Serverless apps are the next big thing in cloud computing we are going to see. In the past few years, amazon web services launched their lambda platform with a seamless architecture that became the business realm’s buzzword.
The immense popularity of serverless apps saw market leaders like Airbnb, Nike, Netflix, etc adopting the serverless architecture to handle their backend functions in a better way. Moreover, the serverless architecture market size is expected to reach $9.17 billion by the year 2023.
What are serverless apps?
In the serverless app architecture, the app logic is implemented in an environment where operating systems, virtual machines, or servers are not visible. Although where the app logic is executed is running on any operating system which practices physical servers.
But the main difference here is that managing the infrastructure that is the soul of the service provider and the mobile app developer aims only on writing the codes. There are two separate approaches when it comes to serverless apps:
- Backend as a service (BaaS): the basic needed functionality of the growing number of third party services is to render server-side logic and try to maintain their internal state. This demand has led to apps that do not have server-side logic or any app-specific logic. Therefore, they depend on third-party services for everything.
- Function as a service (FaaS): This is the modern choice for the conventional architecture when the app still needs server-side logic. With function as a service, the developers can easily focus on implementing stateless functions triggered by events and can communicate efficiently with the external world. It is majorly used with microservices architecture as it provides everything to the organization.
Pros of Serverless apps
Highly Scalable
Serverless apps have flexible nature and this quality makes them ideal for scaling the apps. The serverless apps have the advantage as it allows the vendor to run each of the functions in individual containers enabling optimizing them automatically and effectively.
Cost-effective
The companies that used serverless apps need a specific amount of time and the pricing of the execution depends on the memory required. Different types of costs like access authorization, image processing, presence detection, etc are linked to a virtual server that is entirely eliminated with the serverless apps.
Focuses on user experience
Serverless apps are not required to maintain any hardware system, so the time saved can be utilized to improve the level of customer experience and features of the app by focusing on the user experience.
Ease of migration
It is very easy to get started with serverless apps by porting separate features and operate them as on-demand events. The benefit of the apps can be used optimally to handle metadata encoding and creation. Serverless apps can be used in other plugins that are prone to critical vulnerabilities.
Cons of Serverless apps
Steep learning curve
despite having comprehensive documentation, the main drawback of the serverless app is its learning curve that is related to the FaaS tools is very steep. Therefore the hold of the serverless app is challenging. It is advised to hire the best app developers who had a strong grip on serverless tools.
Challenges in debugging
It is not easy to perform debugging especially for larger enterprise app that includes many separate functions. Serverless apps use traditional tools and thus provide no option to attach a debugger in the public cloud. There is no clear visibility that allows the developers to see how the app is executing and troubleshooting becomes arduous to carry.
Wrap Up
Business organizations should understand that going for serverless computing is not just a mere technical change but a mindset as well. So, if your company has an established workflow going serverless just for its sake might not be a good step. Serverless apps are still finding their feet in the mainstream world.
Till then, stay safe, stay at home, wash your hands, and be happy
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