AWS Bites

We take a deep dive into Amazon S3 Files , AWS's exciting new managed file system backed by S3! We kick things off by exploring why S3 isn't a traditional file system, covering everything from the lack of true directories and atomic renames to immutable objects and POSIX access control differences. We then walk through the existing solutions people have used to bridge that gap, like S3FS F...

If you’re curious about building with LLMs, but you want to skip the hype and learn what it takes to ship something reliable in production, this episode is for you. We share our real-world experience building AI-powered apps and the gotchas you hit after the demo: tokens and cost, quotas and throttling, IAM and access friction, marketplace subscriptions, and structured outputs that do not break yo...

AWS Lambda is fantastic for small, stateless code on demand. But when your “function” starts looking like a workflow (retries, backoff, long waits, human approvals, callbacks), classic Lambda patterns can feel like a fight: 15-minute max runtime, no built-in state, and orchestration glue everywhere (Step Functions, queues, schedules, and state you did not want to own). In this episode of AWS Bites...

AWS just made Lambda… less serverless. Lambda Managed Instances (Lambda MI) brings managed EC2 capacity into Lambda, and it changes the rules: environments stay warm, a single environment can handle multiple concurrent invocations, and scaling becomes proactive and asynchronous instead of “spin up on demand when traffic hits.”In this episode of AWS Bites, Eoin and Luciano break down what Lambda MI...

Love AWS Fargate, but occasionally hit the “I need more control” wall (GPUs, storage, network bandwidth, instance sizing)? In this episode of AWS Bites, Eoin and Luciano put the brand-new Amazon ECS Managed Instances (ECS MI) under the microscope as the “middle path” between Fargate simplicity and ECS on EC2 flexibility. We unpack what ECS MI actually is and where it fits in the ECS spectrum, espe...

We dive deep into Strapi, an open-source headless CMS that's changing how we approach content management and CRUD applications. In this episode, we explore how Strapi separates content from presentation, allowing marketing teams to manage content independently while developers maintain full control over the frontend experience. We discuss the powerful features that caught our attention, includ...

What if “Java is too old for serverless” is the myth holding your team back in 2025? We put it to the test with Mark Sailes (ex-AWS, Java-on-Lambda expert). In this AWS Bites episode we get specific: when Java is the right call for Lambda and when it isn’t, how to hit real latency targets, and the exact levers that matter in production—SnapStart, provisioned concurrency, smart JVM/GC settings, and...

What if AWS built an IDE to rival your favorite editor? Turns out they did! In this episode of AWS Bites, we dive into Kiro, an AI centric fork of VS Code that tries to turn an empty repo and a loose idea into working software. Kiro imports your VS Code world, then guides you through requirements, design, and a clear task plan before an agent gets to work. We share what clicked, what tripped us up...

What if AWS had its own version of Killed by Google? Well… turns out it kind of does. In this episode of AWS Bites, we explore the AWS Product Lifecycle page, the official place where AWS quietly lists products and services that are being deprecated, shut down, or closed to new customers. If you rely on AWS in production, this is a page you’ll want to bookmark. We walk through what’s on the list t...

Amazon Aurora DSQL promises to bring a truly serverless experience to SQL databases. But does it actually deliver? In this episode of AWS Bites, we put Aurora DSQL to the test. We explore what makes it exciting, how it compares to traditional Aurora Serverless, and where it falls short. You’ll hear what changed since our last Aurora deep dive, and why DSQL might be the PostgreSQL-compatible server...

Cost is always top of mind when building in the cloud, and recently AWS has introduced some changes worth paying attention to. In this episode of AWS Bites, we explore a shift that caught many by surprise: the “free” INIT phase for Lambda’s managed runtimes is going away. That cold start time that used to fly under the billing radar? It's now part of the cost. We dig into what this means for y...

Picture this. You’ve got a web app built with Rust and Solid.js. It started life running on a dusty on-prem server, but now it's time to move it to the cloud. The clock is ticking. You could take the well-worn AWS path: set up a VPC, configure subnets, attach an ALB, define IAM roles, and deploy with Fargate. Or you could try something different. In this episode of AWS Bites, we share the real...

We discuss common use cases and challenges for copying data between S3 buckets and S3-compatible object storage services. We share our experience building an open source Node.js CLI tool called S3-Migrate to efficiently migrate data with separate source and destination credentials. We cover performance considerations like streaming, chunk sizes, concurrency and parallelism. AWS Bites is brought to...

In this episode, we provide an overview of AWS Step Functions and dive deep into the powerful new JSONata and variables features. We explain how JSONata allows complex JSON transformations without custom Lambda functions, enabling more serverless workflows. The variables feature also helps avoid the previous 256KB state size limit. We share examples from real projects showing how these features si...

In this episode, we explore DuckDB, an open-source analytical database known for its speed and simplicity. Discover how DuckDB stands out in various applications and compare it to other tools like SQLite, Athena, Pandas, and Polars. We also demonstrate integrating DuckDB with AWS Lambda and Step Functions for serverless analytics. AWS Bites is brought to you by fourTheorem. If you are looking for...

In this episode, we discuss using AWS Lambda Powertools for Python to build serverless REST APIs with AWS Lambda. We cover the benefits of using Powertools for routing, validation, OpenAPI support, and more. Powertools provides an excellent framework for building APIs while maintaining Lambda best practices. In this episode, we mentioned the following resources: AWS Bites 41. How can Middy make wr...

Ready to take your tech career to the cloud and build those awe-inspiring systems you see? Then you're in the right place. This episode of AWS Bites is your blueprint for becoming a successful cloud architect. We're not just going to talk about it; we'll show you what worked for us, sharing the critical skills you need, and a practical path to build your expertise. Whether you're a beginner or loo...

In this episode, David Lynam provides an overview of AWS Transit Gateway, which aims to simplify complex network connectivity between VPCs, VPNs, and on-premises networks. We discuss the limitations of using VPC peering and the benefits Transit Gateway provides through its hub-and-spoke model. The main components of Transit Gateway are explained, including attachments, route tables, associations,...

In this pre-re:Invent 2024 episode, Luciano and Eoin discuss some of their favorite recent AWS announcements, including improvements to AWS Step Functions, Lambda runtime updates, DynamoDB price reductions, ALB header injection, Cognito enhancements, VPC public access blocking, and more. They share their thoughts on the implications of these new capabilities and look forward to seeing what else is...

In this episode, we discuss the pros and cons of using serverless architecture in enterprise companies. We cover topics like cost, complexity, security, ability to evolve architecture, and more. Overall, we find that serverless can provide benefits like reduced operational costs, improved developer productivity, and increased focus on core business logic for larger companies. AWS Bites is sponsore...

In this episode, we discuss why IAM users and long-lived credentials are dangerous and should be avoided. We share war stories of compromised credentials and overprivileged access. We then explore solutions like centralizing IAM users, using tools like AWS Vault for temporary credentials, integrating with AWS SSO, and fully eliminating IAM users when possible. 💰 SPONSORS 💰 AWS Bites is brought t...

In this special episode of AWS Bites, Eoin is joined by Fiona McKenna, co-founder and CFO of fourTheorem, to discuss startup advice, hiring and growing teams, creating an environment for success, and managing cloud costs. They cover important themes around people, culture, leadership, and finance from Fiona's extensive experience in the tech industry. 💰 SPONSORS 💰 AWS Bites is sponsored by fourT...

In this episode, we provided an overview of GitHub Action Runners and discussed the benefits of using self-hosted runners on AWS. We covered options including EC2 and CodeBuild for running GitHub Actions, compared pricing across solutions, and shared our hands-on experience setting things up. Overall, using AWS services can provide more control, lower latency, and cost optimization compared to Git...

In this episode, we discuss the concept of CloudFormation drift, what causes it, how to detect it, and strategies for resolving it. We explain that drift happens when the actual state of resources diverges from what is defined in the CloudFormation templates. Common causes include manual changes, third party tools, mixing IaC solutions, and automation. We then cover built-in drift detection in Clo...

In this episode, we had the pleasure to interview Farrah Campbell, head of modern compute community at AWS, prolific speaker, and former AWS Hero. We discussed Farrah's career journey from healthcare into tech, tips on public speaking, dealing with imposter syndrome, the pace of innovation in the cloud, and predictions for the future. Farrah shared personal stories and advice for getting start...