Serverless Computing

Serverless is a type of cloud computing application development-execution model that enables developers to build and run application code. It develops without provisioning or managing servers or backend infrastructure.

• In Serverless technology, developers put all their efforts into writing the best front-end application code and business logic they can. 
• All developers can write their own application code and also deploy it to containers managed by a cloud service provider. The one who provides the cloud handles the rest, provisioning the cloud infrastructure required to run the code. 
• It also does scaling the infrastructure up and down on demand as needed. The cloud provider is mainly responsible for the whole routine infrastructure management.
• It also helps in maintenance such as operating system updates and patches, system monitoring, and more.

Serverless doesn’t mean “No Servers”

Serverless computing doesn’t mean that it has no servers but there are most definitely servers there. It describes the developer’s experiences that are invisible to the developer, manages them, or interacts with them in any way.

• Currently, every leading cloud service provider offers a serverless platform i.e Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Azure (Azure Functions).

• Google Cloud (Google Cloud Functions) is also a type of serverless platform.

• Alibaba functions and IBM Blumix are also serverless platforms.

Characteristics

Serverless computing takes full responsibility for the whole server’s performance, which is why choosing an optimal vendor is a must. There are major characteristics of serverless computing which are as given below-

Flexibility:

 Serverless computing allows business owners to regulate the number of used computing resources. As the application handles small workloads, so we don’t have to pay extra for excessive server space. As soon as we need any increase in computing power, the platform will provide us with all the available resources.

Abstraction:

If someone doesn’t know anything about the servers on which the program is running. Every minute detail about operating systems and updates is handled by a third-party vendor, so he can focus on the primary user-side functionality also.

Distribution:

Serverless computing is distributed by design. It strictly follows the main Single Responsibility pattern. Each of the components should perform the task if it needs to. 

For example, Serverless components need to read the data from the database. Another component messages the data and pushes it to a queue. And third component processes the data in that queue. It is clean and supports complex design patterns like Microservices architecture.

Cost Efficiency:

Cost efficiency is directly derived from flexibility because we don’t have to overpay for the time when our app isn’t active. The pay-for-value model is making it cost-efficient while using it. It doesn’t overcharge the users.

Pros 

1. Improved developer productivity – Serverless computing enables development teams to focus on writing specific code, not managing infrastructure. It gives developers much more time to innovate, explore, maintain, and optimize their front-end application functionality and business logic.
2. Usage visibility – Serverless computing provides total visibility into system and user times and also aggregates usage information systematically.
3. Developing in any language – It provides a polyglot environment, enabling developers to code in any language i.e Python, Java, etc.
4. Pay for execution only – The specific meter starts when the request is made however it ends when execution finishes.
5. Cost-effective performance – For various workloads, parallel processing, stream processing, and certain data processing tasks, serverless computing can be faster and also more cost-effective than other kinds of computing.
6. Development and IT professionals can take various other specific benefits of serverless computing.

Cons

1. Complexity-If something isn’t working as it would, spotting the issue would be difficult. We’ll have multiple spaces in which to look. 
2. Visibility-There may be testing and debugging challenges in a serverless environment. As it is difficult, and serverless to see how any code performs once deployed, developers lack backend process visibility. 
3. Security-With serverless computing, a third-party vendor deals with security and also can sometimes be a closed box. Moreover, whenever applications handle sensitive data, developers need to be sure to keep it secure.

Conclusion

As a result, serverless computing plays an important role in IT security and IT management, and infrastructure also. TriColor Initiatives is confined to engaging serverless platforms such as Microsoft Azure and AWS. There are a number of AWS tools to help optimize performance by AWS developers. Members of TCI operate well-architected serverless systems on AWS.