Have you ever wondered if there was an easier way to build web applications without having to worry about setting up and maintaining servers? Look no further than serverless web applications using Amazon API Gateway. In this tutorial, we will show you how to create a serverless web application using Amazon API Gateway.
Overview
Amazon API Gateway is a fully managed service that makes it easy for developers to create, publish, maintain, monitor, and secure APIs at any scale. Amazon API Gateway acts as a “front door” for your web application and handles the routing of incoming HTTP requests to the appropriate function within your Amazon Web Services (AWS) account.
Prerequisites
Before we get started, you will need to have the following prerequisites:
- An AWS account
- Basic understanding of AWS services (e.g. AWS Lambda, AWS IAM, AWS S3)
- A text editor
- A command-line interface (CLI)
Step 1: Create an AWS Lambda Function
The first step in building a serverless web application using Amazon API Gateway is to create an AWS Lambda function. AWS Lambda lets you run code without provisioning or managing servers. You only pay for the compute time you consume – there is no charge when your code is not running.
- Log in to your AWS account
- Go to the AWS Lambda console
- Click the “Create Function” button in the top right corner
- Choose “Author from scratch”
- Give your function a name
- Choose a runtime (e.g. Node.js)
- Under “Permissions”, choose “Create a new role with basic Lambda permissions”
- Click “Create Function”
Congratulations, you have just created an AWS Lambda function!
Step 2: Create an Amazon API Gateway API
The next step in building a serverless web application using Amazon API Gateway is to create an API. An API (Application Programming Interface) is a set of rules and protocols that allow different software applications to communicate with each other.
- Go to the Amazon API Gateway console
- Click the “Create API” button
- Choose “REST API”
- Choose “New API”
- Give your API a name
- Click “Create API”
Congratulations, you have just created an Amazon API Gateway API!
Step 3: Create a Resource
The third step in building a serverless web application using Amazon API Gateway is to create a resource. A resource is a logical entity in your API that can be accessed using a URL path.
- Click the “Create Resource” button
- Give your resource a name
- Click “Create Resource”
Congratulations, you have just created a resource!
Step 4: Create a Method
The fourth step in building a serverless web application using Amazon API Gateway is to create a method. A method is an HTTP request that is associated with a resource.
- Click the “Create Method” button
- Choose the HTTP method (e.g. GET, POST)
- Choose the integration type (e.g. Lambda)
- Choose the AWS region where your Lambda function was created
- Choose the Lambda function you created in Step 1
- Click “Save”
Congratulations, you have just created a method!
Step 5: Deploy Your API
The fifth step in building a serverless web application using Amazon API Gateway is to deploy your API. When you deploy an API, Amazon API Gateway creates a new version of the API and deploys it to a stage.
- Click the “Actions” dropdown
- Choose “Deploy API”
- Choose “New Stage”
- Give your stage a name (e.g. prod)
- Click “Deploy”
Congratulations, you have just deployed your API!
Step 6: Test Your API
The final step in building a serverless web application using Amazon API Gateway is to test your API. You can test your API by sending an HTTP request to the URL of the deployed API stage.
- Click the “Stages” dropdown
- Click on the name of the stage you just created (e.g. prod)
- Copy the “Invoke URL”
- Open a new terminal window
- Type the following command:
curl <Invoke URL> - Press enter
Congratulations, you have just tested your API!
Conclusion
In this tutorial, we showed you how to create a serverless web application using Amazon API Gateway. We started by creating an AWS Lambda function, then created an Amazon API Gateway API, a resource, a method, and finally deployed and tested our API. With this knowledge, you can now start building your own serverless web applications using Amazon API Gateway.