The most basic thing you rent in the cloud is a computer to run your software. This chapter explains the three shapes that rented computing comes in — from a whole machine you control entirely, down to code that runs only when called and costs nothing while idle.
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"Compute" is the industry's shorthand for raw computing power — machines that run software and do the processing. Before the cloud, every company that wanted to run software had to buy its own physical computers, maintain them, and guess in advance how many it would need. The cloud changes that: you rent computing instead, in exactly the amount you need, for as long as you need it.
But rented computing doesn't come in just one shape. Cloud providers offer it in three quite different forms, each suited to a different kind of work and each asking a different amount of your attention. From the most hands-on to the most hands-off: virtual machines, containers, and serverless functions. This chapter introduces all three.
Three ways to rent computing — most control to least, top to bottom
Virtual machines
a whole rented computer — you control the operating system and everything on it
Containers
a lighter, portable package — your app plus its dependencies, sharing the host machine
Serverless functions
code that runs only when triggered — no server to manage, billed only while running