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In the dynamic world of modern software development, serverless architectures are revolutionizing the way we build scalable and cost-effective applications. AWS Lambda, Amazon’s serverless computing service, empowers you to run code without the complexities of managing servers. When combined with Amazon API Gateway, you can create robust APIs to serve as front doors to your serverless logic.
If you’re a.NET developer, this blog post will help you use the potential of AWS Lambda and API Gateway. We’ll look at what these services are, why they matter, and walk through a practical example to help you understand.
This post provides a quick introduction to AWS Lambda serverless technology for experienced developers with a background in.Net. It explains how it is configured and how to integrate it with practical examples.
What is AWS Lambda?
Let’s break it down:
Functions as a Service (FaaS): AWS Lambda adheres to the FaaS model. You write your core logic as self-contained functions. AWS handles the heavy lifting — provisioning, scaling, and managing the underlying infrastructure.
Event-Driven: Lambda functions don’t run continuously. They are invoked in response to specific events/triggers like an HTTP request, a file upload to an S3 bucket, or a database record change.
Pay-Per-Execution: You pay only for the compute time your functions consume. This means no costs are incurred when your code isn’t running.
Now let's see when to use the AWS Lambda?
Event-Driven Workloads: If your application logic reacts to specific events (file uploads, API requests, database changes), Lambda’s event-driven nature is ideal.
Short-Lived Tasks: Lambda excels at handling quick, stateless tasks. Don’t use it for long-running processes or applications requiring persistent connections.
Cost-effectiveness: For applications with unpredictable or fluctuating workloads, the pay-per-execution model keeps costs low.
Focus on Code: Want to ditch server management and focus on core logic? Lambda lets you do just that.
Microservices Architecture: Break down monolithic applications into smaller, scalable Lambda functions for improved maintainability and deployment flexibility.
Not to use AWS Lambda:
Long-Running Processes: Lambda functions have a timeout limit .If your tasks or code execution time is more don’t use the lamda because the close is more for maintaining it hence other alternative are the containerized services like Amazon EC2 or Amazon ECS.
State Management: Lambda functions are inherently stateless. If your application requires complex state management, consider managed services like Amazon DynamoDB or ElastiCache.
What is Amazon API Gateway?
Generally An API Gateway, acts as a central hub for managing APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). It sits between client applications and backend services, providing a unified interface for interacting with various functionalities offered by the backend. Here’s a breakdown of its key functionalities:
Single Entry Point: API Gateway serves as a single endpoint for all API requests, simplifying client interactions. Imagine it as a single front door leading to all the functionalities within a building.
Routing: It efficiently routes incoming API requests to the appropriate backend services based on predefined rules. This routing logic can be based on factors like request path, headers, or parameters.
Security: API Gateway enforces security measures like authentication and authorization. It ensures only authorized users or applications can access specific functionalities.
Throttling and Rate Limiting: It safeguards your backend services from overload by throttling or rate-limiting requests. This prevents denial-of-service attacks and ensures smooth performance.
Monitoring and Analytics: API Gateway provides valuable insights into API usage patterns. You can monitor metrics like latency, traffic volume, and error rates to identify bottlenecks and optimize performance.
API Versioning: It facilitates managing different API versions. You can control access to specific versions and seamlessly roll out updates without disrupting existing client applications.
Transformations: API Gateway can manipulate request and response data formats (e.g., JSON to XML) to ensure compatibility between different systems.
API gateway on Amazon AWS:
AWS-Specific Integrations: It seamlessly integrates with other AWS services like Lambda, DynamoDB, and S3, making it easy to build serverless applications.
Flexible API Design: Supports both RESTful APIs and WebSockets, catering to diverse application needs.
Pay-Per-Use Model: You only pay for the resources consumed by your APIs, making it cost-effective for varying traffic loads.
Developer Friendly: AWS offers robust tools and SDKs for various programming languages, making the development and management of APIs on API Gateway straightforward.
Why Lambda and API Gateway for .NET Developers?
Here’s where the magic happens for .NET developers:
Focus on Code: Your primary concern becomes your business logic, not infrastructure hassles. This leads to shorter development cycles and faster iterations.
Infinite Scalability: Lambda functions scale automatically to meet traffic demands. Whether it’s ten requests or a thousand, AWS handles it seamlessly.
Cost-Efficiency: The pay-per-execution model means you don’t pay for idle resources. This is especially beneficial for unpredictable or fluctuating workloads.
.NET Excellence: AWS provides excellent support for .NET on Lambda. You can use your favorite languages (C#, F#, etc.) and leverage familiar tools and libraries.
Ecosystem Integration: Lambda functions effortlessly connect with other AWS services like S3, DynamoDB, SNS, and more, creating powerful event-driven architectures.
Now hands on code — lets practically implement the Lambda function.
Prerequisite software, access, and tools must be installed on your machine.
Visual Studio 2022 (extensions of AWS)
Dotnet SDK (https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download)
AWS account with IAM-user created
AWS CLI (https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/getting-started-install.html)
Create the user on AWS in order to access the resources :
Under the Users section create a new User :
attach the administrator access click next and then create a user.
Create the access key for this newly created user, which is used for connection to an AWS account from the AWS CLI .
select the Command Line Interface in next window and then give the description tag .
After creating the Access key, save it somewhere safe or download the.csv file at the bottom. Remember that you will need this Access key and Id to access to your AWS account via CLI, as mentioned below.
To verify the AWS CLI :
Now connect to your AWS account using AWS CLI tool:
aws configure --profile profileName
aws configure list-profiles // to verify the profile crated
After connecting, validate the profile and install AWS templates and lambda tools using the dotnet command (requires dotnetSDK). The following are the commands.
dotnet tool install -g Amazon.Lambda.Tools
dotnet new install Amazon.Lambda.Templates
Now create the function and deploy to AWS using below commands :
dotnet new lambda.EmptyFunction --name functionName
dotnet lambda function-deploy functionName
While deploying the function to AWS , it will ask for roles, so create one and give access to newly created roles: This role is needed because the function needs access to connect to logs or any other resources like dynamodb.
Once the function deployment is successful , you can see the newly created function under the Lamda AWS , like below :
In the newly Created function : aws-lambda-tools-defaults.json is important where all the necessary details of the function are configured, entry point of the function is :FunctionHandler.
Run the function app from the AWS console, like below : Give the input string, which is converted to uppercase.
To check the logs go to CloudWatch like shown in above image.
In this blog post, we explored how to implement and understand AWS Lambda using .NET as the backend language. We discussed the benefits of using Lambda for serverless computing and provided a step-by-step guide to creating and deploying a Lambda function.
By following these steps,.NET developers can leverage the power of AWS Lambda to build scalable, cost-effective, and flexible applications in the cloud. Whether you’re building APIs, processing data, or handling backend logic, AWS Lambda with .NET opens up a world of possibilities for your next project.
So, if you’re ready to dive into serverless computing and explore the endless opportunities it offers, start experimenting with AWS Lambda and .NET today!
In a future post, I’ll try to describe how the API Gateway authenticates to the Lambda function; keep tuned.
Happy Learning.