As enterprises move towards digitization, the need for scalable and reliable backends become more important than ever. The traditional way of building backends, which is to provision and manage servers, can be costly and time-consuming. Serverless architecture is a new way of building backends that is becoming more popular because it is more scalable, reliable and cost-effective.
In this article, we will discuss what serverless architecture is and how it can be used to build scalable backends. We will also provide some practical tips on how to get started with building serverless backends.
Serverless architecture is a new way of building backends that does not require provisioning or managing servers. Instead, it relies on a combination of managed services and functions-as-a-service (FaaS) providers.
Managed services are cloud services that abstract away the need to manage infrastructure. Examples of managed services include managed databases, managed storage, and managed messaging. FaaS providers allow you to run code without having to provision or manage servers. Examples of FaaS providers include AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Functions, and Azure Functions.
With serverless architecture, you can build backends that are more scalable and reliable, and that can be deployed faster and at a lower cost.
There are many ways to build scalable backends with serverless architecture. In this section, we will discuss two common patterns: the event-driven architecture and the microservices architecture.
Event-driven architecture is a common pattern for building scalable backends with serverless architecture. In this pattern, events are used to trigger the execution of code. For example, an event can be generated when a user signs up for a service, when a file is uploaded to a storage bucket, or when a message is sent to a message queue.
Event-driven architecture is a good choice for building scalable backends because it can be easily scaled up or down. For example, if you have a lot of users signing up for your service, you can scale up your backend by adding more event handlers. Or, if you have a lot of files being uploaded to your storage bucket, you can scale up your backend by adding more code to handle the file uploads.
Microservices architecture is another common pattern for building scalable backends with serverless architecture. In this pattern, each backend service is a separate microservice. For example, if you have a user signup service, a file upload service, and a message queue service, each of these would be a separate microservice.
Microservices architecture is a good choice for building scalable backends because it allows you to independently scale each service. For example, if you have a lot of users signing up for your service, you can scale up the user signup service without affecting the other services. Or, if you have a lot of files being uploaded to your storage bucket, you can scale up the file upload service without affecting the other services.
If you're new to serverless architecture, here are some tips to help you get started:
Use managed services: Managed services can help you get started with serverless architecture quickly and easily. They abstract away the need to provision and manage infrastructure, and they provide a ready-made solution for common backend tasks.
Use FaaS providers: FaaS providers allow you to run code without having to provision or manage servers. They provide a ready-made solution for running code in response to events.
Start small: When you're first getting started with serverless architecture, it's best to start small. Build a simple backend that uses a few managed services and FaaS providers. Once you've got a basic understanding of how serverless architecture works, you can start to add more features and services.
Use a CI/CD pipeline: A CI/CD pipeline can help you automate the process of building, testing, and deploying your serverless backend. This can help you save time and ensure that your backend is always up-to-date.
Serverless architecture is a new way of building backends that is becoming more popular because it is more scalable, reliable and cost-effective. In this article, we have discussed what serverless architecture is and how it can be used to build scalable backends. We have also provided some tips on how to get started with serverless architecture.