Serverless Architecture Fundamentals

Serverless architecture is a cloud computing execution model where the cloud provider dynamically manages the allocation of machine resources. In this model, developers can build and run applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.

• **Function as a Service (FaaS)**: The core of serverless architecture, where developers deploy code in the form of functions.
• **Backend as a Service (BaaS)**: Managed services that handle backend functions such as databases, authentication, and storage.
• **Event-driven architecture**: Serverless applications are often triggered by events, such as HTTP requests or file uploads.

• Cost Efficiency: Pay only for what you use.
• Scalability: Automatically scales up or down based on demand.
• Reduced Operational Complexity: Focus on writing code instead of managing servers.

4.1 Serverless Functions

These are the building blocks of serverless architecture. For example, an AWS Lambda function can be defined in Python as follows:

import json

def lambda_handler(event, context):
    return {
        'statusCode': 200,
        'body': json.dumps('Hello from Lambda!')
    }

4.2 Managed Services

Utilizing managed services like AWS S3 for storage, DynamoDB for databases, and API Gateway for APIs enhances serverless capabilities.

• Design functions to be stateless.
• Keep functions small and focused on a single task.
• Use environment variables for configuration.
• Implement monitoring and logging to track performance.