--- title: Serverless Glossary description: Datadog, the leading service for cloud-scale monitoring. breadcrumbs: Docs > Serverless > Serverless Glossary --- # Serverless Glossary This glossary focuses on terms and concepts specific to serverless architectures, cloud platform providers, and Datadog Serverless monitoring. ### General serverless concepts{% #general-serverless-concepts %} | Concept | Description | | ---------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Serverless | A development model in which a cloud provider allocates backend resources on demand. This paradigm enables developers to build, run, and deploy applications and services without having to manage infrastructure. | | Function | In a serverless paradigm, a function is a self-contained application that runs in the cloud. | | Cloud-based development | A workflow where developers run their code in the cloud during the development process, instead of just on their local machines. Generally, building serverless applications requires cloud-based development. | | Cold start | The first time you invoke a particular function, it may take a longer time to run than in subsequent invocations. This phenomenon is known as a cold start, and may be caused by different factors: for instance, the cloud provider may need some time to provision underlying resources. | | Event-driven architecture | An architectural pattern in which events drive communication between decoupled services. | | Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) | A subset of serverless functions. FaaS refers explicitly to event-driven paradigms. | ## Cloud-specific concepts{% #cloud-specific-concepts %} Datadog Serverless provides monitoring for serverless applications in multiple cloud environments. {% tab title="AWS Lambda" %} AWS Lambda is the FaaS platform provided by Amazon Web Services. See the [AWS Lambda documentation](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/index.html) for more details. | Concept | Description | | ---------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Amazon Resource Name (ARN) | A naming convention for resources in AWS. | | AWS CloudFormation | An AWS service that uses templates to create and delete AWS resources. You can create and delete collections of resources as a unit; these collections are called "stacks." | | AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) | An AWS service for managing users and user permissions in AWS. | | AWS Lambda | AWS's FaaS offering. Alternately, "a Lambda" is often used as a shorthand for "a Lambda function". | | Step Functions | Step Functions is a service provided by AWS which offers a way of orchestrating common workflows composed of multiple Lambda functions or cloud service events, without needing to write plumbing code to handle the workflow state and retry logic, etc. | | Deployment package | Lambda function code can be deployed using a deployment package: either a ZIP archive that contains the function code and dependencies, or a container image that is compatible with the [Open Container Initiative (OCI)](https://opencontainers.org/) specification. | | Edge location | An AWS data center used to perform service-specific operations. | | Event | A JSON document that contains data for a Lambda function to process. | | Lambda function | A serverless function in Lambda. Each function had code to process events and can be invoked to run. | | Lambda layer | A ZIP archive that contains additional code—for example, libraries, a custom runtime, configuration files, or other dependencies. You can use Lambda layers to use libraries in your serverless functions without having to include these libraries in your deployment package. | | Managed policy | An IAM policy that can be attached to multiple users, groups, and roles. These can be created and managed by AWS or by a customer. | | Resource | An S3 bucket, EC2 instance, IAM user, or other entity that can be used in AWS. | | Resource property | When including a resource in an AWS CloudFormation stack, each resource can have one or more associated properties. | | Serverless Application Model (SAM) | SAM is an Infrastructure as Code framework developed by AWS specifically focused on serverless applications. | ### Datadog serverless for AWS Lambda concepts{% #datadog-serverless-for-aws-lambda-concepts %} | Concept | Description | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [Enhanced Lambda metrics](https://docs.datadoghq.com/serverless/enhanced_lambda_metrics) | Enhanced Lambda metrics give you a view above and beyond the default Lambda metrics enabled with the AWS Lambda integration. These metrics are distinguished by being in the `aws.lambda.enhanced.*` namespace, and are Datadog's best practice for setting real-time monitors on your serverless application health. | | [Lambda library](https://docs.datadoghq.com/serverless/libraries_integrations/) | The Datadog Lambda library collects data (such as enhanced Lambda metrics and traces) from your Lambda function runtime. The Lambda library then submits this data either to logs (for the [Forwarder](https://docs.datadoghq.com/logs/guide/forwarder/) to pick up) or to the [Lambda extension](https://docs.datadoghq.com/serverless/libraries_integrations/extension/). The Datadog Lambda library is often bundled together with the Datadog tracing library into a [Lambda layer](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/configuration-layers.html) for easy installation. | | [Forwarder](https://docs.datadoghq.com/logs/guide/forwarder/) | An AWS Lambda function that parses and ships serverless monitoring data from CloudWatch logs to Datadog. | | [Lambda extension](https://docs.datadoghq.com/serverless/libraries_integrations/extension/) | A lightweight Datadog Agent that runs within the Lambda execution environment and ships serverless monitoring data to Datadog with minimal performance overhead. The extension is distributed as a [Lambda layer](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/configuration-layers.html) for easy installation. | | [Serverless CLI](https://docs.datadoghq.com/serverless/libraries_integrations/cli) | The CLI enables instrumentation by modifying existing Lambda functions' configuration. It is the quickest way to get started with Datadog serverless monitoring. | | [Serverless Macro](https://docs.datadoghq.com/serverless/libraries_integrations/macro/) | The Datadog Serverless CloudFormation macro automatically enables instrumentation for serverless applications by transforming the CloudFormation template. | | [Serverless Plugin](https://docs.datadoghq.com/serverless/libraries_integrations/plugin/) | The Serverless plugin automatically enables instrumentation for your applications managed by the [Serverless Framework](https://www.serverless.com/) by modifying the Lambda functions' configuration. | | [Serverless CDK Construct](https://github.com/DataDog/datadog-cdk-constructs) | The Serverless plugin automatically enables instrumentation for your applications managed by the [AWS CDK](https://aws.amazon.com/cdk/) by modifying the Lambda functions' configuration. | | [Trace merging](https://docs.datadoghq.com/serverless/distributed_tracing/serverless_trace_merging) | Serverless trace merging is required to see a single, connected trace when you configure both Datadog's tracing libraries (`dd-trace`) and AWS X-Ray tracing libraries in your application. | | [Trace propagation](https://docs.datadoghq.com/serverless/distributed_tracing/serverless_trace_propagation) | The Datadog trace context needs to be propagated over AWS managed services, such as SQS, Kinesis and Lambda functions, to generate a single, connected trace for serverless applications. | | [Serverless Insights](https://docs.datadoghq.com/serverless/troubleshooting/insights/) | Datadog automatically generates suggestions to resolve errors and performance problems and optimizes cost for your serverless applications. | {% /tab %} {% tab title="Azure Functions" %} Azure Functions is the FaaS platform provided by Microsoft Azure. See the [Microsoft Azure Functions documentation](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-functions/) for more details. | Concept | Description | | ------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Azure Functions | Microsoft's FaaS offering. | | Azure App Service | A hosting service for building web applications, services, and APIs. | | Azure Resource Manager (ARM) template | A JSON document that defines the infrastructure and configuration for your project. | ### Datadog serverless for Azure Functions concepts{% #datadog-serverless-for-azure-functions-concepts %} | Concept | Description | | ------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | | [Azure App Service view](https://app.datadoghq.com/functions) | Datadog's offering for monitoring Azure App Services resources. | {% /tab %} {% tab title="Google Cloud Functions" %} Cloud Functions is Google's serverless execution environment. See the [Google Cloud Functions documentation](https://cloud.google.com/functions/docs) for more details. | Concept | Description | | --------------- | ----------------------- | | Cloud Functions | Google's FaaS offering. | {% /tab %}