- The paper presents a comprehensive survey of serverless computing, demonstrating its ability to abstract operational concerns and streamline cloud deployments.
- It examines major industry and open-source platforms, highlighting benefits like cost-effectiveness and scalability alongside challenges such as cold start delays and function isolation.
- The study outlines open research directions, emphasizing the need for improved tooling, state management, and strategies for adapting legacy applications to serverless models.
An Analytical Review of "Serverless Computing: Current Trends and Open Problems"
The paper "Serverless Computing: Current Trends and Open Problems," authored by prominent researchers from IBM Research and Bentley University, explores the evolving paradigm of serverless computing within the domain of cloud application deployment. Serverless computing, also known as Function-as-a-Service (FaaS), represents a significant shift in cloud programming models, characterized by the ability to abstract operational concerns and scale on demand.
Overview
The paper provides a comprehensive survey of existing serverless platforms from both industry and open-source projects, notes key characteristics and use cases, and discusses technical challenges and unresolved problems. It highlights the dual perspective of serverless computing from both Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) consumers and cloud providers. For developers, serverless offers a simplified programming model that minimizes operational issues and optimizes resource costs. For providers, it offers an efficient paradigm to control and optimize resource management, potentially increasing the use of auxiliary services within their ecosystem.
Key Characteristics and Platforms
Serverless is defined by its ability to simplify deployment by executing code in response to events without the need for developers to manage server resources. This is contrasted with Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), where developers are restricted to certain packaged applications. Major cloud providers such as Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, and Google have launched serverless platforms, demonstrating industry confidence in this model. Open-source projects like OpenLambda are also contributing to the development of reference architectures for serverless platforms.
Benefits and Challenges
The main advantages of serverless computing include cost-effectiveness, simplicity in writing scalable microservices, and elimination of server management overhead. However, there are notable drawbacks and challenges. From a consumer's perspective, the FaaS model can be constraining; for providers, issues such as lifecycle management, scalability, and fault tolerance remain significant hurdles. Security, particularly function isolation in a multi-tenant environment, is also a critical challenge.
Implications and Research Directions
The paper emphasizes that serverless computing is still in its infancy, with limited academic research to date. It identifies existing challenges such as optimizing cold start times, managing hybrid cloud environments, and enabling effective serverless function composition. There is also a call for improved tooling, monitoring, and debugging resources that are specifically designed for the unique aspects of serverless applications.
Open problems presented in the paper include addressing the boundaries of serverless applications, developing effective state management solutions, and creating patterns for building serverless solutions. The authors advocate for further research into whether legacy applications can be adapted to serverless models and how serverless might extend traditional cloud computing boundaries, such as into IoT or blockchain environments.
Conclusion
The paper concludes by recognizing serverless computing as an evolutionary step towards higher abstraction levels in cloud application development. This evolution fosters new opportunities for innovation in both practical and theoretical aspects. The document calls for heightened academic interest in serverless computing to develop sophisticated solutions to the challenges outlined, which have substantial implications for future cloud computing practices.