Serverless: a revolution in IT

If you are interested in creating software then you have probably already seen the term 'Serverless' come up. Serverless computing is a fairly new technology using microservices and the cloud. Due to its many advantages, this approach has revolutionised computing in a short time. Serverless is expected to make a big mark in 2021. High time to find out more about it. 

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    What is serverless

    Serverless is actually a misleading term. Any kind of software essentially requires a server. What is meant by Serverless is that you no longer have to worry about the server when creating and hosting software. This applies to both the customer and the developer, making it easier, faster and cheaper to build the software. 

    How does it work?

    To understand this properly, we first need to look at the normal use of a server. Here, you 'buy' a server on which you run the software. All traffic goes through this server with maximum capacity at a fixed price. The software is built by the developer and put on the server. However, the risk here is that the server is often underused or overused. So then you pay for unused server capacity or the server crashes in case of excessive use. In addition, you manage the server yourself. This makes it labour-intensive and not flexible in case of extreme growth or new updates, for example.

    With serverless, you 'rent' the server from a cloud provider such as Amazon or Google. The developer builds the software in so-called containers that can be immediately put live in the cloud. Traffic and data are distributed across the provider's servers, which move organically with the workload. This means you don't pay a fixed amount, but per Gigabite of storage space or millisecond of server usage. This makes it flexible and scalable. 

    The benefits

    Serverless makes building software easier, cheaper and faster, and it often does. Here are the main advantages:

    • Zero Administration
      The code can be deployed immediately without putting it on the server beforehand. No server management or operating system. No need to involve the DevOps department.
    • Auto-scaling
      No matter how fast you grow; server providers make sure you always have enough capacity. As usage increases, there is no need to adjust infrastructure or code in all the stress. It becomes scaled up effortlessly and organically.
    • Pay-per-use
      Pay only for the capacity you use and not the entire server. Usage is always changing, so why not the cost? Serverless allows you to pay per GB or millisecond usage.
    • Work Faster
      By deploying less DevOps and deploying code directly on the cloud, it has never been easier to digitally realise a business idea.

    Serverless computing enables businesses to devise and implement digital solutions quickly, easily and cheaply. In business, the current climate makes it more important than ever to make quick digital moves while remaining flexible and scalable.