What is a serverless component in cloud computing?

Serverless is a component of cloud computing that gives the functionality of building and running applications without having to manage servers. As the name may suggest, it does not mean that the applications do not have any servers. Rather, it is "serverless" because the developers don't need to know and manage servers and the backend. The backend is managed by the cloud service provider on which the app is deployed.

The key services provided by a serverless provider are database management, load balancing, security management, system updates, network management, and other back-end architecture.

Serverless vs. server-oriented applications

The main difference between serverless and server-oriented applications is as follows: in the case of serverless applications, the function is invoked only when required, while the traditionally server-oriented application is always running over the server, keeping resources occupied on the server even when the application is not using them. The same is the case with scalability in server-oriented applications. It is not as easy to scale up the application resources, but in the case of serverless applications, it is.

Pros and cons of serverless architecture

Some pros of serverless architecture are mentioned below:

• Cost-effective: We only pay for the time for which our task is running.

• Flexibility and scalability: We can scale up and down resources per our task's requirement, making scalability easier.

• Developer ease: It gives us more ease to use any language we are comfortable with so we have to focus only on front-end development.

Some disadvantages of serverless architecture are mentioned below:

• Testing and debugging complexity: Testing and debugging becomes more challenging because the backend does not run on our server. As a result, we must rely on logs for tracking errors.

• Security concerns: We have to rely on provider security management, which might not be strong enough and not suitable for sensitive data of applications.

• Not for continuous running functions: It is not suitable for continuous services that need to remain up all the time because, in such cases, it does not remain a cost-effective solution.

• Provider dependency: We become dependent on the serverless service provider for our services. This may get us into long-term contracts, which may not be suitable for us in the future.

These days there is a lot of hype regarding serverless architecture, but developers have to make a decision based on their application and system requirements.