A Comprehensive Guide to Laravel Vapor: Deploying Laravel Applications with Ease

Table of Contents

Introduction

The global cloud computing market, as per the research, has been valued at USD 480 billion in 2022 and is estimated to reach USD 2,297.37 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 17%. Another study states that with more than 47 percent of organizations adopting a cloud-first strategy and 30 percent already shifted to cloud solutions, the immense increase in cloud adoption is undeniable. In today’s evolving landscape, this dominance of cloud computing would significantly push Laravel Vapor to make the deployment process better and swifter. Vapor has truly emerged as a game-changer, allowing developers to deploy Laravel applications effortlessly on AWS.

What is Laravel Vapor?

In simple words, Laravel Vapor is a serverless version of Laravel. The PHP framework is built on top of AWS Lambda, which enables scaling without managing servers at your infrastructure. Laravel Vapor is version 6.0, built by ‘Taylor Otwell.’ Besides, this Laravel framework’s version has some prominent features, like zero downtime and automatic scalability.

Vapor abstracts the complexity of managing Laravel applications on AWS Lambda, along with interfacing the said applications with SQS queues, databases, Redis clusters, networks, CloudFront CDN, and more.

Vapor requires your application to be compatible with PHP 7.3+ and Laravel 6.0+. So, if your existing application is built using Laravel version 6.0 or older and requires servers, you must deploy it to the serverless Laravel Vapor.

New Updates in Laravel Vapor

We will discuss the benefits of deploying applications on Laravel, but before that, let’s discuss what’s new in Laravel Vapor 6.0.

Manage multiple teams on one account
With Laravel 6.0, you can start managing team members who weren’t a part of version 5.0 or older. You would be able to authenticate team members effortlessly. This feature encourages collaboration and lets you watch your team members.

Leverage scalability
Handling massive traffic was a problematic issue before the release of Laravel Vapor. But with Laravel Vapor, serverless architecture has changed the game, and managing colossal traffic flow is no more an issue.

Control over team members
As you know, this Laravel serverless version has introduced the “adding team” feature, which lets you control your team member’s activities.

Leverage vanity URL
To access a serverless application, you would require a vanity URL, which helps to make a custom domain that allows access to applications.

Get access to different environment metrics
You can track your application’s performance with access to different environment metrics. The metrics offer meticulous details about app behavior, resource usage, error rates, etc.

Allows reviewing and searching for recent logs
In the latest version of Laravel, you can even see logs from the dashboard that includes:

• App performance & behavior
• It helps you identify problems
• Access to database and application logs
• Allows to export logs to third-party logging services

Types of databases
Laravel Vapor introduces two types of databases; serverless and fixed-size databases, wherein the former doesn’t require any specifications, while the latter allows you to choose VCPU, RAM, etc.

Allows to build of Redis clusters
With the introduction of Redis clusters in Laravel Vapor, you can create and manage elastic Redis cache clusters without any performance glitches.

Semantic Versioning
The newest update in the latest Laravel Vapor version includes the support for the semantic versioning standard. Now, Laravel Vapor follows semantic versioning, which helps ensure better clarity and predictability for version upgrades. Such a structure helps developers easily identify whether the release contains minor updates, bug fixes, or major changes.

Lazy Collections
Many programmers have already been using Laravel’s powerful Collection methods. However, to enhance these methods, the latest Vapor version introduces a Lazy Collection. The integration of lazy collections improves the handling of large datasets. It allows developers to work efficiently with data streams, reduce memory usage, and improve performance when processing extensive data in serverless applications.

Improved Metrics and Monitoring
Laravel has been offering various tools to enhance and improve the monitoring of application performance, viewing logs, and tracking metrics. These tools can indeed help the developers build functionalities that can ensure better insights into application behavior.

Vanity URL for Multiple Environments
If there comes a time when you need to share your project with teammates or even with the client you are working with, but the problem is you possess a nil custom domain. Then you don’t have to worry about it as in such a scenario, you can map out the project on the staging domain named “Vanity URL”. When managing Vanity URLs, you can ensure that each environment has distinct but meaningful URLs, streamlining access and minimizing confusion during development and deployment.

Companies Using Laravel Vapor: Use Cases

Let’s discuss the list of companies leveraging the new serverless deployment platform.

• Fathom Analytics
• Monzo
• FeatherUpvote
• Timely
• OpenCampus

These companies prove that Laravel Vapor has potential, but what are its benefits, and how would it help when you build an application? Let’s find out.

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Why Should You Use Laravel Vapor?

Many reasons answer the query ‘Why should you use Laravel Vapor?’ because it doesn’t require the infrastructure to manage the servers. And serverless has its perks; not only is this platform affordable, but it also launches your project idea quickly. Creating an application or deploying your existing Laravel application on Vapor would be one of the best decisions.

Eliminates the server management factor

Unlike traditional architecture, Vapor Laravel wouldn’t require you to spend on setting up infrastructure to manage your servers. Plus, you must pay for the resources you use, and since everything is on the cloud, you don’t even need to pay for managing servers. Ultimately, it even reduces IT overhead expenses.

No more downtime issues

The Laravel vapor allows you to create custom metrics, which enables the performance measurement of your application. The Vapor by Laravel is so powerful that you would never face downtime issues just like with the traditional server-based architecture.

Backup data automatically

Laravel’s Vapor (v6.0) has several backup options that prevent data loss and work as disaster recovery. And when required, it allows you to recover data as well. Vapor comes up with dedicated S3 buckets to store uploaded files, and it won’t even require a physical server, irrespective of the asset size.

Hassle-free traffic management

Colossal traffic flow on your application is what you expect, and performance glitches or applications failing to respond to every request is what the user experiences. Laravel Vapor’s automatic scalability feature handles ample requests in real-time without lagging on performance.

Launch before your competitors

Staying ahead of the competition is one of the ways to get traction with your target audience. With Laravel Vapor, the time to market for your application is minimal. You would efficiently launch your application before your competitors.

Enhance user experience

It is a must when it comes to launching applications. A smooth and easy-to-navigate interface hooks users to your application. With Laravel Vapor, it is possible to build applications that deliver a mind-blowing user experience.

Serverless vs Traditional Architecture

As you have seen, Vapor by Laravel comes with ample benefits for you, out of which one advantage is serverless architecture. Now, we will discuss how the serverless one differs from the traditional one and its benefits. Let’s see what’s the difference between serverless and traditional architecture.

So, these are the fundamental differences between serverless and traditional architecture. After knowing the crucial difference, I hope you will leverage serverless architecture. Therefore, we have discussed how to get started with Laravel vapor.

How to Deploy Laravel Application with Laravel Vapor?

Before discussing how to deploy Laravel App with Laravel Vapor, let’s know the requirements for leveraging Laravel Vapor.

The Laravel applications should be compatible with Laravel 6.0+ and PHP 7.3+.

Note: To manage your project, you must have a vapor subscription by creating an account on Laravel Vapor.

If you are collaborating on the project, you are not required to create a Vapor account.

Besides, Laravel Vapor requires that your application use services like AWS Lambda and AWS API Gateway.

I hope you have a Laravel application ready to deploy on Laravel Vapor; if not, let’s create a demo application together.

Step 1: Create a new Laravel project

Install Laravel installer or composer. In this example, we have used the Laravel installer.

Step 2: Set up your database

We have used MySQL to set up a database. You must set up a new database in your database server. Once you set up your database, update the “.env” with your database credentials.

Step 3: Time to create a sample application

For understanding purposes, we’ll just have one model and one controller called “Task” and “TaskController,” respectively.

Let’s begin with the “Task” model.

The above command creates a model named “Task” and its migration file. Now it’s time to edit the file by adding the fields you want to add for your “Task,” then run the migration.

Now that we are done migrating, it’s time to create the “TaskController.”

Running this command will create “TaskController” with the necessary CRUD methods.

Step 4: Deploying Laravel app to Laravel Vapor

For deploying, you must install “Laravel Vapor CLI.”

After installing Vapor, run the “vapor login” command to connect to your vapor account.

Now that you have logged into your account, it’s time to deploy your existing Laravel application. For that, run the “vapor deploy” command.

Doing so would upload your existing Laravel application to the AWS Lambda and ensure the configuration of basic API Gateway settings.

Step 5: DNS Upgrade

Upon deployment of your Laravel application to Laravel Vapor, update your DNS settings so that it can point toward a new API Gateway URL. Run the vapor list command to find out the URL of your application.

Running this command would pop up a list of apps with their URLs. Since your DNS is updated, your recently uploaded Laravel application will be accessible through a new URL.

Congratulations, here you go with Laravel Vapor and its deployment feature. To solidify the authority built on Vapor by Laravel, here is the best use of Laravel for creating projects on Vapor.

What are Some Best Uses of Laravel Vapor?

Vapor is a new version of Laravel, opening up many opportunities. There would be a few sets of possibilities that were untouched before Laravel v6.0. So, let’s understand how Vapor could be leveraged.

Traffic maintainability

Amazon web services (AWS) are agile and contain up-to-date workflows. If you fail to cope with AWS, you will be confused about streamlining AWS-empowered microservices. AWS complexity is one of the challenges that Vapor overcomes by allowing to publish of Laravel applications through different AWS endpoints. Instead of a bad user experience, distributing the traffic through the AWS API gateway public would enhance your user experience. Another benefit is that there would be no timeouts, irrespective of the traffic size, and the system would manage the traffic. It provides horizontal scalability wherein bandwidth automatically increases with the increase in traffic.

Store data using AWS

Laravel v6.0 leverages AWS infrastructure to deploy its applications. Since it is integrated with AWS, there’s no need to manage physical servers at your infrastructure. Vapor seamlessly integrates with AWS cloud’s simple storage service (S3) through which developers have access to store and access the app’s files and assets. AWS’s cloud storage is scalable, meaning it scales up and down, depending on the requirement. Besides, the services are cost-effective, meaning you pay for what you use. Moreover, this service is accessible across the globe, irrespective of your location. Lastly, the cloud servers are highly secured, which eliminates the chances of data loss.

Redis caching & database storage for the optimization

Performance of your laravel application is one of the key areas. This can be uplifted if your laravel app is deployed on Vapor. There are two ways to optimize your laravel app’s performance, i.e., Redis caching & database storage. These techniques, when combined with Vapor, would deliver unexpected results. Redis caching stores data in memory, which allows easy access rather than making your app run a query every time you search for the same data.

On the other hand, database storage enables storing and retrieving data through a scalable source.

Environment & Deployment

Firstly, the latest version of Laravel (Vapor) enables deploying the application to different environments, including production, development, and staging. And if something goes wrong, the serverless platform also allows it to roll back to its previous environments. Deploying on different environments would test the waters of different segments. Rolling back to the previous environment allows you to rectify and fix errors.

Conclusion

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is Laravel Vapor pricing?

Laravel Vapor works on a pay-as-you-go model, meaning it doesn’t have a fixed price. The payment depends upon your usage. It is far better than other architectures because that would even demand payment for the non-utilization of resources.

Does Laravel Vapor work with a custom domain?

Yes, Laravel Vapor has the capability of working with a custom domain. To make it possible:
Update your DNS settings
Configure SSL/TLS certificates

Does Laravel Vapor work with any application?

It works if the application leverages AWS services like AWS Lambda and API Gateway. Besides, a few features of your application might not function with Laravel Vapor. That’s where debugging becomes essential before deploying any application on Laravel Vapor.

How to debug my Laravel application?

Several methods exist to debug your Laravel application, such as leveraging log streams and function invocation under the AWS console. Besides, you can even use the “vapor logs” commands to enable the view of your logs. Lastly, you can even leverage Xdebug by collaborating with Laravel Vapor to debug your application.