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
   

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2. @THOMASJ
   

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3. Serverless
   is more than
   Functions-as-a-Service.
   @THOMASJ
   

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4. most common
   about serverless
   s
   @THOMASJ
   https://flic.kr/p/bmbXKZ
   

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5. “Where do I store
   my files?”
   @THOMASJ
   

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6. Serverless
   runtimes do have
   a filesystem.
   @THOMASJ
   

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7. temporary & limited storage
   not shared on concurrent requests
   no external access
   files must be in app package
   @THOMASJ
   
   
   
   
   

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8. Object stores
   provide “storage-
   as-a-service”.
   @THOMASJ
   

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9. IBM Cloud Object Storage
   

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10. unlimited* storage
    HTTP API access
    make objects public
    allow users to upload content
    * - billed by size, requests & bandwidth
    @THOMASJ
    

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11. “How do I install
    my database?”
    @THOMASJ
    

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12. Use a “database-
    as-a-service”.
    @THOMASJ
    

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13. Some of IBM Cloud DBaaS…
    @THOMASJ
    

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14. Consider
    event support
    and scalability.
    @THOMASJ
    

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15. “Can I use
    
    with serverless?”
    @THOMASJ
    

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16. NO.
    @THOMASJ
    

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17. Why do you need
    frameworks?
    @THOMASJ
    

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18. Scaffolding & Boilerplate
    Request Handling & URL Routing
    Authentication
    Middleware (CORS & Rate Limiting)
    Service Credentials
    Packaging & Deployment
    @THOMASJ
    

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19. Frameworks in a
    serverless .
    @THOMASJ
    

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20. ✅ Scaffolding & Boilerplate
    ❌ Request Handling & URL Routing
    ❌ Authentication
    ❌ Middleware (CORS & Rate Limiting)
    ❌ Service Credentials
    ✅ Packaging & Deployment
    @THOMASJ
    

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21. @THOMASJ
    

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22. “How do you
    debug serverless
    functions?”
    @THOMASJ
    

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23. No access to
    runtime
    environment.
    @THOMASJ
    

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24. ✅ Logs
    @THOMASJ
    stdout & stderr
    sent to log service
    

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25. @THOMASJ
    

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26. @THOMASJ
    

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27. ✅ Logs
    ✅ Metrics captured by platform:
    invocations, errors,
    start, end, duration,
    cold start.
    @THOMASJ
    

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28. What about
    custom metrics?
    @THOMASJ
    

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29. ✅ Logs
    ✅ Metrics
    ✅ Custom

    Metrics
    record using console logs
    cron-schedule event
    forward to metrics service
    @THOMASJ
    

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30. @THOMASJ
    

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31. “Can you set a
    limit on costs?”
    @THOMASJ
    

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32. ACCIDENTALLY WROTE A
    PLEASE HELP…

    RECURSIVE SERVERLESS
    FUNCTION.
    NEED $$$ FOR MY CLOUD BILL.
    @THOMASJ
    

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33. Serverless
    platforms
    do have limits.
    @THOMASJ
    

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34. Configure
    rate limiting
    for public APIs.
    @THOMASJ
    

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36. Set up automatic
    billing alerts.
    @THOMASJ
    

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37. @THOMASJ
    

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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
    

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39. Be lazy and
    embrace the
    cloud.
    @THOMASJ
    

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40. THANK YOU.
    @THOMASJ
    

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