Off-by-none: Issue #315

February 11, 2025

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

A Serverless Container Framework ⚡️

In our previous issue, DeepSeek made its way to AWS and Microsoft, BigQuery got its own metastore, and Ampt added support for Node.js 22. This week, AWS lets you refactor your CloudFormation Stacks, we get EventCatalog Cloud, and Serverless launches a new Container Framework. Plus, we have lots of amazing content from the cloud and serverless community!

Serverless News & Announcements 📣

In AWS news, AWS Step Functions expands data source and output options for Distributed Map, including
JSONL support, AWS Step Functions now supports 100,000 state machines and activities per AWS account, and Amazon Redshift Serverless added higher base capacity of up to 1024 RPUs.

Also, AWS AppSync released a CDK L2 constructs to simplify creating WebSocket APIs, Amazon Q Developer now troubleshoots AWS Console errors in all AWS Commercial regions, and you can now reshape your AWS CloudFormation stacks seamlessly with stack refactoring. This last one is pretty cool - letting you move resources from one stack to another, split monolithic stacks into smaller components, and rename the logical name of resources within a stack.

Another very cool feature announcement from AWS was the general availability of AWS Database Migration Service Serverless support for files with an S3 source endpoint. This feature lets you migrate data in CSV or Parquet format from S3 to any supported AWS DMSS target endpoint!

In other cloud news, David Boyne introduced the EventCatalog Cloud and Plugin Licensing, Richard Davison announced v0.5.0-beta of the LLRT for Lambda, and Serverless, Inc. introduced the Serverless Container Framework, which is really interesting.

And finally, what's sweeter than when an AWS Serverless Hero and AWS DevTools Hero join forces for the ultimate engagement? Congrats to Kristi and Matt! ❤️💍

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Serverless Tutorials 👷‍♀️

Here are a few of my favorite tutorials from the past week:

• Event-Driven Architecture - Image Analysis by Neil Clark
• Supercharge Your AWS Lambda Development Workflow by Matteo Depascale
• Sidecar Pattern In Serverless Design by Omid Eidivandi
• Async events with AppSync Events API
• Event-Driven Architectures: How to limit the scope of end-to-end tests by Yan Cui
• Lambda function with GraalVM Native Image - Part 5 Measuring cold and warm starts with GraalVM 23 by Vadym Kazulkin
• Building a Simple and Cost-Effective Serverless Data Orchestrator on AWS by Thomas Ballester
• Secure Your Serverless App with Cognito’s Managed Login Pages by Matt Martz
• Which AWS Regions are Lambda@Edge functions executed in? by Maurice Borgmeier
• Simplifying Serverless Workflows with EventBridge Pipes by Ayman Aly Mahmoud
• Beyond Lambda Functions: Mastering Serverless Development by Charles Allison
• Effective error handling strategies for Lambda invocation models by Arpad Toth
• Step Functions, JSONata and Comments by Dave Hall

Serverless Reads 🤓

What's next with the Serverless Framework in 2025?
Pawel Zubkiewicz explains the licensing changes with the Serverless Framework, how they might affect you, and what some possible alternatives are. This is an interesting debate that many open source companies have had to deal with. As someone who's been on the inside, I know the realities of monetizing open source software, and it is a challenge for everyone involved.

5 Serverless Architecture Patterns You Should Stop Using (And What to Do Instead)
Ooh, I have to respectfully disagree with my buddy, Ran Isenberg on this one. Direct API Integrations, Lambdaliths (aka Fat Lambdas), and direct Lambda invocations all have their place in your serverless toolbox. But definitely embrace hexagonal architecture and the new EventBridge Scheduler. 😉

Are humans the limiting factor in AI-assisted software development?
Luc van Donkersgoed explores the future of software development. While the two paths he outlines aren't mutually exclusive, aligning on a common goal that benefits humanity remains a major challenge.

Podcasts, Videos, and more 🎧

How Do AI Agents Actually Work?
Tiffany Souterre teaches you how to build a unified AI super-assistant combining DevOps and FinOps capabilities using Amazon Bedrock.

You DON’T Need Microservices for Serverless! Here’s Why
Derek Comartin explains why the monolithic serverless function pattern is a viable alternative to wholly committing to the single purpose function approach.

Serverless Container Framework - Introduction
Here's a quick overview of this new feature from the Serverless Framework.

The Two Types of Applications Every Developer Should Know
James Eastham opines that you only need to understand two types of applications: user-facing and backend services.

New from AWS 🆕

Here are some additional announcements from AWS that might catch your attention:

• AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio Code now supports Amazon DocumentDB (with MongoDB compatibility)
• Amazon MSK expands Express Brokers to 10 more AWS Regions
• Amazon GuardDuty Malware Protection for S3 announces price reduction
• Amazon CloudWatch now provides lock contention diagnostics for Aurora PostgreSQL
• AWS IAM announces support for encrypted SAML assertions
• Amazon Q Business introduces orchestration for user query management
• Amazon CloudWatch and OpenSearch Service expand region support for integrated analytics experience
• AWS WAF Console adds new top insights visualizations in additional regions
• Amazon Q Developer introduces a new, simplified setup experience for Pro tier subscriptions
• Amazon EFS now supports up to 10,000 access points per EFS file system

Upcoming Events 🗓

February 20, 2025 - ServerlessDays Manchester 2025

March 28, 2025 - Sem Servidor Conf 2025 – Florianópolis

April 2, 2025 - AWS Community Day Italy

April 10, 2025 - AWS Community Day Romania

April 19, 2025 - AWS Community Day Türkiye 2025

Please send me your serverless events!

Take the latest Off-by-none Cloud Quiz 🧑‍🏫

Which band won a Grammy for their AI-assisted track 'Now and Then'?
Click an answer below to start the quiz.

• The Rolling Stones
• The Beatles
• Queen
• Metallica
• Pink Floyd

Final Thoughts 🤔

I'm heading down to the AI Engineer Summit in NYC next week. If you're attending (or just in the NYC area and want to connect), let me know!

See you next week,
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 Bluesky, LinkedIn, X, or email.