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Overview
In today’s cloud-native world, serverless computing has become popular due to its scalability, reduced operational overhead, and pay-per-use pricing model. AWS Lambda sits at the heart of this paradigm by enabling event-driven function execution without provisioning servers.
However, real-world serverless applications often involve complex workflows, such as chaining multiple AWS Lambda functions, scheduling tasks, handling retries, or integrating various AWS services. This is where Apache Airflow shines as a powerful workflow orchestrator.
In this blog, we will explore how to leverage Apache Airflow to manage serverless workflows using AWS Lambda, with hands-on guidance and best practices.
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Apache Airflow for Serverless Workflow Management
Apache Airflow is an open-source platform to programmatically author, schedule, and monitor workflows. It supports:
- Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs) for defining workflows
- Task-level retries, logging, and alerting
- Extensibility via operators and hooks
- Scalability to run workflows in cloud environments
Airflow helps overcome the limitations of AWS Lambda orchestration tools (e.g., Step Functions), providing more flexibility, Python-native scripting, and better visibility into workflows.
Architecture Overview
Here’s how Apache Airflow integrates with AWS Lambda:
Airflow runs on an Amazon EC2 instance or managed service (like MWAA), and uses the AWSLambdaOperator to invoke Lambda functions. This setup is ideal for workflows that require coordination between multiple AWS Lambda functions, conditional logic, and scheduled execution.
Use Case Example: Data Processing Pipeline
Let’s say you have a serverless data processing workflow with the following steps:
- Trigger AWS Lambda function to ingest data from an API
- Run a second AWS Lambda to clean and transform the data
- Invoke a third AWS Lambda to store data into Amazon S3 or DynamoDB
- Send a completion notification via Amazon SNS
We will orchestrate this using Airflow.
Step-by-Step Implementation
Step 1: Setup Airflow
Install Apache Airflow with AWS provider:
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pip install apache-airflow apache-airflow-providers-amazon |
Set up your Airflow environment and connection to AWS:
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# In Airflow UI > Admin > Connections Conn ID: aws_default Conn Type: Amazon Web Services Login: Your AWS Access Key ID Password: Your AWS Secret Access Key |
Or use AWS IAM roles if running in Amazon MWAA or Amazon EC2.
Step 2: Define the DAG
Here’s a sample DAG for the serverless pipeline:
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from airflow import DAG from airflow.providers.amazon.aws.operators.lambda_function import AwsLambdaInvokeFunctionOperator from airflow.utils.dates import days_ago default_args = { 'owner': 'airflow', 'retries': 1 } with DAG( dag_id='serverless_data_pipeline', default_args=default_args, schedule_interval='@daily', start_date=days_ago(1), catchup=False, tags=['serverless', 'lambda'], ) as dag: ingest_data = AwsLambdaInvokeFunctionOperator( task_id='invoke_lambda_ingest', function_name='lambda_ingest_data', aws_conn_id='aws_default', payload={"source": "api"} ) transform_data = AwsLambdaInvokeFunctionOperator( task_id='invoke_lambda_transform', function_name='lambda_transform_data', aws_conn_id='aws_default', payload={"operation": "clean_and_map"} ) store_data = AwsLambdaInvokeFunctionOperator( task_id='invoke_lambda_store', function_name='lambda_store_data', aws_conn_id='aws_default', payload={"target": "s3"} ) notify = AwsLambdaInvokeFunctionOperator( task_id='invoke_lambda_notify', function_name='lambda_send_notification', aws_conn_id='aws_default', payload={"status": "complete"} ) # Defining task dependencies ingest_data >> transform_data >> store_data >> notify |
Step 3: Create the AWS Lambda Functions
Here’s an example of a basic AWS Lambda function that returns a response:
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# lambda_ingest_data.py import json def lambda_handler(event, context): print("Ingesting data from source:", event['source']) # Simulate data ingestion logic return { 'statusCode': 200, 'body': json.dumps('Data ingested successfully') } |
Create the remaining functions for transformation, storage, and notification similarly.
Step 4: Deploy and Test
- Deploy your Lambda functions via the AWS Console or CLI.
- Upload your DAG to the Airflow DAGs folder.
- Trigger the DAG manually or wait for the scheduled time.
- Monitor task logs and results in the Airflow UI.
Benefits of Using Airflow with AWS Lambda
Best Practices
- Idempotency: Ensure AWS Lambda functions can run multiple times without side effects.
- Timeout Handling: Match the Airflow task timeout with AWS Lambda’s maximum execution time.
- Use Tags & Metadata: Track DAG runs and function invocations using tagging.
- Secure Credentials: Use AWS IAM roles and AWS Secrets Manager for authentication.
Conclusion
Whether data processing, notifications, or custom automation, Airflow makes managing serverless logic structured, observable, and production-ready.
Drop a query if you have any questions regarding Apache Airflow and we will get back to you quickly.
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FAQs
1. What is the role of Apache Airflow in a serverless architecture?
ANS: – Apache Airflow orchestrates workflows by managing task dependencies, scheduling executions, and triggering AWS Lambda functions in coordination.
2. How does Airflow trigger AWS Lambda functions?
ANS: – Airflow uses the AWSLambdaOperator to invoke AWS Lambda functions directly within a DAG, enabling event-driven or scheduled executions.
WRITTEN BY Deepak Kumar Manjhi
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