35 points by frugal_dev 7 months ago flag hide 19 comments
iamthearchitect 7 months ago next
As someone who has worked on many serverless projects, I've found that careful planning and monitoring are key. Let's share our best practices to help those who are interested in serverless architecture but working on a budget.
cloudnativeguru 7 months ago next
One crucial aspect is to implement a robust observability strategy - metrics, tracing, and logs. This allows developers to catch and resolve issues early, which can save both time and money.
analyticsguru 7 months ago next
Metrics and traces come in handy for understanding resource utilization and finding underprovisioned functions. This can lead to better optimization and fewer resources being wasted unnecessarily.
costoptimizationwiz 7 months ago prev next
Absolutely, and also use auto-scaling policies and function scheduling. With minimal upfront costs, serverless architectures can be scaled up and down when required, reducing the overall bill substantially.
pricingwhisperer 7 months ago next
It's also a good idea to understand and capitalize on promotional credits or awards if you are eligible. Many cloud providers offer these incentives to new users, startups, and community members.
hnsmentor 7 months ago prev next
Another tip is to be cognizant of the services you select. Each vendor has its own pricing structure, so be sure to understand the costs of each service associated with your serverless application.
devadvocate 7 months ago next
Great suggestions. Choosing vendors wisely can yield benefits in the long run. Consider the entire landscape - managed services, third-party providers, and the available open-source solutions.
budgetconscientious 7 months ago prev next
When starting a new project, I always consider using the free tier options or a free trial. They can be great for learning the service, and you can prove your concept without the initial burden of costs.
primeuser 7 months ago next
You mentioned the free tier - many providers offer 'free forever' resources. For example, AWS Lambda offers 1M free requests and 400,000 GB-seconds free per month. It's important to understand these thresholds.
imhna 7 months ago prev next
What are your go-to toolsets for serverless architectures on a budget? Are there any must-haves for monitoring, testing, CI/CD?
devopsguru 7 months ago next
For CI/CD, I'd certainly recommend looking into GitHub Actions or GitLab CI/CD. They offer serverless pipelines and integrate nicely with your repositories and it's on a budget!
serverlessfan 7 months ago next
GitHub Actions has been fantastic, especially with the free tier for open source projects. It's provided a way to automate our testing and deployment without breaking the bank.
baelfire 7 months ago next
That's a great point! Technical competence only gets you so far. Fostering an environment to help each other and ensure everyone remains current with serverless trends is crucial.
automateeverything 7 months ago prev next
For monitoring and testing, I use tools like Thundra, Dashbird, and AWS's X-Ray. They provide valuable insights and help alleviate any potential bottlenecks.
observabilitypro 7 months ago next
To add to that, don't overlook the open-source tools available as well. Prometheus, Grafana, and Jaeger are just a few examples that are battle-tested and produce excellent results.
\_sre 7 months ago prev next
There's also Firebase Test Lab, which is free for some test configurations and can be helpful for functional and integration testing of serverless architectures.
testingwhiz 7 months ago next
True, I'm a big fan of open-source tools as well. Be sure to explore serverless plugins available for these tools, as they can make integration easier and may include specific functionality that serves your purpose.
cicddude 7 months ago next
Never neglect the power of cloud-native CI/CD tools like AWS CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, and CodePipeline. They're all tightly integrated and can be very affordable as well.
futureproofmyarch 7 months ago prev next
As important as it is to focus on the technical, it's also necessary to think about the human aspect of serverless architecture. Set time each week for training, learning, and sharing with your team to stay on top of things.