Serverless Architectures

Created in August 13, 2018

2018   ·   serverless,   architecture,   cloud,   aws-lambda,   azure-functions,   faas,   cloud-computing   ·   cloud-computing,   software-architecture

Serverless Architectures

Serverless Architectures (SA) represent a new approach to application design and are a hot topic in the software architecture world. All “Big Three” cloud providers (Amazon, Google, Microsoft) are investing heavily in “Serverless” technologies.

What is it?

Unlike traditional architectures where applications run on servers, serverless applications run in stateless compute containers that are event-triggered, ephemeral (they may only last for a single invocation), and fully managed by a third party.

These architectures typically power “rich client” applications—think single-page web apps or mobile apps. Such apps leverage a vast ecosystem of cloud-accessible databases, authentication services (e.g., Auth0, AWS Cognito), and so on. For computation, you can leverage services like AWS Lambda or Azure Functions.

Upsides and Downsides

Upsides:

  • No need for system administration (everything is handled by a third party).
  • Decreased product complexity.
  • Native microservices architecture.
  • Lower scaling costs.
  • Elasticity (native scaling).
  • Reduced development and operational costs.
  • Faster time to market.

Downsides:

  • Debugging and monitoring are still challenges.
  • Tooling is not yet fully mature.
  • Cold start issues. ```


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