{"id":20077,"date":"2021-05-25T16:34:06","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T11:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.aspiresys.com\/?p=20077"},"modified":"2026-03-11T13:53:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T08:23:16","slug":"an-essential-guide-to-implementing-aws-serverless-architecture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspiresys.com\/blog\/cloud\/cloud-migration\/an-essential-guide-to-implementing-aws-serverless-architecture\/","title":{"rendered":"An Essential Guide to Implementing AWS Serverless Architecture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Serverless Architecture Implementation \u2013 Top Use Cases<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1. Building Web Applications<\/strong>
\nYou can build serverless web applications and back end using AWS Lambda<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, Amazon API Gateway, Amazon S3, and Amazon DynamoDB to handle web, mobile, Internet of Things (IoT) and chatbot requests. The call flow for a serverless application starts with the application hosted on S3, unlike a EC2 instance which needs to be managed. On an event trigger, the app calls the REST API to end-point and the Lambda function is triggered. Lambda executes the function to fetch details from the non-relational DB based DynamoDB to return data back to the user. DynamoDB, being non-relational, helps in faster fetching of data when the data size runs into Terabytes.<\/p>\n

2. Real-time Stream Processing<\/strong>
\nYou can track application activities using Lambda and Kinesis to process real-time streaming data. As depicted in the figure below, Kinesis is really useful in analyzing real-time data. For example, if certain hashtags are being analyzed from a social network feed, Kinsesis has the capacity to handle millions of raw data flowing in, trigger Lambda and generate trending information which is stored on DynamoDB and can be used for reporting using Amazon\u2019s own BI tool QuickSight.<\/p>\n

3. Extract, Transform, Load<\/strong>
\nYou can use AWS Lambda to perform data validation, filtering, sorting, or other transformations for every data change in a DynamoDB table and load the transformed data to another data store.<\/p>\n

AWS Lambda can be used for ETL as well. Incoming triggers from the web or mobile app can trigger Lambda which is capable of refining data for moving it to an in-house warehouse like Redshift from which Quicksight or a Tableau based reporting tool can show the trends. The data transformation from the operational DynamoDB to a data warehouse based Redshift is done by Lambda seamlessly.<\/p>\n

4. Building Mobile Backends<\/strong>
\nDevelopers can build mobile backends using Lambda and API Gateway to authenticate and process API requests. Lambda eases the process of creating rich, personalized app experiences. Other use cases are powering chatbot logic and voice enabled apps using Amazon Alexa.<\/p>\n

An API Call Flow with Serverless Architecture<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Now that we have seen the top uses cases of a serverless architecture, let\u2019s take a look at how does the API management work in a serverless application.\u00a0The Amazon API Gateway enables developers to build scalable APIs that run on the AWS serverless Lambda platform (which executes code directly), on its Elastic Compute Cloud, or on services hosted outside the cloud provider. The API gateway routes all the incoming requests from the web or mobile app to EC2 or any other publicly available endpoints which can be in the form of multiple microservices and aggregates results back to the user. API gateways not only add an additional layer of security to the microservices, but also prevent exposing the service discovery or versions from the client.<\/p>\n

Amazon\u2019s Content Delivery Network CloudFront can store objects being fetched to an end-point closer to the user\u2019s location making the application faster. Any downtime or API failures can be monitored using the Amazon CloudWatch and respective authorities notified via e-mail. In a serverless architecture, the event trigger is initiated by an application residing on S3 from which the API gateway redirects it to respective microservice and returns a response to the user.<\/p>\n

Publishing Applications to the Repository<\/strong><\/h2>\n

One can publish applications in the AWS Serverless Application Repository to share solutions with developers or to help your customers quickly understand the value of products and services you sell and support. Anyone with an AWS account can publish a serverless application or application component to the AWS Serverless Application Repository. You can share your published applications within your team, across your organization, or with the community at large. Publicly shared applications must include a link to the application\u2019s source code so others can view what the application does and how it works. All you need to do is package, publish and share.<\/p>\n

Overcoming Security Concerns in Serverless Architecture<\/strong><\/h2>\n

One of the major concerns of going serverless is sacrificing security for convenience and the vendor lock-in. Some of the security concerns can be addressed as below:<\/p>\n