Serverless on Kubernetes - WASM, Knative, or Regular Autoscaling – What Actually Works?

Explore the primary serverless paradigm for web applications through Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) implementation in Kubernetes environments in this 27-minute conference talk. Examine the main approaches available within the Kubernetes ecosystem, analyzing the limitations and potential benefits of each method. Investigate whether WebAssembly (WASM) is viable for production use today, evaluate the advantages of Knative's feature for limiting in-flight requests, and consider the effectiveness of vanilla autoscaling solutions. Review simulation results across different use cases to understand which workloads are best suited for each approach, focusing on performance, stability, and budget considerations. Discover current blockers affecting non-WASM technologies and assess whether WASM can effectively address these challenges in present-day implementations or if it remains a future promise.