More businesses invested in cloud computing and grew their cloud environments this 2018. In fact, out of 550 organizations, 73 percent said they have adopted cloud services for at least one application or a part of their computing infrastructure.
“Serverless architecture” is one cloud-based service that has grown significantly recently, with 50 percent of surveyed IT executives already running it and 28 percent planning to implement it in the next 18 months.
Introducing the New PaaS
The term “serverless architecture” shouldn’t be taken literally; the technology is still dependent on servers. Developers and other users just won’t need to concern themselves with the servers’ physical presence. An IT solutions company takes care of physically managing the servers for clients.
The technology shares similarities with the Platform as a Service (PaaS) cloud computing framework. PaaS and serverless platforms are both marketed toward developers and offer limited server management responsibilities. Additionally, both platforms reduce the client’s server management responsibilities and allow them to focus on developing applications.
The difference between the two is that PaaS providers charge end users for the platform as a whole, including unused and underutilized computing resources.
Meanwhile, serverless architecture requires fewer resources to operate and offers utility computing.
Rather than paying a fixed monthly fee, clients only need to pay for the exact computing resources the platform used to deploy their code.
The serverless platform works on an event-driven structure, meaning it executes the written code after pre-defined events are met and triggers the command.
A Boon for Developers and Startups
Developers and other end users, such as businesses and organizations, who move from PaaS to a serverless platform enjoy other benefits apart from larger savings.
These include:
– Micromanagement of servers by third-party IT companies
– Greater automation and reduced need for coding
– Fewer coding bugs and glitches
– Auto-scaling capabilities
Serverless architecture also helps streamline the development process, making testing new ideas easier. The infinite execution of a task is possible, provided the pre-defined trigger event occurs. This helps developers to move from prototype to production and launch a product faster. A faster deployment and software release, in turn, can help the developers raise their revenue.
Building Security in Serverless Computing
Serverless platforms offer better security against long-lived attacks. Since serverless architecture goes through a cycle of spinning up, executing code, and spinning down quickly, it isn’t left vulnerable for prolonged periods, making distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks more difficult.
The complex nature of serverless platforms, however, makes it harder to monitor, test, and debug, which could pose a security risk. Moreover, serverless platforms draw data from different sources like cloud storage and message queues. Its interconnectedness increases its attack surface and poses a challenge to traditional firewalls.
One silver lining through all these challenges is that any problems with securing the serverless infrastructure will no longer be the responsibility of the end user. The serverless architecture provider ensures the platform’s security.
CMIT Solutions can help you understand cloud hosting and storage services better. We also provide cybersecurity and data protection services. Contact us today.