Beginning Serverless Computing

Chapter1: Understanding Serverless Computing We will delve into the options we have when architecting and developing serverless applications. 1.1 What Each Provider Offers (4 pages) This chapter looks at AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud as the three cloud providers this book will focus on. We will look at each of their serverless offerings and how they are different. 1) AWS Lambda Functions 2) Azure Functions 3) Google Cloud Functions 1.2 Explore Triggers and Events (5 pages) Triggers are the events that execute the functions. We will discuss the different triggers, how they can be applied, and what they look like with different cloud providers. 1) What are triggers 2) How do they fit in to the event driven process 3) Applications of triggers 4) Triggers within cloud providers1.3 Development Options, Toolkits, SDKs (5 pages) After exploring triggers, we will look into different development options, toolkits, and SDKs. This will be an extension of setting up the environment and will give the reader extra knowledge on what is out there and what is being used. 1) Serverless Framework 2) Typescript with Node JS 3) Alexa and AWS SDK - for AWS 4) Visual Studio Tools 5) Cloud SDK google 1.4 Developing Locally vs the Console (5 pages) How should you start developing your serverless application? Do we build it locally then deploy it to the cloud provider, or do we build it within the cloud provider's console? A mixture? This chapter discusses good practices for developing between on prem and the cloud. 1) Local Development 2) Deployment from local to cloud 3) Developing and testing in the cloud console 1.5 Limits (3 pages) In this chapter, we explore the limits of serverless technology and how we can prepare for them and adapt to them. 1) Greater response latency in infrequently used applications 2) High performance computing workloads 3) Not meant for stateful applications Chapter 2: Getting Started This section will describe all of the tools, initial environment setup and skills needed to get started. 2.1 The Tools (5 pages) These are the development tools we will be using throughout the course of the book. You can choose to substitute them with similar tools you are more familiar with, but these are the recommended ones and the ones I will be referring to. We will go over the function of each tool, why it's necessary, and its place within the development of serverless computing. 1) Installing VS Code or choosing your IDE 2) NodeJS 3) Postman 2.2 Environment Setup (5 pages) Before we get going, it is important to make sure your development environment is set up and functioning to be able to complete the coding tutorials explored later on. 1) Navigating VS Code 2) Node Package Manager - what it does and how to use it 3) Organizing your development environment - git, run scripts 2.3 What is Serverless? (6 pages) This chapter discusses the meaning of serverless computing. Serverless computing is a technology, also known as function as a service, that gives the cloud provider complete management over the container the functions run on as necessary to serve requests. 1) Serverless as an Event-Driven computation 2) Functions as a Service (FaaS) 3) Still uses containers, just no maintenance necessary 2.4 How is it different? (5 pages) How is serverless computing different than spinning up servers and building infrastructure from the ground up? It's still running on containers and servers, you just aren't managing them. 1) More focus on event-driven code 2) Rapid development 3) Independent processes 2.5 Why Use it? (4 pages) Why use serverless computing? Why give cloud providers complete control over the platform of your service? 1) No Maintenance of Infrastructure 2) Ease of Use 3) Pay Per Use 4) Event-Driven Chapter 3: Developing with Amazon Web Services (~50 pages) Now that we know all of the background knowledge needed to get started building a serverless application, we will go through short coding examples and walkthroughs of the three cloud providers we have been discussing. 3.1 Explore the UI (5 pages) In this chapter, we explore the UI of Amazon Web Services. 1) Navigation 2) Pricing 3) Lambda and how to set up 3.2 Your First Code (10 pages) We will set up a hello world application in Lambda that gets the reader comfortable developing within the AWS console. 1) NodeJS application that writes back to the reader 2) Testing using the test event 3) Using CloudWatch for logging 3.3 Security IAM (3 pages) Now that we have established our first hello world application, we will walk through setting up an IAM account and how we can secure our lambda function. 1) IAM UI 2) Roles, policies, users 3) Applying a role to Lambda 3.4 Environment Variables (2 pages) We will build upon our hello world project and add environment variables. 1) What are environment variables 2) How are they used in AWS Lambda 3.5 HTTP event code sample (15 pages) We will expand even further upon our Hello World application and include Amazon's API Gateway to receive HTTP events and use them to trigger the lambda function. 1) Exploring API Gateway 2) Using API Gateway as a trigger 3) Responding to this trigger within our code 3.6 Storage event code sample (15 pages) Continuing on the Hello World example, we will add an S3 bucket that triggers the functions when an object is put in the bucket. The function will respond by reading the object and manipulating it somehow. 1) S3 and other storage options: How they would trigger lambda 2) Responding to a change in a storage option 3) Storage as an event. Chapter 4: Developing with Microsoft Azure (~50 pages) This section covers the same topics the previous section covered but explores the chapter within Microsoft Azure. This will give the reader another coding opportunity and a chance to learn within a different cloud environment. 4.1 Explore the UI (5 pages) In this chapter, we explore the UI of Microsoft Azure. 1) Navigation 2) Pricing 4) Functions and how to set it up 4.2 Your First Code (10 pages) We will set up a hello world application in Functions that gets the reader comfortable developing within the Azure console. 1) C# application that writes back to the reader 2) Testing using the test events/Postman 3) Using Postman 4.3 Security IAM (3 pages) Now that we have established our first hello world application, we will walk through setting up an Azure AD account and how we can secure our function. 1) Azure AD 2) Roles, policies, users 3) Applying a role to a function 4.4 Environment Variables (2 pages) We will build upon our hello world project and add environment variables. 1) Environment Variables in Azure 4.5 HTTP event code sample (15 pages) We will expand even further upon our Hello World application and include Azure's to receive HTTP events and use them to trigger the lambda function. 1) Exploring API Apps 2) Using API apps as a trigger 3) Responding to this trigger within our code 4.6 Storage event code sample (15 pages) Continuing on the Hello World example, we will add blob storage that triggers the functions when an object is put added to our blob storage. The function will respond by reading the object and manipulating it somehow. 1) Blob storage and other storage options: How they would trigger functions 2) Responding to a change in a storage option 3) Storage as an event. Chapter 5: Developing with Google Cloud (~50 pages) In this chapter, we explore another Hello World project within Google Cloud, knowing their functions service is still in beta. 5.1 Explore the UI (5 pages) In this chapter, we explore the UI of Google Cloud. 1) Navigation 2) Pricing 5) Functions and how to set them up 5.2 Your First Code (10 pages) We will set up a hello world application in Functions that gets the reader comfortable developing within the Google Cloud console. 1) NodeJS application that writes back to the reader 2) Testing using the test event 3) Using management tools for logging 5.3 Security IAM (3 pages) Now that we have established our first hello world application, we will walk through setting up an IAM account and how we can secure our function. 1) IAM UI 2) Roles, policies, users 3) Applying a role to a function 5.4 Environment Variables (2 pages) We will build upon our hello world project and add environment variables. 1) What are environment variables 2) How are they used in Google Cloud 5.6 HTTP event code sample (15 pages) We will expand even further upon our Hello World application and include Google's cloud API to receive HTTP events and use them to trigger the function. 1) Exploring Cloud API 2) Using Cloud API as a trigger 3) Responding to this trigger within our code 5.7 Storage event code sample (15 pages) Continuing on the Hello World example, we will add cloud storage that triggers the function when an object is put in the storage container. The function will respond by reading the object and manipulating it somehow. 1) Google's storage options: How they would trigger functions 2) Responding to a change in a storage option 3) Storage as an event. Chapter 6: Making your Code Provider-Independent Code (~25 pages) Now that we have seen how we can implement serverless solutions within three cloud provider's environments, we are going to look into how we can develop to prepare for an unknown cloud provider. What if you start a project in AWS and want to switch to Azure or to Google? This section will explore ways to make your code provider-independent. 6.1 Define the approach (5 pages) In this chapter, we will define our approach. How do we plan on structuring our code, what is the best development environment, how will we test? 1) Structure of code 2) Separation of provider logic 6.2 Explore the code (10 pages) After gaining an understanding of what we're doing and why we're doing it, we will explore a code example that implements our approach. 6.3 Code and example using database (10 pages) Now that we have seen an example, we will walk through how to implement this agnostic solution in response to a real-world example. 1) The real world scenario 2) Including a database 3) Implementing the code