Benefits and Usage of Serverless Technologies - AZ-900 Certification Course

Summary

This lesson delves into the advantages and applications of serverless technologies, focusing on Azure Functions and Azure Logic Apps. It explains that serverless computing is event-driven, consumption-based, and doesn't require managing infrastructure. Azure Functions allows developers to write code in various languages for specific events, while Azure Logic Apps offers a no-code/low-code solution with a range of connectors for various services, enabling non-developers to automate tasks through a visual designer. The lesson highlights the stateless nature of functions and introduces Durable Functions for maintaining state across events.

Takeaways

• 🚀 Serverless technologies offer benefits such as not having to manage underlying infrastructure and being billed based on actual work done.
• 🔍 Serverless solutions are event-driven, meaning they are triggered by specific events like storage writes, new messages in a queue, scheduled events, or RESTful calls.
• 💡 Azure Functions are part of the serverless offerings where developers write code in supported languages to run in response to events.
• 🌐 Azure Functions typically operate in a stateless manner, with each function invocation being independent and without shared in-memory state.
• 🔄 Durable Functions in Azure allow for maintaining state between events, useful for complex workflows involving multiple steps or interactions.
• 🛠 Azure Logic Apps provide a no-code or low-code solution for creating workflows, suitable for citizen developers who want to automate tasks without writing code.
• 🔌 Azure Logic Apps utilize a wide range of connectors to integrate with various services and perform actions, making it easier to set up workflows without coding.
• 📚 Logic Apps are built on top of Power Automate, which is designed for automating tasks based on triggers, making it accessible for non-developers.
• 📈 The Logic App Designer offers a graphical interface for workflow creation, allowing users to drag and drop actions and connectors to build their automations.
• 🗃️ There are numerous templates available in Logic Apps for common scenarios, allowing users to quickly start with a predefined workflow and customize it as needed.
• 🔑 The focus of using Logic Apps is the ability to leverage well-known APIs and existing connectors to create workflows without the need for extensive coding.

Q & A

What are the core benefits of serverless technologies?

The core benefits of serverless technologies include the absence of underlying infrastructure management, consumption-based billing based on the actual work done, and event-driven execution, which means they run only when triggered by an event.

What are the two main types of serverless offerings discussed in the script?

The two main types of serverless offerings discussed are Azure Functions and Azure Logic Apps.

How does the Azure Functions service differ from Azure Logic Apps?

Azure Functions is designed for developers who want to write and run code in response to events, while Azure Logic Apps is aimed at citizen developers and focuses on a no-code or low-code approach with a graphical authoring experience and connectors to various services.

What is the default stateless nature of Azure Functions?

By default, Azure Functions are stateless, meaning there is no shared state in memory between calls or events. Each function is spun up to run the code and then it goes away.

What is Durable Functions and how does it differ from the default stateless Azure Functions?

Durable Functions is a feature that allows Azure Functions to maintain state between events, enabling scenarios like asynchronous interactions, long-running processes, or human interactions. It differs from the default stateless Azure Functions by providing a way to maintain state and manage complex workflows.

What are some examples of triggers that can activate serverless technologies?

Examples of triggers include writing to a storage account, adding a new message to a queue, scheduled events, or making a RESTful call to an endpoint.

What is the significance of the supported languages for Azure Functions?

The supported languages for Azure Functions are important because they allow developers to write code in their preferred language, which currently includes .NET, Node.js, Python, Java, PowerShell Core, or even a custom handler.

How does Azure Logic Apps enable citizen developers to automate tasks?

Azure Logic Apps provides a graphical authoring experience with a series of connectors that integrate with various services, allowing citizen developers to automate tasks based on triggers without writing extensive code.

What is the relationship between Power Automate and Azure Logic Apps?

Power Automate is built on Azure Logic Apps, which means it leverages the same low-code approach and connectors to automate tasks and workflows.

What are the advantages of using Azure Logic Apps for non-developers?

Azure Logic Apps offers advantages for non-developers by providing a no-code or low-code solution with a graphical interface, a wide range of connectors to integrate with various services, and templates that can be leveraged for common scenarios.

How can the number of connectors available in Azure Logic Apps benefit users?

The large number of connectors available in Azure Logic Apps allows users to integrate with a wide range of services and systems, both cloud-based and on-premises, enabling complex workflows and automations without the need for custom coding.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Introduction to Serverless Technologies

This paragraph introduces the concept of serverless technologies, emphasizing their event-driven and consumption-based nature. It explains that serverless computing abstracts the underlying infrastructure from the user, who is billed only for the actual work performed. The paragraph highlights Azure Functions and Azure Logic Apps as core offerings in this space, with Azure Functions allowing developers to write code in supported languages and Azure Logic Apps providing a no-code or low-code solution for citizen developers. The focus is on the event-driven aspect, where serverless technologies are triggered by events such as storage writes, queue messages, scheduled events, or RESTful calls.

05:01

🛠 Exploring Azure Functions and Logic Apps

The second paragraph delves deeper into Azure Functions and Azure Logic Apps, contrasting the two approaches. Azure Functions are stateless by default, with each execution being independent and ephemeral, unless using Durable Functions which allow for maintaining state across events. The paragraph also discusses the variety of runtime stacks available for Azure Functions, including .NET, Node.js, Python, Java, PowerShell Core, and custom handlers. On the other hand, Azure Logic Apps offer a graphical authoring experience with a plethora of connectors for integrating with various services and systems. The paragraph underscores the ease of use for non-developers, the availability of numerous templates, and the ability to automate tasks based on triggers, with Power Automate being built on top of Logic Apps.

Keywords

💡Serverless Technologies

Serverless Technologies refer to cloud computing services that abstract away the infrastructure management, allowing developers to focus on building and running their applications without worrying about the underlying servers. In the context of the video, serverless is highlighted as a consumption-based model where users are billed based on the actual work done, emphasizing the event-driven nature of these technologies.

💡Azure Functions

Azure Functions is a serverless compute service provided by Microsoft Azure that enables running small pieces of code, or 'functions', in response to events. The video explains that Azure Functions allows developers to write code in supported languages and execute it in response to various triggers, such as changes in storage accounts or new messages in queues.

💡Event-Driven

Event-driven architecture is a programming paradigm where the flow of the program is determined by events such as user actions, messages, or signals. In the video, the concept is used to describe how serverless technologies operate, where a function is triggered by an event, such as a new message in a queue or a change in a storage account.

💡Consumption-Based Billing

Consumption-based billing is a pricing model where users pay only for the resources they consume. The video emphasizes this model as a core benefit of serverless technologies, where the cost is directly tied to the actual work performed by the functions, rather than pre-provisioned capacity.

💡Durable Functions

Durable Functions is an extension of Azure Functions that allows for stateful orchestration of functions, maintaining state between events. The video mentions Durable Functions as a way to handle complex scenarios that require maintaining state, in contrast to the default stateless nature of Azure Functions.

💡Azure Logic Apps

Azure Logic Apps is a serverless workflow automation service that allows users to create and run workflows that integrate with various services and systems. The video describes Logic Apps as a no-code or low-code solution, suitable for citizen developers who want to automate tasks without writing extensive code.

💡Connectors

In the context of Azure Logic Apps, connectors are pre-built integration components that enable users to connect to various services and systems. The video highlights the wide range of connectors available, such as SQL Server, Outlook, and Salesforce, allowing for easy integration and automation.

💡Citizen Developer

A citizen developer is a user who may not be a professional software developer but is empowered to create applications or automate tasks using no-code or low-code development platforms. The video positions Azure Logic Apps as a tool for citizen developers, allowing them to automate tasks through a graphical authoring experience.

💡Power Automate

Power Automate is a service that enables users to automate workflows across various systems and applications. The video mentions that Power Automate is built on top of Azure Logic Apps, indicating its use for automating tasks triggered by events, and its accessibility to non-developers.

💡Templates

Templates in Azure Logic Apps are pre-defined workflows that users can leverage to quickly implement common scenarios without starting from scratch. The video refers to the availability of numerous templates, which can be used as a starting point for creating new workflows based on specific triggers and actions.

💡Shared Access Signature (SAS)

A Shared Access Signature (SAS) is a token that grants granular access to Azure storage resources without exposing the account keys. In the video, the example of creating a SAS for a storage account is given to illustrate how Logic Apps can be used to generate and manage access permissions for resources.

Highlights

Serverless technologies offer benefits such as not caring about underlying infrastructure.

Serverless is consumption-based, billing is based on the actual work done.

Serverless solutions are event-driven, triggered by specific events like storage writes or queue messages.

Azure Functions is a serverless offering where you write code in supported languages.

Azure Functions supports various runtime stacks including .NET, Node.js, Python, Java, PowerShell Core, and custom handlers.

Azure Functions are stateless by default, with no shared in-memory state between calls.

Durable Functions allow for maintaining state between events for more complex scenarios.

Azure Logic Apps provide a no-code or low-code solution with an authoring experience.

Logic Apps use connectors to integrate with other services for actions based on triggers.

Power Automate is built on Logic Apps, focusing on task automation based on triggers.

Logic Apps are ideal for citizen developers who want to produce actions without writing code.

There are numerous managed connectors available for integration with various services.

Logic Apps offer a large number of templates for common scenarios and triggers.

Logic Apps are suitable for non-developers who want to use well-established connectors for their systems.

The focus of Logic Apps is on using well-known APIs and existing connectors without extensive coding.

Serverless technologies are assessed as a specific skill in the transcript's context.

Serverless solutions can be triggered by various events including scheduled events and RESTful calls.

The choice between Azure Functions and Logic Apps depends on whether you need to write code or use existing connectors.

Transcripts

in this lesson we'll look at the

benefits and usage of serverless

technologies now we have already talked

about this when we looked at the core

compute offerings we talked about azure

functions and azure logic apps but it's

called out as a specific skill that's

going to be assessed so let's dive into

a little bit more detail

so we already talked about the idea that

when i think about serverless

i don't care about any underlying

infrastructure

the core point of all of this server

list is it is consumption

based

i'm going to get billed based on the

actual work that is done

and if i think about these solutions

because it only runs when there's some

work that has to be done

well they are event driven

something has to happen

to fire off this serverless piece of

technology

now once again when i think about what

that could be

this could be hey i have some storage

account and something gets written to it

it could be i have a queue

and a new message gets put on that queue

it could be something like hey a

scheduled event

it could be i have an endpoint so

there's some endpoint

and someone is making a kind of restful

call against that but something is

happening that's going to trigger these

things off

now at that point

they're really those two different

solutions when i think about those

serverless offerings

i can think we have

azure

functions

now the key point about an azure

function it's running

some code so i am actually writing code

in one of the supported languages now if

we jump over for a second and actually

go ahead and look

we can go back to our function apps

remember if i create a new function app

remember we have this idea

of all these different

types of runtime stacks

so net node.js python java

powershell core or even a custom handler

can be used so if i have for example

some existing piece of code

and all i care about is my code and i

want to do something when an event

happens

this is a great option so the whole

point here is the focus is i have my

code

and i want to run that piece of code now

typically when we think about azure

functions

it's

and what i mean by that is

if i have multiple calls multiple events

there's no shared kind of state in

memory between those each time it's

called there's some

thing spun up to run my code and then it

goes away

now there is something called durable

functions

and durable functions enable me to have

some durable state i it's maintained

between events happening now that's used

in a number of different scenarios maybe

i want to fan out and call a bunch of

different things and then once they all

finish get the outputs and come back in

maybe it's some asynchronous interaction

that is long running maybe i'm polling

for something maybe there's some human

interaction there's different scenarios

but it is possible to create a durable

function but for the most part by

default they are not they are stateless

it does something

it goes away but i am writing the code

for that

the alternative

is azure

logic apps

here we think about no

or low code

we have this authoring experience

and as the name suggests it's all about

taking

there's that event

but it has a whole number of connectors

so there's a series of connectors that

integrate with some other service to

perform

some action

against that particular service this is

all about the idea of a citizen

developer people who are not developers

but they want to produce some action

if we look at power automate power

automate is actually built on logic apps

so it's all about automating tasks based

on that trigger

this is probably easiest to see so if

once again we jump over

but this time

let's look at our logic app

once again we saw i have a couple of

logic apps but we have this whole idea

of the logic app designer and here we

see these graphical things that are

doing different parts in this time my

trigger was hey a blob is added or

modified

i then create a shared access signature

just saying we can generate on a storage

account that gives me granular access to

maybe only a certain aspect of only

certain permissions

and then i'm calling some http endpoint

probably telling it location and giving

it that sas so that service i'm calling

can do something with it and then i

delete the blob afterwards

there's a huge number of connectors

available so it's about water connectors

it goes through what they are

so all these managed connectors

as a service by sql server

outlook

sftp sharepoint online queues ftp event

hubs salesforce i can integrate with

on-premises systems

i can integrate with other types of

systems other types of automations a

massive number of connectors out there

and there are also a huge number of

templates so i have some scenario

or it might be there's already that

sequence of different connectors based

on some trigger

that i could just leverage but i'm not

writing a whole bunch of code here

the whole key here is there's some

well-known api that there's an existing

connector for and i just want to be able

to go and use it

so here that's really the big focus on

how i think about this hey i'd probably

use a logic app if hey i'm not a

developer i don't have some code i want

to run

and there are well established

connectors to that system

hey i can do this nice graphical

authoring to light that up