AWS Serverless Computing Benefits and Architecture Explained

Introduction to AWS Serverless Computing

AWS serverless computing is a cloud computing model that eliminates the need for users to manage and provision servers. It allows developers to focus purely on writing code, while the cloud provider automatically handles infrastructure management, scaling, and availability. By using serverless architecture, applications can be more cost-efficient, scalable, and easier to maintain. AWS offers a variety of services, like AWS Lambda, Amazon S3, Amazon DynamoDB, and more, to build serverless applications that automatically scale in response to demand.

Key Benefits of AWS Serverless Computing

• No Server Management: No need to maintain or provision servers and no software or runtime to install or manage.

• Pay-per-use Model: Pay only for consistent throughput or execution duration instead of server units.

• Built-in Availability and Fault Tolerance: Serverless architecture automatically provides these features, so users don't need to architect them themselves. Services like AWS Lambda offer this functionality by default.

What Does the AWS Serverless Platform Provide?

The AWS Serverless Platform manages all the services that users can utilize to build and run applications on AWS's system. It handles backend tasks like computing, databases, storage, processing, and more, enabling users to focus on their applications and drive innovation.

1. Compute using Lambda

2. Storage using Amazon S3

3. Data Stores using Amazon DynamoDB

4. API Proxy using Amazon API Gateway

5. Application Integration using Amazon SNS

6. Orchestration using Step Functions

7. Analytics using Amazon Kinesis

8. Developer tooling using different tools and services

9. Security & Access Control using its Identity and Access Management

Pros and Cons of AWS Serverless Computing

AWS serverless computing is a boon for developers, enabling them to focus entirely on development rather than worrying about deploying and managing servers. It can be used to build and run modern serverless applications, increasing agility while reducing costs. However, like any technology, it has its pros and cons.

Pros of AWS Serverless Computing 

1. Eliminates Server Management: Servers require no attention for installation or maintenance, allowing developers to focus on code.

2. Cost-Effective Pricing: Payment is based on throughput, making it cost-effective. You pay only for the functions you use, which can lower costs.

3. Scalability and Flexibility: You can choose the appropriate settings for your application’s requirements.

4. Built-in Architecture: Serverless architecture provides many beneficial features by default, including availability, fault tolerance, and scalability.

5. Faster Time to Market: Developers can focus on writing code and deploy directly to production with no effort spent on managing servers, speeding up continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD).

6. Simplified deployment: Once the code is ready, it can be deployed instantly, making it available to users quickly.

Cons of AWS Serverless Computing

1. Cold start issue: AWS Lambda executes commands and functions on temporarily created containers. When a client performs a task, a new container is created and destroyed afterward, leading to delays known as "cold start."

2. Memory limitations: The temporary nature of containers limits usable memory, which can hinder processes that require significant computational resources.

3. Limited third-party integrations: Lambda controls which third-party applications can be used, limiting some flexibility and control over the application.

4. Concurrency limits: Lambda has a limit of 1000 concurrent executions across the account, which can cause Denial of Service (DoS) if production and analysis share the same account.

5. Monitoring and debugging limitations: Monitoring and debugging capabilities are restricted to what the vendor provides, which may lack the depth required for more complex applications.

6. Cost for 24/7 applications: Running applications that operate continuously can be more expensive in serverless computing compared to traditional server-based cloud systems.

7. Limited local testing: There are few options for local testing of serverless applications, which can make development and debugging harder.

8. Increasing complexity: As serverless applications grow, troubleshooting becomes more complex due to the distributed nature of serverless architecture.

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Understanding the Architecture of AWS Serverless

AWS serverless computing architecture allows developers to build and run services and applications without managing infrastructure. While applications still run on servers, AWS manages the underlying servers, allowing developers to focus on application logic. Serverless computing provides support for backend services, and users are charged based on their computation usage, following a pay-per-use model. Although called "serverless," physical servers are still used, but developers do not need to manage or have knowledge of them. This architecture offers Function-as-a-Service (FaaS), specifically through AWS Lambda.

Why use its architecture

AWS serverless architecture provides several advantages over traditional server-centric or cloud-based infrastructure. It offers developers greater scalability, faster time to release, more flexibility, and reduced costs, as users pay only for the services they use. This enables developers to focus on core product development rather than managing servers, runtimes, and infrastructure, ultimately helping to decrease latency and improve agility.

Serverless Automated Deployment 

Users can easily create serverless applications with an automated deployment pipeline from the AWS Lambda console. Services integrated with AWS SAM (Serverless Application Model) are used to automate deployments. SAM helps deploy new versions of Lambda functions and automatically creates aliases that point to the latest version. When gradual rollouts are enabled through SAM, a CodeDeploy resource is automatically created for the user.

Serverless Authentication with JSON Web Tokens

• Authentication determines if a client's credentials are valid.

• Authorization specifies what actions a client can perform, with privileges varying across different clients.

JSON Web Tokens (JWT)

This is a compact and self-contained way for securely transmitting the information. It is a string that consists of 3 components separated by "." character. Lambda uses a Lambda authorizer, which is an API Gateway feature. It uses Lambda functions to control access to users' API. There are two types of Authorizers:-

1. A token-based Lambda authorizer

2. Request parameter-based Lambda authorizer

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AWS Serverless Authentication Explained

Authentication in AWS Serverless can be accessed using the following types of identities:

• AWS account root user

• IAM user

• IAM role

Account Root User

Advantages of Account Root User

• Improves user experience by managing access efficiently.

• Enhances security profiles with fine-grained permissions.

• Simplifies auditing and reporting of user activities.

• Allows users with appropriate permissions easy access to resources.

• Helps increase productivity and reduce IT costs by efficiently managing access.

Limitations of Account Root User

• Does not have access to all AWS resources, only those granted by the root user.

• Unable to create policies unless explicitly granted permission to do so.

• Restricted to using only the resources for which permission has been granted, or access has been provided.

IAM (Identity and Access Management)

Advantages of IAM

• Improves user experience by providing easy and efficient management of access.

• Enhances security profiles with granular, role-based access control.

• Simplifies auditing and reporting of user activity for better governance and compliance.

• Allows users with appropriate permissions easy access to AWS resources.

• Helps increase productivity and reduce IT costs by streamlining access and management.

Limitations of IAM

• Does not have access to all AWS resources, only those granted by the root user.

• Unable to create policies unless explicitly granted permission to do so.

• Restricted to using only the resources for which permission has been granted, or access has been provided.

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Key AWS Serverless Services You Should Know

There are various services for AWS Serverless Computing, some of which are listed below:

Serverless Computation Services 

Serverless computation services include AWS Lambda, which allows users to run code without managing servers, and they only pay for the computations used under the pay-per-use model. Lambda@Edge enables users to run Lambda functions at edge locations in response to events from Amazon CloudFront, facilitating event-driven computing. AWS Fargate is a serverless compute engine designed for containers, helping to scale and manage the infrastructure needed for running serverless applications.

Serverless Storage Services 

Serverless storage services such as Amazon S3 provide developers with durable, secure, and highly scalable object storage that is easy to use and portable. Amazon EFS offers scalable, elastic file storage, adjusting automatically based on demand, making it ideal for serverless applications.

Serverless Data Store Services 

For serverless data store services, Amazon DynamoDB is a fast, flexible NoSQL database service that offers millisecond latency for applications at any scale. Amazon Aurora Serverless is an on-demand, auto-scaling MySQL-compatible database that automatically starts and shuts down based on the application's needs, offering scalability.

API Proxy Services 

API Proxy Services like Amazon API Gateway simplify the creation, maintenance, publishing, monitoring, and securing of APIs at any scale. It handles traffic management, authorization, access control, monitoring, and API version management for serverless applications.

Application Integration Services 

• Amazon SNS – Amazon SNS is a fully managed pub/sub messaging service that helps decouple and scale microservices, distributed systems, and serverless applications.

• Amazon SQS – Amazon SQS is a fully managed messaging service that helps decouple and scale microservices, distributed systems, and serverless applications.

• AWS AppSync – AWS AppSync helps simplify application development by allowing you to create a flexible GraphQL API. It helps secure access and manipulation and combines data from one or more data sources.

• Amazon EventBridge – Amazon EventBridge is an event bus service that makes accessing application data from many sources easy and sends it into the user's AWS environment for application integration.

Orchestration Services

For orchestration services, AWS Step Functions makes it easy to coordinate distributed applications and microservices through visual workflows, supporting serverless deployment and application integration.

Analytics Services 

• Amazon Kinesis – Amazon Kinesis is used to stream data on AWS. Kinesis offers great services to help load and analyze real-time data processing.

• Amazon Athena – Amazon Athena is an interactive service that makes it easy to analyze data in Amazon S3 using standard SQL. Athena is serverless.

Developer Tooling Services 

Developer tooling services offer tools that support serverless application development, including tools for continuous integration (CI), continuous delivery (CD), testing, deployments, monitoring, diagnostics, SDKs, frameworks, and integrated development environment (IDE) plugins. These tools help to streamline automated deployment pipelines for serverless applications.

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AWS vs Google Cloud vs Azure: Serverless Comparison

Here is the comparison between AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure serverless computing. This table outlines the major differences in key features and services across these platforms, helping users understand their strengths and limitations in the context of serverless computing.

Real-World Applications of AWS Serverless Computing

The following are some applications of AWS Serverless Computing:

Web Application and Backend

Serverless web applications and backends can be created using AWS Lambda, Amazon API Gateway, Amazon S3, and Amazon DynamoDB. These services can handle web, mobile, IoT, and chatbot requests effectively.
Examples:

• Weather application

• Mobile backend for social media apps

Data Processing

Various types of real-time data processing systems can be built using AWS serverless computing. Services like AWS Lambda, Amazon Kinesis, Amazon S3, and Amazon DynamoDB can be used to process large volumes of data in real time.
Examples:

• Image thumbnail creation

• Analysis of streaming social media data

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Unlocking Potential with AWS Serverless Computing

Serverless is a concept that simplifies app development by eliminating the need to manage traditional servers. It allows developers to focus more on creating and optimizing applications, while cloud services handle the infrastructure. By utilizing serverless computing, organizations can build more agile apps that adapt to changes faster, making it easier to scale and innovate. This approach removes the burden of managing clusters and servers, allowing for better resource allocation and quicker deployment times. In essence, serverless computing empowers teams to focus on app functionality, ultimately enhancing productivity and enabling businesses to respond to dynamic market demands more efficiently.

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