Serverless functions are great for running code without worrying about managing infrastructure. You can create stateless functions that run for short periods of time. However, there are times when you need longer-running functions that persist state, such as a workflow that runs for hours, days, or longer.
Azure Functions has a feature called Durable Functions that was designed to solve some of these challenges by adding support for useful, new patterns to serverless functions.
A few patterns made possible by Durable Functions include:
- Function chaining - Orchestrate a serverless workflow composed of many functions. These orchestrations can run for extended periods of time.
- Fan out / fan in - Call a bunch of functions that all execute in parallel, taking advantage of the highly-scalable compute provided by Azure Functions, then aggregate the results.
- Monitor - Call a function repeatedly until a condition is met.
These are just a sampling of capabilities provided by Durable Functions. To learn more join me, Durable Functions expert Marc Duiker, and many others at this week's Create: Serverless virtual event!
Create: Serverless is a half day of conversations with serverless community members to discuss how you can run code for any application without having to manage servers.
Sign up for Create: Serverless: https://aka.ms/createserverless
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