The document provides an overview of IBM Cloud Functions (formerly known as IBM Bluemix OpenWhisk) and serverless computing. It discusses what serverless computing is, how IBM Cloud Functions works, the benefits over traditional infrastructure, supported languages and triggers, use cases, and demos of serverless applications that have been built on IBM Cloud Functions.

1. Mobile and Serverless : An untold
Story
Vidyasagar Machupalli
Technical product Manager, IBM Cloud

2. About Me
• Polyglot and Pragmatic Programmer
• @VidyasagarMSC
• http://vmac.xyz

3. IBM BLUEMIX OPENWHISK
IS NOW IBM CLOUD FUNCTIONS

4. IBM Cloud FunctionsEvolution of serverless
Increasingfocusonbusinesslogic
VM VM
VM
Virtual machines
Bare Metal
Decreasing concern (and control) over stack implementation
Functions
Containers

5. What is serverless aka
Functions as a Service?

6. IBM Cloud FunctionsWhat is serverless aka Functions as a Service?
Runs code only
on-demand on a
per-request basis

7. IBM Cloud Functions
Runs code only on-demand on
a per-request basis
Serverless
deployment &
operations model
VM
No servers Just code
What is serverless aka Functions as a Service?

8. IBM Cloud Functions
Runs code only on-demand on
a per-request basis
“Serverless is for
compute what
object storage is
for storage”
VM
No servers Just code
What is serverless aka Functions as a Service?

9. IBM Cloud Functions
Runs code only on-demand on
a per-request basis
Optimal
utilization &
granular pricing
z
zz
time
charged
What is serverless aka Functions as a Service?

10. IBM Cloud Functions
Runs code only on-demand on
a per-request basis
Scales on
a per-request
basis
What is serverless aka Functions as a Service?

11. IBM Cloud Functions
Why is serverless better
than a traditional approach?

12. IBM Cloud FunctionsWhy is serverless better than a traditional approach?
CF Container VM
2
Application
1a
Requests
1b
Polling
Worry about scaling
•
•
When to scale? (mem-, cpu-, response time-, etc. driven?)
How fast can you scale?
Worry about resiliency & cost
•
•
•
At least 2 processes for HA
Keep them running & healthy
Deployment in multiple regions
Charged even when idling / not 100% utilized
Continuous polling due to missing event programming model
Traditional model
Process
and Idle

13. IBM Cloud Functions
Trigger
1
2
OpenWhis
k Engine
Pool ofActions
Js Swift
Java Docker Python
Runnin
g
Action
Runnin
g
Action
Runnin
g
Action
3
Scales inherently
• One process per request
No cost overhead for resiliency
• No long running process to be made HA / multi-region
Introduces event programming model
Charges only for what is used
• Only worry about code
higher dev velocity, lower operational costs
Serverless model
Deploy actions
within millisecs,
run it, free up
resources
Why is serverless better than a traditional approach?

14. IBM Cloud Functions
What is
IBM Cloud Functions?

15. IBM Cloud FunctionsWhat is IBM Cloud Functions?
Functions as a
Service (FaaS)
platform to execute
code in response to
events

16. IBM Cloud Functions
FaaS platform to execute code
in response to events
Delivered as
Open source via Apache
openwhisk.incubator.apache.org
What is IBM Cloud Functions?

17. IBM Cloud Functions
FaaS platform to execute code
in response to events
Managed service on
IBM Cloud
ibm.biz/functions
What is IBM Cloud Functions?

18. IBM Cloud Functions
Triggers
(response)
Actions
(code)
Rules
Source
(events) Results
What is IBM Cloud Functions?

19. IBM Cloud Functions
Supported
Languages
Multi-
language
Support
Community
Efforts
… and more to come
JS/NodeJS 6
Java
Python 3
Swift 3
Docker
Haskell Scala
What is IBM Cloud Functions?
PHP NEW
…Cobol

20. IBM Cloud Functions
Blocking
Non-blocking
Periodic
Support for
different invocation
models
What is IBM Cloud Functions?

21. IBM Cloud Functions
Supports
higher-level
programming
constructs Chaining/
Sequencing
Action 1
Action 2
Parameter
Binding
Default
Parameters
Default Name
Default Value
What is IBM Cloud Functions?

22. IBM Cloud Functions
Event
Provider
Open event emitter
(consumer ecosystem)
Open interface
for event emitters
What is IBM Cloud Functions?

23. IBM Cloud Functions
Event
Provider Periodic IBM Cloudant Message Hub
Mobile Push Github IBM App Connect
What is IBM Cloud Functions?

24. IBM Cloud Functions
Granular
Pricing
What is IBM Cloud Functions?
Memory
allocated
(MB)
Time executing
(milliseconds)
Instances
executing
simultaneously
(count)

25. IBM Cloud Functions
Allows to package all puzzle pieces of
a server less application into a single
project and deploy it in a vendor-
agnostic way.
Improved Serverless
Framework support
What is IBM Cloud Functions?

26. IBM Cloud Functions
What is serverless
good for?

27. IBM Cloud Functions
IBM Cloud
Functions allows
you to build up an
entirely serverless
application
architecture
Openwhisk
IOT
Mobile
Cognitive
APIs
Data
What is serverless good for?
Functions

28. IBM Cloud Functions
Volatile workload that can
be split in smaller short-
running pieces.
Suited for sporadic as well
as heavy load scenarios.
What is serverless good for?

29. IBM Cloud Functions
API Gateway
support
Allows to map API endpoints
to Cloud Functions actions
Serverless microservice APIs/backend
Available for free, without limits
Define API Endpoints (URLs) and map to Actions Define Actions:
getCustomer
createCustomer
deleteCustomer
1
Get: mydomain.com/…/customers
Post: mydomain.com/…/customers
Delete: mydomain.com/…/customers
2
What is serverless good for?

30. IBM Cloud FunctionsgetCostumer
createCostumer
deleteCostumer
3
Easy to add and edit:
Security (API key, API secret, OAuth validation, CORS)
Rate-Limiting
Map actions to API endpoints (OpenAPI Doc creation)
Easy socialization (sharing, API key creation)
Analytics (API calls, errors, response time)
Test your API (API Explorer)
Upload Swagger/OpenAPI Doc
2 1
What is serverless good for?

31. IBM Cloud Functions
Use cases
• Web and Mobile backend
• Data Processing
• Cognitive
• IoT
• Scheduled Tasks
• Chatbots
What is serverless good for?

32. NewsWatch
• A user subscribes to a NEWS tag and you can push notification by polling NEWS APIs around the
world.
• The NEWS is read out using Watson Text to Speech.
• Showcasing
– Push Notifications
– Watson Text to Speech
– OpenWhisk (Swift Action)
2017/18

33. Smart Follow-up
• Feedback provided by a shoppe is fed to Watson Tone analyzer to analyze the tone of
the feedback which indeed helps the customer to understand the mood of the user.
• Based on the tone returned a push notification will be sent either thanking or
changing the mood of the customer with a discount.
• Showcasing
– Push Notifications
– Mobile Foundation on Bluemix
– Cloudant No SQL DB
– Watson Tone Analyzer
– OpenWhisk

34. NearBY
• A traveller-friendly app showing the nearby
restaurants(based on occasion), spas and casinos.
• Sends a push notification if the user enters a new
location.
• Showcasing
– Push Notifications
– Mobile Analytics
– Kitura talking to Google Places API
– Watson Conversation
– Watson Text to Speech & Speech to Text
– OpenWhisk

35. DEMO

36. IBM Cloud Functions
How does
Cloud Functions work?

37. IBM Cloud FunctionsHow does Cloud Functions work behind the scenes?
Apache OpenWhisk
Controller
…Invoker InvokerInvoker

38. IBM Cloud Functions
Cloudant
ELK-Stack
Controller
Integration
Service
soon
…InvokerInvokerInvoker
Monitoring
IBM Cloud Functions
How does Cloud Functions work behind the scenes?
IBM Cloud

39. IBM Cloud Functions
Basically, OpenWhisk is based on
Docker… but we added some
smartness to meet our performance
goals…
Behind the scenes:
It’s about containers
How does Cloud Functions work behind the scenes?

40. IBM Cloud Functions
A
wsk action invoke docker run
=≈
How does Cloud Functions work behind the scenes?

41. IBM Cloud Functions
Start container
docker run
Initialize
/init
Run
/run
cold container
How does Cloud Functions work behind the scenes?

42. IBM Cloud FunctionsHow does Cloud Functions work behind the scenes?
Start container
docker run
Initialize
/init
Run
/run
39
pre-warmed container

43. IBM Cloud FunctionsHow does Cloud Functions work behind the scenes?
Start container
docker run
Initialize
/init
Run
/run
warm container

44. IBM Cloud Functions
cold container pre-warmed container warm container
faster
Performance is king…
How does Cloud Functions work behind the scenes?

45. Q&A