⚡ Azure Functions

Introduction

Azure Functions enable running event-driven code without managing infrastructure, paying only for compute time used.

Key Learning Outcomes

By the end of this lesson, you'll understand:

• Creating function apps

• Different trigger types

• Local development and testing

• Deploying functions

• Performance and scalability

• Monitoring and logging

Creating Function App

# Create function app
az functionapp create \
  --resource-group myResourceGroup \
  --consumption-plan-location eastus \
  --runtime node \
  --functions-version 4 \
  --name myFunctionApp

# Install Azure Functions Core Tools
npm install -g azure-functions-core-tools@4 --unsafe-perm true

HTTP Trigger Function

index.js:

module.exports = async function(context, req) {
  context.log('HTTP trigger function received request');

  const name = req.query.name || 'World';
  const responseMessage = `Hello, ${name}!`;

  context.res = {
    status: 200,
    body: responseMessage
  };
};

Local Development

# Initialize function project
func init myFunctionProject --javascript

# Create function
cd myFunctionProject
func new --name HttpTrigger --template "HTTP trigger"

# Run locally
func start

# Test function
curl http://localhost:7071/api/HttpTrigger?name=Alice

Deploying Functions

# Deploy to Azure
func azure functionapp publish myFunctionApp

# View logs
func azure functionapp logstream myFunctionApp

Triggers and Bindings

Timer Trigger:

module.exports = async function(context, myTimer) {
  context.log('Timer trigger executed at:', new Date());
};

Blob Trigger:

module.exports = async function(context, myBlob) {
  context.log('Blob trigger received:', myBlob);
};

Key Takeaways

• **Serverless** - pay only for execution time

• **Event-driven** - respond to various triggers

• **Scales automatically** - handles variable load

• **Multiple languages** - Node.js, Python, Java, etc.

• **Local testing** - develop and test locally

Next Steps

Learn about Blob Storage for data persistence, or explore Azure SQL Database.