https:\/\/www.cloudnowtech.com\/blog\/serverless-architecture-the-what-when-and-why\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\nLet\u2019s look at some of the main advantages and disadvantages of using serverless architecture, so you can decide if it\u2019s the right fit for your needs.<\/p>\n
Pros of Serverless<\/strong><\/p>\n\n- Cost Efficiency<\/strong>: One of the biggest benefits of serverless is that it helps you save money. Since you\u2019re 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.<\/li>\n
- Faster Deployment<\/strong>: With Serverless, deploying code can take minutes instead of days or weeks. Since you don\u2019t have to set up or manage infrastructure, you can focus on coding and quickly roll out your application.<\/li>\n
- Focus on Front-End and User Experience<\/strong>: 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.<\/li>\n
- Scalability<\/strong>: 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\u2019t have to worry about buying extra servers or wasting resources when traffic is low.<\/li>\n
- Flexibility<\/strong>: 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.<\/li>\n
- Better Customer Experience<\/strong>: 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.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
<\/span>Cons of Serverless Architecture<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n- Dependence on Third-Party Providers<\/strong>: When you go serverless, you rely heavily on the cloud provider. This means you don\u2019t have full control over the servers, and changes made by the provider could affect your app. The provider\u2019s uptime and reliability are also dependent on their terms and conditions.<\/li>\n
- Cold Starts<\/strong>: One downside of serverless is that it can take some time to respond to the first request when the function hasn\u2019t been used for a while, a delay known as a \u201ccold start.\u201d You can reduce this by keeping your functions active through regular requests.<\/li>\n
- Not Ideal for Long-Running Tasks<\/strong>: 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\u2019s better suited for short-term tasks or real-time processes.<\/li>\n
- Complexity<\/strong>: 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.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
<\/span>Popular Serverless Tools<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\u2666 If OpenFaaS<\/h3>\n
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\u2019s public or private.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u2666 OpenWhisk<\/strong><\/h3>\nApache OpenWhisk is a serverless platform backed by big names like Adobe and IBM, and it\u2019s even integrated into IBM Cloud Functions. OpenWhisk introduces a few unique concepts that make it stand out, such as Triggers<\/strong>, Alarms<\/strong>, Actions<\/strong>, and Feeds<\/strong>. Here\u2019s a brief explanation of each:<\/p>\n\n- Triggers<\/strong>: These are event-driven actions that respond to certain events.<\/li>\n
- Alarms<\/strong>: Used to set up time-based triggers, allowing for scheduled and periodic tasks.<\/li>\n
- Actions<\/strong>: These represent the actual code or function that runs, and they can be written in various programming languages.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u2666 Kubeless<\/strong><\/h3>\nKubeless 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.<\/p>\n
Kubeless features excellent documentation and a very active community, making it easy to use. It has three main CRD components: httptriggers<\/strong>, functions<\/strong>, and cronjobtriggers<\/strong>. These allow for various triggers, including time-based and HTTP requests, making it versatile and lightweight for Kubernetes environments.<\/p>\n\u2666 Fission<\/strong><\/h3>\nFission, 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\u2019s written in Golang.<\/p>\n
Like OpenFaaS, Fission introduces three core concepts: Environment<\/strong>, Trigger<\/strong>, and Function<\/strong>. It also offers executors<\/strong> that support zero-scale deployments, meaning unused functions won\u2019t consume resources. Fission integrates with Prometheus for monitoring and provides a command-line interface (CLI) called fission<\/strong> that makes it easy to interact with the platform.<\/p>\n\u2666 Knative<\/strong><\/h3>\nKnative 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.<\/p>\n
Knative handles event consumption and production, and it integrates well with many open-source tools like Fluentd<\/strong>, Elasticsearch<\/strong>, and Zipkin<\/strong> for logging and tracing. Google has even released Cloud Run<\/strong>, a fully managed serverless service based on Knative, giving users a seamless way to deploy and scale containerized applications in a serverless environment.<\/p>\n<\/span>Conclusion:<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\nServerless 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.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Table of Contents “Why Serverless Architecture is Transforming Modern App Development”What is Serverless?Types of Serverless ComputingPros and Cons of Serverless ArchitectureCons of Serverless ArchitecturePopular Serverless ToolsConclusion: “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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":10994,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[440,441,442],"tags":[1002,507,1129],"class_list":["post-10990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-cloud","category-latest","tag-development","tag-serverless","tag-serverless-architecture"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devopscurry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devopscurry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devopscurry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devopscurry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devopscurry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10990"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/devopscurry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10997,"href":"https:\/\/devopscurry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10990\/revisions\/10997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devopscurry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devopscurry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devopscurry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devopscurry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}