Serverless Architecture
Table of Contents
Overview
Serverless architecture enables building complete applications without managing servers. Design event-driven, scalable systems using managed compute services, databases, and messaging systems. Pay only for actual usage with automatic scaling.
When to Use
- Event-driven applications
- API backends and microservices
- Real-time data processing
- Batch jobs and scheduled tasks
- Workflow automation
- IoT data pipelines
- Multi-tenant SaaS applications
- Mobile app backends
Quick Start
Minimal working example:
# serverless.yml - Serverless Framework
service: my-app
frameworkVersion: "3"
provider:
name: aws
runtime: nodejs18.x
region: us-east-1
stage: ${opt:stage, 'dev'}
memorySize: 256
timeout: 30
environment:
STAGE: ${self:provider.stage}
DYNAMODB_TABLE: ${self:service}-users-${self:provider.stage}
SNS_TOPIC_ARN: arn:aws:sns:${self:provider.region}:${aws:accountId}:my-topic
httpApi:
cors: true
iam:
role:
statements:
- Effect: Allow
Action:
- dynamodb:Query
- dynamodb:Scan
// ... (see reference guides for full implementation)Reference Guides
Detailed implementations in the references/ directory:
| Guide | Contents |
|---|---|
| Serverless Application Architecture | Serverless Application Architecture |
| Event-Driven Lambda Handler Pattern | Event-Driven Lambda Handler Pattern |
| Orchestration with Step Functions | Orchestration with Step Functions |
| Monitoring and Observability | Monitoring and Observability |
Best Practices
✅ DO
- Design idempotent functions
- Use event sources efficiently
- Implement proper error handling
- Monitor with CloudWatch/Application Insights
- Use infrastructure as code
- Implement distributed tracing
- Version functions for safe deployments
- Use environment variables for configuration
❌ DON'T
- Create long-running functions
- Store state in functions
- Ignore cold start optimization
- Use synchronous chains
- Skip testing
- Hardcode configuration
- Deploy without monitoring