Serverless Applications with Node.js: Using AWS Lambda and Claudia.js

352 Pages·2019·8.48 MB·English

by  Slobodan Stojanovic

WEB DEVELOPMENT/CLOUD
Stojanovic´ Using AWS Lambda and Claudia.js
Simovic´
Serverless Applications with Node.js
Stojanovic´ ● Simovic´ See first page
The benefi ts of cloud-hosted serverless web apps are
undeniable: lower complexity, quicker time to market,
and easier scalability than traditional, server-dependent “Teaches you how to get
designs. And thanks to JavaScript support in AWS Lambda simple stuff done in AWS
and powerful new serverless API tools like the Claudia.js
Lambda quickly, without
library, you can build and deploy serverless apps end to end
trying to change the way you
without learning a new language.
structure or run projects.”
Serverless Applications with Node.js teaches you to design and S
—From the Foreword by
e
build serverless web apps on AWS using JavaScript, Node, and Gojko Adžić, Neuri Consulting r
Claudia.js. You’ll master the basics of writing AWS Lambda v
functions, along with core serverless patterns like API Gate- “A top-notch and hands-on e
r
way. Along the way, you’ll practice your new skills by building resource written by world- l
a working chatbot and a voice assistant with Amazon Alexa. e
renowned experts who will
s
You’ll also discover techniques for migrating existing apps to a
get you up to speed in s
serverless platform.
no time with AWS Lambda A
p
using Claudia.js.”
What’s Inside p
—Valentin Crettaz, Consulthys l
● Authentication and database storage i
c
● Asynchronous functions “One of the most a
t
● Interesting real-world examples comprehensive books i
o
● Developing serverless microservices published on the topic;
n
contains a wealth of s
For web developers comfortable with JavaScript and Node.js. Slobodan Stojanovic´
resources that you will w
Slobodan Stojanovic´ and Aleksandar Simovic´ are AWS Serverless not fi nd online.” i Aleksandar Simovic´
t
Heroes and core contributors to the Claudia.js project. They —Damian Esteban, BetterPT h
are also coauthors of Desolé, an open source serverless error- Foreword by Gojko Adžic´
N
tracking tool, and the lead developers of Claudia Bot Builder.
o
d
e
.
To download their free eBook in PDF, ePub, and Kindle formats, j
s
owners of this book should visit
manning.com/books/serverless-applications-with-node-js
M A N N I N G $44.99 / Can $59.99 [INCLUDING eBOOK] MANNING M A N N I N G

Serverless Applications
with Node.js
SLOBODAN STOJANOVIC´
ALEKSANDAR SIMOVIC´
MANNING
Shelter ISland
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Printed in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 – SP – 24 23 22 21 20 19
contents
foreword ix
preface xi
acknowledgments xiii
about this book xv
about the authors xix
about the cover illustration xx
Part 1 Serverless pizzeria ......................................1
1 Introduction to serverless with Claudia 3
1.1 Servers and washing machines 4
1.2 The core concepts 5
1.3 How does serverless work? 6
1.4 Serverless in practice 6
Aunt Maria’s serverless pizzeria 7 ■ A common
approach 7 ■ Serverless approach 9
1.5 Serverless infrastructure — AWS 9
1.6 What is Claudia, and how does it fit? 14
1.7 When and where you should use it 16
iii
iivv contents
2 Building your first serverless API 19
2.1 Assembling pizza ingredients: building the API 19
Which pizza can I GET? 22 ■ Structuring your
API 25 ■ POSTing an order 30
2.2 How Claudia deploys your API 34
2.3 Traffic control: How API Gateway works 35
2.4 When a serverless API is not the solution 36
2.5 Taste it! 37
Exercise 37 ■ Solution 37
3 Asynchronous work is easy, we Promise() 42
3.1 Storing the orders 43
3.2 Promising to deliver in less than 30 minutes! 48
3.3 Trying out your API 51
3.4 Getting orders from the database 55
3.5 Taste it! 57
Exercise 57 ■ Solution 58
4 Pizza delivery: Connecting an external service 62
4.1 Connecting to an external service 63
4.2 Connecting to the delivery API 64
The Some Like It Hot Delivery API 64 ■ Creating your first
delivery request 65
4.3 Potential issues with async communication 71
Forgetting to return a promise 72 ■ Not passing the value
from the promise 73 ■ Not wrapping the external service in a
promise 73 ■ Timeout issues with long async operations 74
4.4 Taste it! 76
Exercise 76 ■ Solution 77
5 Houston, we have a problem! 80
5.1 Debugging a serverless app 81
5.2 Debugging your Lambda function 82
5.3 X-Ray your app 85
5.4 Taste it! 88
Exercise 88 ■ Solution 88
contents vv
6 Level up your API 90
6.1 Serverless authentication and authorization 91
6.2 Creating user and identity pools 94
Controlling API access with Cognito 97
6.3 Taste it! 101
Exercise 101 ■ Solution 101
7 Working with files 104
7.1 Storing static files in a serverless application 104
7.2 Generating thumbnails 108
Deploying your S3 function 114
7.3 Taste it! 116
Exercise 116 ■ Solution 116
7.4 End of part 1: Special exercise 118
Advanced task 118
Part 2 Let’s talk ...................................................121
8 When pizza is one message away: Chatbots 123
8.1 Pizza ordering beyond the browser 123
8.2 Hello from Facebook Messenger 124
8.3 What kinds of pizzas do you have? 128
8.4 Speeding up the deployment 130
8.5 Messenger templates 131
8.6 How does Claudia Bot Builder work? 134
8.7 Taste it! 136
Exercise 136 ■ Solution 136
9 Typing... Async and delayed responses 138
9.1 Making chatbots interactive 139
Tap to order: answering a postback 139
9.2 Making the chatbot structure more scalable 145
9.3 Connecting your chatbot to the DynamoDB
database 149
9.4 Getting the user’s location from the chatbot 153
vvii contents
9.5 Scheduling a delivery 156
9.6 Small talk: Integrating simple NLP 161
9.7 Taste it! 163
Exercise 163 ■ Solution 163 ■ Advanced exercise 165
10 Jarvis, I mean Alexa, order me a pizza 166
10.1 Can’t talk right now: sending an SMS with Twilio 167
An SMS pizza list 169 ■ Ordering a pizza 170
10.2 Hey Alexa! 175
Preparing the skill 179 ■ Ordering pizza with Alexa 183
10.3 Taste it! 187
Exercise 187 ■ Solution 187
10.4 End of part 2: special exercise 188
Part 3 Next steps ..................................................189
11 Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3 191
11.1 Testing server-hosted and serverless applications 191
11.2 How to approach testing serverless applications 193
11.3 Preparation 194
11.4 Unit tests 197
11.5 Mocking your serverless functions 201
11.6 Integration tests 207
11.7 Other types of automated testing 211
11.8 A step beyond: Writing testable serverless functions 212
11.9 Taste it! 216
Exercise 216 ■ Solution 217
12 Paying for pizza 219
12.1 Payment transactions 220
Implementing an online payment 221
12.2 Implementing your payment service 225
12.3 Could someone hack your payment service? 231
Standards 231 ■ Competence 232
12.4 Taste it! 232
Exercise 232 ■ Solution 233
contents vviiii
13 Migrating your existing Express.js app to AWS Lambda 235
13.1 Uncle Roberto’s taxi application 236
13.2 Running an Express.js application in AWS Lambda 236
Proxy integration 239 ■ How serverless-express works 239
13.3 Serving static content 240
13.4 Connecting to MongoDB 242
Using a managed MongoDB database with your serverless Express.
js app 243
13.5 Limitations of serverless Express.js applications 248
13.6 Taste it! 249
Exercise 249 ■ Solution 249
14 Migrating to serverless 251
14.1 Analyzing your current serverless application 252
14.2 Migrating your existing application to serverless 252
14.3 Embrace the platform 256
Serving static files 256 ■ Storing
state 256 ■ Logs 257 ■ Continuous
integration 258 ■ Managing environments: production and
development 259 ■ Sharing secrets 260 ■ VPC (Virtual Private
Cloud) 262
14.4 Optimizing your application 263
Bundled or single-purpose functions 263 ■ Choosing the right
memory size for your Lambda function 263
14.5 Facing the challenges 264
Handling timeouts 264 ■ Cold starts 265 ■ DDoS
attacks 266 ■ Vendor lock-in 267
14.6 Taste it! 268
15 Real-world case studies 269
15.1 CodePen 270
Before serverless 270 ■ Serverless migration 271 ■ Cost of the
infrastructure 273 ■ Testing and challenges 274
15.2 MindMup 275
Before serverless 275 ■ Serverless migration 276 ■ Cost of the
infrastructure 278 ■ Testing, logs, and challenges 280
vviiiiii contents
appendix A Installation and configuration 283
appendix B Facebook Messenger, Twilio, and Alexa configuration 289
appendix C Stripe and MongoDB setup 311
appendix D The pizza recipe 321
index 323