Referring to a method of providing backend services, the term ‘Serverless’ became noticeable with the launch of Amazon’s AWS Lambda in 2014. Being among the most puffed technologies over the past few years, Serverless is a compute option for major companies, which was initially created to unload the operational freight from the cloud. It serves as an option even for the companies which operate their own data center. A large part of the evolution of serverless is dependent on developers’ liking for it due to the four major reasons:-
1. Scaling →
Serverless enables process changes in workload by speeding up additional function handlers. It reduces developers’ hassle for optimizing numerous transactions and reduces it to just one and letting the system optimize the rest.
Noting the fact that auto-scaling doesn’t indicate the developer to be careless. It instead enables the developers to focus better on other parts by eliminating operational concerns of scaling, hence easing their work.
2. Response to various events →
Serverless responds to various events ranging from uploading a file into a file store, queuing the items, or even to the HTTP server calls. The serverless platform reduces the coding hassle of developers, as it handles the writing of these event sources to the functions. It also assists in minimal code plumbing for developers, as it handles access to the events that drive the functions.
3. Enables developers to focus →
Developers, while solving a major issue, usually get stuck into other issues before getting back to the major one. Serverless enables developers to focus on major parts by reducing the number of problems they may have to solve such as scaling, connection, or operation. This focus increases a developer’s value while having developers work on important problems instead of unimportant ones.
4. Cutting down the operational burden →
In recent times, the development teams have initialized operating more of the software they create through a process called DevOps. This process enables speedy feedback to the development and ensures their focus towards developing a vigorous solution for operation as well as feature correctness.
Providing numerous features and easing the development task, Serverless is a technology commonly preferred by developers for managing as well as developing the software. Serverless for sure enables the developers to focus on important parts and write features quickly, it has certain drawbacks too.
Serverless is not a perfectionist as it:-
1. Involves Vendor lock-in
2. Does not perform well from a cold start
3. Makes the observability more difficult
The pros of the serverless technology might make it look like a complete toolbox, yet the presence of its cons makes it a tool in the box and not the whole. Therefore, developers should be provided serverless making sure to understand that it’s just a tool in building amazing systems.
