[Developer] SAM

Question 1

What is AWS SAM?

Answer 1

An open-source framework used to build serverless applications on AWS. It is an extension of AWS CloudFormation.

Question 2

Why is SAM used over plain CloudFormation for serverless apps?

Answer 2

SAM provides a simplified syntax and shorthand to declare serverless resources (e.g., a single AWS::Serverless::Function resource instead of multiple Lambda and IAM resources).

Question 3

What does a SAM template ultimately compile down to for deployment?

Answer 3

A standard AWS CloudFormation template.

Question 4

What are the three core resource types provided by SAM?

Answer 4

1. AWS::Serverless::Function (Lambda)
2. AWS::Serverless::Api (API Gateway) 3. AWS::Serverless::SimpleTable (DynamoDB)

Question 5

What is the primary function of the sam build command?

Answer 5

It processes the template and compiles the application code (e.g., installing dependencies) into an artifact ready for deployment.

Question 6

What is the primary function of the sam deploy command?

Answer 6

It packages and uploads the application artifacts to S3, and then uses that package to deploy the application via CloudFormation.

Question 7

What is the purpose of the sam local invoke command?

Answer 7

To test a single Lambda function locally on your development machine, without deploying to AWS.

Question 8

What is the purpose of the sam local start-api command?

Answer 8

To run a local mock of the full API Gateway and Lambda environment, allowing you to test the API endpoints via your browser or a tool like cURL.

Question 9

What is the key benefit of using Global Accelerators with your SAM application?

Answer 9

It provides static entry points for your application and improves performance for non-HTTP traffic that SAM can handle (though SAM typically focuses on HTTP via API Gateway).

Question 10

What does SAM stand for?

Answer 10

Serverless Application Model

Question 11

A developer is building a serverless application using SAM. They want to define a simple API that triggers a Lambda function. Which SAM resource type should be used?

Answer 11

AWS::Serverless::Function