Анализа и дизајн на повеќенаменска архитектура на безсерверски платформи за транспарентни пресметки во облак-раб екосистемот

Abstract

The continuous advancements both in terms of software and hardware have made computing devices an omnipresent aspect of daily life, both for personal and business use. Miniaturization of hardware components has allowed every individual and corporation to be responsible for their own computing capacity through the use of personal computers, smartphones, and servers. Nevertheless, this approach requires continuous procurement of new and expensive devices to keep up with the pace of increasing computing demands. With the advent of cloud computing, these problems should have been overcome, allowing computing capacity to be available on demand, without requiring the possession of expensive equipment, thus transforming computing power into just another utility, such as electricity or tap water. Considering that the cloud is an abstract concept which at its core represents a physical infrastructure managed by a third party, many cloud providers offer ready-made services to provide more user-friendly interfaces. This approach also has significant drawbacks, mainly in terms of limited to non-existent compatibility between services offered by different cloud providers, resulting in a severe vendor lock-in effect. Additionally, cloud resources, in most cases, are billed no matter whether they are actually used or remain idle, leading to negative financial ramifications. Serverless computing is a new computing paradigm, with its most popular implementations currently limited to the cloud. Serverless computing has a real potential of realizing the vision of treating computing capacity just as another utility, while also reducing the overall cost, currently associated with other cloud services. Contrary to its name, servers are still involved, but they are completely transparent, allowing seamless provisioning and usage of software, without needing to take care of any infrastructure components. However, the full potential of serverless computing is still not completely realized, since many serverless solutions are hindered by subpar performance, limited interoperability, and restricted set of execution locations (either in the cloud or at the edge close to the end-users, but not both), resulting in a severe vendor lock-in. This doctoral thesis proposes a novel approach to serverless computing through analysis and design of multipurpose architecture for serverless platforms aimed at transparent execution in the edge-cloud continuum. The end-goal is the creation of such an edge-cloud continuum, an environment comprised of heterogenous infrastructures placed in different locations (both in the cloud and at the edge), owned by independent third parties, yet unified through a common interface. This thesis introduces a completely new execution environment for serverless functions and describes advanced connectivity strategies, allowing trusted communication between infrastructures no matter their geographical location or network conditions. The proposed approaches overcome the identified open issues in the area of serverless computing and act as foundational pillars to the architecture through which the vision of transparent computations across a unified edge-cloud continuum can finally be realized.