Demo Faas platform using resonate

Why Build an On-Premise FaaS Platform?

Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) is a cloud computing model that lets developers deploy individual pieces of code—called functions—without managing servers or infrastructure. These functions are triggered by specific events, like an HTTP request, a file upload, or a database update. The cloud provider (e.g., AWS Lambda, Azure Functions) automatically handles scaling, resource allocation, and runtime environments. You pay only for the compute time your functions consume, in millisecond increments.

The "serverless" nature of FaaS means developers focus purely on writing code to solve problems, while the provider abstracts away servers, virtual machines, and containers. However, "serverless" doesn’t mean there are no servers—it means you don’t see or manage them.

The idea of building an on-premise Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) platform might seem counterintuitive. Isn’t the whole point of FaaS to be “serverless,” abstracting away the infrastructure so you don’t have to worry about servers? The answer lies in the unique benefits that an on-premise FaaS platform can offer, especially for specific use cases like GPU and AI workloads or sensitive data processing.

Why Resonate?

Resonate is designed to make distributed systems as straightforward as writing async/await code. This property makes it great to write an on-prem FaaS platform as it abstracts away the complexities of distributed systems, providing:

• Distributed Async/Await: Write functions as simple async/await code while Resonate guarantees crash-resistant execution.
• Routing: Tasks are directed to the right workers seamlessly, thanks to Resonate’s task framework and distributed event loop. This allows the FaaS platform to direct the workload based on user input or other defined criteria.
• Durability: Automatic retries and built-in replayability ensure functions survive hardware failures and network issues.

These features make Resonate an excellent choice for building our demo FaaS platform, especially for on-premise use cases where control, security, and cost predictability are critical.