Introduction to Serverless Architecture

Tutorial 1 of 5

Introduction

Goal of the Tutorial

This tutorial's goal is to introduce you to the serverless architecture, its components, and how it differs from traditional server-based architectures.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this tutorial, you will be able to:

Understand what serverless architecture is.
Understand the components of serverless architecture.
Identify the differences between serverless and traditional server-based architectures.
See practical examples of serverless architecture in action.

Prerequisites

Knowledge of basic web development concepts and some familiarity with cloud computing would be beneficial, but not mandatory.

Step-by-Step Guide

Serverless architecture is a design pattern where applications are hosted by third-party services, eliminating the need for server software and hardware management by the developer.

Components of Serverless Architecture

Function as a Service (FaaS): This is the core of serverless architecture. FaaS allows developers to execute portions of application code (functions) in response to events (like HTTP requests), without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.
Backend as a Service (BaaS): BaaS are third-party services that take care of the backend side of things like databases, storage, or authentication.

Serverless vs Traditional Architecture

Scaling: In traditional architectures, scaling requires manual intervention. In contrast, serverless architectures automatically scale based on the load.
Cost: Traditional architectures require ongoing server costs regardless of usage, but serverless architectures are based on a pay-per-use model.
Development Speed: Serverless architectures allow developers to focus more on writing application code, which can speed up development.

Code Examples

Example 1: Creating a Simple AWS Lambda Function

AWS Lambda is a popular FaaS solution. Here's how you can create a simple Lambda function.

// This is a basic AWS Lambda function
exports.handler = async (event) => {
    // The function returns a simple message
    const response = {
        statusCode: 200,
        body: JSON.stringify('Hello from Lambda!'),
    };
    return response;
};

exports.handler = async (event) => {...}: This is the Lambda function that gets executed when the function is triggered.
const response = {...}: This is the response that the Lambda function sends back when it is called.
return response;: This returns the response object when the Lambda function is called.

Example 2: Serverless Framework - Deploying a Serverless Application

The Serverless Framework is a free, open-source framework that allows you to develop and deploy serverless applications. Here's how you can deploy a serverless application.

# serverless.yml
service: my-service

provider:
  name: aws
  runtime: nodejs12.x

functions:
  hello:
    handler: handler.hello

service: my-service: This line names your serverless service.
provider:: This section defines your serverless provider.
functions:: This section defines your serverless functions.
hello:: This is the name of your function.
handler: handler.hello: This tells Serverless where to find your function.

Summary

In this tutorial, we've covered the basics of serverless architecture, its components, and how it differs from traditional server architectures. We've also looked at some code examples of serverless applications.

Practice Exercises

Exercise 1: Create a simple Google Cloud Function that returns a message of your choice.

Exercise 2: Using the Serverless Framework, create and deploy a serverless application with two functions.

Exercise 3: Compare the costs of running a traditional server vs a serverless architecture for an application with varying levels of usage.