Function as a Service (FaaS) is a new cloud technology with automated resource management. Different from traditional cloud computing, each FaaS cloud function can only run a fixed period of time before being decommissioned. Furthermore, FaaS cloud providers often update their platforms (e.g., idle timeout). These changes and their associated impact are not transparent and could potentially impact the execution of the cloud functions. Hence, in this paper, we develop a methodology to characterize the cloud function idle timeout which is the duration a FaaS cloud provider keeps a cloud function instance alive without serving active traffic. Our study was conducted on three popular FaaS platforms, namely AWS Lambda, IBM and Azure Cloud Function. Moreover, we also report how long a cloud function instance can be kept alive when a user regularly polls the instance. Experimental results show that the idle timeout period has evolved from 01/2020 till 01/2022.
翻译:服务( FaaS) 功能是一个带有自动资源管理的新的云技术。 不同于传统的云计算, FaaS 云函数只能运行固定的时间段, 然后才能退役。 此外, FaAS 云提供者经常更新平台( 比如闲置超时) 。 这些变化及其相关影响不透明, 并有可能影响云函数的运行。 因此, 在本文中, 我们开发了一种方法, 来描述云函数的闲置超时段, 也就是FaaS 云提供商保持云函数实例的存续时间, 而没有为活动流量服务。 我们的研究是在三个流行的 FaAAS 平台上进行的, 即 AWS Lambda、 IBM 和 Azure Cloud 函数。 此外, 我们还报告了当用户定期测试云函数时, 云函数实例能维持多久。 实验结果显示, 闲置时间段从 01/ 20 到 01/2022 。