What is FaaS?

The term cloud actually covers a wide variety of services. The diversity of use cases requires the use of different cloud computing models or services such as PaaS, IaaS or SaaS. The FaaS is one of these specific cloud approaches that meet specific goals. To help you better understand how it works, its advantages and disadvantages, but also its use cases, we offer you this dedicated article.

Definition of FaaS (Function-as-a-Service)

FaaS (Function-as-a-Service) refers to a cloud model used by developers to create, perform, or manage functions without having to worry about the underlying technical infrastructure.

Development professionals can then take advantage of this type of platform to: develop applications effectively with complete peace of mind. This type of service is generally integrated into public cloud offerings offered by providers such as IBM, AWS, or Google.

How FaaS works

The developer of a FaaS function must create a piece of computer code. The latter then integrates a function and the necessary dependencies. Then, this package is deployed on cloud platforms. As soon as an event triggers the function in question, the platform executes the code and mobilizes the necessary resources to do so. During this process, the cloud service provider takes care of computer code execution, scaling, resource management, and data security.

What are the differences between FaaS and serverless?

The term serveless is used to refer to an approach to development that offers the opportunity for the developer to create and run applications without worrying about the hardware architecture required. So, serverless integrates FaaS, but is not limited to it.

Indeed, the serverless cloud computing approach can also be used to exploit a remote database or the storage and the corporate document sharing.

Advantages and disadvantages of FaaS

Like any solution, FaaS (Function-as-a-Service) has strengths and weaknesses. In order to ensure the successful deployment of a process that takes advantage of this cloud approach, we therefore list in detail the advantages and disadvantages that it is necessary to take into consideration prior to your FaaS project.

Benefits of FaaS

• Accelerating processes: The development team saves time because they don't have to worry about technical infrastructure.
• Scalability of the solution: The functions run on demand and adapt automatically to the workload.
• Cost optimization: Depending on your needs, you only pay for and consume the IT resources required for your project.
• Simplicity of operation: By using this stateless container approach, developers improve productivity.
• Development versatility: Functions can be written in almost any computer language, which greatly increases your agility.

Disadvantages of FaaS

• Supplier lock: Your code may depend on the FaaS (Function-as-a-Service) platform you choose.
• Debugging complexity: The function debugging phase can be trickier than in traditional application development.
• Conducting the tests: The application testing phase is complex, as it is difficult to integrate FaaS code into a local test environment.
• Limited functions: The functions developed with FaaS are designed for short, stateless tasks.
• Dependence on events: All functions written via this type of cloud can only be executed in response to an event.

FaaS use cases

Cloud services respond to a very wide variety of use cases such as document transfer or online collaboration. FaaS is no exception and can also be used in a wide variety of situations.

Software development & deployment

FaaS is ideal for develop and deploy what we call microservices. These are independent, lightweight software components that communicate with each other. A team can also exploit the potential of this type of cloud to create and test prototypes or even perform punctual functions such as sending notification emails or processing credit card payments.

On-demand features

Perfect for manage and optimize the development of intermittent solutions, FaaS can be used to create functions that will then interact with external APIs. In particular, this makes it possible to make image recognition Or of the online translation. This cloud approach also makes perfect sense when processing data in batches in order to trigger functions to process CSV files or even analyze or generate reports.

Interactive websites

In the context of web development, FaaS can also do well. Les live chats Or the recommendation systems are all functionalities that can be based on event-based functions. FaaS can also act as a Backend for dynamic and scalable applications by managing user requests via RESTful APIs.

Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things is based on a multitude of sensors and a large volume of data from these sensors. The Function-as-a-Service approach will then be used to trigger specific functions as soon as certain sensor data is received. This process allows data to be processed and analyzed in real time.

Workflow automation

Finally, the FaaS cloud is very relevant in the context of the use of workflows. You can automate complex workflows involving numerous steps and approvals. Moreover, this approach can alsoi) integrate seamlessly into existing business workflows allowingautomate the transfer of documents via a online shared folder at certain key stages of a process.