README.md



faas - Functions As A Service
FaaS is a platform for building serverless functions on Docker Swarm Mode with first class metrics. Any UNIX process can be packaged as a function in FaaS enabling you to consume a range of web events without repetitive boiler-plate coding.

Highlights:


Ease of use through UI portal


Setup a working environment with one script


Portable - runs on any hardware


Baked-in Prometheus metrics


Any container can be a function


Auto-scales as demand increases


Concept

Each container has a watchdog process that hosts a web server allowing a JSON post request to be forwarded to a desired process via STDIN. The respose is sent to the caller via STDOUT.
A gateway provides a view to the containers/functions to the public Internet and collects metrics for Prometheus and in a future version will manage replicas and scale as throughput increases.


Read the story on my blog or find out more below.


Minimum requirements:

Docker 1.13 (to support attachable overlay networks)
At least a single host in Swarm Mode. (run docker swarm init)


TestDrive
You can test-drive FaaS with a set of sample functions as defined in docker-compose.yml on play-with-docker.com for free, or on your own laptop.

Begin the TestDrive instructions

Here is a screenshot of the API gateway portal - designed for ease of use.


Ongoing development/screenshots:
FaaS is still expanding and growing, check out the developments around:

Auto-scaling through Prometheus alerts
Prometheus alert example
Invoke functions through UI
Create new functions through UI
Various sample functions
ARM / Raspberry Pi support


Develop your own functions

Package your function


Roadmap and contributing

Read the Roadmap


Additional content

Would you prefer a video overview?
See how to deploy FaaS onto play-with-docker.com and Docker Swarm in 1-2 minutes. See the sample functions in action and watch the graphs in Prometheus as we ramp up the amount of requests.

Deep Dive into Functions as a Service (FaaS) on Docker


Prometheus metrics are built-in
Prometheus is built into FaaS and the sample stack, so you can check throughput for each function individually with a rate function in the UI at port 9090 on your Swarm manager.
If you are new to Prometheus, you can start learning about metrics and monitoring on my blog:

Monitor your applications with Prometheus