Function Compute and Serverless

Function Compute (FC) is Alibaba Cloud's serverless computing service. It lets you run code without managing servers — you just upload your code and Alibaba Cloud handles the rest. Function Compute is the equivalent of AWS Lambda or Azure Functions.

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What is Serverless?

Serverless computing means:

• No server management — you don't provision, patch, or maintain servers
• Automatic scaling — scales from zero to thousands of concurrent executions
• Pay-per-use — you pay only for the compute time your code actually consumes
• Event-driven — functions execute in response to events or HTTP requests

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How Function Compute Works

1. You write a function in a supported language
2. You define a trigger that determines when the function runs
3. When an event occurs, Function Compute provisions the runtime, executes your code, and returns the result
4. After execution, the runtime may be reused or terminated

Event (e.g., OSS upload)
        │
        ▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ Function Compute │
│ Runtime          │
│ ┌─────────────┐ │
│ │ Your Code   │ │
│ └─────────────┘ │
└────────┬────────┘
         │
         ▼
    Response / Output

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Supported Runtimes

Runtime	Versions
Node.js	12, 14, 16, 18, 20
Python	3.6, 3.9, 3.10
Java	8, 11
Go	1.x
PHP	7.2
C# (.NET)	.NET Core 3.1, .NET 6
Custom Runtime	Any language via HTTP server
Custom Container	Docker images

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Triggers

Triggers define how a function is invoked:

Trigger	Use Case
HTTP Trigger	Handle web requests (REST APIs, webhooks)
OSS Trigger	Process files uploaded to Object Storage Service
Timer Trigger	Run functions on a schedule (cron)
Log Service Trigger	Process log data in real time
Message Queue Trigger	Process messages from MNS or RocketMQ
CDN Trigger	Execute logic at CDN edge events
API Gateway Trigger	Expose functions as API endpoints

Example: OSS Trigger

User uploads image → OSS bucket → OSS event → Function Compute → Creates thumbnail → Saves to OSS

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Function Configuration