Serverless computing and cloud computing are two different approaches to delivering computing resources to users.
Cloud computing refers to the delivery of computing resources (such as servers, storage, databases, networking, software, and analytics) over the internet. In a cloud computing model, users can access these resources on-demand, paying only for what they use, without having to invest in and maintain their own IT infrastructure.
Serverless computing is a cloud computing model that allows developers to build and run applications without the need to manage the underlying infrastructure. In traditional cloud computing, users provision virtual machines or containers to run their applications. However, in a serverless model, developers only need to provide their code to be executed.
In this post we will highlight some of their main differences and characteristrics.
Table Of Contents
1. Cloud Computing Evolution
Cloud computing has evolved significantly since its inception, with major changes in technology, business models, and market adoption. Here are some of the key phases in the evolution of cloud computing:
- Early days (1990s-2006): In the early days of cloud computing, the focus was on providing basic infrastructure services such as storage and compute resources. However, the technology was not yet mature, and adoption was limited to early adopters.
- Emergence of public cloud (2006-2010): In the mid-2000s, Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched its Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) service, which marked the beginning of the public cloud era. Other major cloud providers such as Microsoft and Google soon followed suit, offering a wide range of cloud services.
- Expansion of cloud services (2010-2015): In this phase, cloud providers began offering a wider range of services, including platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings. This made it easier for developers and businesses to build and deploy applications in the cloud.
- Hybrid cloud (2015-present): In recent years, the focus has been on hybrid cloud solutions that combine public and private cloud resources. This has allowed organizations to take advantage of the scalability and cost savings of public cloud while maintaining control over their most sensitive data and applications.
- Serverless computing (2015-present): Serverless computing, also known as function-as-a-service (FaaS), is a relatively new addition to the cloud computing landscape. It allows developers to build and run applications without the need to manage servers or infrastructure, making it even easier to build and deploy applications in the cloud.
Cloud computing is constantly evolving, with new technologies and services being developed all the time. As the technology continues to mature and adoption continues to grow, we can expect to see even more innovations and advancements in the years to come.
2. Severless Computing Evolution
Serverless computing, also known as function-as-a-service (FaaS), is a relatively new addition to the cloud computing landscape. Here are some of the key phases in the evolution of serverless computing:
- Early days (2010s): In the early days of serverless computing, the focus was on using AWS Lambda, which was released by Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2014. Other cloud providers soon followed suit, offering their own serverless computing solutions.
- Expansion of serverless services (2015-2019): In this phase, serverless computing began to gain more widespread adoption, with cloud providers offering a wider range of serverless services. This made it easier for developers to build and deploy applications without having to manage servers or infrastructure.
- Emergence of serverless frameworks (2016-2019): In this phase, serverless frameworks such as Serverless, Zappa, and Apex emerged, making it easier for developers to build and deploy serverless applications. These frameworks provided developers with tools and templates for building serverless applications, and helped to standardize the development process.
- Adoption by enterprise (2018-present): In recent years, serverless computing has gained traction among enterprise organizations, which have recognized the benefits of serverless computing for their applications. Serverless computing can be particularly beneficial for enterprises with large and complex applications, as it allows them to focus on building and delivering applications rather than managing infrastructure.
- Serverless beyond functions (2019-present): While serverless computing was originally associated with function-as-a-service, it has since expanded beyond that to include other serverless services such as databases, storage, and messaging. This has made it easier for developers to build and deploy complex applications entirely on serverless infrastructure.
Serverless computing is still a relatively new technology, and we can expect to see continued innovation and evolution in the years to come. As more organizations adopt serverless computing and as new use cases emerge, we can expect to see even more advancements in this area.
3. Benefits & Drawbacks of Serverless Computing
Serverless computing is a cloud computing model where the cloud provider manages the infrastructure, automatically allocating and managing resources as needed to execute and scale applications.
Here are some pros and cons of serverless computing:
Benefits:
- Cost-effective: Serverless computing can be more cost-effective than traditional server-based computing because you only pay for the actual usage of the resources, rather than paying for a fixed amount of resources.
- Scalability: Serverless computing can automatically scale resources up or down as needed to handle changes in demand, making it highly scalable.
- No server management: With serverless computing, the cloud provider manages the underlying infrastructure, allowing developers to focus on writing code and deploying applications.
- Faster development: Serverless computing can speed up development because developers can focus on writing code and don’t have to worry about managing servers or infrastructure.
- Improved reliability: Serverless computing can provide high availability and fault tolerance by automatically handling resource allocation and failures.
Drawbacks:
- Limited control: With serverless computing, developers have limited control over the underlying infrastructure, which can be a disadvantage for certain types of applications.
- Vendor lock-in: Serverless computing can result in vendor lock-in, where developers are tied to a specific cloud provider’s services and APIs.
- Cold start issues: Serverless functions can suffer from “cold start” issues, where the first request to a function after a period of inactivity can result in slower response times.
- Limited execution time: Serverless functions typically have a maximum execution time limit, which can be a disadvantage for long-running processes.
- Debugging challenges: Debugging serverless functions can be challenging because they are typically run in a distributed environment and can be difficult to trace.
4. Benefits & Drawbacks of Cloud Computing
Cloud computing refers to the delivery of computing resources, including servers, storage, databases, software, and networking, over the internet on a pay-as-you-go basis. Instead of hosting their own infrastructure, organizations can use a third-party provider’s infrastructure to store and process data, run applications, and access computing power.
By using cloud computing services, organizations can quickly and easily adjust their resources to match their changing business needs, while only paying for what they use.
Cloud computing has become a popular technology for businesses and individuals, providing many benefits and drawbacks:
Benefits:
- Cost Savings: Cloud computing eliminates the need for upfront hardware costs, as well as ongoing maintenance and upgrade expenses. This can save businesses a significant amount of money.
- Scalability: Cloud computing allows businesses to easily scale their resources up or down depending on their needs. This means they can quickly adjust to changing market demands or unexpected spikes in traffic.
- Accessibility: Cloud computing allows users to access their data and applications from anywhere with an internet connection. This means they can work remotely or on-the-go, increasing productivity and flexibility.
- Disaster Recovery: Cloud computing provides automatic backup and disaster recovery services, ensuring that businesses can quickly recover from any data loss or downtime.
- Collaboration: Cloud computing enables collaboration between team members from different locations, as they can easily share files and access the same applications.
Drawbacks:
- Security: Cloud computing is vulnerable to security threats such as data breaches, cyberattacks, and insider threats. Organizations need to ensure they have robust security measures in place to protect their data.
- Reliance on Internet Connection: Cloud computing relies on a stable internet connection. If the connection is slow or disrupted, it can affect the user’s ability to access data or use applications.
- Data Ownership: When using cloud computing services, organizations need to ensure they retain ownership and control of their data. They also need to ensure that their data is stored in compliance with data privacy regulations.
- Vendor Lock-in: Cloud computing providers may offer proprietary technologies that can make it difficult for users to switch to another provider. This can result in vendor lock-in and limit a user’s ability to take advantage of new technologies or cost-saving opportunities.
- Performance: Cloud computing performance can be affected by the number of users accessing the system, the location of the data center, and other factors. Organizations need to ensure they have adequate resources and bandwidth to support their needs.
5. Serverless VS Cloud Computing Key Differences
Cloud computing and serverless computing are both computing models that provide on-demand computing resources over the internet, but there are some key differences between the two:
- Infrastructure Management: In cloud computing, the user is responsible for managing the underlying infrastructure, including servers, storage, and networking. In serverless computing, the infrastructure is managed by the cloud provider, and the user only needs to worry about the code they are deploying.
- Billing Model: Cloud computing typically follows a pay-as-you-go model, where users are charged based on the amount of resources they use. Serverless computing also follows a pay-as-you-go model, but users are charged based on the number of executions of their code rather than the amount of resources they use.
- Scaling: Cloud computing requires users to manually scale their infrastructure up or down based on demand. In serverless computing, the infrastructure scales automatically based on the number of requests being made.
- Resource Allocation: In cloud computing, users need to allocate resources in advance based on expected demand. In serverless computing, resources are automatically allocated and deallocated based on actual demand.
- Deployment: In cloud computing, applications need to be deployed on servers and managed by the user. In serverless computing, applications are deployed as functions, which are automatically executed in response to requests.
To recapitulate, serverless computing is a more hands-off, pay-for-what-you-use model that allows developers to focus on writing code rather than managing infrastructure. However, cloud computing is still a popular option for many organizations that need more control over their infrastructure and want to avoid potential cold-start performance issues that can occur with serverless computing.
6. Types of Cloud and Serverless Computing
There are several types of serverless computing, including:
- Function-as-a-Service (FaaS): FaaS is the most common type of serverless computing. It allows developers to deploy code in the form of functions, which are small, self-contained blocks of code that can be triggered by events, such as HTTP requests, database updates, or file uploads. The cloud provider automatically scales the infrastructure up or down based on the number of function invocations, and users are only charged for the number of invocations and the duration of each invocation.
- Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS): BaaS is a type of serverless computing that provides developers with a set of pre-built backend services, such as authentication, storage, and messaging, that can be integrated into their applications. BaaS services are typically offered as APIs that can be called from client-side code or server-side functions.
- Mobile-backend-as-a-Service (MBaaS): MBaaS is a type of serverless computing that provides developers with a set of pre-built backend services specifically designed for mobile applications. MBaaS services typically include user authentication, push notifications, storage, and analytics.
- Event-driven computing: Event-driven computing is a type of serverless computing that allows developers to write applications that respond to events, such as database updates, user actions, or system events. The cloud provider automatically scales the infrastructure up or down based on the number of events, and users are only charged for the number of events and the duration of each invocation.
- Container-based computing: Container-based computing is a type of serverless computing that allows developers to deploy and run containers without worrying about the underlying infrastructure. The cloud provider automatically manages the infrastructure and scales it up or down based on demand. Container-based computing is typically used for long-running applications or microservices that require more control over the environment than functions.
Additionally, there are three main types of cloud computing services:
- Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provides virtualized computing resources over the internet, including servers, storage, and networking.
- Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) provides a platform for developers to build, run, and manage applications without having to worry about the underlying infrastructure.
- Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provides a complete software solution that is hosted and managed by the provider, accessible over the internet through a web browser or application programming interface (API).
7. Conclusion
In conclusion, both cloud computing and serverless computing are powerful computing models that provide on-demand computing resources over the internet. Cloud computing provides users with more control over their infrastructure and allows for more fine-grained resource allocation, while serverless computing provides a more hands-off, pay-for-what-you-use model that allows developers to focus on writing code.
Ultimately, the choice between cloud computing and serverless computing will depend on the specific needs and goals of each organization. Both models have their strengths and weaknesses, and the right choice will depend on the unique circumstances of each situation.
I often prefer serverless than cloud computing