FLAME: Rethinking Serverless for Elastic Scaling Efficiency
TLDR; Rethinking serverless with FLAME - a new approach to elastic scaling applications, removing complexity and improving execution efficiency.
⚙️ Rethinking Serverless
FLAME introduces a new approach to elastic scaling of applications, removing complexity, and improving execution efficiency.
The pursuit of elastic autoscaling applications has led to complexities, especially in serverless and functions as a service.
FLAME aims to provide granular scaling without the need for slicing apps into bespoke operational units and their own APIs.
🔥 FLAME Pattern
FLAME treats the entire application as a Lambda, allowing modular parts to be executed on short-lived infrastructure without rewriting or adding complexity.
The Elixir FLAME Library implements the FLAME pattern with a backend adapter for fly, usable on any cloud with an API to spin up instances with app code running in it.
🔧 Utilizing FLAME
FLAME can be used to wrap CPU-bound work like video transcoding in a function, enabling it to run on a different server, preventing the entire service from halting.
FLAME simplifies the process by handling the scaling and execution of modular parts, allowing developers to focus on business logic and database setup.
🧩 Elixir and FLAME
Elixir is well-suited for the FLAME model, leveraging process supervision and distributed messaging for ease of use.
FLAME also supports other languages with reasonable concurrency primitives, demonstrated through a proof of concept example for breaking out functions in JavaScript apps.
📊 Background Jobs and Cues
FLAME's distinction from background job cues lies in its focus on durability guarantees, separating it from elastic execution.
This model improves ownership and resilience, allowing for the decoupling of durability and scaled execution.
⏱️ Elastic Pool Configuration
Elastic pool configuration using FLAME allows for scaling to zero behavior, with defined Max and concurrency limits, optimizing resource usage and execution.
⚗️ Elixir Supervised Process Approach
The Elixir supervised process approach to applications offers flexibility in turning knobs for running web servers and accessing necessary services.
⚙️ Optimizing Web Server Processes
Elixir's approach to applications is great for adjusting server configurations. The ability to idle down after a period of inactivity and ensure at least one process is ready to work significantly decreases the chance of cold starts. This allows for spinning up processes as needed and emphasizes the importance of process placement in Elixir.
The staple bits of Elixir applications are built around lightweight green threads and message mailboxes, which provide failsafe mechanisms to avoid orphaning resources and ensure consistent code across the cluster. Elixir offers all the primitives needed for monitoring thanks to the Erlang VM.
⚡ Advanced Pool Growth Techniques
The FLAME library allows for setting pools to idle down after a period of inactivity, ensuring at least one process is always ready to work. It also focuses on process placement and offers failsafe mechanisms to avoid orphaning resources in case of node failures during deployments.
Elixir's primitives, thanks to the Erlang VM, play a crucial role in monitoring and managing the processes, making it suitable for handling complex server configurations and implementations.
⚒️ Future Deep Dives
The speaker hints at future deep dives into the implementation of FLAME in JavaScript and Elixir, acknowledging the robustness of the Erlang and BEAM VM for such tasks. It's mentioned that more advanced pool growth techniques and detailed insights into the Elixir implementation of FLAME can be expected in the future.
👨💻 Acknowledging the Developer
The speaker gives a shoutout to Chris, the developer of the FLAME framework, expressing gratitude for his contribution to the Elixir community. The speaker also encourages reaching out to Chris for discussing the implementation of FLAME patterns in other programming languages.
🌐 Challenging the Norm
The speaker expresses excitement about the unique nature of FLAME and its potential to challenge the traditional approach to serverless architectures. There's anticipation about adapting to and embracing these new patterns, indicating a fundamental rejection of the conventional serverless approach.