Lately, server less computing has appeared as a new and important player in the domain of software development. Through the server less architecture, the infrastructure management is removed, as a result, developers can concentrate on the app building and deployment without the preoccupation with the provisioning, scaling or server maintenance. At Jain Software, we realize the importance of server less technology to the advancement of the company and the enhancement of efficiency. In this blog, we are going to discuss the best practices for the construction of server less applications, using our knowledge and experience that we gained in the field.
Understanding Server less Architecture: Before we start with the best practices, let us just take a few minutes to discuss what server less architecture means. In a conventional server-based approach, developers are in charge of virtual machines, servers, and infrastructure components. On the contrary, server less computing hides the infrastructure and thus, the developers no longer have to manage the servers but instead execute the code in reaction to events or triggers. AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, and Google Cloud Functions, being the examples of the cloud providers that offer server less platforms, manage the infrastructure provisioning and scaling by themselves, automatically.
Best Practices for Server less Application Development: Best Practices for Server less Application Development:
Leverage Managed Services: Capitalize on the services such as database storage, messaging, authentication, etc. that are managed by the cloud providers. One of the most remarkable examples is the use of AWS DynamoDB or Azure Cosmos DB for NoSQL database storage, AWS S3 for file storage, and AWS Cognit or Azure Active Directory for user authentication and authorization.
Design for Scalability: Prepare your server less applications with scalability as a starting point for their design. Split up large applications into smaller and distinct functions which can be called and scaled separately. The event-driven architecture is designed to trigger functions based on some events, for example, HTTP requests, database changes, or message queue notifications.
Optimize Function Performance: Make the server less functions perform better so that they would, in the process, have the execution time lowered and the costs be reduced. Stay off the needless dependencies and make the function code light. Applying caching techniques you can store frequently used data and thus, you can cut the latency. Observe the function performance metrics, like the invocation duration and memory usage and if necessary, make the necessary modifications.
Implement Error Handling and Logging: Make sure to introduce solid error handling and logging systems so that there is a view of the application behavior and the way to troubleshoot is easily made. Use prorate logging features of server less platform to make logs of function and check the application health. Setting up alarms and notifications to notify on critical errors and performance anomalies is an important step to take.
Secure Your Applications: Enforce the security best practices to safeguard your server less applications from the risks and vulnerabilities. The function invocations that are secure can be done by using the authentication mechanisms, for instance, API keys, OAuth tokens, or IAM roles. Cloud services are able to offer encryption techniques for the data that is stored and transmitted. Keep on checking dependencies for security issues and fix them as soon as you see a need for that.
Automate Deployment and Testing: The automation of the deployment and the testing of your server less applications will be the way to simplify the development process and to make sure that the consistency among environments is maintained. Set up the CI/CD pipelines to make code deployment, testing, and validation automatic. Introduce the automated tests such as unit tests, integration tests, and end-to-end tests to check the application functioning and performance.
Monitor and Analyze Application Metrics: The main goal of this is to check the key performance indicators for instance the function invocation count, the error rate and the latency which will help you to acquire the knowledge of the application behavior and its performance. Use cloud monitoring and analytics tools to visualize and analyze application metrics in real-time to make it possible to identify and solve problems as they occur. Begin the process of alert and notifications to at least before the issue hits and becomes a problem for the users.
Conclusion: Thus, to sum up, constructing server less applications demands a change in the way of thinking and the way of doing things compared to the old server-dominated architectures. The best practices that developers should follow while creating server less applications are, for example, usage of managed services, designing for scalability, performance optimization, error handling and logging, application security, deployment and testing automation, and monitoring application metrics. All of these are the things that can help them to build a reliable, scalable, and cost-effective server less application. We at Jain Software are all for clients to use the power of server less technology so that they can be great at innovation and their business goals are reached.