Is it possible to run parse-server on Google Cloud Functions?

Parse Server 📡
#1

Hello Parse Community,

I’ve been running Parse on Google AppEngine since Parse went open source. It’s been easy to update and maintain, but is also quite costly for a website that has ~200K sessions a month. Part of the price is due to my ignorance of AppEngine’s Node.js Flexible Environment. In the litttle I’ve experimented, I found that the default settings in the app.yaml have been cheapest — runs me about $80 / month.

I recently discovered that Google has created serverless services which they call Cloud Functions. Instead of instance hours, they charge by invocations. I’m curious to test the parse-server out on this and see if there are cost benefits. I figured I’d ask the community first to see if anyone else has configured this or found benefits (or pitfalls) with running parse-server as a serverless function instead of an instance (Google or otherwise. I know AWS and Microsoft both provide these services too).

#2

Currently parse is not usable in server less system (aka cloud function), since Parse server has a long init process (1-2sec) it’s not suitable for a server less system. (Hot and cold start will be too long and results in horrible experience on your front app )

Parse need some (little) adjustments to run in this type of environment.

May be you should check if you can have a auto scaling feature on App Engine. :slight_smile:

#3

Thanks, that makes sense. AppEngine automatically scales, but there’s probably some more fiddling I can do.

#4

What about GCP Cloud Run? I was considering hosting my Parse app on Cloud Run service.

#5

Just took a quick look at the docs, you can set the minimum number of instances to 1 which will prevent cold starts.