Is serverless web hosting the best option for blogs and small businesses?
The use of serverless in hosting/ computing parlance is not new but this concept is gaining ground because of its high versatility and low costs.
Don't be in any doubt about this: servers are very much required for a website or app to work online. As a publisher, you need not worry about the server if your website or program is on the cloud.
Bloggers and small business owners who maintain their own websites can gain from this type of hosting. It is especially useful for those in the business of offering apps and computer codes.
Now Microsoft Azure is offering serverless website making on its platform. Amazon's AWS already has serverless offering on Lambda. Google is offering it since 2008 and claims to have improved it significantly in the latest versions.
Wikipedia defines serverless computing like this:
For small purposes, such as hosting minor applications or a small website, serverless hosting is becoming a very tempting solution, especially because the top-end tech companies offer it, and at a very low fee.
The following video tells how AWS Lambda works:
By embedding this video I do not specifically recommend Lambda over other offers, but I have put the video here because it beautifully tells how a serverless service works.
Bloggers and small business owners who maintain their own websites can gain from this type of hosting. It is especially useful for those in the business of offering apps and computer codes.
Now Microsoft Azure is offering serverless website making on its platform. Amazon's AWS already has serverless offering on Lambda. Google is offering it since 2008 and claims to have improved it significantly in the latest versions.
What is serverless computing?
Wikipedia defines serverless computing like this:
Serverless computing is a cloud computing execution model in which the cloud provider dynamically manages the allocation of machine resources. Pricing is based on the actual amount of resources consumed by an application, rather than on pre-purchased units of capacity. It is a form of utility computing.In serverless web hosting, the servers are fully managed by the hosting company and the developer does not have to bother at all about server-related tasks. This is what is called FaaS or function as a service model and is the most hassle-free version of cloud computing. You pay for the functions that your code performs on the web, and it is the responsibility of the web hosting company to keep it running.
Serverless computing still requires servers, hence it's a misnomer. The name "serverless computing" is used because the server management and capacity planning decisions are completely hidden from the developer or operator.
For small purposes, such as hosting minor applications or a small website, serverless hosting is becoming a very tempting solution, especially because the top-end tech companies offer it, and at a very low fee.
The following video tells how AWS Lambda works:
By embedding this video I do not specifically recommend Lambda over other offers, but I have put the video here because it beautifully tells how a serverless service works.