Decentralized FaaS over Multi-Clouds with Blockchain based Management for Supporting Emerging Applications

TL;DR

This work targets the limitations of centralized FaaS, notably vendor lock-in and single points of failure, by proposing DeFaaS, a decentralized FaaS platform built on a management blockchain and a network of multi-cloud API gateways. The architecture eliminates central orchestration, enables cross-chain interoperability, and integrates OAuth2-based authorization with blockchain identities, supported by a GossipSub-based event distribution and IPFS-backed logging. A concrete prototype using Hyperledger Besu and OpenFaaS demonstrates feasibility, with evaluations on a multi-cloud testbed showing scalable scheduling, resilient event dissemination, and secure, decentralized billing. The approach advances decentralized computing for Web3/dApp workloads and paves the way for broader adoption in multi-cloud service meshes and volunteer-contributed resources.

Abstract

Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) offers a streamlined cloud computing paradigm, but existing centralized systems suffer from vendor lock-in and single points of failure. We propose DeFaaS, a decentralized FaaS system leveraging blockchain technology and decentralized API management. DeFaaS addresses these limitations by establishing a secure, transparent registry of functions on a blockchain and enabling applications to discover and invoke them. This approach fosters scalability, flexibility, enhanced security, and improved reliability. Furthermore, DeFaaS's architecture extends beyond decentralized FaaS, supporting other distributed computing scenarios like dApps, volunteer computing, and multi-cloud service meshes. DeFaaS represents a significant advancement in decentralized computing with the potential to unlock a multitude of novel applications and use cases.

Figures (3)

• Figure 1: Overview of DeFaaS.
• Figure 2: Latency ranges for event messages at different locations.
• Figure 3: Throughput of read operations over IPFS.