this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2024
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[–] dual_sport_dork 86 points 4 days ago (2 children)

It just means that they're not your servers.

[–] Landless2029 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

Not really. Serverless is OpEx. VPS is OpEx, but you also need OpEx budget for a person who can manage servers, not just a programmer.

VPS isn't rocket science, so you can probably find someone who can both program things and do the basic VPS server management needed. But, it is work that needs to be done by someone. In some cases, like if you're hiring scientists from academia who have never done any of their own sysadmin type stuff, it might be easier to just go with serverless so all they need to do is write programs.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

A VPS in not my server in the same sense then

[–] GreenKnight23 23 points 4 days ago (1 children)

an oversimplification of a complex solution.

it's like eating at a restaurant and bitching it's like eating at home.

while true, at home you didn't need to pay for the staff, stove, ingredients, pots, pans, water, flatware, plates, cups, etc... you also ignore the fact that your kitchen at home is comprised of a single 200w microwave, a minifridge, and a single plate.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

That's fair, I agree.

[–] [email protected] 105 points 4 days ago (7 children)

I mean, "serverless computing" has always only meant that it's "serverless" for the customer who buys the compute power in the sense that they don't have to bother the slightest with the architecture or managing it. Not really anything to reveal there...

[–] [email protected] 50 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Yeah, but the joke is somewhat funny still

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

I think the "Cat Looks Inside" meme would've been more appropriate, because the "Let's See Who This Really Is" (a.k.a. "Scooby Doo Reveal") meme is more about revealing something that is actually different, while CLI is sarcastic. Like "Wireless device. Look inside. Wires" isn't revealing anything serious but makes fun of the misleading nomenclature. A good SDR example would be pulling the mask off a KKK member to reveal a cop, while they are supposed to be on the opposite sides, they are one and the same.
On the meme spectrum, SDR sits somewhere between CLI and "They are the Same Picture".

Thank you for not coming to my MemTalk.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 4 days ago (1 children)

All I'm hearing is that it still runs on servers 😡

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 days ago (4 children)

MySQL: you set it up, if the server fails, you have to fix it. You set up replication, replication fails, you have to fix it. It's your alarms, you get up at 2:00 a.m., you set up backups. You deal with IP changes. You deal with your two+ boxes and their patches. Those servers are your responsibility. If their hypervisor needs an update you're stuck with the boxes going down.

Aurora serverless: you don't deal with any of that.

Saying they're the same as like saying that a self-driving taxi is the same as leasing your own car. In both cases there are servers involved, But in one of the two cases you don't have anything to do with the server.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 days ago (1 children)

So serverless means the same as buying it as a service?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] aesthelete 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Serverless in cloud computing typically refers to ephemeral processes...things like lambdas and message handlers.

Outside of that it's just a buzzword anyway (like "low code/no code" which is similar) so I guess any managed software is serverless by your definition?

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[–] aesthelete 4 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Saying they’re the same as like saying that a self-driving taxi is the same as leasing your own car.

No saying serverless computing is serverless--which has several definitions btw like all marketing doublespeak--is like saying a taxi is driverless.

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[–] TrickDacy 13 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (4 children)

And there we have it folks, the suffix "less" is now redefined

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 days ago

As with everything marketing, words mean nothing they just sound cool.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

From the point of view of the customer it is serverless. Maybe it's being done on a server, but maybe it's a magical genie in a bottle. You don't have to care because from your point of view you upload code and that code magically runs.

This fits perfectly in with other "-less" words. Like many "priceless" museum artifacts were bought and sold before they showed up in the museum. To the visitor and maybe to the museum they're priceless, but to the dealers who found it for the museum it had a price.

[–] TrickDacy 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Maybe it's being done on a server, but maybe it's a magical genie in a bottle. You don't have to care because from your point of view you upload code and that code magically runs.

Hard disagree. As someone who wrote several AWS lambdas, I know you have to care that it's being run on a server and you have to adjust to your code to work within that very-specific server system.

If anything it should be called "poly-server" because you cannot write your code without considering that it can be executed from several servers around the same time. I don't buy what you're selling here, other -less examples don't seem to betray their terminology at all to me but "serverless" will always sound wrong to me.

[–] pyre 3 points 4 days ago

I don't think it is. it's what you use if you're serverless yourself.

[–] dx1 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

"Function-based", "image-based" would have been slightly more accurate terms.

Wireless devices aren't actually "free of wires", it's that you don't have to deal with wires (or significantly less, since you still have to charge them etc., save for wireless charging). So that's not really new either.

[–] TrickDacy 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The first time I heard the term wireless, I was a little kid and I understood very quickly. When I first heard the term "serverless" I was an adult who had been programming a couple years. I remember genuinely being confused as strings of unparseable buzzwords bounced off my brain. A minute or two into the explanation, I'm pretty sure I said "oh, so it actually does run on a server". The ops person was forced to say yes. It was a genuinely confusing and imo pointless conversation that we shouldn't have needed to have.

[–] dx1 1 points 3 days ago

Were you doing any serious "devops" at the time? I didn't struggle with "serverless" knowing that otherwise I had to manually provision servers, virtual or bare metal.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 days ago (1 children)

This naming also came from a time when most people bought/rented servers where they would SSH/FTP into to update their software.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

Yeah, and the big selling point for serverless is that you only deal with the code you want to run, none of that "server management" stuff. It's a perfectly reasonable name based on what's appealing about it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago (3 children)

I still think it should be called server-transparent instead of serverless. Makes it a little clearer.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

People used "function as a service", "managed *" or "compute as a service" for a bit, but serverless actually seemed to capture the gist of it for customers better. It may be marketing speak, but it does seem to be an effective shorthand for the value it provides.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 days ago (2 children)

You can install serverless frameworks on your server though. Best of both worlds

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 days ago (2 children)

As someone in the ISP/hosting business, i can tell you that there are plenty of companies incapable of sufficiently managing actual servers. For their own safety it's probably better to let someone else manage it for them (despite getting ripped off then)

[–] Hackworth 8 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I'd like to take the stance that: If you can't manage your own data, don't start a business. But that seems like a shaky foundation to plant a flag, so I will instead say, "I hate Oracle."

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

If they cannot manage their own infrastructure, they also don't know what infrastructure is needed for their services. And they won't even have the opportunity to learn anymore.

Secondly, if you buy external services, you need to consider improving connectivity.

I mean, you can still work on your on-premises servers, if your internet connection fails. You cannot, if you outsourced essentials parts.

[–] subtext 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

You cannot work on your on-premises servers if you shit the bed with your server management.

(Just playing devil’s advocate)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

True.

But one thing you control, the other you don't.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Not every business has a need to run their own data center, and I say this as a guy who used to run a data center.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

Yeah, like the others said, it's bullshit MBA speak meant entirely for PR.

[–] umbraroze 54 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I was under the impression that "serverless" was marketing speak for "it has servers, but it's more opaque, and we will charge you a lot more".

[–] [email protected] 38 points 4 days ago (2 children)

It's more like "it has servers, but you don't have to manage them, or hire someone to manage them, and we will charge you a lot more, but maybe you'll save money because you don't have to hire someone".

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It may also be cheaper because they only run (and acal) when needed, instead of having a few extra servers running "just in case".

[–] x00z 10 points 3 days ago

Until you get a random ddoss attack or bug and get a 1000 times higher bill.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

Sure, you definitely don't need a devops to handle a serverless deployment.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago
[–] Live_Let_Live 16 points 3 days ago (1 children)

page 196 of CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 Cert Guide

Serverless

Another popular architecture is the serverless architecture. Be aware that serverless does not mean that you do not need a server somewhere. Instead, serverless archi- tecture involves using cloud platforms to host and/or to develop code. For example, you might have a serverless app that is distributed in a cloud provider like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Serverless is a cloud computing execution model in which the cloud provider (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and so on) dynamically manages the allocation and provision- ing of servers. Serverless applications run in stateless containers that are ephemeral and event triggered (fully managed by the cloud provider). AWS Lambda is one of the most popular serverless architectures in the industry.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 days ago

Me before opening this thread: I bet it's a weasel term for cloud bullshit.

Fucking marketing dickheads.

[–] [email protected] 67 points 4 days ago (2 children)

This is what happens when a technical field gets infiltrated by business bros. Remember how openai was talking about AGI helping humanity or smth? Their definition of AGI was leaked recently, its "making $100 billion profit".

That's it, thats what will help humanity achieve its true potential, by openai making $100b in profits.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 4 days ago

That’s it, thats what will help humanity achieve its true potential, by openai making $100b in profits.

Yay capitalism! We did it!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Not really. Serverless is "you don't need to manage the servers". For some businesses, even managing a VPS is too technical a task. So, you could either go out and hire someone who can do that, or you can go serverless and pay a bit more for that, but save by not needing additional expertise.

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[–] randofromorlando 2 points 3 days ago

I thought it was windows 11 home

[–] IsThisAnAI 5 points 4 days ago

The amount of ACKTUALLYs in this thread....

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