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Cloudflare platform global network provides Cloudflare workers which offer serverless functionality to enable execution of code near to endpoints/ edge. It is a powerful platform to build code and functions and a popular way to deploy APIs which can handle specific tasks.
Could you imagine the days when IT staff and developers were busy sorting out server configuration issues, load balancers tweaking, and assuming things could have been simpler to make your application work smoothly without any glitches? Now we live in a world where application code now operates close to the end user where latency is nearly extinct and you do not need to spend a fortune to make a business application function, and no need to worry about underlying infrastructure issues.
Cloudflare workers making life easier for web developers, DevOps engineers like an army Swiss knife which is useful for many tasks.
In this article we will learn about how APIs are deployed on Cloudflare workers, best practices and tips to be followed in API deployments on Cloudflare.
What are Cloudflare Workers
Before we deep dive into how to deploy APIs onto Cloudflare workers lets understand about Cloudflare workers a bit more. Cloudflare workers allow execution of JavaScript or Web Assembly code near to its requestor or edge – which means closure to end users. This eliminates the need for requests to be routed through a centralized server for request handling in a distributed manner reducing latency, faster load times and better end user experiences.
Benefits of Cloudflare Workers
- Latency is reduced as functions are operating closure to its requester or near to edge networks
- No requirements of server provisioning, resources allocation as Cloudflare workers built to auto-scale depending on resource needs
- Additional layer of security is built-in into Cloudflare workers
- Zero server maintenance costs as Cloudflare workers provide serverless functions
- Ease of deployment with prototyping, deploying APIs, run A/B tests, or execute code logic at the end point / edge quickly
Real World Use Cases
- Generative AI algorithms implementation on the edge produces performance gains, real-time AI applications become a reality and not myth
- It is a scalable solution to migrate from legacy application and make it more agile
- Cloudflare stream API service for on the fly media conversations to improve end user experience
- Quick fixing of bugs at the endpoint / edge for improved reliability and data recovery
API Deployments – Tips and Best Practices
API deployment on Cloudflare workers help in leveraging the capability of serverless computing at the endpoint / edge near to end users. But before we utilize Cloudflare workers for API deployments we need to understand how to use secure coding practices and utilize Cloudflare resources in a secure manner with proper measures.
Usually for operational efficiency and security a set of best practices being followed let’s look at each of them more in detail.
Code optimization and performance enhancements can be achieved by applying certain principles such as minimal code size, asynchronous operations, caching, data compression and usage of efficient algorithms.
- Minimize code size – Smaller the code higher is the execution efficiency , quick response and improved user experience
- Asynchronous operations – For non-blocking operations using async/ await let Cloudflare workers handle multiple requests simultaneously
- Caching – Caching implementation reduces faster output with reduced latency especially for frequently access data
- Data compression – Reduces network overhead and optimize bandwidth use
- Efficient algorithms – Code execution is optimized if efficient algorithms are used
- Usage of Cloudflare resources appropriately – For static assets, logs Cloudflare R2 is preferable option, for structured data such as databases Cloudflare D1 is better choice and for key-value while storing configuration data or for the purpose of caching Cloudflare KV is a preferred option.
From a security perspective, we need to implement robust authentication and authorizations, input validations to be built into the code, rate limiting for APIs, security headers and monitoring and logging.
- Authentication and authorizations – API endpoints-controlled access is to be ensured with proper authentication and authorization mechanisms
- Input validations – As a standard practice all inputs required to be validated to ensure protection from injection attacks
- Rate limiting – This is needed to prevent abuse of APIs and protection from Denial of service attacks
- Security headers – Appropriate settings of security headers such as content security policies (CSP) is required to safeguard against vulnerabilities
- Logging and monitoring – Comprehensive logging and monitoring is required to be established for early detection of incidents and mitigations.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
You can learn more about her on her linkedin profile – Rashmi Bhardwaj
