Volume 9, Issue 10, October– 2024 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology

ISSN No:-2456-2165 https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/IJISRT24OCT976

Serverless Computing: Optimizing Resource

Utilization and Cost Efficiency
Sachin Gawande1 Shreya Gorde2
Rochester Insitute of Technology Rochester Insitute of Technology
Amazon Web Services (Technical Account Manager) Hyatt Corp. (Sr. Product Engineer)
Buffalo, New York, USA Buffalo, New York USA

Abstract:- Serverless computing has emerged as a the technical mechanisms that enable dynamic scaling and
transformative paradigm in cloud infrastructure, offering pay-per-use pricing, and the practical considerations for
organizations the ability to scale their applications organizations looking to adopt this transformative cloud
dynamically without the burden of managing underlying computing paradigm.
servers. By abstracting away the provisioning and scaling
of infrastructure, serverless computing enables II. UNDERSTANDING SERVERLESS
developers to focus on building and deploying their COMPUTING
applications, while the cloud provider handles the auto-
scaling, load balancing, and fault tolerance. This paper Serverless computing is a cloud-based execution model
examines the key benefits and challenges of serverless in which the cloud provider is responsible for managing the
computing, with a particular emphasis on optimizing underlying infrastructure, including the provisioning, scaling,
resource utilization and cost efficiency. The findings and maintenance of servers [3]. In this model, developers
suggest that serverless computing can lead to significant simply upload their code as individual functions, and the
improvements in resource utilization and cost savings, cloud provider takes care of executing those functions on-
but organizations must also address challenges related to demand, scaling resources up and down based on the
cold starts, vendor lock-in, and monitoring complexity to workload, and charging the user based on the actual
fully realize the potential of this cloud computing consumption of computing resources.
paradigm.
The term "serverless" is somewhat misleading, as there
Keywords:- Serverless Computing, Function-as-a-Service are still servers involved in the underlying infrastructure.
(FaaS), Cloud Computing, Resource Optimization, Cost However, the key distinction is that the developers no longer
Efficiency, Cloud Architecture. need to provision, manage, or scale those servers themselves.
Instead, they can focus solely on writing and deploying their
I. INTRODUCTION application logic, while the cloud provider handles the
complexities of the server-side infrastructure.
The rapid growth of cloud computing has transformed
the way organizations approach their IT infrastructure. One Serverless computing is often associated with the
of the latest advancements in this space is the emergence of Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) delivery model, where
serverless computing, also known as Function-as-a-Service developers upload their code as individual functions, and the
(FaaS) [1]. Serverless computing abstracts away the cloud provider executes those functions in response to events
management of underlying servers, enabling developers to or triggers. Popular examples of FaaS platforms include
focus solely on building and deploying their applications. AWS Lambda, Microsoft Azure Functions, Google Cloud
Functions, and IBM Cloud Functions [4].
In traditional cloud computing models, organizations
are responsible for provisioning, scaling, and managing the III. THE PRINCIPLES OF SERVERLESS
virtual machines (VMs) or containers that host their COMPUTING
applications. This approach often leads to challenges such as
over-provisioning, idle capacity, and the operational Serverless computing is built upon several key
overhead associated with managing the infrastructure [2]. principles that enable the efficient utilization of computing
Serverless computing addresses these challenges by allowing resources and cost optimization:
developers to upload their code as individual functions,
which are then executed and scaled automatically by the A. Event-Driven Architecture
cloud provider. Serverless functions are typically triggered by events,
such as an API call, a database update, or a timer. This event-
This paper examines the key benefits and challenges of driven approach ensures that resources are only consumed
serverless computing, with a particular emphasis on when there is an actual need to execute the function, rather
optimizing resource utilization and cost efficiency. It than having a continuously running server waiting for
explores the underlying principles of serverless architecture, requests [5].

IJISRT24OCT976 www.ijisrt.com 1061

Volume 9, Issue 10, October– 2024 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165 https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/IJISRT24OCT976

B. Statelessness computing resources consumed, such as the number of

Serverless functions are designed to be stateless, function invocations, the duration of execution, and the
meaning they do not maintain any persistent data or session amount of memory used. This granular billing approach
information. This statelessness allows the cloud provider to eliminates waste and ensures that organizations only pay for
easily scale and reuse the same function instances, as there is the resources they actively use [12].
no need to maintain state across multiple invocations [6].
B. Reduced Operational Overhead
C. Automatic Scaling
The cloud provider is responsible for automatically  No Server Management:
scaling the computing resources up and down based on the In a serverless architecture, the cloud provider is
incoming workload. When a function is invoked, the cloud responsible for managing the underlying infrastructure,
platform dynamically allocates the necessary resources, such including the provisioning, scaling, and maintenance of
as CPU, memory, and network, to execute the function. Once servers. This shift in responsibility frees up IT resources and
the function completes, these resources are released, and the allows organizations to focus on their core business
platform can scale down accordingly [7]. objectives, rather than spending time and effort on server
management [13].
D. Pay-per-Use Pricing
Serverless computing follows a pay-per-use pricing  Simplified Deployment:
model, where organizations are charged based on the actual Deploying serverless functions is typically a
computing resources consumed by their functions, such as straightforward process, as developers can simply upload
the number of function invocations, the duration of their code to the cloud platform, and the cloud provider
execution, and the amount of memory used. This model handles the rest, including the packaging, versioning, and
contrasts with the traditional server-based cloud pricing, execution of the functions [14].
which often involves fixed-capacity instances or virtual
machines [8].  Improved Developer Productivity:
By abstracting away the complexities of infrastructure
E. Abstraction of Infrastructure management, serverless computing enables developers to
In a serverless architecture, the cloud provider manages focus solely on writing and deploying their application logic,
all the underlying infrastructure, including the provisioning without the need to concern themselves with the underlying
and scaling of servers, the load balancing of requests, and the server-side details [15].
fault tolerance mechanisms. Developers can focus solely on
writing their application logic, without the need to concern C. Cost Optimization
themselves with the details of server management or resource
provisioning [9].  Pay-Per-Use Pricing:
The granular, pay-per-use pricing model of serverless
IV. BENEFITS OF SERVERLESS COMPUTING computing ensures that organizations only pay for the
computing resources they actually consume, eliminating
Serverless computing offers several key benefits that waste and reducing the overall cost of their cloud
contribute to optimizing resource utilization and improving deployments [16].
cost efficiency:
 Reduced Infrastructure Costs:
A. Efficient Resource Utilization Serverless computing eliminates the need for
organizations to provision, manage, and maintain their own
 On-Demand Execution: physical or virtual servers, leading to significant cost savings
Serverless functions are only executed when triggered in terms of hardware, software, and IT personnel [17].
by an event or a request, ensuring that computing resources
are only consumed when necessary. This contrasts with  Scalability And Elasticity:
traditional server-based architectures, where resources are The automatic scaling capabilities of serverless
often over-provisioned to handle peak loads, leading to computing ensure that organizations can handle sudden
significant idle capacity during off-peak periods [10]. spikes in traffic or workload without the need to over-
provision resources, thereby avoiding the associated costs of
 Dynamic Scaling: underutilized capacity [18].
The cloud provider automatically scales the computing
resources up and down based on the incoming workload. V. CHALLENGES AND CONSIDERATIONS
This dynamic scaling ensures that the right amount of
resources are allocated to handle the current demand, without While serverless computing offers numerous benefits, it
the need for manual intervention or over-provisioning [11]. also presents several challenges and considerations that
organizations must address when adopting this cloud
 Granular Billing: computing paradigm:
Serverless computing follows a pay-per-use pricing
model, where organizations are charged based on the actual

IJISRT24OCT976 www.ijisrt.com 1062

Volume 9, Issue 10, October– 2024 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165 https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/IJISRT24OCT976

A. Cold Starts of serverless functions with traditional cloud infrastructure,

The initial execution of a serverless function can as discussed in the "Hybrid Cloud Architectures: Balancing
experience a "cold start" delay, as the cloud platform needs to the Benefits of Public and Private Clouds" [23] paper, can
provision the necessary resources and initialize the function further enhance the flexibility and optimization of cloud-
environment. This cold start latency can impact the based applications.
performance of time-sensitive applications, particularly those
with strict response time requirements [19]. REFERENCES

B. Vendor Lock-in [1]. Baldini, I., Carreira, P., Cheng, P., Fink, S., Ishakian,
Serverless computing often relies on proprietary cloud V., Muthusamy, V., ... & Suter, P. (2017). Serverless
provider services, which can lead to vendor lock-in and computing: Current trends and open problems. arXiv
potential challenges in migrating applications to different preprint arXiv:1706.03178.
platforms. To address this, organizations should consider [2]. Eivy, A. (2017). Be Wary of the Economics of
adopting a multi-cloud or hybrid cloud strategy, using open- "Serverless" Cloud Computing. IEEE Cloud
source serverless frameworks (e.g., Apache OpenWhisk, Computing, 4(2), 6-12.
Knative) that provide portability across different cloud [3]. McGrath, G., & Brenner, P. R. (2017). Serverless
providers [20]. computing: Design, implementation, and performance.
In 2017 IEEE 37th International Conference on
C. Monitoring and Observability Distributed Computing Systems Workshops
Troubleshooting and monitoring serverless applications (ICDCSW) (pp. 405-410). IEEE.
can be more complex, as the underlying infrastructure is [4]. Erwin, B., Rutherford, M., & Shea, R. (2019).
abstracted from the developer. Monitoring serverless Comparing the Cost and Performance of Serverless
functions often requires a different approach, focusing on and Traditional Cloud Services. In Proceedings of the
metrics such as function invocations, execution times, and 2019 ACM/SPEC International Conference on
resource utilization [21]. Performance Engineering (pp. 178-184).
[5]. Lloyd, W., Ramesh, S., Chinthalapati, S., Ly, L., &
D. Architectural Complexity Pallickara, S. (2018). Serverless computing: An
Designing and implementing serverless-based investigation of factors influencing microservice
applications can require a shift in architectural thinking, as performance. In 2018 IEEE International Conference
developers must consider aspects such as statelessness, on Cloud Engineering (IC2E) (pp. 159-169). IEEE.
event-driven workflows, and distributed data storage. [6]. Manner, J., Endreß, M., Heckel, T., & Wirtz, G.
Adopting a microservices-based approach and leveraging (2018). Cold start influencing factors in function as a
managed services provided by the cloud platform can help service. In 2018 IEEE/ACM International Conference
organizations navigate the architectural complexities of on Utility and Cloud Computing Companion (UCC
serverless computing [22]. Companion) (pp. 181-188). IEEE.
[7]. Nastic, S., Sehic, S., Vögler, M., Truong, H. L., &
VI. CONCLUSION Dustdar, S. (2017). PatRICIA–a novel programing
model for iot applications on cloud platforms. In 2017
Serverless computing has emerged as a transformative IEEE/ACM Second International Conference on
paradigm in cloud infrastructure, offering organizations the Internet-of-Things Design and Implementation
ability to scale their applications dynamically without the (IoTDI) (pp. 155-166). IEEE.
burden of managing underlying servers. By abstracting away [8]. Eivy, A. (2017). Be Wary of the Economics of
the provisioning and scaling of infrastructure, serverless "Serverless" Cloud Computing. IEEE Cloud
computing enables developers to focus on building and Computing, 4(2), 6-12.
deploying their applications, while the cloud provider [9]. McGrath, G., & Brenner, P. R. (2017). Serverless
handles the auto-scaling, load balancing, and fault tolerance. computing: Design, implementation, and performance.
In 2017 IEEE 37th International Conference on
This paper has examined the key benefits and Distributed Computing Systems Workshops
challenges of serverless computing, with a particular (ICDCSW) (pp. 405-410). IEEE.
emphasis on optimizing resource utilization and cost [10]. Erwin, B., Rutherford, M., & Shea, R. (2019).
efficiency. The findings suggest that serverless computing Comparing the Cost and Performance of Serverless
can lead to significant improvements in resource utilization and Traditional Cloud Services. In Proceedings of the
and cost savings, but organizations must also address 2019 ACM/SPEC International Conference on
challenges related to cold starts, vendor lock-in, and Performance Engineering (pp. 178-184).
monitoring complexity to fully realize the potential of this [11]. Nastic, S., Sehic, S., Vögler, M., Truong, H. L., &
cloud computing paradigm. Dustdar, S. (2017). PatRICIA–a novel programing
model for iot applications on cloud platforms. In 2017
As cloud computing continues to evolve, the adoption IEEE/ACM Second International Conference on
of serverless computing will remain a crucial strategy for Internet-of-Things Design and Implementation
organizations seeking to drive innovation and maximize the (IoTDI) (pp. 155-166). IEEE.
value of their cloud investments. In addition, the integration

IJISRT24OCT976 www.ijisrt.com 1063

Volume 9, Issue 10, October– 2024 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456-2165 https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/IJISRT24OCT976

[12]. Eivy, A. (2017). Be Wary of the Economics of

"Serverless" Cloud Computing. IEEE Cloud
Computing, 4(2), 6-12.
[13]. McGrath, G., & Brenner, P. R. (2017). Serverless
computing: Design, implementation, and performance.
In 2017 IEEE 37th International Conference on
Distributed Computing Systems Workshops
(ICDCSW) (pp. 405-410). IEEE.
[14]. Erwin, B., Rutherford, M., & Shea, R. (2019).
Comparing the Cost and Performance of Serverless
and Traditional Cloud Services. In Proceedings of the
2019 ACM/SPEC International Conference on
Performance Engineering (pp. 178-184).
[15]. McGrath, G., & Brenner, P. R. (2017). Serverless
computing: Design, implementation, and performance.
In 2017 IEEE 37th International Conference on
Distributed Computing Systems Workshops
(ICDCSW) (pp. 405-410). IEEE.
[16]. Eivy, A. (2017). Be Wary of the Economics of
"Serverless" Cloud Computing. IEEE Cloud
Computing, 4(2), 6-12.
[17]. McGrath, G., & Brenner, P. R. (2017). Serverless
computing: Design, implementation, and performance.
In 2017 IEEE 37th International Conference on
Distributed Computing Systems Workshops
(ICDCSW) (pp. 405-410). IEEE.
[18]. Nastic, S., Sehic, S., Vögler, M., Truong, H. L., &
Dustdar, S. (2017). PatRICIA–a novel programing
model for iot applications on cloud platforms. In 2017
IEEE/ACM Second International Conference on
Internet-of-Things Design and Implementation
(IoTDI) (pp. 155-166). IEEE.
[19]. Manner, J., Endreß, M., Heckel, T., & Wirtz, G.
(2018). Cold start influencing factors in function as a
service. In 2018 IEEE/ACM International Conference
on Utility and Cloud Computing Companion (UCC
Companion) (pp. 181-188). IEEE.
[20]. Baldini, I., Carreira, P., Cheng, P., Fink, S., Ishakian,
V., Muthusamy, V., ... & Suter, P. (2017). Serverless
computing: Current trends and open problems. arXiv
preprint arXiv:1706.03178.
[21]. Lloyd, W., Ramesh, S., Chinthalapati, S., Ly, L., &
Pallickara, S. (2018). Serverless computing: An
investigation of factors influencing microservice
performance. In 2018 IEEE International Conference
on Cloud Engineering (IC2E) (pp. 159-169). IEEE.
[22]. Nastic, S., Sehic, S., Vögler, M., Truong, H. L., &
Dustdar, S. (2017). PatRICIA–a novel programing
model for iot applications on cloud platforms. In 2017
IEEE/ACM Second International Conference on
Internet-of-Things Design and Implementation
(IoTDI) (pp. 155-166). IEEE.
[23]. Sachin Gawande, Shreya Gorde (2024). Hybrid Cloud
Architectures: Balancing the Benefits of Public and
Private Clouds. International Scientific and Research
Journals, 9(5), 11-14.

IJISRT24OCT976 www.ijisrt.com 1064