What are serverless microservices?

Serverless microservices refer to a methodology in software development that breaks down applications into compact, autonomous modules (microservices) running on serverless compute environments.

Following is an explanation of the two key elements:

Microservices

This architectural pattern entails structuring an application as an assembly of compact, standalone modules, each performing a specific business operation. Each module is distinct and can be developed, deployed, and scaled independently.

Serverless

This represents a cloud computing execution model where the cloud service provider dynamically manages the allocation of machine resources. The primary objective of serverless computing is to enable developers to concentrate on crafting distinct functionalities, with the cloud provider taking care of all infrastructure-related management. These functionalities are typically event-driven and execute in response to specified triggers.

Combining these two concepts gives rise to serverless microservices. The benefits of this strategy include:

Scalability: Each microservice operates autonomously and can be scaled based on specific requirements. In a serverless architecture, this scalability is automatically managed by the cloud provider.

Cost-effectiveness: With serverless architectures, you only pay for the actual computing time consumed. There are no costs when your code is idle.

Efficiency: Developers can focus solely on developing code for their microservice, alleviating the need for server management or capacity planning.

Resilience: As microservices function independently, a failure in one does not necessarily affect the rest.

Prominent serverless platforms include AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Functions, and Microsoft Azure Functions. These platforms facilitate the deployment of code for individual microservices, eliminating the need to manage the underlying servers.

Examples

Let's look at a few real-world examples to help us better comprehend the idea of serverless microservices:

Image processing application: Consider an image processing application that can perform different operations like image upload, image processing (resizing, applying filters), and picture retrieval, and these different operations can be designed as different microservices. These microservices may all be created with the help of AWS Lambda functions. In this manner, based on demand, each function may scale independently. For instance, the picture upload function may scale up if numerous users upload photos without compromising the image processing or retrieval services.

E-commerce application: Serverless microservices may be used to build individual user authentication, inventory management, payment processing, and shipping functionality for e-commerce applications. For instance, a serverless function on Google Cloud Functions may be used to build user authentication, a serverless function on Azure Functions could handle payment processing, and so on. With this strategy, each service can expand independently in response to demand and is shielded from the failure of other services.