What is serverless architecture?
Serverless architecture is a software development approach in which developers can run applications without managing the underlying infrastructure. In the serverless computing model, the cloud provider handles all infrastructure setup, maintenance, and scaling. This eliminates the need to install OS and language runtimes, databases, and queuing services, freeing up developer time. Developers thus only write and deploy business logic, enabling them to build high-quality applications faster.
Serverless is event based, which means functions are triggered by events from sources like HTTP requests, database modifications, or file uploads. This approach is ideal for applications that require agility and flexibility because it’s easily extendable. New services that get added to the system can simply listen and respond to the events that are already circulating.
Platforms like AWS Lambda abstract away server management, enabling a pay-per-execution model. Developers are only charged for what they use and not for potentially idle servers. Infrastructure that lays idle doesn’t generate any value and is an overhead for operations, but with serverless, this becomes the responsibility of the cloud provider. With serverless computing, starting and stopping functions takes just a fraction of a second. This enables functions to match unpredictable workloads better than VMs or containers, which can sometimes take minutes for scaling, leaving larger periods overprovisioned or underprovisioned. more here