LESSONS LEARNED FROM AWS LAMBDA

@pierodibello

No ops, just code

Lessons learned from

@dedaniel_xp

Intro

WHAT IS AWS?

CLOUD COMPUTING PLATFORM

AMAZON WEB SERVICES

what does it offer?

COMPUTE
networking
storage
DATABASE
SECURITY
DEVELOPER TOOLS
MANAGEMENT TOOLS
MANY OTHERS

Full architecture case

serverless architecture

What, why, how

WHAT IS LAMBDA?

NO-OPS
EVENT DRIVEN
SCALE AUTOMATICALLY
ONLY PAY FOR WHAT YOU USE

SERVERLESS COMPUTE SERVICE

NO-OPS

Server and OS maintenance
Server provisioning
Monitor and logging

ZERO ADMIN

EVENT DRIVEN

Events coming from AWS resources (S3, DynamoDB, KINESIS, SNS, CLOUDWATCH, ...)
HTTP requests VIA API GATEWAY

RUN CODE IN RESPONSE TO EVENTS

HIGH AVAILABILITY

Your code runs in response to every trigger within milliseconds
Lambda will scale automatically TO MATCH THE INCOMING LOAD

JUST UPLOAD YOUR CODE

ZERO DOWNTIME DEPLOYMENT

EACH LAMBDA IS VERSIONED

JUST UPLOAD THE NEW VERSION OF YOUR FUNCTION

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/versioning-aliases.html

ONLY PAY FOR WHAT YOU USE

You are charged based on

the number of requests for your functions, plus
the time your code executes and the memory it allocates

You don't pay anything when your code isn't running.

FREE TIER FOR ALL!

YOU GOT FOR FREE EACH MONTh:

The first 1 million requests
The first 400,000 GB-seconds of compute time

PRICING

$0.20 per 1 million requests thereafter
$0.00001667 for every GB-second

More info: http://aws.amazon.com/lambda/pricing/

USE YOUR OWN LANGUAGES

Node.js (v0.10, v4.3)
Java 8
Python 2.7
...and more to come

NO NEW LANGUAGES/FRAMEWORKS TO LEARN

HEAD TOWARDS MICROSERVICES

independently deployable
PICk YOUR LANGUAGEs
NANOSERVICES?

each function is a SMALL service

All that glitters is not gold

THE Execution Environment IS OPAQUE
COLD STARTUP

Some things you get TO BE AWARE OF WITH AWS Lambda

THE EXECUTION ENVIRONMENT IS OPAQUE

don't keep state on the container
don't make assumptions on the Linux OS under the hood
don't assume two function calls will land on the same container

BE STATELESS

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/current-supported-versions.html

THE EXECUTION ENVIRONMENT IS NOT UNDER YOU CONTROL

With Lambda you cannot log in to MACHINES, or customize the operating system or language runtime
You exchange this flexibility with the “no-ops, just code” paradigm.
If you need control, choose a IAAS solution

COLD STARTUP

Java is the slowest in the startup, the fastest once warmed
python is the fastest to startup

The first call to a function could take longer

https://github.com/berezovskyi/lambda-test

be ready to think in microservices!

longer deploys
too much coupling between functions

If you think your app as a monolith, you'll have the same monolith FOR each and every function

FROM DEV TO PRODUCTION

you can have as many different stages as you want, using named alias to different versions of your lambda

ALTERNATIVES TO AWS LAMBDA

GOOGLE CLOUD FUNCTIONS
MICROSOFT AZURE FUNCTIONS

https://cloud.google.com/functions/

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/functions/

AWS LAMBDA vs HEROKU

heroku: FOCUS ON THE application level
LAMBDA: FOCUS ON THE single function level

paas vs serverless

HOW TO LAMBDA

OUR PROJECT BUILT ON LAMBDA

THE PROJECT
THE architecture
THE CODE
LESSONS LEARNED

A SOCIAL NETWORK FOR fashion PHOTOGRAPHERS

THE PROJECT

~ 150k photographers
~ 400k PHOTOS
~ 3k uploaded images each day
2 photo editors

A SOCIAL NETWORK FOR fashion and ART PHOTOGRAPHERS

The Architecture

The client is an AngularJS app

THE LAMBDA IS IN NODE.JS

introducing the serverless framework

Build web, mobile and IoT applications with serverless architectures using AWS Lambda and API GATEWAY

serverless framework

HELPS IN DRIVING YOUR DEVELOPMENT ON A CLEAR PATH, HIDING ALL THE WORK NEEDED TO CONFIGURE, WIRE AND UPLOAD A LAMBDA TO AWS
RUN/TEST AWS LAMBDA FUNCTIONS LOCALLY, OR REMOTELY
AUTO-DEPLOYS, VERSIONS & ALIASES LAMBDA FUNCTIONS AND API ENDPOINTS
INTERACTIVE CLI DASHBOARD TO EASILY SELECT AND DEPLOY FUNCTIONS AND ENDPOINTS

The code: a function definition

{
  "name": "photosAll",
  "customName": false,
  "customRole": false,
  "handler": "photos/photosAll/handler.handler",
  "runtime": "nodejs4.3",
  "timeout": 6,
  "memorySize": 1024,
  "custom": {},
  "endpoints": [
    {
      "path": "photos",
      "method": "GET",
      "type": "AWS",
      "authorizationType": "none",
      "authorizerFunction": false,
      "apiKeyRequired": false,
      "requestParameters": {},
      "requestTemplates": "$${apiRequestTemplate}",
      "responses": "$${apiResponses}"
    }
  ],
  "events": [],
  "vpc": {
    "securityGroupIds": ["${securityGroupId}"],
    "subnetIds": ["${subnetId}"]
  },
  "environment": "$${environment}"
}

The code: a Handler

'use strict';

var PhotoRepository = require('../../lib/photo/PhotoRepository');
var PhotographerRepository = require('../../lib/photographer/PhotographerRepository');
var PhotoDetail = require('../../lib/photo/PhotoDetail');
var LambdaRequest = require('../../lib/LambdaRequest');
var Auth = require('../../lib/Auth');

module.exports.handler = function(event, context) {
  var request = new LambdaRequest(event, context);
  var loggedPhotographer;
  Auth.getUser(request.getParams())
  .then(function(user) {
    if (!user) {
      return null;
    }
    return PhotographerRepository.findByUserId(user.getId());
  })
  .then(function(photographer) {
    loggedPhotographer = photographer;
    return PhotoRepository.findAllApprovedBy(request.getParams());
  })
  .then(function(collection) {
    var jsonCollection = collection.toJSON();
    jsonCollection.items.map((photo) => PhotoDetail(photo, loggedPhotographer));
    return jsonCollection;
  })
  .then(request.succeed)
  .catch(request.fail)
  .finally(request.tearDown);
};

Thanks!

@pierodibello

@xpeppers

Lessons learned from AWS Lambda - Trentino Cloud Computing Meetup 26.05.2016

What we learn using AWS Lambda in a real project, to build an API backend, using Node.JS and the Serverless Framework.

1,787

I like to code, test-drive, design, build and run software. I enjoy talking about agile methods, lean software development and more broadly about every principle, practice or process that improve the way we work day by day.

LESSONS LEARNED FROM AWS LAMBDA

Lessons learned from

Intro

WHAT IS AWS?

what does it offer?

COMPUTE

networking

storage

DATABASE

SECURITY

DEVELOPER TOOLS

MANAGEMENT TOOLS

MANY OTHERS

Full architecture case

serverless architecture

What, why, how

WHAT IS LAMBDA?

NO-OPS

EVENT DRIVEN

SCALE AUTOMATICALLY

ONLY PAY FOR WHAT YOU USE

SERVERLESS COMPUTE SERVICE

NO-OPS

Server and OS maintenance

Server provisioning

Monitor and logging

ZERO ADMIN

EVENT DRIVEN

Events coming from AWS resources (S3, DynamoDB, KINESIS, SNS, CLOUDWATCH, ...)

HTTP requests VIA API GATEWAY

RUN CODE IN RESPONSE TO EVENTS

HIGH AVAILABILITY

Your code runs in response to every trigger within milliseconds

Lambda will scale automatically TO MATCH THE INCOMING LOAD

JUST UPLOAD YOUR CODE

ZERO DOWNTIME DEPLOYMENT

EACH LAMBDA IS VERSIONED

JUST UPLOAD THE NEW VERSION OF YOUR FUNCTION

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/versioning-aliases.html

ONLY PAY FOR WHAT YOU USE

You are charged based on

the number of requests for your functions, plus

the time your code executes and the memory it allocates

You don't pay anything when your code isn't running.

FREE TIER FOR ALL!

YOU GOT FOR FREE EACH MONTh:

The first 1 million requests

The first 400,000 GB-seconds of compute time

PRICING

$0.20 per 1 million requests thereafter

$0.00001667 for every GB-second

More info: http://aws.amazon.com/lambda/pricing/

USE YOUR OWN LANGUAGES

Node.js (v0.10, v4.3)

Java 8

Python 2.7

...and more to come

NO NEW LANGUAGES/FRAMEWORKS TO LEARN

HEAD TOWARDS MICROSERVICES

independently deployable

PICk YOUR LANGUAGEs

NANOSERVICES?

each function is a SMALL service

All that glitters is not gold

THE Execution Environment IS OPAQUE

COLD STARTUP

Some things you get TO BE AWARE OF WITH AWS Lambda

THE EXECUTION ENVIRONMENT IS OPAQUE

don't keep state on the container

don't make assumptions on the Linux OS under the hood

don't assume two function calls will land on the same container

BE STATELESS

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/current-supported-versions.html

THE EXECUTION ENVIRONMENT IS NOT UNDER YOU CONTROL

With Lambda you cannot log in to MACHINES, or customize the operating system or language runtime

You exchange this flexibility with the “no-ops, just code” paradigm.

If you need control, choose a IAAS solution

COLD STARTUP

Java is the slowest in the startup, the fastest once warmed

python is the fastest to startup