AWS and Serverless

[Advanced] - AWS Intro, Set up AWS and Serverless, Lambda, API Gateway

What is AWS?

Amazon Web Services(AWS) is a platform of cloud computing which provides a simple way to access servers, storage, databases and a broad set of applications. We are basically renting out AWS servers to host our application instead of having to maintain our own. There are many type of services in AWS, each performing a specific functionality.

Why use AWS?

Low Cost - As developers, we pay end up paying less if we want to host our application on AWS servers. Since AWS has many active users, it drives down the cost of server use.
Advanced security features - Expert security staff are continually upgrading and maintaining servers.
Highly reliable - your data is matained in many different data centers just in case one goes down

What is Serverless Framework?

AWS allows us to access the their platform through programmatic access or AWS management console access. In this course, we will be using programmatic access through the Serverless Framework which allows us to access AWS through the command line and code editor.

What is AWS Lambda?

An AWS service that allows developers to run code without having to manage a server. No express server needed. A Lambda is basically a function in the cloud.

What is API Gateway?

An AWS service that enables developers to create, publish, maintain, monitor, and secure APIs at any scale. You can create APIs that access AWS or other web services, as well as data stored in the AWS Cloud. It allows developers to create CRUD routes(GET, POST, PUT, DELETE).

What does deploy mean?

Moving our application to the AWS cloud/servers. In our case, we will be deploying our Lambda function.

What will we be doing?

We will conifgure our AWS credentials and Serverless credentials, then will set up our Lambda function and API Gateway to deploy a GET url enpoint for our frontend client.

Configuring AWS and Serverless

Your instructor should have provided you with a Access Key ID and a Secret Access Key. Please save them in a safe location.
Open up your git-bash terminal
Install aws-cli for windows
- Install AWS Command Line
Configure Access_ID, Secrect_Access_id, and region on our computer
- Type aws configure then hit enter
  - Input the following
    - access_id
    - access_secret_id
    - region: us-west-2
npm install Serveless Framework npm install -g serverless
Set Serverless provider credentials

serverless config credentials --provider aws --key YOUR_ACCESS_KEY --secret YOUR_SECRET_KEY

Create Serveless Template and Lambda Function

Create a new directory/projectmkdir YOUR_PROJECT_NAME
CD into your directory/project cd YOUR_PROJECT_NAME
Create boilerplate/template to use Serverless**

serverless create --template aws-nodejs

Change service name in serverless.yml file
Uncomment the following:*

stage: dev
region: us-east-1

Then set region to us-west-2

Test Lambda function locally

serverless invoke local -f FUNCTION_NAME

Deploy your code

serverlesss deploy

Change message in lambda function then redeploy function only

serverless deploy -f FUNCTION_NAME

Invoke deployed function

serverless invoke -f FUNCTION_NAME

If need help with serverless commands

serverless --help

** Create API Gateway GET request

Congratulations you have made your first deployment

Class Exercise

Create a GET request to your Lambda function, then render out text Hello World! in your frontend

Hint: create file structure in your root path for you frontend

serverless-demo
|
+ --public
    |
    +-- index.html
    +-- styles.css
    +-- app.js

Create a GET request to your Lambda function, which calls the Chuck Norris API random jokes endpont. Render out a random joke to your frontend everytime you refresh your browser.