An Introduction to Serverless Computing: Benefits and Use Cases

An Introduction to Serverless Computing: Benefits and Use Cases

Introduction

Serverless computing is an exciting new technology that can potentially reduce some of the complexities in app development. It can also help you get your apps up and running faster, which is especially useful if you're building something as part of a sprint or hackathon. In this article, we'll discuss what serverless computing is and why it makes sense for developers to adopt it into their workflow.

What is Serverless?

Serverless computing allows you to develop, deploy and operate applications without managing the underlying infrastructure. Cloud providers handle everything, from scaling the application down when there are no users to scaling it up when there are too many requests and through maintenance of servers that may not be needed at all times.

With serverless computing, you only pay for what you use. This model allows developers to focus on building their applications instead of worrying about managing servers or operating systems—things that may have been difficult to do before but are now handled seamlessly by cloud providers like AWS Lambda or Google Cloud Functions.

Who Should Use Serverless Computing?

Serverless computing is a technology that can be used by anyone who needs to build a new application. Small and large companies can use it, as startups, established companies, large enterprises, individuals and small teams, developers, and non-developers.

Benefits of using Serverless Technology

Serverless technology is an emerging trend in the industry. It allows you to focus on your application, not the infrastructure, which can significantly benefit developers. With serverless computing, you can reduce operational costs by reducing your reliance on servers and decreasing the time spent managing them. This can also help scalability since you only pay for what you use.

While serverless computing may be an excellent choice for many applications, there are some cases where traditional virtual or physical machines will be better suited, regardless of whether they're public cloud or private cloud solutions.

Use Cases for Serverless Computing

As you can see, serverless computing has many benefits and use cases. For example:

  • You can run software without having to manage or scale infrastructure (e.g., AWS Lambda)

  • It's a great way to reduce some of the complexities in app development (e.g., Azure Functions)

  • Serverless allows you to avoid the cost and complexity of managing servers (e.g., Google Cloud Functions)

When Is Serverless Computing Not a Good Fit?

Serverless computing isn't a good fit for every situation. The biggest drawback is that you can only access your data through the AWS Lambda functions uploaded to Amazon. If you need more control over your servers or your application needs to be accessible outside of Amazon, then serverless isn't work for you.

Additionally, if you have a lot of data to store — like hundreds or thousands of gigabytes — the cost may become prohibitively expensive with serverless computing because it requires direct access to storage space on AWS servers and bandwidth costs.

If storing data for long periods is essential for your application (for example, if it must process extensive file archives), remember that most "serverless" services will delete files after 30 days unless explicitly saved by the user.

Serverless computing benefits enterprises in various ways

Serverless computing is still a relatively new concept and will continue to evolve. Although some organizations already use serverless computing as a cloud strategy, most remain on the sidelines. However, many use cases can benefit enterprises as they pursue serverless computing and develop their strategy for leveraging it.

Simplifying Development with Serverless Computing

Serverless computing can be a great way to reduce some of the complexities in app development. With serverless applications, developers don't have to worry about managing and scaling a server infrastructure. Instead, they can focus on building their core product or service and let the cloud provider handle everything. This means more time to focus on their core competencies while saving money on resources that would otherwise be spent managing servers and infrastructure like networking, load balancing, and database management.

Conclusion

Serverless computing is a powerful tool for developers to use. It can help them build faster, more efficiently, easier to maintain, and scale applications. The technology is still new, and many use cases can benefit enterprises. However, before jumping into serverless computing, it's essential to understand the benefits and limitations of this approach so that you know if it fits your needs!