Serverless Computing, serverless functions, and FaaS are all popular buzzwords that are gaining more and more traction. Even if we call Serverless “serverless”, there are still servers involved. In this session, we will discuss the history of Serverless, when and why it should be used, and the differences between BaaS and FaaS and I’ll show the transformation of an example application from locally hosted to be FaaS while still using some of the BaaS features.

1. Don’t Let FaaS Do a BaaS
Job
...a workshop on serverless functions using BaaS, by Tessa Mero
May 30th, 2019 - DeveloperWeek Seattle
The content of this presentation is proprietary information of Cloudinary. It is not intended to be distributed to any third party without the written
consent of Cloudinary. © 2019 Cloudinary inc.
@tessamero

2. Oh hai
● Community Leader
○ Past: Joomla, PHP
○ Current: API, Vue.js, JAMStack
● Developer, Teacher, Advocate
● Gamer + Mom
● Korean Food Enthusiast
● Steak Hobbyist
@tessamero

3. Topics
● What is Serverless?
● Different Services
● Serverless Frameworks
● Using Serverless
Functions and BaaS
● Resources Let’s make your flower
of knowledge bloom!
@tessamero

4. What is Serverless?

5. History
Physical Servers Virtual Machines Containers Serverless

6. What is
Serverless?
● No Servers!
No More Managing Servers!
Serverless doesn’t mean there are no servers being used, it is the
concept of not having to manage/provision or worry about
servers for your applications

7. What is
Serverless?
● No Servers!
● Cost
Cost Efficiency
Pay for your resources used rather than the time (provisioned
capacity)

8. What is
Serverless?
● No Servers!
● Cost
● Scale
Erm. So uhh, Does it Scale?
Auto scaling is built in Serverless!

9. What is
Serverless?
● No Servers!
● Cost
● Scale
● Time
What will you do with your extra TIME?

10. Taking a Look at Different
Services

11. Taking a Look
at Different
Services
● IaaS
IaaS - Infrastructure as a Service
Examples:
● Amazon Elastic Cloud Computing (AWS
EC2)

12. Taking a Look
at Different
Services
● IaaS
● SaaS
SaaS - Software as a Service
Examples:
● Stripe
● PayPal
● Slack
*Responsible for integrating services

13. Taking a Look
at Different
Services
● IaaS
● SaaS
● PaaS
PaaS - Platform as a Service
Example:
● Heroku
Provides an entire platform

14. Taking a Look
at Different
Services
● IaaS
● SaaS
● PaaS
● BaaS
BaaS - Backend as a Service
Examples:
● Amazon’s DynamoDB
● Google’s Firebase
Service with complex backend usually with
dedicated SDKs and APIs

15. Taking a Look
at Different
Services
● IaaS
● SaaS
● PaaS
● BaaS
● FaaS
FaaS - Functions as a Service
Examples:
● Azure Functions
● Amazon’s Lambda
Allows a service to be executed when
triggered

16. Serverless Frameworks

17. Serverless
Frameworks
● Amplify Framework
Amplify Framework - JS library for front-end devs, works
with all Frameworks
https://aws-amplify.github.io/

18. Serverless
Frameworks
● Amplify Framework
● Architect
Architect - An open-source framework. Create, deploy,
and maintain next-generation AWS cloud function-based
serverless infrastructure with full local, offline workflows,
and more
https://arc.codes

19. Serverless
Frameworks
● Amplify Framework
● Architect
● Serverless
Serverless Framework -First original serverless
framework. The most popular on Github with 30k stars
https://serverless.com

20. Using Serverless Functions (FaaS)
and BaaS
Using Lambda, UnSplash API, and Cloudinary API

21. End Result:
Deploy a function and a random image will be selected
from Unsplash and then uploaded to your Cloudinary media
library!

22. Let’s Get Started!

23. What You Will Need:
● Serverless login serverless.com
● AWS IAM Access Token aws.amazon.com
● Unsplash API Key unsplash.com
● Cloudinary API Key cloudinary.com

24. Install Serverless Framework
and Login
npm i -g serverless
serverless login
@tessamero

25. Start with node.js template
serverless create -t aws-nodejs
handler.js
serverless.yml
@tessamero

26. Create an AWS Access Key
Search for IAM in Amazon’s AWS and Set up a User
https://serverless.com/framework/docs/providers/aws/guide/credentials/
Quick Instructions:
IAM -> Users -> Add User -> Enable Programmatic Access -> Next ->
Create User
@tessamero

27. open serverless.yml
service: aws-nodejs
app: XXX
tenant: XXX
serverless deploy
@tessamero

28. Test by Invoking Function
serverless invoke -f hello -l
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29. update the handler.js file
https://gist.github.com/tessamero/ and click on
“handler.js” and copy the js code
You can also find this tutorial and code snippets at
the FullStackTraining here:
https://blog.fullstacktraining.com/introduction-to-serverless-faas/
@tessamero

30. Create a package.json file
https://gist.github.com/tessamero/ and click on
“package.json” and copy the js code
@tessamero

31. deploy!
https://gist.github.com/tessamero/ and click on
“serverless.yml” and copy the code
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32. Update the serverless.yml file
serverless deploy
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33. Endpoint reached! @tessamero

34. Resources:
The Serverless Revolution: Why and How The Movement Will Allow Teams to
Deploy with More Velocity and Confidence, by Ravi Lachhman
What is Serverless? by ServerlessOps
Know your history - It’s a serverless world by JAX Editorial Team
Origin of Serverless by Joshua Harding
Introduction to Serverless FaaS by Tamas Piros
15 Frameworks for Creating Serverless Apps by Alex Ivanovs

35. Challenge: Transform a Unicorn
Before it’s Gone!
● Step 1: Find the Cloudinary Unicorn (hint:.....)
● Step 2: Take a Picture of the Unicorn
● Step 3: Upload and Transform the photo. Sign up for a free account at
https://cloudinary.com.
○ Go to Media Manager
○ Upload Image. Click “Edit”
○ Click “Transform” and change some presets
○ Copy the “https” URL!
● Step 4: DM me to claim your unicorn (send the URL)
https://twitter.com/tessamero
○ (hurry, the unicorns won’t last long!)

36. << end
● Twitter: https://twitter.com/tessamero
● Email.: tessa.mero@cloudinary.com
● Slides: https://slideshare.net/tessa99
THANK YOU!
@tessamero