What is Serverless Architecture and Why Should You Care?

By phptutorialpoints
August 16th, 2023

In this article, we’ll learn about Serverless Architecture in Web Development.

Table of Contents

New technology and methods are continuously changing how we create digital experiences in the dynamic field of web development. Serverless architecture is one such fad that has grown significantly.

Contrary to its name, serverless doesn’t refer to a lack of servers; rather, it refers to a paradigm that makes it easier for developers to create and deploy web applications.

We’ll explore serverless architecture in simple terms, explaining what it is, how it functions, and why it’s revolutionizing the way web developers build websites.

What is Serverless Architecture

Serverless architecture (also known as serverless computing or function as a service, FaaS) is a software design pattern where applications are hosted by a third-party service, eliminating the need for server software and hardware management by the developer.

One of the most popular serverless architectures is Function as a Service (FaaS), where developers write their application code as a set of discrete functions. Each function will perform a specific task when triggered by an event, such as an incoming email or an HTTP request.

This eliminates the need for businesses to manage their own servers, which can save them time, money, and hassle.

Applications are broken up into individual functions that can be invoked and scaled individually.

It uses the existing managed services available through the public cloud not just as a means to host an application but becomes an intrinsic part of the application and replaces manually configured infrastructure and sometimes even entire libraries of code with the managed services.

Let’s begin by clarifying the meaning of the phrase “serverless.” Developers manage servers in traditional web development in order to host, scale, and support their applications.

However, serverless architecture moves the emphasis from server management to code writing. The complex server management responsibilities are abstracted away, freeing developers to concentrate entirely on building the code that drives the application’s fundamental functionality.

In a serverless configuration, the provisioning, scalability, and upkeep of the servers are handled by the cloud provider.

This cloud platform is used by developers to upload their code, specify triggers, and create rules that specify when and how their code should run. This method raises the bar for simplicity and scalability.

How it Works:

Here is how serverless architecture works in practice:

A developer writes code and deploys it to a serverless platform.
The serverless platform provisions a server to run the code.
When an event is triggered, the serverless platform executes the code.
The serverless platform scales the server up or down as needed.
The serverless platform terminates the server when the code is finished executing.

Why Choose Serverless Architecture?

Serverless architecture offers several compelling advantages for web developers:

Simplicity: Developers can focus on writing code that directly addresses the application’s features, reducing the complexity of managing servers and infrastructure.
Scalability: The cloud provider handles auto-scaling, ensuring your application can effortlessly handle sudden spikes in traffic without manual intervention.
Cost Efficiency: With serverless, you only pay for the compute resources your functions use during their execution. There’s no need to pay for idle server time.
Faster Time-to-Market: Serverless allows developers to quickly iterate and deploy new features, as they can focus on code development without worrying about server setup.
Reduced Maintenance: Serverless functions are managed by the cloud provider, minimizing the need for ongoing server maintenance and updates.
Global Availability: Many serverless platforms offer global distribution, ensuring low-latency access to your application from various regions.

Use cases:

While serverless architecture has been around for more than a decade, Amazon introduced the first mainstream FaaS platform, AWS Lambda, in 2014.

Currently, a majority of developers still use AWS Lambda to build serverless applications, but Google and Microsoft have their own FaaS offerings as well, called Google Cloud Functions (GCF) and Azure Functions respectively.

The followings are real-world applications:

Web Applications: Serverless architecture is particularly suitable for web applications with variable traffic patterns. It ensures that the application scales up or down based on incoming requests, providing a seamless experience for users.
IoT (Internet of Things): IoT devices generate sporadic bursts of data. Serverless architecture can process these events efficiently without the need for maintaining a continuous server infrastructure.
Data Processing: Serverless is well-suited for processing data streams, such as real-time analytics, log processing, and data transformation. It enables cost-effective, on-demand processing of data without the need for manual intervention.
Backend Services: Backend functionalities like authentication, authorization, and data storage can be implemented using serverless functions. This allows developers to focus on core features while leveraging pre-built services.

Advantages and Disadvantages:

Advantages:

Cost savings: Serverless architecture can help businesses save money on their cloud computing costs by only paying for the resources they use. This can be a significant savings, especially for businesses with fluctuating workloads.
Improved scalability: Serverless architecture is highly scalable, so you can easily add or remove resources as needed. This is ideal for businesses with unpredictable traffic patterns.
Simplified management: With serverless architecture, you don’t have to worry about managing your own servers. The cloud provider takes care of all of that for you. This can free up your team to focus on other tasks, such as developing new features and improving your business.
Improved security: Serverless architecture can help you improve the security of your applications. The cloud provider takes care of all of the security aspects of your infrastructure, so you don’t have to worry about it.

Disadvantages:

Cold starts: When a serverless function is triggered for the first time, it may take a few seconds to start up. This is called a cold start. Cold starts can be a problem for applications that need to be highly responsive.
Vendor lock-in: Serverless architecture is still a relatively new technology, and there are a limited number of vendors that offer serverless services. This means that you may be locked into a particular vendor if you choose to use serverless architecture.
Limited control: With serverless architecture, you have less control over the underlying infrastructure than you would with traditional cloud computing. This can be a problem if you need to have specific control over things like performance, security, or compliance.

Conclusion:

The use of serverless architecture gives us greater flexibility and allows us to run our own server-side architecture as a smaller portion of our applications than is typically the case.

Ephemeral computational power that arises upon request and vanishes instantly after use replaces persistent virtual machines in a serverless architecture.

Utilizing this architecture can use compute resources much more effectively. Serverless architecture is perfectly suited on the technological front to meet digital speed as it decreases time-to-market as the world moves toward digital transformation to match it speed with user experience and change.

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I hope this article helps!

Last updated on August 16th, 2023.