Going“serverless”in2016Ahighlevelintroductiontoserverless architectureandtheServerless framework

Twitter:@dkcwd

Firstalittlebackground….

Serverless architecture isanapproach

A“serverless”applicationarchitecturedescribesanapproachwhereyoucanbuildapplicationswithoutdirectlymanagingserversorcontainers.

TheServerless framework isaprojectwhichhasbeencreatedtomakeiteasiertogetstartedwithdevelopingandmaintainingyourownapplicationswhichleverageaserverless approach.

Noserversandconfigurationtomanage?

Whenyouadoptserverless programmingparadigmsyoumaynotneedtomaintainserversorcontainers.

Note: Thereisstillsomeworktodointermsofconfigurationandthat’soneofthereasonswhytheServerless frameworkexists.

WhyshouldIcare?

Youmightreduceyourspendoninfrastructurebyavoidingchargesforidleservers(includingcontainerhosts)andincreasetherateatwhichyourteamcandevelop/deploynewfeatures.

Subjecttotheusagepolicyofagiven“FunctionasaService”provider,theremaybesignificantbenefitsforyouintermsofscalabilityinadditiontothepointsmentionedabove.

Soyou’retalkingaboutAWSLambda?

AttheAWSSummitinSydney(April2016)therewasalotofexcitementsurroundingserverless programmingparadigmsusingAWSLambda.

Othervendorssupporting“FunctionasaService”offeringsinclude:§AzureFunctions§GoogleCloudFunctions§ IBMOpenWhisk

Concernsaboutdevelopmenteffort

TheexamplesshownattheAWSSummitwereinterestinghowevertherewassomethingabouthavingtoleveragetheAWSinterfacethroughyourbrowserwhichfeltalittlebackwardsandoff-putting.

Serverless frameworkinterestedmebecauseitfeltlikeamissinglinktoallowrapiddevelopmentandmaintenanceofserverlessfunctionality.

Concernsabout“vendorlock-in”?

WhiletheusecaseswerecompellingattheAWSSummitandtherewasplentyofbuzzaroundhowtogetstarted,therewereplentyofattendeesconcernedaboutthepotentialforissuesrelatedto“vendorlock-in”.

ThatisanotherreasonwhytheServerless frameworkinterestedme.

IntroducingServerless framework

IntroducingServerless framework

Theprojectexistsat:https://github.com/serverless/serverless

ThefirstcommitstotheprojectweremadeonApril21st,2015

Workingtowardsupportingmajorvendorsreducinglock-infear

Arethereexampleprojects?

Yes!Youcanfindoutmoreherehttps://github.com/serverless

Inparticularcheckout:serverless-graphql-blog

Note:ElliotSpira createdanexcellenttutorialoncreatingaHipChat Connector

Checkitouthere:https://bitbucket.org/gorillastack/serverless-hipchat-connect

Canyoushowmeareferencediagram?

Yes!I’llshowyouoneforasinglepageJSapplicationonthenextslide.

The“serverless backend”isbasedonserverless-graphql

See:https://github.com/serverless/serverless-graphql

DoIhavetobuildanddeployafrontend?

No!Someofthestartedprojectshaveafrontendcomponentwhichyoucan deployifyouwish.

Youmaychoosetousetheframeworkjusttofocusonbackendcomponents.

Whatistheworkflowlike?

§ Vendorconfigurationbeforeanythingelse§ InitialprojectsetupviaCLI§ Development§ Localtesting§ DeploymentofendpointsandfunctionsviaCLI§ Rinse&Repeat

Vendorconfiguration

AssumingyoustartoutwithAWS….

MakesureyouhaveaAWSaccountandcreateanIAMuserforworkingwithyourserverless projectsviatheServerless framework.

YouneedyourAccessKeyIDandSecretAccessKeyfortheIAMuser.

HmmmIhaven’tdonethatbefore….um

Don’tworry,hereisanawesometutorialtohelpyougetstartedwithallaspectsofworkingwiththeServerless framework.

Getinthereandhaveago.Beforeyouknowityou’llbeworkingyourwayaroundthecommandlineinterfacedeployingendpointslikeapro!

Checkout:http://justserverless.com/blog/your-first-serverless-application/

Atiponceyou’reupandrunning

Ifyoudon’talready,considerusingatoollikePostmantocreatesometestsforyourAPIendpoints.

Itcanmakeiteasytocreaterequestcollectionsandcaptureexampleresponsesforuseduringdevelopment.Ifusedeffectivelyitcanbealeveragedaspartofaleanintegrationtestsuite.

CreaterequestcollectionswithPostman

See:https://www.getpostman.com

Fromhere

RememberServerless frameworkisjustoneofmanyprojectsthatareevolving.

WithServerless frameworkyoucanrunapplicationslocallywithoutusingAWSifyouwanttoexperimentalittlemorebeforedeploying.

SeethepluginssectionontheServerless frameworkREADME.md

https://github.com/serverless/serverless#plugins

Fromhere

CheckouttheSydneyServerless Meetup Group:

http://www.meetup.com/Sydney-Serverless-Meetup-Group/

Helpbuildthecommunity,ChrisDorrington startedaSlackchannelrecentlysocomejoinusathttps://letsgoserverless.stamplayapp.com/

Askquestions,meetothersandshareyourexperiences.

Enjoyandsharewhatyoudo….

I’monTwitter:@dkcwdLinkedIn:https://au.linkedin.com/in/daveclarkprofile