What is serverless computing?
Serverless means you run code without managing any servers yourself. Servers still exist, but the cloud provider handles all of them, and you just upload a function that runs when triggered. You pay only for the time your code runs. AWS Lambda is the best known example. It is great for event driven and bursty workloads.
How it works
You write a small function, for example resize an image, and the provider runs it whenever an event happens, like a file upload. When nothing is happening, you pay nothing, and when many events arrive, it scales automatically.
- No server management at all.
- Pay only for actual execution time.
- Scales automatically with the number of events.
Clear up the name. Saying serverless does not mean there are no servers, it means you do not manage them shows you understand it deeply, since the name confuses many people.
Common follow up questions
Related interview questions
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