Selected Serverless Technology Stack: Practical Tool Recommendations for Building Efficient and Scalable Applications

Serverless architecture is becoming increasingly popular, greatly simplifying the deployment and operation of applications, allowing developers to focus on implementing business logic. However, to fully leverage the advantages of Serverless, choosing the right technology stack is crucial. This article will recommend some practical Serverless tools and resources based on discussions on X/Twitter, and provide some practical tips for building efficient and scalable applications.

Core Advantages of Serverless

Before delving into specific tools, let's first review the core advantages of Serverless:

• No server management: No need to manually configure and maintain servers, reducing operational costs.
• Automatic scaling: The platform automatically adjusts resources based on actual traffic, ensuring stable application operation under high loads.
• Pay-as-you-go: Only pay for the actual computing resources used, avoiding resource waste.
• Fast deployment: Simplifies the application deployment process and improves development efficiency.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Tools

Although Serverless emphasizes no server management, infrastructure configuration is still important. Using IaC tools can automate the deployment and management of infrastructure, ensuring consistency and repeatability.

• AWS CloudFormation / AWS CDK: Native IaC tools provided by AWS. CloudFormation uses YAML or JSON to define infrastructure, and AWS CDK allows you to use familiar programming languages (such as TypeScript, Python, Java, etc.) to define cloud resources.

  • Practical Tips: Use CloudFormation StackSets to implement cross-region and cross-account resource deployment. CDK's high-level abstraction layer can simplify the configuration of complex resources, such as building CI/CD pipelines.

• Terraform: An open-source IaC tool that supports multiple cloud platforms, including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.

  • Practical Tips: Use Terraform's modularity to break down infrastructure definitions into reusable components. Use Terraform's state file for state management to ensure configuration consistency.

• Serverless Framework: An IaC tool specifically designed for Serverless applications, supporting multiple cloud platforms and simplifying the deployment and management of Serverless applications.

  • Practical Tips: Utilize the Serverless Framework's plugin mechanism to extend its functionality, such as adding custom domains, configuring API authentication, etc.

Computing Platform

The computing platform is the core of the Serverless architecture and is used to execute the application's business logic.

• AWS Lambda: A function computing service provided by AWS that supports multiple programming languages, such as Python, Node.js, Java, Go, C#, etc.

  • Practical Tips: Use Lambda Layers to share common code and reduce the size of function packages. Use Lambda Extensions to add monitoring, security, and other functions. Pay attention to Lambda's cold start problem, and you can use Provisioned Concurrency to pre-warm functions.

  # Python Lambda function example
  import json
  
  def lambda_handler(event, context):
      body = {
          "message": "Hello from Lambda!"
      }
  
      response = {
          "statusCode": 200,
          "body": json.dumps(body)
      }
  
  ``````python
  return response
  

• Google Cloud Functions: A function compute service provided by Google Cloud, similar to AWS Lambda.

  • Practical Tips: Google Cloud Functions integrates Cloud Logging and Cloud Monitoring by default, making it easy to log and monitor performance.

• Azure Functions: A function compute service provided by Microsoft Azure that also supports multiple programming languages.

  • Practical Tips: Azure Functions supports multiple triggers, such as HTTP, Queue, Timer, etc., to meet the needs of various scenarios.

• Deno Deploy: A Serverless platform provided by the creators of the Deno runtime environment, characterized by high security and good performance. As @@deno_land said, Deno Deploy provides an instant serverless Postgres database that can be integrated with Prisma.

  • Practical Tips: Deno Deploy is suitable for building applications with high performance and security requirements.

Data Storage

Serverless applications typically need to use NoSQL databases to store data.

• Amazon DynamoDB: A NoSQL database service provided by AWS, characterized by high availability, high performance, and automatic scaling. As @@Sanchit0496 said, Lambda and DynamoDB are a common combination for building Serverless applications.

  • Practical Tips: Choose the appropriate indexing strategy based on the business scenario. Use DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) to cache data and improve read performance.

• Google Cloud Datastore: A NoSQL database service provided by Google Cloud.

  • Practical Tips: Google Cloud Datastore has powerful transaction processing capabilities and is suitable for applications that require ACID transactions.

• Azure Cosmos DB: A globally distributed multi-model database service provided by Microsoft Azure.

  • Practical Tips: Azure Cosmos DB supports multiple APIs, such as SQL, MongoDB, Cassandra, etc., making it easy to migrate existing applications.

• Turso Cloud: As @@penberg said, the Serverless database driver provided by Turso Cloud can be accessed using the fetch() API and is suitable for Serverless and edge functions that do not require a local database.

  • Practical Tips: Turso Cloud is suitable for building lightweight Serverless applications.

API Management

API gateways are used to manage and protect APIs.

• Amazon API Gateway: An API gateway service provided by AWS that supports REST APIs, WebSocket APIs, and HTTP APIs.

  • Practical Tips: Use the API Gateway's authorization feature to protect the security of the API. Use the API Gateway's caching feature to improve the performance of the API.

• Google Cloud API Gateway: An API gateway service provided by Google Cloud.

  • Practical Tips: Google Cloud API Gateway integrates with Google Cloud Endpoints, making it easy to manage and protect gRPC APIs.* Azure API Management: API gateway service provided by Microsoft Azure.

  • Tips: Azure API Management supports multiple authentication methods, such as API Key, OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, etc.

AI/ML Related Tools

As @@GoogleDevsIN and @@AWSstartups said, Serverless architecture is being widely used in the AI/ML field.

• Google Cloud Run: Container platform provided by Google Cloud that can run stateless containers, supports automatic scaling and pay-as-you-go. Google is using Cloud Run to build scalable Serverless AI applications.

• AWS SageMaker: Machine learning platform provided by AWS that can be used to build, train, and deploy machine learning models.

  • Tips: You can use SageMaker Endpoint to deploy machine learning models and access them through API Gateway.

Other Useful Tools

• Prisma: An open-source ORM tool that simplifies database operations. Deno Deploy officially recommends using Prisma.
• ONNX: An open machine learning model format that facilitates model migration between different frameworks.

Serverless vs. VPS: How to Choose?

As @@rozzabuilds asked, Serverless and VPS (Virtual Private Server) each have advantages and disadvantages, and the choice depends on the specific application scenario.

• If your application is event-driven or requires rapid deployment and automatic scaling, Serverless is a good choice.
• If your application needs to run for a long time or requires custom configuration, VPS may be more suitable.

Summary

Serverless architecture brings us many conveniences. Choosing the right technology stack is the key to building efficient and scalable applications. I hope the tools and resources introduced in this article can help you better utilize the advantages of Serverless and build more excellent applications. Remember that continuous learning and practice are the only way to become a Serverless expert. I wish you success in the world of Serverless!