Serverless, not infrastructureless

Talk from CloudCamp, about the reality of serverless, and some questions about the future of specialisation and systems administration.

Transcript

1. (without introducing more risk)
   Serverless, not
   infrastructureless
   Puppet
   Gareth Rushgrove
   More than just functions, unfortunately
   

   View Slide

2. (without introducing more risk)
   @garethr
   

   View Slide

3. (without introducing more risk)
   Gareth Rushgrove
   

   View Slide

4. (without introducing more risk)
   (as a service)
   Just add function
   

   View Slide

5. Replacing cron jobs with Lambda
   Gareth Rushgrove
   

   View Slide

6. (without introducing more risk)
   Gareth Rushgrove
   Clojure hello world
   (ns net.morethanseven.hello
   (:gen-class :implements
   [com.amazonaws.services.lambda.runtime.RequestStreamHandler])
   (:require [clojure.java.io :as io]
   [clojure.string :as str])
   (:import (com.amazonaws.services.lambda.runtime Context)))
   (defn -handleRequest
   [this input-stream output-stream context]
   (let [handle (io/writer output-stream)]
   (.write handle (str "hello" "world"))
   (.flush handle)))
   

   View Slide

7. (without introducing more risk)
   Gareth Rushgrove
   Javascript hello world
   exports.myHandler = function(event, context, callback) {
   callback(null, "Hello World");
   }
   

   View Slide

8. (without introducing more risk)
   Sorry, I couldn’t resist
   Not so faas(t)
   

   View Slide

9. (without introducing more risk)
   Gareth Rushgrove
   Some required configuration…
   variable "aws_region" {
   description = "AWS Region Lambda function is deployed to"
   }
   variable "apex_environment" {
   description = "Apex configured environment. Auto provided by 'apex infra'"
   }
   variable "apex_function_role" {
   description = "Provisioned Lambda Role ARN via Apex. Auto provided by 'apex i
   }
   variable "apex_function_hub" {
   description = "Provisioned function 'hub' ARN information. Auto provided by '
   }
   variable "apex_function_hub_name" {
   description = "Provisioned function 'hub' name information. Auto provided by
   }
   

   View Slide

10. (without introducing more risk)
    Gareth Rushgrove
    …some more required configuration
    resource "aws_cloudwatch_event_rule" "every_five_minutes" {
    name = "every-five-minutes"
    description = "Fires every five minutes"
    schedule_expression = "rate(5 minutes)"
    }
    resource "aws_cloudwatch_event_target" "check_hub_every_five_minutes" {
    rule = "${aws_cloudwatch_event_rule.every_five_minutes.name}"
    target_id = "${var.apex_function_hub_name}"
    arn = "${var.apex_function_hub}"
    }
    resource "aws_lambda_permission" "allow_cloudwatch_to_call_hub" {
    statement_id = "AllowExecutionFromCloudWatch"
    action = "lambda:InvokeFunction"
    function_name = "${var.apex_function_hub_name}"
    principal = "events.amazonaws.com"
    

    View Slide

11. For the 3 line Javascript function we needed
    32 lines of configuration
    Gareth Rushgrove
    

    View Slide

12. I had to care about CloudWatch event targets,
    event rules and Lambda permissions, all of
    which are platform specific
    Gareth Rushgrove
    

    View Slide

13. A real world example from Serverless
    Gareth Rushgrove
    

    View Slide

14. (without introducing more risk)
    Gareth Rushgrove
    and more different configuration
    "EbsBackupSnapper": {
    "Type": "AWS::Lambda::Function",
    "DependsOn": [
    "EbsBackupExecutionRole",
    "EbsBackupExecutionPolicy"
    ],
    "Properties": {
    "Code": {
    "S3Bucket": "demos.serverlesscode.com",
    "S3Key": "2015-11-ebs-snapshots/ebs-snapper.zip"
    },
    "Role": {
    "Fn::GetAtt": ["EbsBackupExecutionRole", "Arn"]
    },
    "Timeout": 60,
    "Handler": "lambda_function.lambda_handler",
    "Runtime": "python2.7",
    

    View Slide

15. For the 33 line Python function we needed
    100 lines of configuration
    Gareth Rushgrove
    

    View Slide

16. I had to care about IAM policies and roles,
    which again are platform specific
    Gareth Rushgrove
    

    View Slide

17. (without introducing more risk)
    All the configuration
    Imagine
    

    View Slide

18. Running the same function on
    multiple platforms?
    Gareth Rushgrove
    

    View Slide

19. Multiple functions doing similar things?
    Gareth Rushgrove
    

    View Slide

20. infrastructure
    /ˈɪnfrəstrʌktʃə/
    
    noun
    
    1. the installations that form the basis for any operation or system
    Gareth Rushgrove
    

    View Slide

21. Removing servers doesn’t appear to have
    removed the need for infrastructure
    Gareth Rushgrove
    

    View Slide

22. (without introducing more risk)
    If all you remember is
    Conclusions
    

    View Slide

23. Will all serverless developers write the
    functions and associated configuration?
    Gareth Rushgrove
    

    View Slide

24. (without introducing more risk)
    Gareth Rushgrove
    Do we need better abstractions?
    */5 * * * * node /home/garethr/hello.js
    

    View Slide

25. Will we need people who specialise in the
    configuration of serverless systems?
    Gareth Rushgrove
    

    View Slide

26. Maybe we’ll call those people
    Systems Administrators
    Gareth Rushgrove
    

    View Slide

27. (without introducing more risk)
    Thanks for listening
    Find me later for questions
    

    View Slide