Not so FaaS...

What's under the Hood??

Linda Nichols

@lynnaloo

Norfolk.js

norfolkjs.org

norfolkjs.org/nodebots

Last year, at ServerlessConf...

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But this year, it's all about the compute products!

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And a little bit about

Vin Diesel.

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Because the FaaS puns are not done yet.

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What are

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Functions-as-a-Service (FaaS)?

The FaaS and the Furious

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  • Stateless and ephemeral functions

  • Run in fully-managed containers

2 FaaS 2 Furious

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  • Developers focus on writing code

  • Easily deploy independent services

FaaS & Furious

 

  • You pay only while your code runs

  • You don't pay for idle services

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But how does it really work?

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  1. Interview people who definitely know how these systems work
  2. Interview people who think they know how they work
  3. Read a lot of blogs from people who spent a lot of time poking around in cloud services

My Approach:

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  1. I do want to know what's in the secret sauce and how cloud providers stay competitive
  2. I do not necessarily want to know about the internals down to each Scala or Python utility

My Conclusion:

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Warning: This is the part where it gets really opinionated.

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The FaaS 4

IBM Functions (OpenWhisk)

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Apache OpenWhisk

 

  • Open-source serverless compute platform

  • Executes functions with event triggers

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They really mean Open

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A Peek Inside

 

  • The containers are Docker

  • All of the runtimes are all in Docker Hub

  • If you don't like them, roll your own!

  • You can also install it on your Kubernetes cluster 

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Design Summary

 

  • Load Balancing: Nginx

  • Orchestration: Custom Scala controller

  • System State: CouchDB

  • Event Bus: Kafka and Zookeeper

  • All of the above run as a container 

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Notes on Speed

 

  • Node.js and Python are pre-warmed and reliably fast on IBM Cloud

  • Slowest runtime is Java, but only on cold start

Azure Functions

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- Jeff Hollan, Senior Program Manager for Azure Functions

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"Can I be Jason Statham?"

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Basic Parts

 

  • Azure's Serverless compute service

  • Focus is developer satisfaction

  • Function runtimes are open-source

  • Infrastructure is closed-source

  • Easy integrations with services like Event Grid and Logic Apps

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Noteworthy Bits

 

  • All GA runtimes are "pre-warmed"

  • Java runtime is in preview, but will be GA soon

  • First class support for CloudEvents as part of EventGrid

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Secrets and Rumors

 

  • Runtimes for Go and Powershell are "coming soon"

  • Working internally on better/more tools to facilitate local development

  • Azure Function Apps can be used to make much less awkward "pingers"

Google Cloud Functions

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Cloud Functions are finally out of Beta!

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Basic Parts

 

  • Google Cloud Platform's "event-driven compute service"

  • Last of the major four platforms to release a FaaS service

  • Supports both Node 8 and Python (Beta) runtimes

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Mostly Speculation

 

  • Cloud Functions probably are are definitely not using Kubernetes

  • Hot Take: Knative integration completes the circle for moving on-prem workloads directly into a serverless architecture

  • Another Hot Take: Serverless Containers is more interesting than Knative.   

Amazon Lambda

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- Anonymous

"It's not using Kubernetes."

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Actual photo of AWS Lambda architecture....

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(just kidding)

The Basics

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  • AWS Lambda was the first major FaaS service and is still the most widely used

  • There are more Lambdas in production than any other FaaS service

  • Has an execution environment of some sort that might be a is not a "container"

Interesting Bits

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  • AWS operates internally less like a startup and more like a bank or trading floor

  • The future focus for Lambda is Enterprise support and adoption

  • Security and performance are key

  • AWS dogfoods Lambda internally and is supporting many services

In the Engine

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  • Lambdas using Go are the fastest, followed by Java (not a cold start)

  • While C# is the slowest, it's a really tiny difference (sub-ms)

  • If you allocate more than 1.8GB of memory, it will get a multi-core CPU

All These Rumors

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  • If a runtime needs patching, all containers will be updated within 12 hours

  • Amazon will make cold starts not a thing by the end of the year

  • While not the primary focus, a hybrid-cloud solution may be in the near future

So, which is the FaaStest?

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It depends. 

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@lynnaloo

 

  • Don't create monolithic functions

  • Reduce unused dependencies

  • Minimize the code you write

  • Don't use Functions to replace other cloud services

  • Don't ping more than every 5 minutes

FaaS Racing Tips

'use strict';

const catNames = require('cat-names');

function getCatName(event, context, callback) {
    callback(null, { payload: `Your cat name is ${catNames.random()}.` });
}

module.exports = getCatName;
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One Function, One Function

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Thank You!

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  • https://www.jeremydaly.com/15-key-takeaways-from-the-serverless-talk-at-aws-startup-day/

  • https://epsagon.com/blog/lambda-internals-exploring-aws-lambda

  • https://read.acloud.guru/comparing-aws-lambda-performance-when-using-node-js-java-c-or-python-281bef2c740f

  • https://functionmonkey.azurefromthetrenches.com/

 

 

  • https://medium.com/@PaulDJohnston/why-aws-lambda-and-zip-is-a-recipe-for-serverless-success-4f547a6e87c3

  • https://thenewstack.io/behind-scenes-apache-openwhisk-serverless-platform/

  • https://medium.com/openwhisk/uncovering-the-magic-how-serverless-platforms-really-work-3cb127b05f71

Credits:

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