Managing traditional server architecture can be a daunting challenge, especially when demands fluctuate unexpectedly. Scaling resources, ensuring reliability, and maintaining performance can all lead to issues like latency, downtime, or over-provisioning, ultimately impacting your app’s success.
This is where serverless architecture comes in. By eliminating the need to manage the underlying infrastructure, developers can focus entirely on delivering high-quality web applications without worrying about server maintenance or scaling.
In this article, we’ll explore what serverless architecture is and how it can streamline your development process, helping you stay ahead in an industry projected to be worth $21.1 billion by 2025.
What is serverless architecture?
Despite what the name implies, serverless architecture still utilizes servers, albeit ones that a third-party cloud provider deploys and maintains. Serverless architecture is a cloud computing model in which the aforementioned provider manages the underlying computing infrastructure so your developers can focus on writing and deploying business logic.
To make serverless environments function, let’s look at a few components you might already be aware of, including:
- Function as a Service (FaaS): Functions are modular pieces of code deployed via edge nodes. FaaS enables developers to write and deploy code rapidly, allowing immediate execution when an end-user triggers an event.
- Event-driven computing: Build large distributed microservice-based applications with small decoupled functions. These smaller components make it easy to scale systems and build resilient applications.
- Pay-per-use pricing: Users only pay for the resources consumed by developed and deployed applications. This pricing model prevents wasted capital on unused resources, allowing managers to distribute funds to other business operations.
The key differences between serverless architecture and traditional infrastructure come down to the required abstraction level and hands-on management. Serverless architecture assigns backend services, like server abstraction and management tasks, to a cloud service provider instead of on-premises server maintenance.
Serverless architecture runs applications using small functions in an event-driven configuration, making it a perfect model for real-time messaging, auto-scaling apps, and even light data processing.
How serverless architecture works
Now that we’ve covered some of the basics of serverless architecture, let’s dig a little deeper to expose some of the complexities hidden from developers. Even the most knowledgeable programmers can benefit from a little refresher!
Behind the scenes
Use container technology or Kubernetes clusters to get your application code up and running as a function. Once a user triggers a function, a cloud provider quickly spins up a new container to respond, fulfills the request, and tears down the container.
By the way, did you know that Kubernetes runs on Netlify?
Event-driven triggers
Users trigger serverless functions through some sort of event. These events can be an HTTP request, database change, file upload, or even keystrokes or mouse clicks. Utilizing event-driven triggers allows for highly responsive applications with efficient resource allocation.
Cold starts
Serverless architecture is event-driven, which can lead to the so-called “cold start” problem. Cold starts happen when a function hasn’t been executed in a while and may take longer to spin up. To avoid this issue, programmers will use periodic invocations or provisioned concurrency, which keep functions “warm” for quicker responses to the next request.
Benefits of serverless architecture
So, what does serverless computing mean for the everyday developer? Serverless architecture offers several compelling advantages over traditional setups.
- Scalability: Serverless platforms allow you to build applications and functions that automatically scale to handle variable workloads. This automated scaling means developers don’t have to intervene manually each time an application’s user count spikes.
- Cost-efficiency: Pay-per-usage means you only pay for the computational resources you use. You will no longer have to invest in resources you may or may not need in the long term, saving you money.
- Increased developer productivity: Abstracting physical server management away from developers means they can focus on more mission-critical code writing and feature building. This focus also leads to a higher-quality product for your end-users.
- Shorter software development cycles: Serverless architecture enables developers to focus on coding workflows and application iteration instead of infrastructure and maintenance. That means developers need less time to complete projects, allowing products to hit the market sooner.
While it sounds good on paper, you may be asking: “Does it work in the real world?” The answer is unequivocally yes, and Netlify has helped several organizations, such as Cornerstone OnDemand, deploy serverless architecture with great success.
Cornerstone OnDemand is an integral human resource management provider that helps businesses and government agencies manage more than 42 million people. Unfortunately, Cornerstone faced issues like IT bottlenecks, technical limitations, and performance slowdowns.
With Netlify’s help and serverless functions, Cornerstone was able to add advanced scripts that interact with API gateways to perform functions without a backend server. These functions were critical to relaying and processing sales into Marketo, and with our help, Cornerstone OnDemand now delivers web projects 30% faster.
For a deep dive into the benefits of serverless architecture, we’ve got you covered.
Challenges and considerations of serverless architecture
Although serverless architecture has plenty to offer, it’s not without its flaws. There are several limitations and drawbacks to consider before deploying your next project using a serverless framework. Here are a few common considerations to make and how to overcome some inherent roadblocks to your serverless success.
Vendor lock-in
Serverless architecture relies on cloud infrastructure, like other “Platform-as-a-service” (PaaS, SaaS, BaaS, or IaaS) systems. That means you partner with a third-party company to access your server resources. Because you obtain resources from a provider, you will most likely sign a contract, which could lock you into a single service provider.
To avoid vendor lock-in, research prospective providers in depth before signing any contracts. Likewise, you’ll want to read any contracts thoroughly and look for any clauses that require early termination fees, minimum contract lengths, or buy-out requirements.
Limited execution duration
Most serverless providers have execution duration limits, such as a maximum of ten seconds of execution time per function and 600 execution seconds per minute. These runtime limits hamper larger application executions, such as machine learning, virtual machines (VM), artificial intelligence, or video rendering.
Unfortunately, there isn’t really a workaround for these limits. Our best advice is to optimize function code for performance, reducing each component to the smallest execution time possible.
Debugging and monitoring
The distributed nature of serverless applications makes debugging more challenging. Traditional debugging tools might not meet your needs, necessitating specialized tools and techniques. To make things easier, DevOps teams can implement robust monitoring solutions for improved visibility into performance. Robust monitoring also assists with troubleshooting through early detection and actionable steps.
Cold startup
As we mentioned, cold starts can increase latency, especially for functions that haven’t seen action in a while. Keeping functions “warm” through invocations and concurrent provisions helps reduce that latency and spin-up time.
While serverless architecture does present challenges, such as cold start latency, vendor lock-in, and limited execution times, the benefits often far outweigh these considerations. The ability to scale automatically, reduce infrastructure management, and optimize costs can significantly improve development efficiency and application performance. For many developers, the trade-offs are minimal compared to the flexibility and agility serverless architecture provides.
As technology continues to evolve, these challenges will likely diminish, paving the way for even broader adoption. This brings us to the exciting question: what does the future hold for serverless architecture?
The future of serverless architecture
Businesses, developers, and government agencies are turning to serverless functions to reduce their on-site maintenance responsibilities. As the technology continues to evolve, a few emerging trends are signaling the future of serverless applications, including concepts such as:
- Edge computing: Serverless functions run closer to end-users to reduce latency. Edge computing also improves application security as edge computing reduces the surface area of attack. to
- AI and ML integration: We mentioned these programs as being too resource-heavy for serverless. However, increased development of ML models will reduce function size, enabling serverless deployment.
- Improved developer tools: Greater adoption of serverless architecture will advance tool features, including better local testing, debugging, and CI/CD solutions.
As tools, techniques, and technology mature, we expect to see serverless adoption in more complex and mission-critical applications. These expanded use cases have the potential to reshape how developers engage in web application development, and Netlify is at the center of those advancements.
Simplify your development journey with Netlify
Serverless architecture represents a significant advancement in how developers build and deploy applications. It offers unparalleled automatic resource scaling and a cost-effective pay-per-use resource pricing model.
By abstracting server provisioning, maintenance, security, and overall management away from developers, productivity rises and costs decline. Serverless architecture is an ideal solution for small businesses looking for affordable ways to deploy tech and for enterprise-level organizations looking for efficient scaling.
Despite its potential challenges and drawbacks, serverless technology continues to evolve, promising significant advancements in the future, including AI and ML models and more efficient tools. Paving the way is Netlify, with a host of features that make going serverless easier than ever. Sign up for Netlify and start developing serverless apps today!
