Azure with Neo:
Serverless & Event-Driven Architecture
Part 2
1. Introduction
The cloud computing landscape is rapidly evolving, and organizations worldwide seek innovative solutions to deliver top-notch user experiences. At the heart of this digital revolution lie Serverless Computing and Event-driven Architecture, two game-changing paradigms redefining how applications are designed, developed, and scaled. In this guide, I will introduce you to two of my favorite Serverless & Event-driven services that can help you modernize your systems.
2. What is it all about?
Serverless Computing frees us from infrastructure concerns, allowing us to focus solely on writing code and creating exceptional applications.
With Event-driven Architecture, we dive into a world of seamless communication between services, enabling real-time responsiveness to events.
3. what are Azure Functions
Azure Functions is a serverless computing service that enables you to run code on-demand without having to provision or manage infrastructure. It follows an event-driven architecture, where functions are triggered by events such as changes to data in Azure Storage, incoming HTTP requests, or timers. This allows you to build applications that scale automatically and only incur costs when your functions run. With Azure Functions, you can focus on writing the code for your business logic and let Azure handle the rest.
4. what is Event-Grid
Azure Event Grid is a fully managed event routing service provided by Azure. It simplifies the development of event-driven applications by providing a single platform for managing and routing events from various sources to different destinations. With Azure Event Grid, you can react to events in real-time, trigger workflows, and integrate with other Azure services and third-party applications. A lot of services in Azure support the routing of their events using the Event Grid.
5. scenario - Azure Functions + Event-Grid 1
KeyVault Monitoring: Consider the following example, you have procured and stored a TLS Certificate in the Azure Key Vault. The certificate has to be renewed at some point. Once the certificate is about to expire, Key Vault will create an event. You can enable the routing of Key Vault events via Event Grid; you can send this event to any endpoint. By routing it to the Azure Function, you can implement the custom automation to handle your expiry event and perhaps send the alert to your team that it’s time to renew the certificate.
6. SCENARIO - Azure Functions + Event-Grid 2
Smart Home Automation: Create an intelligent home automation system by integrating IoT devices with Event Grid and Azure Functions. When an IoT device, like a motion sensor or a temperature sensor, detects an event (e.g., motion detected or temperature threshold reached), it can send an event through Event Grid. An Azure Function can then be triggered to turn on lights, adjust the thermostat, or send notifications to homeowners’ devices.
7. SCENARIO - Azure Functions + Event-Grid 3
Social Media Sentiment Analysis: Use Event Grid and Azure Functions to build a real-time sentiment analysis solution for social media. When new tweets or posts mentioning a particular hashtag or keyword are .published, Event Grid can trigger an Azure Function to analyze the sentiment of the content using natural language processing (NLP) techniques. The function can then categorize the sentiment (positive, negative, neutral) and store the results in a database or send notifications to social media managers.
8. SCENARIO - Azure Functions + Event-Grid 4
Real-time Image Processing: Imagine an application allowing users to upload images. With Event Grid, you can trigger an Azure Function whenever a photo is uploaded to a storage container. This function can perform real-time image processing tasks like resizing, cropping, applying filters, or extracting metadata. The processed image can be stored back in another container or sent to other services for further analysis.