Integrating Laravel with AWS Lambda for Scalable Serverless Applications

Introduction

Laravel, the popular PHP framework, can be integrated with AWS Lambda to build highly scalable, cost-efficient, and serverless applications. By leveraging Laravel’s flexibility and AWS Lambda’s event-driven execution, developers can run Laravel applications without managing traditional servers.

This guide will cover:

• How Laravel works in a serverless environment.
• Setting up Laravel on AWS Lambda using Bref.
• Performance optimizations and best practices.
• Comparing Laravel on AWS Lambda vs Traditional Hosting.

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Why Use Laravel with AWS Lambda?

AWS Lambda enables you to run Laravel without provisioning or managing servers. The key benefits include:

• Scalability: AWS Lambda automatically scales as requests increase.
• Cost-Efficiency: You pay only for the execution time, reducing operational costs.
• High Availability: AWS manages failovers and high availability by default.
• Zero Server Management: No need to manage load balancers, server updates, or maintenance.

Challenges of Running Laravel on AWS Lambda

While serverless Laravel is powerful, it comes with challenges:

• Cold Starts: AWS Lambda may take time to initialize on the first request.
• Limited Execution Time: AWS Lambda has a maximum execution time of 15 minutes.
• Stateless Environment: Unlike traditional servers, file uploads and sessions must be handled differently.

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Setting Up Laravel on AWS Lambda Using Bref

Step 1: Install Laravel and Configure Bref

Bref is a PHP runtime layer for AWS Lambda, allowing Laravel to work in a serverless setup.

1. Install Laravel and Bref

Run the following command to create a new Laravel project:

composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel my-serverless-app

cd my-serverless-app

composer require bref/bref

2. Configure Serverless in Laravel

Once Bref is installed, you need to configure Laravel to run on AWS Lambda.

Create a serverless.yml file in the root directory:

service: laravel-serverless

provider:

  name: aws

  runtime: php-81

  region: us-east-1

  memorySize: 1024

  timeout: 28

  environment:

    APP_ENV: production

    LOG_CHANNEL: stderr

functions:

  web:

    handler: public/index.php

    events:

      - httpApi: '*'

3. Deploy Laravel to AWS Lambda

Now, install the Serverless Framework and deploy:

composer require bref/laravel-bridge

npm install -g serverless

serverless deploy

This deploys your Laravel app serverlessly on AWS Lambda.

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Handling Databases in a Serverless Laravel Application

AWS Lambda is stateless, meaning it cannot maintain persistent database connections. Use the following approaches:

1. Use AWS RDS Proxy for MySQL/PostgreSQL

RDS Proxy enables persistent database connections in a serverless environment.

To configure Laravel to use RDS Proxy:

return [

    'connections' => [

        'mysql' => [

            'driver' => 'mysql',

            'host' => env('DB_HOST', 'your-rds-proxy-endpoint'),

            'database' => env('DB_DATABASE', 'your-db-name'),

            'username' => env('DB_USERNAME', 'your-username'),

            'password' => env('DB_PASSWORD', 'your-password'),

        ],

    ],

];

Enable persistent connections by setting:

PDO::ATTR_PERSISTENT => true

2. Use DynamoDB for Serverless Storage

DynamoDB is AWS’s NoSQL solution, perfect for serverless Laravel applications.

To use DynamoDB with Laravel:

composer require baopham/dynamodb

Modify the database config:

'dynamodb' => [

    'driver' => 'dynamodb',

    'key' => env('AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID'),

    'secret' => env('AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY'),

    'region' => env('AWS_REGION', 'us-east-1'),

],

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Optimizing Laravel for Serverless

1. Reduce Cold Start Time

• Use Proactive Warming: Invoke the function every few minutes to keep it warm.
• Increase Memory Allocation: More memory means faster execution.
• Use AWS Provisioned Concurrency to keep instances warm.

2. Cache Responses

Enable caching in Laravel:

CACHE_DRIVER=redis

SESSION_DRIVER=redis

Use AWS ElastiCache (Redis) for faster session management.

3. Optimize File Storage

• Store uploads on AWS S3:

FILESYSTEM_DISK=s3

• Use CloudFront for faster asset delivery.

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Comparing AWS Lambda vs Traditional Hosting for Laravel

Feature	AWS Lambda (Serverless)	Traditional Hosting (EC2/VPS)
Scalability	Auto-scales	Requires manual scaling
Cost	Pay-per-use	Monthly fees regardless of usage
Performance	Cold starts impact response time	Consistent but requires load balancing
Server Maintenance	No server management	Requires OS & software updates
State Management	Stateless, requires workarounds	Stateful

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When to Use AWS Lambda for Laravel Applications?

Best Scenarios for AWS Lambda:

✔ High traffic applications with fluctuating load.
✔ API-based applications (REST, GraphQL).
✔ Event-driven Laravel applications (e.g., background jobs).
✔ Cost-sensitive projects where you pay only for execution time.

When NOT to Use AWS Lambda:

❌ Applications requiring persistent database connections (e.g., heavy analytics, complex queries).
❌ Long-running tasks beyond 15 minutes execution limit.
❌ Stateful applications without DynamoDB or RDS Proxy integration.

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Conclusion

Running Laravel on AWS Lambda provides scalability, cost savings, and serverless advantages, but requires architectural adjustments such as:

• Using Bref for deployment.
• Managing database connections using RDS Proxy or DynamoDB.
• Optimizing for cold starts and caching.

By leveraging serverless technologies, Laravel developers can build robust, highly scalable applications while eliminating traditional server management.

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