[blog.git] / content / posts / demystifying-the-term-serverless.md

---
title: "Demystifying the term Serverless"
date: 2018-07-15T17:40:09+05:30
lastmod: 2018-07-15T17:40:09+05:30
tags : [ "serverless", "devops" ]
categories : [ "tech" ]
layout: post
type:  "post"
highlight: false
---

![A server rack](/blog/server-hardware.jpeg)
*Server, the physical hardware*

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.

A server can also mean a computer program that is continuously running, listening for client requests and serving them. Think Apache, Nginx or Tomcat.

![Apache HTTP Server logo](/blog/apache-logo.png)
*Apache HTTP server, the software*

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.

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.

### What is FaaS then?

*Serverless *(not running server programs) is the goal* *and* Function as a Service* (FaaS) should be considered one of its implementations.

### Are microservices and P2P applications serverless too?

Not really. 
A lot of microservices use HTTP for communication and thus have a server component in them. 
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.

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.
Commit	Line	Data
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
a37c7a26	12	![A server rack](/blog/server-hardware.jpeg)
b1833cc7 JN	13	Server, the physical hardware
	14
	15	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.
	16
	17	A server can also mean a computer program that is continuously running, listening for client requests and serving them. Think Apache, Nginx or Tomcat.
	18
a37c7a26	19	![Apache HTTP Server logo](/blog/apache-logo.png)
b1833cc7 JN	20	Apache HTTP server, the software
	21
	22	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.
	23
	24	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.
	25
	26	### What is FaaS then?
	27
	28	Serverless (not running server programs) is the goal* and Function as a Service* (FaaS) should be considered one of its implementations.
	29
	30	### Are microservices and P2P applications serverless too?
	31
	32	Not really.
	33	A lot of microservices use HTTP for communication and thus have a server component in them.
	34	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.
	35
	36	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.