This topic describes the release notes for Function Compute and provides links to the relevant references.

December 2020

FeatureChange typeDescriptionReferences
Continuous integration or continuous delivery (CI/CD) deploymentNewThe CI/CD deployment feature is added. You can write and upload code without the need to manage infrastructure resources such as servers. Function Compute prepares elastic computing resources for you to run your code in a reliable manner. None
Billing granularity adjustmentOptimizationFor on-demand elastic instances, the billing granularity is reduced from 100 milliseconds to 1 millisecond. Instance types and instance modes

November 2020

FeatureChange typeDescriptionReferences
InsightsNewThe Insights feature is added. This feature summarizes the execution status of function requests. After Insights is enabled, the system collects metrics about each execution of a function. The metrics include performance metrics such as memory usage, function execution duration, initialization duration, and cold starts, and exception metrics such as failed executions and error details. The metrics also include tracing metrics such as tracing details and whether sampling is performed. These metrics are delivered to the Logstore that you specified when you configured logging. The Insights feature allows you to monitor each invocation of a function to provide information about the execution of the function.
Image pull accelerationNewCompared with function code packages, container images are easier to be migrated between technology stacks. In addition, a comprehensive and standard tool chain ecosystem and best practices are provided for container images. However, the OS and CLI tools in the container image and other files that are not used by applications inevitably increase the amount of data to be downloaded and decompressed, and prolong the cold start duration for functions. It can take quite a few minutes to pull a large image whose size is larger than 1 GB before it is decompressed. This greatly prolongs the cold start durations of function instances. To resolve this issue, Function Compute has optimized image pulling. You can pull an image by two to five times faster in different scenarios. The amount of time consumed to pull an image is reduced from minutes to seconds.
Application Real-Time Monitoring Service (ARMS) advanced monitoringNewFunction Compute is seamlessly integrated with ARMS. You can use the application performance management (APM) feature of ARMS by configuring environment variables. ARMS provides non-intrusive advanced monitoring without code changes for applications in the Java 8 runtime environment. This way, you can view various metrics of instances, such as the total number of requests, the response time, and errors. Monitor Java functions
Auto scaling of provisioned instancesNewAuto scaling of provisioned instances is supported. You can perform scheduled auto scaling or metric-based auto scaling to make better use of provisioned instances. Auto-scaling of reserved instances
Resource plansNewResource plans are supported. The resource plans contain different types of instances. When you use Function Compute, the used instance resources are first deducted from the resource plans that are within the validity period. The excess usage is charged in the pay-as-you-go mode. Resource plans
Programming model extensionsOptimizationThe runtime extension feature is provided to resolve the following pain points. The feature extends the existing programming model for HTTP servers by adding the PreFreeze and PreStop webhooks to the existing HTTP server model. Extension developers implement an HTTP handler to monitor lifecycle events of function instances. The programming model extensions resolve the following pain points:
  • Data of asynchronous background metrics is delayed or lost.
  • The latency is increased if metrics are synchronously sent.
  • Graceful shutdown of functions is required.
Feature overview
ActionTrailNewFunction Compute integrates with ActionTrail. ActionTrail records operation logs for you to track, view, and analyze the actions of your Alibaba Cloud account. ActionTrail

October 2020

FeatureChange typeDescriptionReferences
Serverless DevsNewServerless Devs is supported. Serverless Devs makes the development and O&M of serverless applications more efficient. This tool allows you to develop, create, test, and deploy a project with ease and high efficiency. You can use Serverless Devs to manage the full lifecycle of the project. Serverless Devs Tool

September 2020

FeatureChange typeDescriptionReferences
Asynchronous invocation configurationsNewAn asynchronous invocation can be configured. This allows you to send the results of successful or failed function executions to destinations. You can also set the number of retries for an asynchronous invocation and the validity period of messages.
Custom container imagesNewIn the cloud-native era, container images have become the standard tools for software deployment and development. Function Compute provides a custom container runtime to improve developer experience and the development and delivery efficiency. Developers can deliver their functions as container images and interact over HTTP with Function Compute. The custom container runtime simplifies the following scenarios:
  • You can perform cost-effective migration and maintain consistency between development and production environments without modifying code or recompiling binary and shared objects (*.so).
  • Compressed images can be up to 1 GB in size. This allows you to package code and dependencies together for easier distribution and deployment.
  • Container images are natively stored in a cache hierarchy. This improves the efficiency of code uploading and pulling.
  • Standard, replicable third-party libraries can be used for referencing, sharing, building, code uploading, storage, and version management. This offers a comprehensive open source ecosystem for CI/CD.
Tracing AnalysisNewTracing Analysis in Function Compute connects the entire trace. It provides the following core features:
  • Automatically records the time that is spent on key steps in Function Compute.
  • Connects to an upstream service. If a request header contains a SpanContext, Function Compute creates a child span based on the SpanContext.
  • Connects to a downstream service. Function Compute imports the SpanContext to the function context to help you track the internal trace of a function.
  • Allows you to view application topologies.
  • Allows you to view the execution of an invalid API operation and identify the cause of the error.

August 2020

FeatureChange typeDescriptionReferences
Performance instancesNewPerformance instances are supported. Performance instances have higher specifications, alleviate the effect of service limits, and support more specific resource sizes and more scenarios.