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June 2, 2017 11:45 PM EDT | Reads: |
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What Is Function-as-a-Service? Serverless Architectures Are Here
By Matt Watson
It has never been a better time to be a developer. Thanks to cloud computing, deploying our applications is much easier than it used to be. How we deploy our apps continues to evolve thanks to cloud hosting, Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and now Function-as-a-Service.
What Is Function-as-a-Service (FaaS)?
FaaS is the concept of serverless computing via serverless architectures. Software developers can leverage this to deploy an individual "function", action, or piece of business logic. They are expected to start within milliseconds and process individual requests and then the process ends.
Principles of FaaS:
- Complete abstraction of servers away from the developer
- Billing based on consumption and executions, not server instance sizes
- Services that are event-driven and instantaneously scalable
At the basic level, you could describe them as a way to run some code when a "thing" happens. Here is a simple example below from Azure Functions. Shows how easy it is to process an HTTP request as a "Function".
using System.Net;
public static async Task<HttpResponseMessage> Run(HttpRequestMessage req, TraceWriter log) {
log.Info("C# HTTP trigger function processed a request.");
// Get request body
dynamic data = await req.Content.ReadAsAsync<object>();
return req.CreateResponse(HttpStatusCode.OK, "Hello " + data.name);
}
Benefits & Use Cases
Like most things, not every app is a good fit for FaaS.
We have been looking to use them at Stackify primarily for our very high volume transactions. We have some transactions that happen hundreds of times per second. We see a lot of value in isolating that logic to a function that we can scale.
- Super high volume transactions - Isolate them and scale them
- Dynamic or burstable workloads - If you only run something once a day or month, no need to pay for a server 24/7/365
- Scheduled tasks - They are a perfect way to run a certain piece of code on a schedule
Types of Functions
There are a lot of potential uses for functions. Below is a simple list of some common scenarios. Support and implementation for them varies by provider.
- Scheduled tasks or jobs
- Process a web request
- Process queue messages
- Run manually
These functions could also be chained together. For example, a web request could write to a queue, which is then picked up by a different function.
FaaS Providers
AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud all provide a solution. A lot of innovation is still going on in this area and things are rapidly improving and changing. Read our article on how AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud compare to determine which cloud best meets your needs.
Monitoring Challenges
One of the big challenges is monitoring your function apps. You still need to understand how often they occur, how long they take, and potentially, why they are slow.
Since you don't necessarily have a server or control the resources they are running on, you can't install any monitoring software.
How we monitor these new types of apps is going to continue to evolve.
Comparing FaaS vs PaaS
Platform-as-a-Service greatly simplifies deploying applications. It allows us to deploy our app and the "cloud" worries about how to deploy the servers to run it. Most PaaS hosting options can even auto-scale the number of servers to handle workloads and save you money during times of low usage.
PaaS offerings like Azure App Services, AWS Elastic Beanstalk, and others, make it easy to deploy an entire application. They handle provisioning servers and deploying your application to the servers.
Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) provides the ability to deploy what is essentially a single function, or part of an application. FaaS is designed to potentially be a serverless architecture. Although, some providers, like Azure, also allow you to dedicate resources to a Function App.
When deployed as PaaS, an application is typically running on at least one server at all times. With FaaS, it may not be running at all until the function needs to be executed. It starts the function within a few milliseconds and then shuts it down.
The post What Is Function-as-a-Service? Serverless Architectures Are Here! appeared first on Stackify.
@DevOpsSummit at Cloud Expo taking place June 6-8, 2017, at Javits Center, New York City, and is co-located with the 20th International Cloud Expo and will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading industry players in the world.
DevOps at Cloud Expo / @ThingsExpo 2017 New York
(June 6-8, 2017, Javits Center, Manhattan)
DevOps at Cloud Expo / @ThingsExpo 2017 Silicon Valley
(October 31 - November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA)
Download Show Prospectus ▸ Here
The widespread success of cloud computing is driving the DevOps revolution in enterprise IT. Now as never before, development teams must communicate and collaborate in a dynamic, 24/7/365 environment. There is no time to wait for long development cycles that produce software that is obsolete at launch. DevOps may be disruptive, but it is essential.
@DevOpsSummit will expand the DevOps community, enable a wide sharing of knowledge, and educate delegates and technology providers alike. Recent research has shown that DevOps dramatically reduces development time, the amount of enterprise IT professionals put out fires, and support time generally. Time spent on infrastructure development is significantly increased, and DevOps practitioners report more software releases and higher quality. Sponsors of @DevOpsSummit will benefit from unmatched branding, profile building and lead generation opportunities through:
- Featured on-site presentation and ongoing on-demand webcast exposure to a captive audience of industry decision-makers.
- Showcase exhibition during our new extended dedicated expo hours
- Breakout Session Priority scheduling for Sponsors that have been guaranteed a 35-minute technical session
- Online advertising in SYS-CON's i-Technology Publications
- Capitalize on our Comprehensive Marketing efforts leading up to the show with print mailings, e-newsletters and extensive online media coverage.
- Unprecedented PR Coverage: Editorial Coverage on DevOps Journal
- Tweetup to over 75,000 plus followers
- Press releases sent on major wire services to over 500 industry analysts.
For more information on sponsorship, exhibit, and keynote opportunities, contact Carmen Gonzalez by email at events (at) sys-con.com, or by phone 201 802-3021.
The World's Largest "Cloud Digital Transformation" Event
@CloudExpo / @ThingsExpo 2017 New York
(June 6-8, 2017, Javits Center, Manhattan)
@CloudExpo / @ThingsExpo 2017 Silicon Valley
(Oct. 31 - Nov. 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA)
Full Conference Registration Gold Pass and Exhibit Hall ▸ Here
Register For @CloudExpo ▸ Here via EventBrite
Register For @ThingsExpo ▸ Here via EventBrite
Register For @DevOpsSummit ▸ Here via EventBrite
Sponsorship Opportunities
Sponsors of Cloud Expo / @ThingsExpo will benefit from unmatched branding, profile building and lead generation opportunities through:
- Featured on-site presentation and ongoing on-demand webcast exposure to a captive audience of industry decision-makers
- Showcase exhibition during our new extended dedicated expo hours
- Breakout Session Priority scheduling for Sponsors that have been guaranteed a 35 minute technical session
- Online targeted advertising in SYS-CON's i-Technology Publications
- Capitalize on our Comprehensive Marketing efforts leading up to the show with print mailings, e-newsletters and extensive online media coverage
- Unprecedented Marketing Coverage: Editorial Coverage on ITweetup to over 100,000 plus followers, press releases sent on major wire services to over 500 industry analysts
For more information on sponsorship, exhibit, and keynote opportunities, contact Carmen Gonzalez (@GonzalezCarmen) today by email at events (at) sys-con.com, or by phone 201 802-3021.
Secrets of Sponsors and Exhibitors ▸ Here
Secrets of Cloud Expo Speakers ▸ Here
All major researchers estimate there will be tens of billions devices - computers, smartphones, tablets, and sensors - connected to the Internet by 2020. This number will continue to grow at a rapid pace for the next several decades.
With major technology companies and startups seriously embracing Cloud strategies, now is the perfect time to attend @CloudExpo | @ThingsExpo, June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY and October 31 - November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA. Learn what is going on, contribute to the discussions, and ensure that your enterprise is on the right path to Digital Transformation.
Track 1. FinTech
Track 2. Enterprise Cloud | Digital Transformation
Track 3. DevOps, Containers & Microservices
Track 4. Big Data | Analytics
Track 5. Industrial IoT
Track 6. IoT Dev & Deploy | Mobility
Track 7. APIs | Cloud Security
Track 8. AI | ML | DL | Cognitive Computing
Delegates to Cloud Expo / @ThingsExpo will be able to attend 8 simultaneous, information-packed education tracks.
There are over 120 breakout sessions in all, with Keynotes, General Sessions, and Power Panels adding to three days of incredibly rich presentations and content.
Join Cloud Expo / @ThingsExpo conference chair Roger Strukhoff (@IoT2040), June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY and October 31 - November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA for three days of intense Enterprise Cloud and 'Digital Transformation' discussion and focus, including Big Data's indispensable role in IoT, Smart Grids and (IIoT) Industrial Internet of Things, Wearables and Consumer IoT, as well as (new) Digital Transformation in Vertical Markets.
Financial Technology - or FinTech - Is Now Part of the @CloudExpo Program!
Accordingly, attendees at the upcoming 20th Cloud Expo / @ThingsExpo June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY and October 31 - November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA will find fresh new content in a new track called FinTech, which will incorporate machine learning, artificial intelligence, deep learning, and blockchain into one track.
Financial enterprises in New York City, London, Singapore, and other world financial capitals are embracing a new generation of smart, automated FinTech that eliminates many cumbersome, slow, and expensive intermediate processes from their businesses.
FinTech brings efficiency as well as the ability to deliver new services and a much improved customer experience throughout the global financial services industry. FinTech is a natural fit with cloud computing, as new services are quickly developed, deployed, and scaled on public, private, and hybrid clouds.
More than US$20 billion in venture capital is being invested in FinTech this year. @CloudExpo is pleased to bring you the latest FinTech developments as an integral part of our program, starting at the 20th International Cloud Expo June 6-8, 2017 in New York City and October 31 - November 2, 2017 in Silicon Valley.
@CloudExpo is accepting submissions for this new track, so please visit www.CloudComputingExpo.com for the latest information.
Speaking Opportunities
The upcoming 20th International @CloudExpo | @ThingsExpo, June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY and October 31 - November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA announces that its Call For Papers for speaking opportunities is open.
Submit your speaking proposal today! ▸ Here
Our Top 100 Sponsors and the Leading "Digital Transformation" Companies
(ISC)2, 24Notion (Bronze Sponsor), 910Telecom, Accelertite (Gold Sponsor), Addteq, Adobe (Bronze Sponsor), Aeroybyte, Alert Logic, Anexia, AppNeta, Avere Systems, BMC Software (Silver Sponsor), Bsquare Corporation (Silver Sponsor), BZ Media (Media Sponsor), Catchpoint Systems (Silver Sponsor), CDS Global Cloud, Cemware, Chetu Inc., China Unicom, Cloud Raxak, CloudBerry (Media Sponsor), Cloudbric, Coalfire Systems, CollabNet, Inc. (Silver Sponsor), Column Technologies, Commvault (Bronze Sponsor), Connect2.me, ContentMX (Bronze Sponsor), CrowdReviews (Media Sponsor) CyberTrend (Media Sponsor), DataCenterDynamics (Media Sponsor), Delaplex, DICE (Bronze Sponsor), EastBanc Technologies, eCube Systems, Embotics, Enzu Inc., Ericsson (Gold Sponsor), FalconStor, Formation Data Systems, Fusion, Hanu Software, HGST, Inc. (Bronze Sponsor), Hitrons Solutions, IBM BlueBox, IBM Bluemix, IBM Cloud (Platinum Sponsor), IBM Cloud Data Services/Cloudant (Platinum Sponsor), IBM DevOps (Platinum Sponsor), iDevices, Industrial Internet of Things Consortium (Association Sponsor), Impinger Technologies, Interface Masters, Intel (Keynote Sponsor), Interoute (Bronze Sponsor), IQP Corporation, Isomorphic Software, Japan IoT Consortium, Kintone Corporation (Bronze Sponsor), LeaseWeb USA, LinearHub, MangoApps, MathFreeOn, Men & Mice, MobiDev, New Relic, Inc. (Bronze Sponsor), New York Times, Niagara Networks, Numerex, NVIDIA Corporation (AI Session Sponsor), Object Management Group (Association Sponsor), On The Avenue Marketing, Oracle MySQL, Peak10, Inc., Penta Security, Plasma Corporation, Pulzze Systems, Pythian (Bronze Sponsor), Cosmos, RackN, ReadyTalk (Silver Sponsor), Roma Software, Roundee.io, Secure Channels Inc., SD Times (Media Sponsor), SoftLayer (Platinum Sponsor), SoftNet Solutions, Solinea Inc., SpeedyCloud, SSLGURU LLC, StarNet, Stratoscale, Streamliner, SuperAdmins, TechTarget (Media Sponsor), TelecomReseller (Media Sponsor), Tintri (Welcome Reception Sponsor), TMCnet (Media Sponsor), Transparent Cloud Computing Consortium, Veeam, Venafi, Violin Memory, VAI Software, Zerto
About SYS-CON Media & Events
SYS-CON Media (www.sys-con.com) has since 1994 been connecting technology companies and customers through a comprehensive content stream - featuring over forty focused subject areas, from Cloud Computing to Web Security - interwoven with market-leading full-scale conferences produced by SYS-CON Events. The company's internationally recognized brands include among others Cloud Expo® (@CloudExpo), Big Data Expo® (@BigDataExpo), DevOps Summit (@DevOpsSummit), @ThingsExpo® (@ThingsExpo), Containers Expo (@ContainersExpo) and Microservices Expo (@MicroservicesE).
Cloud Expo®, Big Data Expo® and @ThingsExpo® are registered trademarks of Cloud Expo, Inc., a SYS-CON Events company.
Published June 2, 2017 Reads 2,499
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