Deploy a Micronaut application as a GraalVM Native Executable to AWS Lambda

Learn how to distribute a Micronaut Java application built as a GraalVM Native executable to AWS Lambda Custom Runtime

Authors: Sergio del Amo

Micronaut Version: 3.9.2

1. Getting Started

Please read about Micronaut AWS Lambda Support to learn more about different Lambda runtime, Triggers, and Handlers, and how to integrate with a Micronaut application.

The biggest problem with Java applications and Lambda is how to mitigate Cold startups. Executing GraalVM Native executables of a Micronaut function in a Lambda Custom runtime is a solution to this problem.

In this guide, we will deploy a Micronaut Application as a GraalVM Native executable to an AWS Lambda custom runtime. If your Lambda integrates with API Gateway via a Lambda Proxy, a Micronaut function of type Application with the aws-lambda feature is a good fit, especially when you have multiple endpoints which you wish to delegate to a single Lambda.

In this guide, we will create a Micronaut application written in Java.

2. What you will need

To complete this guide, you will need the following:

Some time on your hands
A decent text editor or IDE
JDK 1.8 or greater installed with JAVA_HOME configured appropriately

3. Solution

We recommend that you follow the instructions in the next sections and create the application step by step. However, you can go right to the completed example.

Download and unzip the source

4. Writing the Application

Create an application using the Micronaut Command Line Interface or with Micronaut Launch.

mn create-app example.micronaut.micronautguide \
    --features=aws-lambda,graalvm \
    --build=gradle
    --lang=java

If you don’t specify the --build argument, Gradle is used as the build tool.
If you don’t specify the --lang argument, Java is used as the language.

The previous command creates a Micronaut application with the default package example.micronaut in a directory named micronautguide.

If you use Micronaut Launch, select Micronaut Application as application type and add aws-lambda, and graalvm features.

If you have an existing Micronaut application and want to add the functionality described here, you can view the dependency and configuration changes from the specified features and apply those changes to your application.

Setup IntelliJ IDEA to develop Micronaut Applications.

The generated application contains a HomeController. It responds to POST request to /.

src/main/java/example/micronaut/HomeController.java

package example.micronaut;
import io.micronaut.http.annotation.Controller;
import io.micronaut.http.annotation.Get;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Map;

@Controller
public class HomeController {

    @Get
    public Map<String, Object> index() {
        return Collections.singletonMap("message", "Hello World");
    }
}

The class is defined as a controller with the @Controller annotation mapped to the path /.
The @Get annotation maps HTTP requests to / to the index method.

The generated tests illustrates how the code works when the lambda gets invoked:

src/test/java/example/micronaut/HomeControllerTest.java

package example.micronaut;
import com.amazonaws.serverless.exceptions.ContainerInitializationException;
import com.amazonaws.serverless.proxy.internal.testutils.MockLambdaContext;
import com.amazonaws.serverless.proxy.model.AwsProxyRequest;
import com.amazonaws.serverless.proxy.model.AwsProxyResponse;
import com.amazonaws.services.lambda.runtime.Context;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
import io.micronaut.function.aws.proxy.MicronautLambdaHandler;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterAll;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeAll;
import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;

import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;

public class HomeControllerTest {

    private static MicronautLambdaHandler handler;
    private static Context lambdaContext = new MockLambdaContext();

    @BeforeAll
    public static void setupSpec() {
        try {
            handler = new MicronautLambdaHandler();
        } catch (ContainerInitializationException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }

    @AfterAll
    public static void cleanupSpec() {
        handler.getApplicationContext().close();
    }

    @Test
    void testHandler() throws JsonProcessingException {
        AwsProxyRequest request = new AwsProxyRequest();
        request.setHttpMethod("GET");
        request.setPath("/");
        AwsProxyResponse response = handler.handleRequest(request, lambdaContext);
        assertEquals(200, response.getStatusCode());
        assertEquals("{\"message\":\"Hello World\"}",  response.getBody());
    }
}

When you instantiate the Handler, the application context starts.
Remember to close your application context when you end your test. You can use your handler to obtain it.
You don’t invoke the controller directly. Instead, your handler receives an AWS Proxy Request event which it is routed transparently to your controller.

5. Testing the Application

To run the tests:

./gradlew test

Then open build/reports/tests/test/index.html in a browser to see the results.

6. Lambda

Create a Lambda Function. As a runtime, select Custom Runtime

6.1. Upload Code

The Micronaut framework eases the deployment of your functions as a Custom AWS Lambda runtime.

The main API you will interact with is AbstractMicronautLambdaRuntime. This is an abstract class which you can subclass to create your custom runtime mainClass. That class includes the code to perform the Processing Tasks described in the Custom Runtime documentation.

./gradlew buildNativeLambda

The above command generates a ZIP file which contains a GraalVM Native Executable of the application, and a bootstrap file which executes the native executable. The GraalVM Native Executable of the application is generated inside a Docker container.

Once you have a ZIP file, upload it

6.2. Handler

As Handler, set:

io.micronaut.function.aws.proxy.MicronautLambdaHandler

lambda custom runtime micronaut lambda handler

6.3. Test

You can test it easily. As Event Template use apigateway-aws-proxy to get you started:

{
  "body": "{\"name\": \"Building Microservices\"}",
  "resource": "/",
  "path": "/",
  "httpMethod": "POST",
  "isBase64Encoded": false,
  "queryStringParameters": {},
  "multiValueQueryStringParameters": {},
  "pathParameters": {},
  "stageVariables": {},
  ...
}

You should see a 200 response:

7. Next steps

Explore more features with Micronaut Guides.

8. Help with the Micronaut Framework

The Micronaut Foundation sponsored the creation of this Guide. A variety of consulting and support services are available.

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