Azure functions & Reactive Orchestration

3/24/20231 min read

Azure Functions provide a reactive orchestrator that can be used to trigger actions in response to events. This makes them a potent tool for managing workflows and building event-driven applications.

What are Azure Functions?

Azure Functions are cloud-based, serverless functions that execute in response to events. They can be triggered by changes in data, incoming messages, timer schedules, or HTTP requests. Functions can be written in a variety of languages, including C#, F#, Node.js, PowerShell, and Java.

How do Azure Functions work?

Azure Functions use an event-driven model that makes them very efficient and cost-effective. When a function is triggered, it runs in isolation until it completes its task. Because functions are stateless, they can scale quickly and automatically to meet changing needs. This makes them ideal for workloads that are unpredictable or bursty.

Azure Functions is built on top of Azure Events, which is a pub/sub-messaging service that can be used to trigger Azure Functions. When an event occurs, Azure Functions will execute the code associated with that event. For example, you could create an Azure Function that automatically sends an email whenever a new customer signs up for your service.

Azure Functions is also scalable and reliable. Azure Functions will automatically scale up or down when an event occurs to meet demand. And if an Azure Function fails, Azure Functions will automatically retry the function until it succeeds. This means that you don't have to worry about provisioning or managing servers—Azure Functions will handle everything for you.

Benefits of Azure Functions

There are many benefits to using Azure Functions, including the following:

  • They're easy to get started with and don't require a lot of infrastructure setup.

  • You only pay for the time your functions run, so there's no need to worry about wasted resources when your processes are idle.

  • Functions can be triggered by a wide variety of events, making them very versatile.

  • They can be written in your language of choice, making them easy to work with for existing applications.

  • Because they're stateless and serverless, they're highly scalable and reliable.