AWS Bites

In this episode, we discuss AWS Lambda provisioned concurrency. We start with a recap of Lambda cold starts and the different concurrency control options. We then explain how provisioned concurrency works to initialize execution environments in advance to avoid cold starts. We cover how to enable it, pricing details, common issues like over/under-provisioning, and alternatives like self-warming fu...

In this episode, we discuss Luciano's new book project on using Rust to write AWS Lambda functions. We start with a recap on why Rust is a good fit for Lambda, including performance, efficiency, safety, and low cold start times. Luciano provides details on the book's progress so far, the intended audience, and the current published chapters covering Lambda internals, getting started with R...

An overview of load balancers, explaining how they distribute traffic across multiple servers and provide high availability. We discuss layer 4 and layer 7 load balancers, detailing their pros and cons. We then focus on AWS load balancers, covering network load balancers and application load balancers in depth, including their features, use cases, and pricing models. We conclude by mentioning some...

This episode discusses solutions for securely accessing private VPC resources for debugging and troubleshooting. We cover traditional approaches like bastion hosts and VPNs and newer solutions using containers and AWS services like Fargate, ECS, and SSM. We explain how to set up a Fargate task with a container image with the necessary tools, enable ECS integration with SSM, and use SSM to start re...

In this episode, we discuss the newly announced CloudFront Hosting Toolkit from AWS. We provide an overview of the tool, which aims to simplify deploying modern front-end applications to AWS while retaining infrastructure control. We discuss the current capabilities and limitations and share our hands-on experiences trying out the tool. We also talk about alternatives like Vercel and Amplify, and...

In this episode, we discuss some tips and tricks for optimizing performance when working with Amazon S3 at scale. We start by giving an overview of how S3 works, highlighting the distributed nature of the service and how data is stored redundantly across multiple availability zones for durability. We then dive into specific tips like using multipart uploads and downloads, spreading the load across...

In this episode, we provide a comprehensive overview of DynamoDB, including how it compares to relational databases, when to use it, how to get started, writing and querying data, secondary indexes, and single table design. We share our experiences using DynamoDB and discuss the pros and cons compared to traditional SQL databases. 💰 SPONSORS 💰 AWS Bites is brought to you by fourTheorem. If you n...

In this episode, we provide an overview of Amazon Aurora, a relational database solution on AWS. We discuss its unique capabilities like distinct storage architecture for better performance and faster recovery. We cover concepts like Aurora clusters, reader and writer instances, endpoints, and global databases. We also compare the serverless versions V1 and V2, noting that V2 is more enterprise-re...

In this episode, we discuss 5 different ways to extend CloudFormation capabilities beyond what it natively supports. We started with a quick recap of what CloudFormation is and why we might need to extend it. We then covered using custom scripts and templating engines, which can be effective but require extra maintenance. We recommended relying instead on tools like Serverless Framework, SAM, and...

In this episode, we discuss best practices for working with AWS Lambda. We cover how Lambda functions work under the hood, including cold starts and warm starts. We then explore different invocation types - synchronous, asynchronous, and event-based. For each, we share tips on performance, cost optimization, and monitoring. Other topics include function structure, logging, instrumentation, and sec...

In this episode, we provide commentary and analysis on the 2024 AWS Community Survey results. We go through the key findings for each area including infrastructure as code, CI/CD, serverless, containers, NoSQL databases, event services, and AI/ML. While recognizing potential biases, we aim to extract insights from the data and share our perspectives based on experience. Overall, we see increased a...

In this episode, we provide an introductory overview of AWS's best practices for managing infrastructure using multiple accounts under an organization. We discuss the advantages of this approach and how to get started creating your own multi-account environment, or "landing zone". 💰 SPONSORS 💰 AWS Bites is brought to you by fourTheorem, an AWS Partner that does CLOUD stuff well, in...

In this episode, we provide an overview of Amazon EBS, which stands for Elastic Block Storage. We explain what block storage is and how EBS provides highly available and high-performance storage volumes that can be attached to EC2 instances. We discuss the various EBS volume types, including GP3, GP2, provisioned IOPS, and HDD volumes, and explain how they differ in performance characteristics lik...

In this episode, we discuss AWS Resource Access Manager (RAM) and how it can be used to securely share AWS resources like VPC subnets, databases, and SSM parameters across accounts. We explain the benefits of using RAM over other options like resource policies and assumed roles. Some key topics covered include how to get started with RAM, how it works from the resource owner and resource participa...

In this episode, we discuss Permission Boundary policies in AWS IAM. A permissions boundary is an advanced feature in which you set the maximum permissions that an identity-based policy can grant to an IAM entity. When you set a permissions boundary for an entity, the entity can perform only the actions allowed by its identity-based policies and its permissions boundaries. In this episode, we disc...

In this episode, we discuss the new experimental AWS Lambda LLRT Low Latency runtime for JavaScript. We provide an overview of what a Lambda runtime is and how LLRT aims to optimize cold starts and performance compared to existing runtimes like Node.js. We outline the benefits of LLRT but also highlight concerns around its experimental status, lack of parity with Node.js, and reliance on dependenc...

In this episode, we discuss what to do if you accidentally leak your AWS credentials during a live stream. We explain the difference between temporary credentials and long-lived credentials, and how to revoke each type. For temporary credentials, we recommend using the AWS console to revoke sessions or creating an IAM policy to deny access. For long-lived credentials, you must deactivate and rotat...

In this episode, we provide a friendly introduction to Service Control Policies (SCPs) in AWS Organizations. We explain what SCPs are, how they work, common use cases, and tips for troubleshooting access-denied errors related to SCPs. We cover how SCPs differ from identity-based and resource-based policies, and how SCPs can be used to set boundaries on maximum permissions in AWS accounts across an...

In this episode, we discuss how we work as a cloud consulting company, including our principles, engagement process, sprint methodology, and focus on agile development to deliver successful projects. We aim to be trusted partners, not just vendors, and enable our customers' business goals. By the end of this episode, you will know what working with a cloud consulting company like fourTheorem c...

In this episode, we discuss using AWS Lambda for machine learning inference. We cover the tradeoffs between GPUs and CPUs for ML, tools like ggml and llama.cpp for running models on CPUs, and share examples where we've experimented with Lambda for ML like podcast transcription, medical imaging, and natural language processing. While Lambda ML is still quite experimental, it can be a viable opt...

This episode of the AWS Bites Podcast provides an overview of the AWS Project Development Kit (PDK), an open-source tool to help bootstrap and maintain cloud projects. We discuss what PDK is, how it can help generate boilerplate code and infrastructure, keep configuration consistent across projects, and some pros and cons of using a tool like this versus doing it manually. Is PDK something you sho...

In this episode, we discuss how you can use Python for data science workloads on AWS Lambda. We cover the pros and cons of using Lambda for these workloads compared to other AWS services. We benchmark cold start times and performance for different Lambda deployment options like zip packages, layers, and container images. The results show container images can provide faster cold starts than zip pac...

In this episode, we share expert opinions from AWS community leaders on their favorite announcements from re:Invent 2023, advice for those starting their cloud journey, predictions for the future of serverless, whether to go multi-cloud or not, and how AI will impact developers. Our guests provide insightful perspectives on getting hands-on experience, leveraging the AWS community, thinking throug...

Luciano and Eoin chat about Luciano's experience attending AWS re:Invent 2023 in Las Vegas for the first time. They talk about the massive scale of the event, logistical challenges getting around between venues, highlights from the keynotes and announcements, and tips for networking and getting the most out of re:Invent. Luciano shares his perspective on the AI focus, meeting people in real li...

In this episode, we discuss integration testing event-driven systems and explore AWS's new Integration Application Test Kit (IATK). We cover the challenges of testing events and common approaches like logging, end-to-end testing, and using temporary queues. We then introduce IATK, walk through how to use it for EventBridge testing, and share our experience trying out the X-Ray trace validation...