An Introduction to Azure Functions

There is no denying that Cloud computing has completely changed the process of building and deploying applications by offering unprecedented ease. While cloud computing has completely transformed how we use “Compute, Storage, and Network,” serverless architecture has emerged as a revolutionary model, gaining immense popularity. One notable service in this domain is Azure Functions, which Microsoft Azure provides. Azure Functions is a serverless solution that lets developers write less code, maintain less infrastructure, and save on costs. Rather than worrying about deploying and maintaining servers, the cloud infrastructure serves all the up-to-date resources needed to ensure maximum availability while your applications run. While Microsoft developed it, it can run code in response to predetermined events or conditions (triggers). The conditions can be like an order arriving on an IoT system or a specific queue receiving a new message. 

As a developer, you can focus on the code that matters most to you. You can also pick any language, such as C#, Java, Python, TypeScript, JavaScript, etc., and Azure Functions handles the rest.

You must choose your preferred development language from the list of native languages available, write the code, and go serverless. Moreover, Azure frees you from server management tasks like patching, updating, or maintaining web servers.

As Azure functions support short-lived functions with infrequent call requirements and are event-triggered sets of code that can be deployed independently, it's great to migrate web services to Azure functions. 

So, let's dive deep into the Azure functions. 

Azure Functions: Serverless Powerhouse for Lightweight Tasks

 

Azure Functions is a lightweight, serverless computing service with many uses. However, you can’t replace a large website with Azure Functions, though it fits perfectly with microservices and short-lived tasks. Azure Functions can help achieve decoupling, high throughput, reusability, and sharing. It is also more reliable and can be used in production environments.

Azure Functions can be triggered with any of the configured triggers. However, they don’t run continuously. Azure Functions is similar to other function-as-a-service (FaaS) platforms like AWS Lambda and Google Cloud Functions, and the use of Azure functions is best suited for the below use cases:

• Scheduled Tasks Azure functions are best for scheduled tasks as they ensure reduced management, cost-effectiveness, and the ability to provide scalability and support multiple languages. The CRON scheduling it uses is fantastic for the scheduled tasks. For example, a financial services customer database might be analysed for duplicate entries every 15 minutes to avoid multiple communications going out to the same customer.

• Reminders and Notifications Reminder notifications create emails that are sent to users based on specified criteria. Reminder notifications remind users of an action they must take for a task, issue, project, or timesheet. While Azure functions can trigger Azure Monitor, it comes further with the CRON expression, which can represent reminder timing and send notifications via Azure functions. Both notification content and delivery methods can be customised with Azure functions. Emails, notifications, and SMS are all possibilities. Also, Azure functions can be integrated with other Azure services, which ensures logic integration. For example, we can provide personalisation of notifications by allowing information to be retrieved from an external database. 

• Lightweight Web API Features like pay-per-use, azure serverless architecture, rapid development, automatic scaling, and integrations with other Azure services make the Azure function the best choice for the lightweight Web API. 

• Sending Background Emails Whether error handling or retries, triggers, multiple language support, serverless, or cost-effectiveness, features like these make Azure functions the best option for sending background emails.

• Running Background Backup Tasks Azure Serverless options, triggers, error handling, and cost-effectiveness are some of the reasons Azure functions are the best choice for running background backup tasks. 

• Streamlined Development and Deployment Azure Functions simplifies the development and deployment processes. Developers can focus on curating individual functions that perform specific tasks, and Azure will manage the entire application infrastructure. This streamlined approach can reduce the development time and lets you iterate on your ideas quickly. Azure functions are best suited for smaller applications with events that can work independently of other applications. Some more examples are order processing and task scheduling, such as database cleanup and IoT data processing. While there are many use cases perfectly tuned for Azure functions, one such Azure functions example is described here. Let’s say you want to send a birthday email to your customers. You’re an ASP.NET web developer. Rather than building a website in ASP.NET and deploying and hosting it on IIS merely for one feature, you can just write an Azure function, put your email login in it, and deploy it on the Azure cloud. The Azure functions will instantly connect to your data source, get your customers' emails, and forward them an email on a scheduled date and time.

Limitations of Azure Functions

There is no one denying the fact that Azure functions have some limitations. While there are only a few such, some limitations of Azure functions out of those few are like: 

• Execution Time When it comes to consumption plans, the Azure functions have a timeout limit of 5 minutes, which can be extended to a maximum of 10 minutes. Hence, Azure functions are not ideal for long-running tasks. In that case, we should use Azure Durable functions or search for other options.

• Resource Limits When it comes to memory, storage, and outbound connections, the Azure functions are limited. Different hosting plans ensure different levels of resource limits. 

• Complex and Long-Running Tasks Azure functions are only suitable for simple requirements and long-running tasks. To some extent, Azure durable functions can manage long-running tasks, but as such requirements require complex development workflows, they cannot be accomplished through Azure functions.  

• Cost-effectiveness The use of Azure functions through a consumption plan is good for sporadic usage, but they are not good for frequent function calls, which can lead to higher bills. Sporadic requirements mean infrequent or irregular usage. In cases where there are frequent function calls, the consumption plan needs to fit better. However, we can check the usage through Azure monitor and switch to a premium plan in such cases, but it could be more cost-effective. So, cost management is a double-edged sword in Azure function usage.

When it comes to larger requirements, developers opt for other options like the Azure Durable Functions, as they are more suited to such cases. However, Azure functions are the ultimate option for smaller tasks with scheduling requirements or what we call timer-based requirements.

When to Migrate from Web Services to Azure Functions

It's good to migrate from web services to Azure functions when we deal with short-lived and event-driven tasks. This is because, in such cases, using Azure functions is cost-effective. Moreover, Azure functions ensure better scalability. You can focus on code rather than managing servers and infrastructures, and it supports event-driven architectures. Azure functions can easily integrate with Azure triggers like queues, blobs, and HTTP requests. Hence, they are well-suited for event-driven applications. Moreover, you don't need to handle patching, updating, and maintaining web servers as Azure will do.

One should not migrate in case of long-running processes and complex workflows. 

Conclusion

Azure functions are best suited for event-driven and short-lived tasks. While costing is not a limitation with solutions available when it comes to Azure functions, it can be a double-edged sword. Those tasks that react to triggers and run on schedules form the best use case for the Azure Functions. If you want a better, more cost-effective solution for your infrequent usage and also want to get freed from server management or go serverless, you can opt for Azure functions. With proficiency in Microsoft technologies like Microsoft Azure and a proven track record, Syngis Software Development provides cloud solutions on the Microsoft Azure platform. Our experts provide customised solutions ranging from Compute, Network, monitoring, security & storage to helping modernise clients’ businesses with secure, scalable & reliable cloud computing solutions. We do use Microsoft Azure functions. If you want to implement Azure functions for any of your microservices requirements, or you want to migrate from Web Services to Azure functions, or any such requirements related to Azure functions that we have discussed or that exist, feel free to contact us anytime.