
Runtimes and dependencies are handled by the platform.
#WHAT IS SERVERLESS ARCHITECTURE A PAAS WINDOWS#
While not an architectural benefit, Azure Functions is a polyglot platform that supports a variety of languages, including Node.js, C#, PhP, Python and even Windows PowerShell.

Additionally, it also means that the WebJobs SDK can be used locally to create a local runtime environment. Thus, all the benefits you get by using Azure App Service are there and can be found just below the services in the settings.
#WHAT IS SERVERLESS ARCHITECTURE A PAAS CODE#
As shown in Figure 1, Azure Functions builds on top of Azure App Service and the WebJobs SDK, adding a bit of extra magic to host and run the Azure Function code and provide some niceties such as runtime binding. Azure Functions provides the serverless compute component of a serverless architecture. It’s prudent to discuss the typical properties of Azure Functions and serverless architectures. So what, exactly, is it? Fundamentally, serverless architecture is the next evolution of cloud services, built on top of PaaS, abstracting away VMs, application frameworks, and external dependencies via bindings so that developers can focus simply on the code to implement business logic. You might think it’s the next iteration of Platform as a Service (PaaS), and while close, it’s not really that, either. In fact, servers are still very much required you just don’t have to think about them. Despite the nomenclature, serverless architecture isn’t code that runs without servers. There are many definitions for serverless architecture. Serverless Architecture with Azure Functions In this article, we’ll explore what it means to have a serverless architecture and explore Azure Functions tooling. A new key component of this is Azure Functions, which provides the serverless compute capability in a complete solution ecosystem. In Microsoft Azure, there are many consumable services that can be chained together to form an entire solution. Finance pays for time slices, not a mostly idle virtual machine (VM) farm.

In a serverless world, developers create solutions instead of infrastructures and monitor execution and not environment health. It’s the point at which an individual’s effort is most granularly focused on the specific task and the waste in the system is at a minimum. A serverless architecture is the point at which those two streams converge. In parallel, it’s clear that as the IT industry has evolved, we’ve strived to achieve higher density at every level of a system, from the CPU to the server farm, in hopes of attaining the highest efficiency output from our systems.

Volume 32 Number 2 Serverless Architecture with Azure Functionsįrom tools to machines to computers, we look for ways to automate repetitive work and standardize the context in which we work so that we can focus on high-value specialized contributions to complete tasks and solve problems.
