Serverless Computing Paradigms: Opportunities and Challenges
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15662/IJARCST.2023.0606001Keywords:
Serverless Computing, Function-as-a-Service (FaaS), Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS), Cloud Computing, Scalability, Cold Start Latency, Vendor Lock-in, Security, Event-Driven Architecture, Distributed SystemsAbstract
Serverless computing has emerged as a transformative paradigm in cloud computing, enabling developers to build and deploy applications without managing the underlying infrastructure. By abstracting server management, serverless platforms automatically handle resource provisioning, scaling, and maintenance, allowing users to focus on application logic. This model typically employs Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) and Backend-as-aService (BaaS) components, promoting rapid development and operational efficiency.
This paper provides a comprehensive overview of serverless computing paradigms, highlighting key opportunities and associated challenges. The serverless approach offers benefits such as cost efficiency, automatic scalability, and reduced operational overhead. It enables event-driven architectures that respond dynamically to workload fluctuations, optimizing resource utilization. Furthermore, serverless facilitates faster time-to-market and enhanced developer productivity by simplifying deployment processes.
Despite these advantages, serverless computing presents notable challenges. Cold start latency affects performance, particularly in latency-sensitive applications. Vendor lock-in poses risks due to proprietary platform dependencies. Debugging and monitoring complexities arise from the distributed and ephemeral nature of functions. Security concerns are amplified by multi-tenancy and the shared responsibility model. Additionally, limitations in execution time, state management, and orchestration hinder certain use cases.
This study reviews recent research and industry practices to analyze these opportunities and challenges. It also examines the evolution of serverless architectures, tooling, and ecosystem support. Case studies illustrate real-world applications and their outcomes.
In conclusion, serverless computing represents a promising paradigm that significantly alters application development and deployment models. Addressing existing challenges through research and innovation is critical to realizing its full potential. This paper aims to inform researchers, practitioners, and decision-makers about the state-of-the-art serverless computing landscape and guide future advancements.
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