Off-by-none: Issue #256

November 21, 2023

Only have a few minutes? Check out this week's MOST POPULAR links as chosen by our email subscribers.

Giving Thanks for 9 Years of AWS Lambda! 🦃

In our previous issue, AWS Lambda got upgraded to Amazon Linux 2023, AWS messaging services continued to get better, and developers were still fumbling with AWS. This week, we’re just days away from AWS re:Invent, we look at more pre:Invent announcements, and everyone joins the PartyRock. Plus, we have lots of great content from the serverless community!

This is going to be a long one, so apologies in advance! 😉

Serverless News & Announcements 📣

Let’s start by celebrating the fact that AWS Lambda was announced 9 years ago! The impact this service had on cloud computing (and my career) is immeasurable. Also, Amazon CloudFront turned 15 years old, another service that helped revolutionize the cloud.

In other big pre:Invent news, AWS Lambda added support for Node.js 20 (and Java 21, if anyone really cares 😉), and also published an approximate schedule as to when we’ll see future updates to Lambda runtimes.

AWS Lambda introduced new controls to make it easier to search, filter, and aggregate Lambda function logs by supporting built-in JSON formatting. I like this idea in principal, especially for system logs, but I think there’s still some work to do here.

AWS Lambda now allows to view and export the function’s template to AWS Application Composer. The fact that you can’t do this for your entire deployed architecture still baffles me.

AWS Step Functions now supports restarting workflows from failure using the input from the previously failed task. It might sound simple, but this is quite amazing.

AWS Cost Explorer now provides more historical and granular data which will allow you to see the cost of individual Lambda functions for the past 14 days. 🤯

Amazon SNS launched additional message filtering operators, including suffix and case-insensitive matching, Amazon EventBridge EventBus announced support for read-only API events from CloudTrail, and Amazon EventBridge Pipes added new logging functionality for improved observability

AWS AppSync introduced new metrics for monitoring of real-time GraphQL subscriptions, AWS Amplify JavaScript v6 is now generally available, and AWS Amplify Hosting now supports wildcard subdomains and has extended server-side rendering (SSR) support to additional frameworks.

Amazon S3 now supports enabling S3 Object Lock on existing buckets with max retention up to a century! Don’t make a mistake with this!

AWS CloudFormation simplifies resource import with a new parameter for ChangeSets. I have to dive deeper into this, but automatically importing the resources in your template that already exist in your AWS account sounds like a huge win.

AWS also announced Amazon CodeWhisperer for command line (in preview). They are calling it “AI natural-language-to-bash translation”, which isn’t any worse than other AWS names. More about it here.

And let’s not forget the launch of PartyRock, an Amazon Bedrock Playground! There are some more tutorials below, but Jeff Barr’s post is always a very good place to start.

In other non-AWS cloud news, but still of course, related to AWS, Luc van Donkersgoed launched an AWS News Feed tool that lets you view, rate, and keep track of the AWS blog posts and announcements you read. Very handy.

Also, Hono, a very cool Web-standard API framework added native support for AWS Lambda.

There are also a few new AWS Heroes that were announced.

If you’re heading to re:Invent next week, check out Marcia Villalba’s Serverless attendee’s guide to AWS re:Invent 2023.

Need help building your serverless apps? Check out Serverless Guru, your guide to cloud excellence helping you on every step of your serverless journey including team training, pattern development, mass service migrations, architecting and developing new solutions. SPONSORED

Serverless Concepts 🏗

Measuring Lambda cold starts with AWS SnapStart – Part 9 Measuring with Java 21
Vadym Kazulkin looks at cold starts on the new Java 21 runtime for AWS Lambda.

Overview of AWS Lambda internal extensions
Tomasz Łakomy explains how you can modify the runtime environment of your Lambda functions using internal extensions.

Converting stateful application to stateless using AWS services
Sarat Para et al give you a helpful overview of the difference between stateful and stateless and a high-level process for converting the former to the latter.

Stop Paying $3.5/million requests for AWS API Gateway v1 or v2. Use Lambda Function URL instead
Lots of tradeoffs here, and Phạm Văn Trung lays them out for you.

Serverless Tutorials 👷‍♀️

There were plenty of excellent tutorials this week. Here are a few that really caught my attention:

And here are a few that take you through PartyRock:

Serverless Reads 🤓

Serverless at Scale: Lessons From 200 Million Lambda Invocations
Jason Spiliotopoulos takes you through Adadot’s serverless journey and recaps the lessons learned. His answer to whether or not it’s easy to maintain and if it’s ultimately cheaper are worth paying attention to.

How big should a Lambda function be?
Great post by Paul van der Bijl that explains the pros and cons of Fat Lambdas, when they make sense to use, and the ultimate tradeoffs.

5 Generative AI Predictions And A Wishlist From AWS re:Invent 2023
Janakiram MSV makes some interesting predictions, and dare I say, he might not be too far off. 🤷‍♂️

Podcasts, Videos, and more 🎧

Using SQS and Lambda the right way
AJ Stuyvenberg tells you why you’re probably not doing this correctly.

Ready, Set, Cloud Podcast! Episode #23 – Serverless, Generative AI, and More Serverless
Allen Helton chats with Sam Lock about the day-in and day-out of being a serverless developer, GenAI, and the importance of automating boilerplate code

AWS Bites #104. Explaining Lambda Runtimes
Eoin and Luciano celebrate AWS Lambda’s 9th birthday by discussing how Lambda works, comparing official runtimes vs. custom runtimes, and explaining when and why building a custom runtime might be worth the effort.

What’s the best place to cache data for serverless applications?
Yan Cui tells you everything you need to know about caching in serverless applications.

Real-World Serverless podcast
Yan Cui talks with Sandro Volpicella about Hashnode’s serverless architecture and the caching strategy they use to maximize performance.

Intelligence is not Enough
Bryan Cantrill’s talk from Monktoberfest 2023 that explains why (I think/hope) AI isn’t going to take your job as an engineer.

Matteo Collina on how he believes AWS fooled devs & sabotaged the industry (to make more money)
This is an interesting take. Not everything in here is entirely accurate, but the points are well-taken.

New from AWS 🆕

And here are several more AWS pre:Invent announcements that you might find interesting:

Upcoming Serverless Events 🗓

November 27 – December 1, 2023 – AWS re:Invent 2023

December 1 – December 17, 2023 – Serverless Holiday Hackathon

Know of any upcoming events related to serverless? Be sure to send them my way!

Serverless Star of the Week ⭐️

This week’s star is Elias Brange (@EliasBrange). Elias is a Cloud Consultant at 13|37 and an AWS Community Builder. His posts like Test Event-Driven Architectures with AWS EventBridge and Momento Topics and Implementing the Transactional Outbox Pattern for Serverless Domain Events have been featured in recent Off-by-none issues. When he’s not advocating for serverless technologies, he’s developing games for Android as Brulu Games. Thank you Elias, for being an active part of the serverless community!

Final Thoughts 🤔

Next week is AWS re:Invent, so there will be NO OFF-BY-NONE ISSUE NEXT WEEK. Follow along with me on X as I’ll be sharing updates and my thoughts throughout the week. If you’re going to be there, be sure to message me if you’d like to chat.

See you at re:Invent,
Jeremy

I hope you enjoyed this newsletter. We’re always looking for ideas and feedback to make it better and more inclusive, so please feel free to reach out to me via X, LinkedIn, or email.

Previous Issue

Issue #255 • November 14, 2023

Next Issue

Issue #257 • December 5, 2023

Sign up for the Newsletter

Stay up to date on using serverless to build modern applications in the cloud. Get insights from experts, product releases, industry happenings, tutorials and much more, every week!

 

This Week's Top Links

We share a lot of links each week. Check out the Most Popular links from this week's issue as chosen by our email subscribers.

 

This Week's Sponsors

Check out all of our amazing sponsors and find out how you can help spread the #serverless word by sponsoring an issue.

 

About the Author

Jeremy is the CEO and Founder of Ampt and an AWS Serverless Hero that has a soft spot for helping people solve problems using serverless. He frequently consults with companies and developers transitioning away from the traditional “server-full” approach. You can find him ranting about serverless on Twitter, in several forums and Slack groups, hosting the Serverless Chats podcast, and at conferences around the world.

 

Nominate a Serverless Star

Off-by-none is committed to celebrating the diversity of the serverless community and recognizing the people who make it awesome. If you know of someone doing amazing things with serverless, please nominate them to be a Serverless Star ⭐️!