Serverless functions are intended to be short-lived and stateless—at least until they are required to solve stateful issues. Remove this constraint in a completely controlled manner without adding extra resources by simply scripting your process description. With the Azure Functions: Serverless Application Development, you may programmatically simplify complicated, stateful coordination needs in event-driven systems. Use your functions in declarative workflows that may use over 250 connections with Azure Logic Apps.
To better understand the concept of Azure Functions: Serverless Application Development, read on this blog as we will be covering all the important concepts. Let us Learn about Microsoft Azure Batch Services: Compute Management Platform!
What are Azure Functions?
Azure Function is a serverless computing solution that allows users to run event-triggered code without the need for infrastructure provisioning or management. As a trigger-based service, it executes a script or code in response to a range of events. Azure Functions may be utilise to provide decoupling, high throughput, reusability, and shared functionality. Because it is more dependable, it is possible to employ it in production situations. Look at the function chain image from microsoft.com –
Features of Azure Functions
- Scaling that is automate and adaptable based on your workload volume, allowing you to focus on delivering value rather than maintaining infrastructure.
- Integrated programming style based on triggers and bindings that allows you to respond to events and connect to other services smoothly.
- End-to-end development experience with integrated tools and built-in DevOps features, from creating and debugging to deploying and monitoring.
- A wide range of programming languages and hosting options—always choose the best one for each scenario and swiftly adapt to suit business requirements.
Azure Functions vs Web Jobs
Azure Web Jobs are pieces of code that run in the Azure App services. It is a Cloud Service that is in use to do background operations. Azure Functions are built on top of Azure Web Jobs, but with additional features. The table below distinguishes between Azure Functions and Web Jobs:
| Azure Functions | Web Jobs | |
| Trigger | Azure Functions can be activated by any of the defined triggers, however, they can not operate indefinitely. | There are two kinds of web jobs: triggered web jobs and continuous web jobs. |
| Supported languages | Languages supported by Azure Functions include C#, F#, JavaScript, node.js, and more. | Web Jobs also support a variety of programming languages like as C#, F#, JavaScript, and others. |
| Deployment | Azure Functions is a distinct App Service that operates under the App Service Plan. | Web Jobs serve as a back-end service for app services such as web apps, API apps, and mobile apps. |
Azure Functions Vs Logic Apps
An Azure Function is a piece of code that is activated by an event, whereas an Azure Logic app is a process that is activated by an event. Azure Logic App may easily design a workflow by utilising a variety of APIs as connectors. These connections will carry out the tasks specified in the process. Durable Azure Functions, like Azure Logic Apps, may be in use to design workflow in code structure.
| Azure Functions | Azure Logic Apps | |
| Trigger | Azure Functions can be activated by a defined trigger such as HTTPTrigger, TimerTrigger, QueueTrigger, and others. | As connections, Azure Logic Apps may be triggered. It is also possible to have numerous triggers in a process. |
| Defining Workflow | Workflow in Azure Functions may be defined using Azure Durable Function. It comprises of an Orchestrator Function with a defined process and many Activity Functions. | Workflow on Azure Logic Apps may be defined using the Logic App designer and numerous APIs as Connectors. |
| Monitoring | Application Insights and Azure Monitor may be used to monitor Azure Functions. | Log Analytics and Azure Monitor may be used to monitor Azure Logic Apps. |
Create a C# function in Azure using Visual Studio Code
In this part, you’ll use Visual Studio Code to construct a C# Azure Functions project on your local machine.
1. Select the Azure symbol in the Activity bar, then the Create new project icon in the Azure: Functions section.
2. Choose Select after deciding on a directory location for your project workspace.
3. Fill up the blanks with the following information.
4. Visual Studio Code creates an Azure Functions project with an HTTP trigger based on the information given. The local project files may be seen in the Explorer. See Generated project files for further information on the files that are produced.
Quick Starts
Azure Functions
Individual functions built in a Function App are referred to as Azure Functions. Using the defined trigger, any Function may be call. The Azure portal allows you to build, manage, monitor, and combine the inputs and outputs of Azure Functions. By giving some raw inputs, an Azure function may also be in test. When it comes to monitoring Functions, the portal provides options such as Application insights for live state monitoring through invocation logs. The Function App’s functions may be track using the app metrics.
Runtime Versions
The versions of Azure Functions runtimes are tie to the major version of.NET. The following are the Azure Functions runtime versions and their.NET equivalents:
| Runtime Version | Availability | .NET Version |
| 3.x | Preview | .NET Core 3.x |
| 2.x | GA | .NET Core 2.x |
| 1.x | GA | .NET Framework 4.6 |
Azure Function 2.x is generally accessible, whereas Azure Function 1.x is in maintenance mode. Migrating from 1.x to subsequent versions is quick and straightforward, and it can be done directly through the Azure site.
How Long Can Azure Functions Run?
A single Azure Function execution has a maximum execution time of 5 minutes by default. If the Function runs longer than the maximum timeout, the Azure Functions runtime provides the ability to terminate the process at any point after the maximum timeout has been reached.
What Languages Does Azure Functions Support?
Azure Function supports a variety of languages and is based on Runtime versions.
1.x Functions: C#, F#, and JavaScript are supported by Azure Functions 1.x. Functions 1.x, on the other hand, is solely in maintenance mode.
2.x Functions: C# (.NET Core 2.2), JavaScript (Node 8 & 10), F# (.NET Core 2.2), Java 8, PowerShell Core 6, Python 3.7.x, and Typescript are supported by Azure Functions 2.x.
3.x Functions: Azure Functions 3.x is a preview version that includes C# (.NET Core 3.x), JavaScript (Node 8 & 10), F# (.NET Core 3.x), Java (Java 8), PowerShell Core 6, Python 3.7.x, and TypeScript support (Preview).
Proxies
Users may have a consistent API endpoint for all Azure Functions used by external resources by using Azure Function Proxies. A proxy URL may be easily create by specifying simply the backend URL and HTTP Method. It is also possible to change the Proxy’s requests and answers. There are other complex setups available.
Slots
Azure Functions may execute in several instances thanks to Slots. The API given by the slots allows the different environments of Functions to be accessible publicly. Slots are a good solution when it comes to maintaining functions across diverse environments such as production, development, and staging. An instance will be associated with the Production environment and will be swappable on demand. Swapping may be done using the interface via the Azure CLI.
How Do I Make an Azure Function App?
Azure Functions may be created in two ways: through the Azure site or through Visual Studio. The steps for creating and deploying Azure Functions are –
In the Azure Portal, create Azure Functions:
- Click Create a resource, then pick Azure Functions App from the Compute area and click Create.
- Create it when you’ve provided all of the relevant information.
To create Azure Functions in Visual Studio, follow these steps:
- Choose File -> New Project. Choose the Azure Functions project.
- Name, path, Function App version, and Trigger choice are all required. Click Create
- After you’ve created the Azure Functions in Visual Studio, publishing them will be a breeze.
To publish Azure Functions from Visual Studio, follow these steps:
- Right-click on the Project Name and choose Publish.
- Provide information such as the name of the resource group, the storage account, and so on. The profile will be prepare and ready to publish at the end of this procedure.
- Finally, Press the Publish button. In the Azure Portal, the Azure functions may now be access in read-only mode.
Pricing for Azure Functions: Serverless Application Development
The price of an Azure Function App is determined by the execution time and a total number of executions. It also contains a monthly free grant of 1 million requests and a monthly resource usage of 4,00,000 GB-s.
- Time to Execution – $0.000016/GB-s
- Executions totaled – $0.20 per million executions
Users can benefit from improved performance with the Azure Function Premium subscription. Hence, It is charge in terms of vCPU-s and GB-s.
- Duration of vCPU – $0.173 vCPU/hour
- Memory endurance – $0.0123 GB/hour
Azure Functions: Serverless Application Development Advantages
As a cloud service, the Azure function offers several advantages. Some of these benefits are:
Pay as you go model- Azure Functions is available on a pay-as-you-go basis. The user can only pay for what they utilise. The cost of Azure services is determined by the number of executions per month.
Additionally, Supports a wide range of languages- Azure Function supports major programming languages including as Java, C#, F#, Python, and others.
Simple Integration with Other Azure Services — Azure Functions may be simply link with other Azure Services such as Azure Service Bus, Event Hubs, Event Grids, Notification Hubs, and more.
Moreover, Executions depending on a trigger Azure Functions are run based on the triggers that have been defined. It supports a variety of triggers, including HTTP Triggers, Queue Triggers, Event Hub Triggers, and others. It runs on demand since it is a trigger-based service.
Why Azure Functions Are Serverless?
Serverless computing is provided through Functions for Azure. Functions may be in use to create web APIs, respond to database changes, handle IoT feeds, manage message queues, and much more. Because Azure Functions may be connect to a wide range of different applications running on-premises or in the cloud, making it a Serverless service improves scalability and efficiency.
Azure Durable Functions
Azure Durable Functions is an Azure Function extension that is in use to construct Stateful Functions. It is made up of Orchestrator and entity functions that may be created as a process. Furthermore, It supports checkpoints and restarts from them as a state-based service. C#, JavaScript, and F# are among the languages that get support by Azure Durable Function.
Client Orchestrator – The Azure Durable Function begins with the Orchestrator Client. Moreover, It invokes the orchestrator Function, which determines the orchestration’s process.
Orchestrator Function – This Orchestrator Function contains the orchestration workflow. This process is made up of multiple bits of code known as Functions called Activity. It may also invoke other orchestration functions. Furthermore, An Orchestrator Client invokes this Orchestrator function.
Activity Purpose – Activity Functions are the fundamental unit of labour in a long-term function. Each Activity carries out an asynchronous job. Moreover, The Activity Function supports all of the languages that the Azure Function does. However, the Orchestration Function can only support C#.
Are Azure Functions Free?
Azure Functions are priced on a pay-as-you-go basis. However, for a limited time, Azure will supply you with 5GB of free bandwidth. Any amount in excess of that will be charged as peruse. Azure Functions, on the other hand, are free to utilise with Azure IoT Edge.
Conclusion
Serverless computing is a cloud computing execution architecture in which the cloud provider oversees the distribution of machine resources on a dynamic basis. Additionally, Applications are often made up of stateless bespoke code that runs in ephemeral containers (Function as a Service or “FaaS”) that are spun upon demand. As a result, Azure Functions: Serverless Application Development are very scalable. It is an event-driven, compute-on-demand experience that expands the existing Azure application platform with the ability to deploy code triggered by events in Azure or third-party services, as well as on-premises systems.
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