Serverless Application Model (SAM)¶

Overview¶

AWS SAM is a framework for developing and deploying serverless applications, providing a simplified approach to creating serverless infrastructure.

Key Characteristics¶

Configuration-as-Code using YAML
Generates complex CloudFormation templates from simple SAM templates
Full CloudFormation compatibility
Supports comprehensive resource configuration

Core Components¶

Template Structure¶

Uses special transform header: Transform: 'AWS::Serverless-2016-10-31'
Supports key serverless resources:
AWS::Serverless::Function
AWS::Serverless::Api
AWS::Serverless::SimpleTable

Deployment Process¶

Build: sam build
Prepares application locally
Package: sam package
Transforms and uploads application code to S3
Deploy: sam deploy
Creates/updates CloudFormation stack
Provisions serverless resources

Advanced Features¶

SAM Accelerate¶

Reduces deployment latency
Synchronization options:
sam sync: Full resource synchronization
sam sync --code: Quick code updates
sam sync --watch: Automatic file change detection

Local Development Capabilities¶

sam local start-lambda: Local Lambda endpoint
sam local invoke: Invoke Lambda functions locally
sam local start-api: Local API Gateway simulation
sam local generate-event: Generate sample event payloads

CodeDeploy Integration¶

Native traffic shifting for Lambda functions
Deployment strategies:
Canary
Linear
All At Once
Support for:
Pre/Post traffic hooks
Automated rollback
CloudWatch Alarm triggers

Policy Templates¶

Predefined IAM permission templates for Lambda functions: * S3ReadPolicy: S3 read permissions * SQSPollerPolicy: SQS queue polling * DynamoDBCrudPolicy: Database CRUD operations

Multi-Environment Support¶

Configuration via samconfig.toml
Environment-specific deployments
Example: sam deploy --config-env dev

Benefits¶

Simplified serverless development
Rapid local testing
Consistent deployment patterns
Reduced infrastructure configuration complexity
Seamless AWS service integration