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Serverless computing and containers have been around for a good number of years. As a matter of fact, the first such offering in the domain of serverless had come from Google when it introduced Google App Engine back in 2008.
Containerization also dates back to the era of 1970s - of course, the technology has improved by leaps and bounds since then. Its popularity grew massively when Docker entered the market in 2013.
Today, software development companies and businesses with internal IT teams use serverless and containers to create secure and interoperable software applications at the speed of business.
In this blog, we’ll thoroughly discuss the role and importance of serverless infrastructure and containers in streamlining and accelerating the software development and deployment process. We’ll talk about:
- What is serverless architecture?
- What is containerization?
- Containerization vs serverless
- When to use serverless
- When to use containerization
- Final thoughts
Let’s dive in.
What is Serverless architecture?
Serverless architecture enables our developers to focus on writing the business logic and not at all worry about the infrastructure it’d require.
Under this architectural approach, the responsibility of infrastructure, such as servers and databases, gets shifted to cloud service providers such as Amazon AWS and Google Cloud.
Developers are relieved from the responsibility of provisioning and managing the underlying infrastructure so they can focus on their core responsibilities which revolve around writing and shipping neat and clean code.
The core advantages of adopting serverless computing are:
- Reduced time-to-market: Serverless architecture leads to reduced time-to-market as developers are freed from putting in g unnecessary efforts in provisioning infrastructure for development teams.
- Increased scalability: Cloud providers automatically scale resources up and down as needed, which can save time and money, and improve application performance.
- Improved latency: Serverless cloud computing can reduce latency time between servers, which can lead to a faster user experience.
- Reduced operational overhead: Developers can focus on writing and deploying code instead of managing servers and infrastructure.
- Flexibility: Because the cloud provider manages the infrastructure, developers can quickly adapt to changes in user demands or business requirements.
- Cost efficiency: Serverless computing can be more cost-effective than traditional server-based architectures, which require users to provide a fixed amount of computing resources.
Why do we need serverless?
Before the advent of serverless infrastructure, developers or IT teams would deploy applications and software on their servers and databases. Though there were certainly advantages to this practice, there were a few issues with this approach:
- Operational costs: The companies would have to purchase and set up their servers and databases and associated hardware and software. The operational costs would further climb up dramatically as the need for computing and storage would go up as the business would grow.
- Less focus on writing code: Instead of writing clean and maintainable code for their applications and software, the traditional IT setup would require developers to set up, manage, and make provisions for the underlying infrastructure, that is, your servers and databases. This increased responsibility would thus hinder the ability of a developer to hone their skills and build more secure and high-performance apps.
- Time to market and cost of delivery: With traditional servers, developers would require significantly more time to develop an application and release it in the market. The cost of delivery would also go up as more development time is required.
This is where serverless comes into the picture with its new set of rules and features that free up development resources and help them write and deploy code without the need to worry about servers and databases.
What is containerization?
Containerization refers to a software deployment process in which developers package an application's code and its required files and libraries into a single container image. The containerized application is designed to run on any infrastructure or device, regardless of the operating system (OS.)
Using containers for software deployment unleashed a number of benefits:
- Security: Containers can integrate with host-level security policies, and virtualized resources can isolate the application from physical resources that could block malicious code. Development teams can also define security permissions to control access and communication.
- Fault isolation: If one container fails, other containers sharing the same operating system kernel are not affected.
- Portability: Containers can be written for one environment and then ported and deployed to another.
- Efficiency: Container applications can help minimize cases where an application works fine in one location but runs into bugs in another. Container building workflows also work well in CI/CD pipeline integrations.
Why do we need containers?
Before the advent of serverless infrastructure, developers or IT teams would deploy applications and software on their servers and databases. Though there were certainly advantages to this practice, there were a few issues with this approach:
Containers are a key component of modern app development. They can be used to:
- Support rapid scale-up and scale-down: Containers address the problem of applications failing to run correctly when moved from one environment to another.
- Provide a lightweight infrastructure: Containers provide a lightweight, immutable infrastructure for application packaging and deployment.
- Simplify packaging and dependency management: Containers provide a discrete reproducible compute environment and simplify packaging and dependency management.
- Reduce overhead: Containers require fewer system resources than traditional or hardware virtual machine environments because they don't include operating system images.
- Increase portability: Applications running in containers can be deployed easily to multiple operating systems and hardware platforms.
Also read: What is Kubernetes? Discover the top 3 Kubernetes trends on the rise in 2023
Serverless vs. containers
Serverless and containers are cloud-based solutions to streamline and accelerate software deployment. Using these tech solutions help companies reduce time-to-market while ensuring increased customer experience and more secure digital products.
| Points of differences | Serverless | Containers |
|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure management | In serverless computing, cloud service providers, such as Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure, manage the underlying IT infrastructure | Requires management of infrastructure |
| Scalability | Resources scale up and scale down as per the demand | Requires manual or automated scaling |
| Deployment | Deploy individual functions | The development team can deploy the application as containers |
| Execution model | Event-driven; Functions as a Service (FaaS) | Application packaged with dependencies |
| Cold start | Possible delay on the first request | Faster start-up times |
| Cost | Granular billing based on function execution | Billing based on allocated resources |
| Use cases | Serverless is ideal for event-driven tasks, microservices, etc. | Apt for containerized applications, microservices |
When to use serverless (Use cases)?
Serverless computing has a long list of use cases. Developers and companies worldwide are harnessing the transformative potential of serverless to drive innovation and productivity while reducing their IT costs. Some common use cases for serverless computing include:
- Trigger-based tasks: Serverless computing is a perfect fit for trigger-based tasks. For example, when a user signs up for a newsletter or joins a loyalty program, a database change may trigger a welcome email.
- Media processing: Transcoding video for different devices or resizing images.
- Building RESTful APIs: Serverless functions can handle the backend work.
- Client-heavy applications: For applications that have large server loads.
- Applications that need to scale quickly: Serverless architecture can help with rapid scaling
When to use containers (Use cases)?
Some common use cases for containers include the following:
Cloud computing: Containers can package all the elements needed to run software in any environment, making it easier to migrate to the cloud and reducing the need to worry about platform compatibility.
DevOps: Containers are lightweight and require few CPU and memory resources, making them popular in DevOps. They also allow code to function in any environment by sharing operating system resources, which can reduce the workload for developers.
Security: Containers can be decoupled, meaning that if one container crashes, the others will continue running without interruption. This makes containers well-suited for situations where security is a primary concern.
Final thoughts
Serverless and containers are both cloud-based solutions that help the development team accelerate their deployment processes while reducing the operational costs involved in infrastructure set-up and management.
The choice between the two technologies, however, mostly depends on the specific needs and constraints of your development project. Serverless computing excels in use cases where you require rapid scaling, minimal infrastructure management, and reduced deployment costs for event-driven applications.
Containerization, on the other hand, is a more suitable choice for projects where you demand more control, flexibility, and portability. So, you may like to choose this specific deployment solution for complex and long-running software applications.
A reliable web and movie app development partner can further help you make an informed decision that aligns with your business goals and technical requirements. For a quick consultation, please connect with Team Kellton.
FAQs
What is serverless architecture?
Serverless architecture is an innovative development approach that enables developers to write software applications without managing the underlying infrastructure, including servers. In serverless architecture, cloud service providers, such as Amazon AWS and Google Cloud, look after all the infrastructure management, including provisioning, scaling, hardware maintenance, and software and security updates.
What are containers?
Containers are a type of operating system virtualization that packages application code and its dependencies into a standardized unit. They allow software applications to be portable and run in different locations.
How do serverless architectures and containers differ in terms of infrastructure management?
Serverless architectures completely isolate the infrastructure from the developer, whereas containers require management of the container orchestration platform.
What are some common use cases for serverless computing?
You can consider serverless computing for a range of use cases including trigger-based tasks, media processing, building RESTful APIs, client-heavy applications, and applications that need to scale quickly. This deployment model thrives where event-driven architecture and rapid scaling are required.
What are some common use cases for containers?
Containerization can deliver better results for cloud computing, DevOps practices, and situations where security is a primary concern. Use containers for packaging applications to run consistently across different environments and for tasks requiring lightweight, isolated execution units.
