What is Azure functions

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Azure functions is an example of a serverless platform meaning that you do not have to host any of the code or worry about managing servers, all of that is done for you by Microsoft Azure.

Azure functions provides hosting and the environment for you to work in, just upload your code and you are good to go, you can use Azure functions to manage background tasks that your users don't need to see, or you can effectively create your own APIs to push and pull data where you need it, I've even used it to perform web scraping allowing me to pull data from a website into my Google spreadsheet.

If you are familiar with Microsoft Flow, a powerful tool for automating business processes, you will be pleased to know that you can use as your functions to create your own custom actions and call them from Microsoft Flow.

Perhaps you need to upload something into your database on Microsoft Azure, or process an order, or some other tasks that is not supported in Microsoft Flow, Azure functions enables you to create your own custom functions that integrates with the Microsoft Flow ecosystem.

Azure functions supports NPM and NuGet so you can easily install and import your favourite libraries and plugins. Azure functions can be triggered via a HTTP request, a timer, and more.

Azure functions has a pay-per-use pricing model, and you get 2 million free function executions every month.

The following summarises the things that I like and don't like about Azure functions.


Benefits of using Azure Functions


  • Links in with Microsoft Flow allowing you to develop custom functions as part of your automated workflows.
  • Provides development environments for Python, C#, Java, or node, with planned support for PowerShell and PHP.



Downsides of Azure Functions


  • No free option, while Azure Functions boasts it's 2 million free function calls, the use of Azure Functions requires a storage account setup that has a low monthly cost, this is a potential barrier for those who are experimenting or just getting started with the platform.


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