1.
IBM Bluemix OpenWhisk
The Future of Cloud Programming:
Wiring a Microservices Application Architecture to Respond to Events
Dr. Andreas Nauerz, Technical Product Manager | @AndreasNauerz

2.
Please Note:
2
• IBM’s statements regarding its plans, directions, and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice at IBM’s sole
discretion.
• Information regarding potential future products is intended to outline our general product direction and it should not be relied on in
making a purchasing decision.
• The information mentioned regarding potential future products is not a commitment, promise, or legal obligation to deliver any
material, code or functionality. Information about potential future products may not be incorporated into any contract.
• The development, release, and timing of any future features or functionality described for our products remains at our sole
discretion.
• Performance is based on measurements and projections using standard IBM benchmarks in a controlled environment. The actual
throughput or performance that any user will experience will vary depending upon many factors, including considerations such as the
amount of multiprogramming in the user’s job stream, the I/O configuration, the storage configuration, and the workload processed.
Therefore, no assurance can be given that an individual user will achieve results similar to those stated here.

3.
Agenda
• Whisk in a nutshell
• Meet Dave & his team
• Learn about...
– …what OpenWhisk is and how it works
– …the value of OpenWhisk and how it compares to traditional models
– …what makes OpenWhisk so unique
• Learn about some usage scenarios
• Learn about the OpenWhisk programming model
• Live demo
• Summary & Questions
3

4.
Whisk in a nutshell
„Event-action platform to execute code in response to events“

5.
Whisk in a nutshell
Serverless deployment & operations model
We hide infrastructural and operational complexity allowing you to focus on coding:
You provide code – we execute it!
Optimal utilization, fair pricing at any scale
We provide you exactly with the resources you need – neither less nor more - and charge
you only for code really being executed
Flexible programming model & powerful tooling
We support multiple languages (incl. Swift) and even the execution of custom logic via
docker containers plus tools to declaratively chain your code snippets
Open & open ecosysten
Open to run anywhere to avoid any kind of vendor lock-in and to accelerate the
development of a powerful ecosystem

6.
Meet Dave & his team
• Dave is lead architect of an online photo community and marketplace
– Operate a platform to…
• … share and sell photos
• … edit and categorize photos via manual tagging
6

7.
Meet Dave & his team
• To remain competitive, Dave and his team need to continously add
innovative features
– Idea
• Provide a mobile app that allows to automatically sharpen, noise-reduce and
semantically analyze photos being uploaded
7

8.
Meet Dave & his team
• Dave & his team start to collect requirements…
– Want to focus on developing value-adding code instead of low-
level infrastructural & operational details

9.
Meet Dave & his team
• Dave & his team start to collect requirements…
– Want a flexible programming environment and model in order to
develop services in small & agile teams whereas each team can stick to
the technology it knows and loves instead of going for a one size fits it
all approach

10.
Meet Dave & his team
• Dave & his team start to collect requirements…
– Need access to an open ecosystem of building blocks from
multiple domains and vendors to easily integrate existing
technologies to avoid reinventing the wheel over and over again

11.
Meet Dave & his team
• Dave & his team start to collect requirements…
– Want to be able to compose powerful solutions by connecting and
even chaining these building blocks rather than continously
changing code

12.
Meet Dave & his team
• Dave & his team start to collect requirements…
– Want to share and reuse created compositions (and other entities)
instead of causing redundancy

13.
Meet Dave & his team
• Dave & his team start to collect requirements…
– Want to be able to outsource compute intensive tasks to a
powerful cloud platform

14.
Meet Dave & his team
• Dave & his team start to collect requirements…
– Want to be charged for code executed instead of paying for
resources idling around

15.
Meet Dave & his team
• Dave & his team start to collect requirements…
– Want to go with an open solution driven by a community to remain
flexible instead of vendor locked-in

16.
OpenWhisk: Another way to build apps…
Build your apps, your way.
Use a combination of the most prominent open-source compute
technologies to power your apps. Then, let Bluemix handle the rest.
Ease of getting started Full stack Control
OpenWhisk
Event-driven apps,
deployed in a serverless
environment.
Instant Runtimes
App-centric runtime
environments based on
Cloud Foundry.
IBM Containers
Portable and consistent
delivery of your app
without having to manage
an OS.
Virtual Machines
Get the most flexibility
and control over your
environment with VMs.

17.
OpenWhisk: How does it work?
}
11
Event Providers
OpenWhisk
Cloudant
Git
Weather
…
…
Data event occurs, e.g.
-Commit on a Git Repository
-CRUD operation on Cloudant
-….
Trigger execution
of associated
OpenWhisk action
22
…
JS Swift Docker …

18.
OpenWhisk: How does it work?
OpenWhisk
JS Swift Docker …
Incoming HTTP request, e.g.
HTTP GET mynewcoolapp.com/customers
11 22 Invoke associated
OpenWhisk action
„getCustomers“
Browser
Mobile App
Web App
Variety of
languages
Variety of
languages

19.
OpenWhisk: Comparison to traditional models
Swift
Application
Container VMCF
22
Polling
1b1b
Request
1a1a
• Traditional model
– Continous polling due to missing event
programming model
– Charged even when idling
– No auto-scaling
Process & idle

20.
OpenWhisk: Comparison to traditional models
• OpenWhisk
– Introduces event programming model
– Charges only for what is used
– Auto-scales Pool of actions
Swift DockerJS
Trigger
11
Running
action
Running
action
Running
action
33
Deploy action within millisecs,
run it,
free up resources
OpenWhisk
Engine
22

21.
Some usage Scenarios
OpenWhisk can help power
various mobile, web and IoT app
usecases by simplifying the
programming model of
orchestrating various services
using events without a dedicated
backend.
Digital app workloads Big Data/Analytics pipeline
Complex data pipeline for Big
Data/Analytics tasks can be scripted
using changes in data services or
streams for near real-time analytics
and feedback.
DevOps & infrastructure as code
OpenWhisk can be used to
automate DevOps pipeline based
on events triggered from
successful builds or completed
staging or a go-live event.
Micro-Services builder
Whisk can be used to easily build
micro-services given the footprint
and programming model desired by
micro services

22.
Programming model
• Services define the events they emit as triggers, and developers
associate the actions to handle the events via rules
• The developer only needs to care about implementing the desired
application logic - the system handles the rest
TT AA RR

23.
Programming model
Trigger: „A class of events that can happen“TT

24.
Programming model
Actions: „An event-handler, i.e. code that runs in response to an event“AA

25.
Programming model
Actions: Multi-runtime support, e.g. JavaScriptAA
function main(msg) {
return { message: 'Hello, ' + msg.name + ' from ' + msg.place };
};

26.
Programming model
Actions: Multi-runtime support, e.g. SwiftAA
func main(params:[String:Any]) -> [String:Any] {
var reply = [String:Any] ()
if let name = params[“name”] as? String {
print(“Hello (name)”)
reply[“msg”] = “Goodbye (name)”
}
return reply
}

27.
Programming model
Actions: Multi-runtime support, e.g. Docker containersAA

28.
Programming model
Actions: Can be chained to create sequences to increase flexibility and
foster reuse
AA
AA
AA := A1
A1 + A2
A2 + A3
A3
AB
AB := A2
A2 + A1
A1 + A3
A3
AC
AC := A3
A3 + A1
A1 + A2
A2

29.
Programming model
Rules: „An association of a trigger and an action“RR
RR := TT AA

30.
Programming model
Packages: „A shared collection of triggers and actions“PP
AA
AA read
write
TT changes AA translate AA forecast
AA post
TT topic
Open
Source AA myAction
TT myFeed
Yours
TT commit
Third
Party

31.
Live demo

32.
Summary
• OpenWhisk…
– allows you to focus on developing value-adding code
– provides you with a flexible programming model for small agile teams
– provides you with access to an open ecosystem of building blocks
– allows you to compose powerful solutions using modern abstraction
and chaining
– allows you to share and reuse what you have build
– allows you to outsource load & calculation intensive tasks
– only charges you for what you really use
– is available as open solution in which you can participate

33.
Summary
• What else have we seen & learnt?
– Actions are executed, blocking or non-blocking, in response to events
– Actions can be in Node, Swift, or even Docker containers to execute
custom logic… and there is more to come
– Actions can even be chained to compose powerful solutions
– Out of the box support for event sources such as Cloudant and Github
as well as scheduled actions
– Tooling comprised of CLI, REST API, and iOS SDK
• What have we not seen? Complexity!

34.
Join us today
• You want to try OpenWhisk on your own?
– Want to try out our IBM Bluemix OpenWhisk offering?
• Sign-up today at: https://new-console.ng.bluemix.net/openwhisk/
– Want to try out our open-source OpenWhisk offering?
• Visit: https://developer.ibm.com/openwhisk/

35.
Join us today
• You want to try OpenWhisk on your own?
– Join our lab
• 6723: Quickly Build Microservices and Integrate Mobile Apps in the
Cloud with Events-On-Demand Technology

36.
Questions?

37.
Notices and Disclaimers
37
Copyright © 2016 by International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without written permission
from IBM.
U.S. Government Users Restricted Rights - Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM.
Information in these presentations (including information relating to products that have not yet been announced by IBM) has been reviewed for accuracy as of the date of
initial publication and could include unintentional technical or typographical errors. IBM shall have no responsibility to update this information. THIS DOCUMENT IS
DISTRIBUTED "AS IS" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. IN NO EVENT SHALL IBM BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGE ARISING FROM THE
USE OF THIS INFORMATION, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSS OF DATA, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF PROFIT OR LOSS OF OPPORTUNITY. IBM
products and services are warranted according to the terms and conditions of the agreements under which they are provided.
Any statements regarding IBM's future direction, intent or product plans are subject to change or withdrawal without notice.
Performance data contained herein was generally obtained in a controlled, isolated environments. Customer examples are presented as illustrations of how those
customers have used IBM products and the results they may have achieved. Actual performance, cost, savings or other results in other operating environments may vary.
References in this document to IBM products, programs, or services does not imply that IBM intends to make such products, programs or services available in all countries
in which IBM operates or does business.
Workshops, sessions and associated materials may have been prepared by independent session speakers, and do not necessarily reflect the views of IBM. All materials
and discussions are provided for informational purposes only, and are neither intended to, nor shall constitute legal or other guidance or advice to any individual participant
or their specific situation.
It is the customer’s responsibility to insure its own compliance with legal requirements and to obtain advice of competent legal counsel as to the identification and
interpretation of any relevant laws and regulatory requirements that may affect the customer’s business and any actions the customer may need to take to comply with such
laws. IBM does not provide legal advice or represent or warrant that its services or products will ensure that the customer is in compliance with any law

38.
Notices and Disclaimers Con’t.
38
Information concerning non-IBM products was obtained from the suppliers of those products, their published announcements or other publicly available sources. IBM has not
tested those products in connection with this publication and cannot confirm the accuracy of performance, compatibility or any other claims related to non-IBM products.
Questions on the capabilities of non-IBM products should be addressed to the suppliers of those products. IBM does not warrant the quality of any third-party products, or the
ability of any such third-party products to interoperate with IBM’s products. IBM EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT
NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
The provision of the information contained h erein is not intended to, and does not, grant any right or license under any IBM patents, copyrights, trademarks or other
intellectual property right.
IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, Aspera®, Bluemix, Blueworks Live, CICS, Clearcase, Cognos®, DOORS®, Emptoris®, Enterprise Document Management System™, FASP®,
FileNet®, Global Business Services ®, Global Technology Services ®, IBM ExperienceOne™, IBM SmartCloud®, IBM Social Business®, Information on Demand, ILOG,
Maximo®, MQIntegrator®, MQSeries®, Netcool®, OMEGAMON, OpenPower, PureAnalytics™, PureApplication®, pureCluster™, PureCoverage®, PureData®,
PureExperience®, PureFlex®, pureQuery®, pureScale®, PureSystems®, QRadar®, Rational®, Rhapsody®, Smarter Commerce®, SoDA, SPSS, Sterling Commerce®,
StoredIQ, Tealeaf®, Tivoli®, Trusteer®, Unica®, urban{code}®, Watson, WebSphere®, Worklight®, X-Force® and System z® Z/OS, are trademarks of International Business
Machines Corporation, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of IBM
trademarks is available on the Web at "Copyright and trademark information" at: www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml.

39.
Thank You
Your Feedback is Important!
Access the InterConnect 2016 Conference Attendee
Portal to complete your session surveys from your
smartphone,
laptop or conference kiosk.

40.
Backup

41.
Marchitecture
Trigger
Package
Feed
Package
Feed
Package
Feed
Package
Feed
REST
CLI iOS SDK
CRUD triggers, actions, and rules
Invoke actions
UI
Action
NodeJS
Action
Swift
Action
Docker
Rule
Rule
Rule
Action
NodeJS
Action
Docker
Service ecosytem
Bluemix services
3rd party services
Self-enabled services
Chain Chain Invoke