Azure Serverless Computing for Scalable and Cost-Effective Applications

Azure Serverless Computing is a game-changer for scalable and cost-effective applications. It allows you to build applications that can automatically scale up or down based on demand, without having to provision or manage servers.

With Azure Serverless Computing, you only pay for the resources you use, which can lead to significant cost savings. This is because you're not charged for idle resources, unlike traditional server-based models.

One of the key benefits of Azure Serverless Computing is that it eliminates the need for manual scaling and management. This frees up developers to focus on writing code and building applications, rather than worrying about server maintenance and upgrades.

Azure Serverless Computing also provides a flexible and on-demand pricing model, which can help reduce costs and improve efficiency.

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Azure serverless computing offers numerous advantages that make it an attractive option for developers and organizations. With a pay-as-you-go pricing model, you only pay for what you consume, making it a cost-effective solution compared to provisioning and maintaining dedicated servers.

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Serverless applications can automatically scale as demand grows, dynamically allocating resources to ensure optimal performance. This means you don't have to worry about server provisioning, maintenance, or scaling.

Developers can focus on writing code and defining functions without the need to worry about infrastructure management. This reduces the management overhead and allows for faster development and deployment of applications.

Azure serverless computing provides flexibility in language and frameworks, supporting multiple programming languages such as C#, JavaScript, Python, and PowerShell. This flexibility allows developers to choose the language they're most comfortable with or that best fits application requirements.

Here are some key advantages of Azure serverless computing:

By choosing Azure serverless computing, you can develop intelligent applications with built-in intelligence, create endless connections, and enjoy local debugging in Visual Studio. This can boost the productivity of any organization and provide a faster time to market.

Azure Serverless Concepts are designed to help you build scalable and event-driven applications.

Function Apps are the core of Azure Serverless, allowing you to write code without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.

Azure Durable Task is a framework for building long-running, stateful workflows.

Event Grid is a fully managed event routing service that helps you connect your applications and services.

Serverless workflows take a low-code/no-code approach to simplify orchestration of combined tasks.

Developers can integrate different services without coding those interactions, having to maintain glue code, or learning new APIs or specifications.

This approach streamlines the workflow process, allowing developers to focus on more complex tasks.

By leveraging serverless workflows, developers can create more efficient and scalable applications.

Bindings are a powerful way to connect your code to data and integrate with other Azure services. They provide a declarative way to integrate with data sources and sinks.

Function bindings are a type of binding that populates input parameters from an external data source. An example is the GetStatus function in the reference implementation, which uses the Azure Cosmos DB input binding to look up a document in Azure Cosmos DB.

Bindings abstract the details of the data source or sink, making the function code simpler. You don't need to write code that talks directly to the service, which reduces complexity.

In some cases, you may need more complex logic than the binding provides. In that case, use the Azure client SDKs directly.

Azure Functions is a serverless compute option that uses an event-driven model, where a piece of code (a "function") is invoked by a trigger. In this architecture, the function is invoked when a client makes an HTTP request.

Azure Functions supports multiple programming languages, including those used to build microservices, APIs, and event-driven applications. This allows developers to create scalable and efficient applications without worrying about server management.

The Azure Function makes payments to the third party and stores the record in the SQL database. Users submit their orders and order is placed in a queue.

Key components of Azure Serverless Architecture include Azure Functions, Azure Logic Apps, Azure Event Grid, and Azure Cosmos DB Serverless.

Here are the main components of the architecture:

To set up Azure Serverless, start by creating a Function App, which involves defining a function within the app and configuring the necessary settings.

You can create a new Function App by choosing your Azure subscription, creating a new Resource Group or selecting an existing one, and choosing a unique name for your Function App. You'll also need to select the appropriate runtime stack, such as Node.js, Python, or C#, and choose between Windows and Linux for the operating system.

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Here's a quick rundown of the steps to create a new Function App:

Once you've created your Function App, you can navigate to the Functions section within your Function App and click on the function you created to open the code editor.

Setting up an environment for your serverless application is a crucial step in the process. You'll want to create a Function App, which is the core component of Azure Functions.

With a serverless application environment, both the back end and front end are hosted on fully managed services that handle scaling, security, and compliance requirements. This means you don't have to worry about the underlying infrastructure.

To host your Function App, you'll need to configure the necessary settings, including any triggers, bindings, or outputs required for your function.

To set up an Azure Function App, you'll need to create a resource group, choose a unique name, and select the runtime stack, operating system, and hosting plan.

First, choose your Azure subscription and create a new resource group or select an existing one. You can also choose a region closest to your target audience.

Next, select the hosting plan, which is suitable for most scenarios, and click on the Review + create button to provision the Function App.

Once created, navigate to the Function App in the Azure portal and go to the Functions section within your Function App.

To create a new function, click on the + Create button to add a new function, and choose a template or start from scratch. You can also configure the function settings, such as the name, authentication, and trigger details.

Here's a step-by-step guide to creating a new Function App:

To lock down your function app, configure it to require a function key, and restrict it to allow only calls from the API Management gateway's static IP address.

To create a new Function App in Azure, start by searching the marketplace for "Function" and selecting "Function App" from the results. This will guide you through the process of creating a new Function App.

To configure the Function App, choose your Azure subscription and create a new Resource Group or select an existing one. You'll also need to choose a unique name for your Function App, select the appropriate runtime stack, and choose either Windows or Linux for the operating system.

Here are the key steps to configure your Function App:

Once your Function App is created, you can deploy your function code to it, either by writing your code in the editor or by setting up deployment options such as continuous integration (CI) using Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions.

Developers build serverless applications using a variety of application patterns to meet specific requirements and business needs.

Serverless application patterns are already familiar to many developers, making it easier to adapt to this new approach.

Developers can use these patterns to create scalable and efficient applications.

Serverless applications can be designed to handle sudden spikes in traffic, making them ideal for applications with varying user engagement.

By using serverless application patterns, developers can focus on writing code and delivering value to users, rather than worrying about server management.

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To create a new function app, you can follow these steps. First, in the Azure portal, search for Function App in the marketplace and select it. Then, click on the "Create" button to start the creation process.

You can choose a template or start from scratch when creating a new function. For example, you can choose an HTTP trigger or a timer trigger to get started. Once you've chosen a template, configure the function settings, such as the name, authentication, and trigger details.

To deploy your function, you can use a package file, also known as "Run from package". This approach involves uploading a zip file to a Blob Storage container, and the Functions runtime mounts the zip file as a read-only file system. This is an atomic operation, which reduces the chance that a failed deployment will leave the application in an inconsistent state.

When choosing a hosting plan for your function app, you have two options: Consumption Plan and App Service Plan. With the Consumption Plan, compute power is automatically allocated when your code is running. With the App Service Plan, a set of VMs are allocated for your code, which defines the number of VMs and the VM size.

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Here's a comparison of the two hosting plans:

Note that the App Service Plan isn't strictly serverless, but the programming model is the same, and the same function code can run in both a Consumption Plan and an App Service Plan.

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Deploying your front-end application uniformly to users across the globe is crucial for a great user experience. This can be achieved by using a global-ready CDN, with the static content hosted on the cloud, eliminating the need for a dedicated web server.

To get started, integrate an Azure storage account with Azure CDN, following the steps outlined in the documentation. Secure your application with HTTPS to ensure a safe and trustworthy experience for your users.

Compressing your website files is essential to reduce bandwidth consumption on the CDN and improve performance. Azure CDN allows compression on the fly on the edge servers, but you can also compress your files before deploying them to the Blob storage using the deploy pipeline in this reference architecture.

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A cache purge is necessary to ensure all users are served the freshest content. This is required if the build and deploy processes aren't atomic, for example, if they replace old files with newly built ones in the same origin folder.

Here are some important considerations for front-end deployment:

Fingerprinting filenames when they're rebuilt is a good practice to ensure cached files are updated when they do change. This front-end application fingerprints all files except for public-facing files such as index.html.

Additional reading: How Do I Store Files in the Cloud

Security and Authentication is crucial for Azure Serverless apps. Microsoft Entra ID is used for authentication in the reference implementation, supporting the OpenID Connect protocol built on top of OAuth 2.

The implicit grant flow is used for single-page applications that can't keep client secrets or authorization codes hidden. This flow involves redirecting the user to the Microsoft Entra sign-in page, where they sign in and are redirected back to the client application with an access token.

For another approach, see: Azure Auth Json Website Azure Ad Authentication

To configure authentication, register an application in your Microsoft Entra tenant, generate an application ID, and enable Microsoft Entra authentication inside the Function App. Add the validate-jwt policy to API Management to pre-authorize requests by validating the access token.

Here are the recommended steps to secure your Function App:

Protecting your application secrets is crucial to maintaining the security of your Azure Functions. You should never store database credentials or other sensitive information in your code or configuration files.

Instead, use Azure's encrypted App settings to store your application secrets. This ensures that even if your code is compromised, the secrets remain safe. For more information, see Security in Azure App Service and Azure Functions.

You can also store application secrets in Key Vault, which allows you to centralize their storage, control their distribution, and monitor access. However, note that Functions triggers and bindings load their configuration settings from app settings, so there's no built-in way to configure them to use Key Vault secrets.

To use Key Vault, see Configure an Azure web application to read a secret from Key Vault.

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Enforcing HTTPS is crucial for maximum security. This ensures all requests are encrypted and protected from eavesdropping and tampering.

Azure CDN supports HTTPS on the *.azureedge.net subdomain by default. This means you can rely on HTTPS for your CDN without any additional configuration.

However, if you're using a custom domain name with Azure CDN, you'll need to enable HTTPS separately. You can do this by following the instructions in the Azure portal or through a Resource Manager template.

To enable HTTPS for your static website hosting, you'll need to enable the "Secure transfer required" option on your Storage account. This ensures that only secure HTTPS connections are allowed.

API Management also requires configuration to use HTTPS protocol only. You can configure this in the Azure portal or through a Resource Manager template, which specifies the protocol as "HTTPS".

Azure Functions also have an "HTTPS Only" setting that you can enable for maximum security.

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Here are the key steps to enforce HTTPS across different services:

Authentication is a crucial step in securing your application. The GetStatus API in the reference implementation uses Microsoft Entra ID to authenticate requests.

Microsoft Entra ID supports the OpenID Connect protocol, which is an authentication protocol built on top of the OAuth 2 protocol. This is an industry-standard approach to authentication.

The client application is a single-page application (SPA) that runs in the browser, which can't keep a client secret or an authorization code hidden. The implicit grant flow is therefore the most suitable option.

Here's the overall flow of authentication:

To configure authentication, you'll need to register an application in your Microsoft Entra tenant, which generates an application ID. This ID is then included with the login URL.