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b1833cc7 JN |
1 | --- |
2 | title: "Demystifying the term Serverless" | |
3 | date: 2018-07-15T17:40:09+05:30 | |
4 | lastmod: 2018-07-15T17:40:09+05:30 | |
5 | tags : [ "serverless", "devops" ] | |
6 | categories : [ "tech" ] | |
7 | layout: post | |
8 | type: "post" | |
9 | highlight: false | |
10 | --- | |
11 | ||
12 | ||
13 | <img src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1000/1*JQwYsJYUjKLWCf8r4iEueQ.jpeg" width=800/> | |
14 | *Server, the physical hardware* | |
15 | ||
16 | When people think of servers, they imagine a big machine or a large stack of them making humming noises and furiously serving millions of requests. | |
17 | ||
18 | A server can also mean a computer program that is continuously running, listening for client requests and serving them. Think Apache, Nginx or Tomcat. | |
19 | ||
20 | ![Apache HTTP server, the software](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/2000/1*ANRQ-WLCLs5yM13GKGBtPg.png) | |
21 | *Apache HTTP server, the software* | |
22 | ||
23 | When someone says that they have gone *serverless*, what they actually mean is that they are no longer running a software program listening to requests. There should still be a physical computer of some sort serving the requests of the clients. | |
24 | ||
25 | The premise of serverless is that you don’t have to keep a computer program called a server continuously running to serve your clients’ requests. When a request comes in, a small program (maybe a single function) gets invoked, serves the request and terminates. | |
26 | ||
27 | ### What is FaaS then? | |
28 | ||
29 | *Serverless *(not running server programs) is the goal* *and* Function as a Service* (FaaS) should be considered one of its implementations. | |
30 | ||
31 | ### Are microservices and P2P applications serverless too? | |
32 | ||
33 | Not really. | |
34 | A lot of microservices use HTTP for communication and thus have a server component in them. | |
35 | A P2P application (e.g. Syncthing, BitTorrent) acts as both the client and the server and hence doesn’t need a server decoupled from the client. | |
36 | ||
37 | Now that you know what serverless actually means, it’s time to learn more about it. I recommend starting with this [blog post](https://martinfowler.com/bliki/Serverless.html) by Badri Janakiraman. |