Serverless: The Missing Manual

Do serverless cloud platforms leave you with more questions than answers? This session will focus on migrating from traditional applications to serverless cloud platforms. You’ll learn about serving files without a web server, managing application state in a stateless environment, running background processes in ephemeral runtimes and more. These techniques will enable you to build modern applications using serverless platforms. This session is for developers who see the benefits of serverless but are struggling to adjust to a serverless world.

Transcript

1. SERVERLESS: THE MISSING MANUAL James Thomas Developer Advocate @ IBM ☁ @thomasj
2. @THOMASJ
3. Serverless is more than Functions-as-a-Service. @THOMASJ
4. most common about serverless s @THOMASJ https://flic.kr/p/bmbXKZ
5. “Where do I store my files?” @THOMASJ
6. Serverless runtimes do have a filesystem. @THOMASJ
7. temporary & limited storage not shared on concurrent requests no external access files must be in app package @THOMASJ
8. Object stores provide “storage- as-a-service”. @THOMASJ
9. IBM Cloud Object Storage
10. unlimited* storage HTTP API access make objects public allow users to upload content * - billed by size, requests & bandwidth @THOMASJ
11. “How do I install my database?” @THOMASJ
12. Use a “database- as-a-service”. @THOMASJ
13. Some of IBM Cloud DBaaS… @THOMASJ
14. Consider event support and scalability. @THOMASJ
15. “Can I use <FRAMEWORK> with serverless?” @THOMASJ
16. NO. @THOMASJ
17. Why do you need frameworks? @THOMASJ
18. Scaffolding & Boilerplate Request Handling & URL Routing Authentication Middleware (CORS & Rate Limiting) Service Credentials Packaging & Deployment @THOMASJ
19. Frameworks in a serverless . @THOMASJ
20. ✅ Scaffolding & Boilerplate ❌ Request Handling & URL Routing ❌ Authentication ❌ Middleware (CORS & Rate Limiting) ❌ Service Credentials ✅ Packaging & Deployment @THOMASJ
21. @THOMASJ
22. “How do you debug serverless functions?” @THOMASJ
23. No access to runtime environment. @THOMASJ
24. ✅ Logs @THOMASJ stdout & stderr sent to log service
25. @THOMASJ
26. @THOMASJ
27. ✅ Logs ✅ Metrics captured by platform: invocations, errors, start, end, duration, cold start. @THOMASJ
28. What about custom metrics? @THOMASJ
29. ✅ Logs ✅ Metrics ✅ Custom
 Metrics record using console logs cron-schedule event forward to metrics service @THOMASJ
30. @THOMASJ
31. “Can you set a limit on costs?” @THOMASJ
32. ACCIDENTALLY WROTE A PLEASE HELP…
 RECURSIVE SERVERLESS FUNCTION. NEED $$$ FOR MY CLOUD BILL. @THOMASJ
33. Serverless platforms do have limits. @THOMASJ
34. Configure rate limiting for public APIs. @THOMASJ
36. Set up automatic billing alerts. @THOMASJ
37. @THOMASJ
38. “How do you test serverless applications?” “Can you generate templated web pages?” “What about using external libraries?” “How do you set up dev, test and prod?” “When should you not use serverless?” “What if I need more then 10 minutes?” @THOMASJ
39. Be lazy and embrace the cloud. @THOMASJ
40. THANK YOU. @THOMASJ