having to worry about the infrastructure, or you can say Servers. Serverless allows developers to purchase backend services on a pay-as-you-go model. So developers have to pay only for the services they have used.

In the early years, developers needed to have their own physical hardware to run a server. It was an expensive and inconvenient task. Cloud Computing made this process a lot easier. As it allowed developers to rent the servers remotely.

But the developers were over-purchasing the servers to manage the peak traffic or activity. This was leading to a waste of both space and money. Then the concept of auto-scaling was introduced to address the issue. But auto-scaling was not able to manage the unwanted spike such as DDoS Attack. Then came Serverless, which is a perfect solution as it offers a pay-as-you-go facility.

Serverless offers a execution model where the cloud provider manages the allocation and provisioning of servers dynamically. A serverless application runs in stateless containers that are triggered by time-events and are ephemeral, which are again managed by cloud vendor.

So one key element for Serverless is: “You should focus only on your applications, and not the infrastructure””

Serverless computing is basically of two types. Each describes their application architecture.

Back-end as a Service (BaaS) – This is used for applications that have most of their backend on the cloud. BaaS is ideal for front-end heavy applications. For ex. Mobile apps.
Functions as a Service (FaaS) – This features those applications that run parts of their code through event triggers. It offers flexibility for server-side applications.

Pros and Cons of Serverless

Lets have a look at the pros as well as cons of Serverless architecture. This will help in deciding whether Serverless works for you or not.

Pros of Serverless
1. Reduce Costs: serverless is a great way to reduce costs. Because you are outsourcing servers, databases, and some parts of logic. Not only cost-cutting but it also requires less human resources and computing power. Serverless will take care of the infrastructure and you can focus on server-side codes.

2. Easy Deployment: it is easy to deploy andcan be deployed within minutes or couple of hours. You don’t need to spend weeks and months on deployment. Because there is no need to focus on the infrastructure. Just concentrate on code and deploy it immediately.

3. Extra Focus on the Frontend(UX): the end-user is only interested in the front-end or UX. They don’t care about the infrastructure and back-end. Serverless allows you to focus on the front-end and user interface. Serverless can provide you with a way to reallocate resources.

4. Improved Scalability:serverless computing will make you capable of handling the heavy load. If your application is growing, it is easy to make changes accordingly to sustain the growth. If not, then no harm done! You don’t need to plan extra infrastructure without knowing the actual need for your app.

5. Improved Flexibility: easy implementation of an app with serverless is making it more flexible than the traditional ways. Faster results mean faster innovations. This will help you to move on to the next project as quickly as possible. It is also easier to pivot in situations where you need to restructure your architecture.

6. Happy Customers: serverless gives the luxury of not worrying about the infrastructure. That means developers can have that extra focus on excellent customer experience. It is possible to release logic and features quickly to improve user experience. Because nobody wants to wait for a long time for small fixes. So a serverless architecture will eventually lead to happy customers.

Cons of Serverless Architecture
1. Dependency on Third-party: you have to rely on your provider most of the time if you choose serverless architecture. You don’t have full control over the servers. Some changes might impact you without notice. Also, the platform’s availability depends on its terms and conditions.

2. Cold Starts: serverless computing may take some time to handle your first function request. This is known as cold start. However, this can be avoided if you ensure your functions remain in an active state. You can do this by sending requests to it regularly.

3. Not fit for Long-term Tasks: if you are using serverless for a long duration, constantly running tasks, you might end up paying more for compute time. However, it is ideal for short-term and real-time processes. If you are executing multiple functions at the same time, you’ll get Denial of Service (DoS) for your apps.

4. Complexity: serverless is quite complex to understand and apply. Units of integration are quite smaller than other architectures. You might face problems with deployment and versioning. Also, it is a new technology for developers. So sometimes. it can be a little tricky.

Some Popular Serverless frameworks

There are numerous Serverless tools and frameworks available in the market. Some of the best Serverless frameworks are:

1. AWS Lambda Functions
2. Microsoft Azure Functions
3. Google Cloud Functions
4. IBM Cloud Functions
5. Cloudflare Workers
6. SLAppForge
7. Stackery

Serverless architecture is one more option in the ocean of Cloud computing. As we discussed, Serverless is not easy to maintain and monitor. But it has its own benefits to offer. Finally, the developers can choose the architecture that best meets their requirements.

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