What are the best practices for state management in cloud-based applications developed using serverless architectures?

Some of the best practices for state management in serverless cloud applications include:

• Use stateless functions where possible to ensure scalability and maintain the integrity of the application's state across multiple executions.
• Leverage managed services for state management, such as AWS Step Functions or Azure Durable Functions, to handle complex workflows and state persistence.
• Implement external storage for state persistence using services like Amazon DynamoDB, Azure Cosmos DB, or similar NoSQL databases to store and retrieve application state.
• Cache frequently accessed data using distributed cache systems like Redis or Memcached to reduce latency and database load.
• When managing user sessions, consider using JSON Web Tokens (JWT) or similar mechanisms that allow for secure and stateless authentication and authorization.

Additionally, while managing application state, always ensure to follow security and compliance protocols to protect sensitive data.

References:

• AWS Step Functions Documentation
• Azure Durable Functions Documentation