An introduction to Serverless
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The document provides an introduction to serverless computing, explaining its significance as an architectural trend that enables rapid and efficient app development without traditional server management. It covers key concepts such as backend-as-a-service (BaaS) and functions-as-a-service (FaaS), highlighting their impact on development, operations, and infrastructure strategies. Additionally, it explores the relationship between serverless computing, cloud services, edge computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT), emphasizing their relevance in modern app architecture.
![@adrienblind
A single definition for Serverless?
“Serverless computing is a cloud computing execution model in which the cloud provider dynamically manages the
allocation of machine resources”
- Wikipedia
“Serverless computing refers to the concept of building and running applications that do not require server
management. It describes a finer-grained deployment model where applications, bundled as one or more
functions, are uploaded to a platform and then executed, scaled, and billed in response to the exact demand
needed at the moment.”
- CNCF foundation whitepaper on Serverless
“Serverless architectures refer to applications that significantly depend on third-party services (knows as Backend
as a Service or "BaaS") or on custom code that's run in ephemeral containers (Function as a Service or "FaaS") [...].
such architectures remove the need for the traditional 'always on' server system sitting behind an application.”
- Mike Roberts, martinfowler.com (2016)
“If your PaaS can efficiently start instances in 20ms that run for half a second, then call it serverless.”
- Adrian Cockroft (2016)](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/serverlessintroduction-180424112721/85/An-introduction-to-Serverless-8-320.jpg)
An introduction to Serverless
- 2. @adrienblind Are you a server hugger?
- 3. @adrienblind What do you really want Deliver rapidely and flowly valuable apps for the business
- 4. @adrienblind What do you really want Cloud Agile DevOps Microservice architecture Craftsmanship Deliver rapidely and flowly valuable apps for the business
- 5. @adrienblind What do you really want On demand Pay as you go ElasticCloud Deliver rapidely and flowly valuable apps for the business Agile DevOps Microservice architecture Craftsmanship
- 6. @adrienblind A new kid on the block ?
- 7. @adrienblind A new “cloudy” kid on the block
- 8. @adrienblind A single definition for Serverless? “Serverless computing is a cloud computing execution model in which the cloud provider dynamically manages the allocation of machine resources” - Wikipedia “Serverless computing refers to the concept of building and running applications that do not require server management. It describes a finer-grained deployment model where applications, bundled as one or more functions, are uploaded to a platform and then executed, scaled, and billed in response to the exact demand needed at the moment.” - CNCF foundation whitepaper on Serverless “Serverless architectures refer to applications that significantly depend on third-party services (knows as Backend as a Service or "BaaS") or on custom code that's run in ephemeral containers (Function as a Service or "FaaS") [...]. such architectures remove the need for the traditional 'always on' server system sitting behind an application.” - Mike Roberts, martinfowler.com (2016) “If your PaaS can efficiently start instances in 20ms that run for half a second, then call it serverless.” - Adrian Cockroft (2016)
- 9. @adrienblind What are we talking about ❏ Dev/App perspective Arch. design & granularity? Ephemeral apps? PaaS pattern? Mostly all of them! ❏ Ops/platform perspective: infrastructure abstraction Elastic → autoscaling On-demand → boot in 20ms Pay-as-you-go → Scale to zero Cloud managed services & … NoOps?
- 10. @adrienblind 2 major serverless tendencies ❏ BaaS, aka Backend-as-a-Service & ❏ FaaS, aka Functions-as-a-Service
- 11. @adrienblind ❏ Checkout first what we do already have today… we’ll dig into BaaS & FaaS in few minutes ;)
- 12. @adrienblind Cloud: IaaS ❏ End-product is almost the same (virtual machines) ❏ Facilitates lift & shift ❏ Interaction with the product change: cloud principles, automation/infra-as- code ❏ Stimulated the commoditization trend: ops no longer deliver per-app infrastructure architectures ❏ Starts to shift resiliency & scalability topics from infra to app Ok… But not Serverless at all.
- 13. @adrienblind ❏ Containers isolate apps from their subsequent OS ❏ Orchestrators enables to consider a pool of OS as a global capacity (CaaS) ❏ Possible Auto-scalability but mostly based on infrastructure metrics (CPU) ❏ However, pricing model mostly related to subsequent infrastructure used (cluster nodes) ❏ Containers commonly associated to finer app granularity/microservices, which may lead to more efficient startup time You now start observing few Serverless characteristics Cloud: CaaS + Create more abstraction from IaaS
- 14. @adrienblind Cloud: PaaS or PaaS? ❏ PaaS stands for Platform-as-a-Service ❏ Application PaaS (aPaaS) pioneer: Google App engine ❏ xPaaS = managed services (DBaaS, object storage, etc.) ❏ Complete abstraction of the service from infrastructure ❏ Pricing model not related to infrastructure ❏ Autoscaling & resilient by design Quite Serverless compliant, nope ?
- 15. @adrienblind ❏ BaaS, aka Backend-as-a-Service
- 16. @adrienblind Backend-as-a-Service architecture BaaS → no! PaaS CaaS IaaS
- 17. @adrienblind ❏Not a cloud service offer, it’s an architecture concept ❏Trend initially launched for mobile apps ❏Build apps directly leveraging on PaaS services ❏Security paradigms shifts From perimetric to embedded Auth/Authz/Cipher everything (your backend is exposed, mate…) Backend-as-a-Service architecture Authentication Object Storage Databases (ex. DynamoDB, etc.) Mobile app Or Browser
- 18. @adrienblind ❏ FaaS, aka Functions-as-a-Service
- 19. @adrienblind Client Gateway FaaS platform FaaS compute capacity abstracted from app perspective Cloud: FaaS ❏ Ephemeral: platform waits requests...
- 20. @adrienblind Client Instanciated function (your code) Gateway FaaS platform FaaS compute capacity abstracted from app perspective Cloud: FaaS ❏ Ephemeral: platform waits requests and triggers function on demand, which “lives” the time to deliver the result: your code is not always-on, waiting calls!
- 21. @adrienblind ❏ Ephemeral: platform waits requests and triggers function on demand, which “lives” the time to deliver the result: your code is not always-on, waiting calls! ❏ Dynamic scalability & resilience provided by the platform: more calls, more instances ❏ Extremely fine grained pay-per-use on public cloud: per-call costs Client Instanciated function (your code) Instanciated function (your code) Instanciated function (your code) Gateway FaaS platform FaaS compute capacity abstracted from app perspective Cloud: FaaS
- 22. @adrienblind ❏Beware of design constraints applying to your app ❏ Service/function granularity ❏ Stateless services, use distributed cache, etc. ❏ Small wake up time ❏ No long-running services ❏Like for the Virtual machines & container history, shortly after their venue came the orchestration challenge… Deal with function graph calls (ex. Amazon Step) ❏Possible Vendor lock-in: check out serverless.io to get an abstraction fmk ? ❏Testing → you must deploy on the platform everytime ❏Adapt DevOps practices: monitoring, deployment, versioning... FaaS constraints
- 23. @adrienblind All major cloud vendors have products Alternatively you can deploy your own FaaS fmk You may leverage on existing CaaS and put value on top of it • Container encapsulation of the function • Kubernetes orchestration FaaS on public cloud vs FaaS on premises Amazon Google Azure OVH OpenWhisk OpenFaaS OracleFN
- 24. @adrienblind ❏ OpenFaas: an example FaaS platform
- 25. @adrienblind Introduction to OpenFaaS Originally a cool hack built by docker captain Alex Ellis for Dockercon conference. A new, but real product now. Enable to trigger functions enclosed in docker images. So: You can put any app/language, till there is a binary to start Works Linux and Windows OS On premises, on cloud, hybridated… https://www.openfaas.com
- 26. @adrienblind OpenFaas leverage on containers & orchestration Illustration from openfaas.com
- 27. @adrienblind An example platform: introduction to OpenFaaS API gateway Route inbound requests to your functions Collect metrics through Prometheus Autoscales modifying service replicas counts Offers a convenient UI + endpoints for the CLI
- 28. @adrienblind An example platform: introduction to OpenFaaS Function watchdog A tiny HTTP server, enclosed along with your app in the docker image Receive request from the API Gateway, triggers your app Provide args and catch result through STDIN/STDOUT Now, you know why you can enclose almost everything ;) Illustration from openfaas.comIllustration from openfaas.com
- 29. @adrienblind $ faas-cli new helloworld --lang python The only line of code you’ll write in the function template print("Hello, World!") $ faas-cli build -f helloworld.yml $ faas-cli push -f helloworld.yml $ faas-cli deploy -f helloworld.yml $ curl http://faas.me/function/helloworld Hello, World! “Hello, World!” example With OpenFaaS
- 30. @adrienblind Benefits Leverage on your CaaS platform for serverless & traditional usecase at the same time Leverage on top of Docker paradigms Universality of languages/app supported Easy CD/CI, automation Do not reinvent the wheel
- 32. @adrienblind ❏ Serverless is an architecture trend, not just a new cloud service offer (aka FaaS) ❏ A serverless app is a mashup of value-added, managed services: aPaaS, xPaaS, FaaS… ❏ Fits today’s architecture stakes: cloud native apps, 12 factors... Serverless key aspects from Dev/App perspective Schema from martinfowler.com Devs gain a greater productivity, refocusing on business valuable code
- 33. @adrienblind Ops gets more efficiency and cost-saving, offloading several concerns to platform ❏ You no longer manage infrastructure aspects directly: Auto- scalability & resilience provided by design ❏ Close but not fully NoOps (monitor app!) ❏ Cloud promise at its finest “resolution” On-demand, Elastic, Pay-Per-Use Serverless key aspects from Ops/platform perspective
- 34. @adrienblind Focus on value & better TTM but support platform constraints More flexibility, more tuning capacity… but assume plumbing Functions Serverless key aspects ABSTRACT FOCUSINFRA Microservices Monoliths CaaS IaaS FaaS & PaaS
- 35. @adrienblind ❏ Small microservices ❏ Stream processing ❏ Event-driven-programming ❏ Batch / Scheduled tasks ❏ May even replace some old compute grids ;) ❏ … Some usecases
- 36. @adrienblind Finally, THE silver bullet? Highly valuable, but does not fit every usecases !
- 37. @adrienblind ❏ Extra: enlarge the picture
- 38. @adrienblind IoT & Serverless ❏ IoT generates large loads of small & basic-to-process events, in huge quantity ❏ It calls for an event-driven programming approach ❏ … which fits well with the idea of simple, elementary functions of Serverless/FaaS computing Serverless + IoT
- 39. @adrienblind Edge Computing & Serverless ❏ Google Trends graphs for “Serverless” & “Edge computing” terms ❏ Beware, scales are not the same however ;) ❏ Anyway, an interesting correlation to notice, isn’t it ?
- 40. @adrienblind WTF with Edge computing? ❏ Offload computing tasks close to the data, at the boarder of the network / out from the cloud ❏ Example, precompute face recognition close to a camera, to avoid uploading the whole video flow to the cloud ❏ Particularly valuable in an IoT landscape CLOUD
- 41. @adrienblind Major cloud vendors are building their strategy on top of the following triptic, to unleash their service from the cloud and provide an end-to-end offer For instance: Azure IoT Edge / Sphere, AWS Greengrass... Unleash from the cloud Serverless Architecture Edge Computing Internet Of Things
- 42. @adrienblind There are 2 kind of spurs my friend. Those that do serverless, those that don’t.