Serverless Apps Development with Azure Functions and Node.js

This video provides an overview of the entire course.

You have an idea what Azure Functions are, but you’re not sure what all the hype is about. Can you give them a trial run without following a lot of steps?

   •  Log into the Try AzureFunction swebsite

   •  Make a timer-triggered C# function

   •  Modify the log message and the schedule for the Azure Function

In order to use Azure Functions you need an Azure account, but how do I sign up for an Azure account?

   •  Visit azure.com and click the sign up button

   •  Enter your phone number and payment information

   •  Confirm your details and log into your new account

You’d like to create more Azure Functions, but you want to do it inside your Azure subscription. How do you create an Azure Function app?

   •  Log in to the Azure portal

   •  Create a Function app

   •  Create an HTTP Trigger/Webhook function in C# and modify it

Before you go too crazy creating Azure Functions, you want to know how you can architect your solution without breaking the bank. How can you predict your cloud costs when you build your infrastructure using Functions?

   •  Visit the functions pricing page

   •  Calculate how many function calls you’ll need and the resource usage

   •  Determine your price

You may know some JavaScript, but you don’t know how you can use it in an Azure Function. What limitations are there?

   •  Create a JavaScript Azure Function

   •  Modify it using the built-in JavaScript functionality

   •  Add external libraries

C# is the most popular language among .NET programmers. How to use C# in Azure Functions?

   •  Create a C# Azure Function

   •  Make Functions that you can call from other Functions

   •  Add multiple C# files and libraries

F# is growing in popularity and is a first-class citizen in Azure Functions. How to use F# in Azure Functions?

   •  Create an F# Azure Function

   •  Make Functions that you can call from other Functions

   •  Add multiple F# files and libraries

Python is a very popular language among scientists and DevOps engineers. How can you use it in Azure Functions?

   •  Create a Python Azure Function

   •  Make Functions that you can call from other Functions

   •  Add multiple Python files and libraries

PHP is massively popular among the Open Source community. You can run your PHP scripts in Azure Functions.

   •  Create a PHP Azure Function

   •  Make Functions that you can call from other Functions

   •  Add multiple PHP files and libraries

What if you are using something a little less standard? Can you use other languages on Azure Functions?

   •  Create a batch file Azure Function

   •  Create a bash script Azure Function

   •  Create an executable Azure Function

It is important to grasp the concept of triggering a function from an event and bind your input or output to another Azure service.

   •  Define triggers

   •  Define bindings

   •  Go through the different types of triggers and bindings and how to manage them

We’ve been using triggers in our previous videos without really knowing it. We need to understand the basics of basic triggers and how we can use some basic bindings to interact with our caller.

   •  Create a Github webhook and look at the function.json file

   •  Change our HTTP trigger into a Timer trigger using the Integrate tab

   •  Change our timer triggered to an HTTP trigger function by modifying the function.json file

Have you ever had to write a service to “poll” a directory or queue to see if something happened? Do you have services that must be called by your client until something happens? In this video, we’ll show how you can eliminate that messy logic and replace it with Azure Functions that fire from storage events.

   •  Create a blob-storage triggered function that resizes files. The output is bound to blob storage

   •  An Azure Function that responds to queue message and process’s it.

   •  When queue message is processed, it writes it to a table

What if you have the need to trigger your Azure Function from a stream of real-time data or from an event from Event Hub? Why would you need this and how would you do it?

   •  Explain event hubs and the Azure Service Bus

   •  Show how you’d trigger and bind to an Event Hub event

   •  Show how you’d trigger and bind from an Azure Service Bus event

Sometimes you just need to do a little more complex job when your function does it’s magic. In this video we’ll cover some of the more advanced bindings.

   •  How to send an e-mail with SendGrid

   •  How to send a text with Twilio

Maybe, Azure Functions aren’t the ideal approach for your solution. You may be better served using Microsoft Flow, Logic Apps or Azure WebJobs. How do you decide?

   •  Introduce Microsoft Flow and its strengths. Compare it with Azure Functions

   •  Introduce Logic Apps and its strengths. Compare it with Azure Functions

   •  Introduce Azure WebJobs and its strengths. Compare it with Azure Functions

We’ve seen the Hosting Plan dropdown. It seems important but you may not know what it means. Should you use a consumption plan or an App Service plan?

   •  Introduce the consumption Plan and its strengths/weaknesses

   •  Introduce the App Service Plan and its strengths/weaknesses

   •  Compare the consumption plan and app service plan side by side and give examples for when you should choose one over the other

No one wants to build something that requires continuous maintenance. What are some tips to follow to prevent problems with our Azure Functions down the road?

   •  Problem prevention practices

   •  Performance improvement practices

   •  Defensive coding best practices

In the previous video, we went over someb est practices for your Azure Functions to help with durable, performant apps. This video will now share some best practices for security.

   •  Share general tips

   •  Show AuthLevel and how it affects security

   •  Show how you can integrate with Azure Active Directory to enforce authentication at the function level

If you’re interested in Azure Functions, you’ve probably heard about serverless architecture. However, you may not be clear on what it means. In this video, I will help you understand what it is.

   •  Explain the traditional client-server architecture

   •  Show a modern serverless architecture

   •  Describe BaaS and FaaS as two competing definitions of “serverless” and point out that both are correct

In the previous video,youlearned what a serverless architecture is. Now let’s discover why it has becomeso popular among software architects recently.

   •  Benefits for developers

   •  Benefits for project managers

   •  Benefits for the business.

You’re excited about serverless. You may even have ported everything over to Azure Functions in your head! Before you start shutting down your traditional servers, let’s take a sober look at some things that you should consider before you have 400 Azure Functions taking over your life.

   •  Execution challenges

   •  Development challenges

   •  Systems architecture challenges

In our previous video, we talked about some of the challenges you may have if you rely on a serverless architecture. In this video, I’m going to give you some hope; there are some practices you can follow that will help you maintain your sanity in your serverless home.

   •  Follow microservices best practices

   •  Keep your Functions small

   •  The right tool for the job

In the previous video, we gave you some best practices for a serverless architecture. Now you’re ready to start moving your big monolithic application to lightweight Functions that don’t require you to manage the infrastructure. In this video, I’ll give you some pointers on moving to a serverless architecture.

   •  Start small

   •  Organizational structure

   •  Break up the monolith

To ensure that your Azure Functions are running properly, you may want to use integration tests in your projects. How would you use them properly?

   •  Create a function app with a sum function in it

   •  Create a Visual Studio solution with unit tests

   •  Write tests to cover the test cases we expect

Calling a sophisticated REST endpoint is hard to set up with your browser or with an integration test. But there is a free tool that makes it super easy. It’s called Postman. How to use the Postman tool?

   •  Show how to set up a collection with REST calls in it for your function app

   •  Use environment variables and create several calls to the function

   •  Set up test cases and use the rest runner

How can you tell if your Azure Functions are running properly? This is really important if you’re trying to maintain a reliable infrastructure.

   •  Show logging for individual Functions; real-time logging

   •  Create a function that throws exceptions and view the exception in the logs

   •  Set up application insights and show how those exceptions stick out like a sore thumb

What if you can’t figure out why your Azure Function is failing? Can you debug the code? Can you step through your Azure Function remotely on the server?

   •  Install prerequisites to Visual Studio

   •  Use Server explorer or Cloud Explorer to download the function script locally

   •  Fix the code and re-deploy

Is there a good tool for developers to use for develop Azure Functions locally? Is it free and easy to use?

   •  Download and install Azure Functions Core Tools and Visual Studio Code

   •  Create a new function from the command line andedit it with Visual Studio Code

   •  Run and test the function running locally on your machine.

If you’re editing Azure Functions directly in the web editor in the Azure Portal, you’re probably going to have a big problem. Is it possible to use source control to protect your function’s source code? Can you use Git to automatically deploy changes to your Azure Functions?

   •  Creating an Azure Function backed by a local Git repository

   •  Using Azure Functions Core Tools to develop Functions locally

   •  Deploy your Functions using Git push. Rollback your function app to a previous version.

When you learn about infrastructure as code in Azure, you should learn about Azure Resource Manager, or ARM for short. It can be a little tricky to understand, but once you start using it, you’ll want to manage all your infrastructure with it.

   •  Cover what ARM is

   •  Cover why you would use it

   •  Break down a sample ARM template.

ARM templates for storage accounts and VMs are pretty straightforward, but they are a little tricky with Function Apps. How can we create a reusable template for our function apps?

   •  Show how you can download a good starting point ARM template from the Azure Portal

   •  Tweak the template so that it is tied to a particular branch in a publicly-available Github repo

   •  Use deployment options to create a webhook for deploying after Git pushes

We covered some of the techniques you can use to automate deployment in your Azure Function apps. This video will give you a general overview and help give you some tips to use in your organization.

   •  Recommendations of deployment configuration options (pros and cons)

   •  Visual Studio versus Visual Studio Code

   •  Azure Resource Manager pros and cons