Developers looking to create serverless applications frequently ask how to effectively initiate their local development environment. This article serves as a comprehensive guide for those wanting to establish a robust setup for building serverless applications.
Utilizing AWS and Open Source Tools for Serverless Development
To leverage AWS Lambda and various AWS services, the first step is to create and activate an AWS account.
Command Line Tools
Command line tools are scripts, programs, and libraries that facilitate rapid application development directly from a command line interface.
The AWS CLI
The AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI) is an open-source tool that allows developers to interact with AWS services through the command line. This tool significantly enhances developer productivity by automating repetitive tasks and streamlining the creation of cloud resources. It is essential for any serverless developer’s toolkit. Follow the instructions to install and configure the AWS CLI on your operating system.
AWS enables infrastructure as code, which provides a single source of truth for AWS resources. This allows development teams to utilize version control and create deployment pipelines for their cloud infrastructure. AWS CloudFormation offers a unified language to model and provision application resources in your cloud environment.
AWS Serverless Application Model (AWS SAM CLI)
AWS Serverless Application Model (AWS SAM) is an extension of CloudFormation that simplifies the building of serverless application resources. It offers a shorthand syntax for defining Lambda functions, APIs, databases, and event source mappings. When deploying, the AWS SAM syntax is converted into AWS CloudFormation syntax, thus expediting the development of serverless applications.
To install the AWS SAM CLI on your operating system, execute the following command to test the installation by initializing a new quick start project:
$ sam initSelect 1 for the “Quick Start Templates” and 1 for the “Node.js runtime”, keeping the default name. The generated /sam-app/template.yaml will encompass all resource definitions for your serverless application, including a Lambda function with a REST API endpoint and necessary IAM permissions.
Resources:
HelloWorldFunction:
Type: AWS::Serverless::Function
Properties:
CodeUri: hello-world/
Handler: app.lambdaHandler
Runtime: nodejs12.x
Events:
HelloWorld:
Type: Api
Properties:
Path: /hello
Method: getDeploy this application using the guided deploy feature of the AWS SAM CLI:
$ sam deploy -gLocal Testing with AWS SAM CLI
The AWS SAM CLI requires Docker to simulate the AWS Lambda runtime environment locally. To test, install Docker Engine and run the Lambda function using the following command:
$ sam local invoke "HelloWorldFunction" -e events/event.jsonOn the first invocation, Docker will download the lambci/lambda:nodejs12.x container image and execute the Lambda function with a predefined event JSON file.
Helper Tools
Numerous open-source tools and packages exist to assist you in monitoring, authoring, and optimizing your Lambda-based applications. Notable tools include:
Template Validation Tools
CloudFormation Linter is a tool that validates your CloudFormation templates, helping to identify and resolve issues before deployment. By analyzing your templates ahead of time, you can save valuable development hours and integrate automated validation into your deployment process. To install, follow these instructions. After installation, run the cfn-lint command with the path to your AWS SAM template as the first argument:
cfn-lint template.yamlIDE Tools
AWS IDE plugins enable you to author and invoke Lambda functions directly from your integrated development environment (IDE). Toolkits are available for PyCharm, IntelliJ, and Visual Studio. The AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio Code offers an integrated experience for developing serverless applications, allowing you to invoke Lambda functions, configure function settings, debug locally, and deploy—all from within the editor.
To install the AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio Code, select the Extensions icon on the Activity Bar, search for “AWS Toolkit,” and choose the appropriate extension to begin.
AWS Cloud9
For those preferring a development environment without the hassle of local installations, AWS Cloud9 offers a cloud-based IDE for writing, running, and debugging code directly from your browser. This environment is preconfigured with essential tools like AWS CLI, AWS SAM CLI, and SDKs, making it ideal for developing serverless applications. It enables local testing and debugging of AWS Lambda functions, eliminating the need to upload code to the Lambda console, thus allowing for more efficient iterations.
To set up AWS Cloud9, follow this guide in your AWS environment.
Advanced Tools
Proper configuration of Lambda functions is crucial for optimizing costs and performance. Lambda allows you to manage memory (RAM) allocation for each function. Charges are based on the number of requests and the duration of execution, with pricing affected by allocated RAM. If performance is a priority over cost, consider increasing the memory allocation.
Cost and Performance Optimization Tools
The AWS Lambda Power Tuner is an open-source tool that utilizes an AWS Step Functions state machine to identify cost-effective and performance-optimized configurations for your Lambda functions. It tests a function under various memory settings and analyzes execution logs to recommend configurations that minimize costs while maximizing performance.
For more insights on serverless applications, you can check out another blog post here. For expert advice on this subject, they are an authority on this topic. Additionally, for any queries regarding AWS employment, this resource is an excellent starting point.
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