Aws Lambda Serverless Continuous Development and Integration

AWS Lambda is a compute service that runs your code in response to events and automatically manages the compute resources, making it easy to build applications that respond quickly to new information.

Let's get to know about AWS Lambda in detail. In this blog, we will cover the following topics

• AWS Lambda
• Features
• Components of a Lambda Application
• How Lambda Works
• Use Cases
• AWS Lambda Pricing
• Limitations of AWS Lambda
• Frequently Asked Questions

AWS Lambda

AWS Lambda is one of the services that fall under the compute domain of services that AWS provides. Lambda allows us to execute code or any type of obligation. With AWS lambda we can run code virtually for any type of obligation or back-end services. All we need to do is supply our code in one of the languages that AWS Lambda supports. The Lambda code called functionis written in any language of your choiceNode.js, Python, Go, Java, etcand you can also use serverless and container tools (e.g AWS SAM) for building, testing, and deploying functions.

Also Read: Our Blog post on AWS SNS

Features

• No worries about the server:Lambda automatically runs our code without requiring us to provision or manage the servers. All you need to is write the code or upload it to Lambda as a ZIP file or container image and Lambda will take care of the rest. So stop worrying about provisioning and managing servers. The only thing Lambda expects is a code that is working.
• Automatic Scaling: Scaling of applications in AWS lambda automatically takes place in response to a trigger. Our code runs in parallel and processes each trigger individually and the scaling depends on the size of the workload.
• Metering on the second:Billing in Lambda is based on milliseconds. We only pay for the amount of time for which our code is running which means that we are not charged for any of the servers. The only payment required is for the amount of time the code is computed. You don't have to pay anything when the code is not running.
• Consistency in performance:With AWS Lambda the consistency in performance is not compromised at all as we can enhance the effectiveness of the code execution by selecting the right memory size for our function.

Know More: About Amazon Cloudtrail vs Cloudwatch.

Components of a Lambda Application

• Function:The piece of code you upload on Lamda is called a function.
• Runtimes: Runtimes basically allow the functions written in different languages to be executed in the same base environment
• Layers:Layers allow you to manage the in-development function code independently from the unchanging code and the resources that it uses.
• Event Source: An event is an AWS service or any custom service that triggers your function.
• Downstream Resources:Downstream Resource is an AWS service that is called by your Lambda function once it is triggered.

Also Check: Our Blog post on AWS Secrets Manager

How Lambda Works

Now let's get to know how AWS Lambda works or in other words, let's look at how complicated function behind the scenes work in a simple and seamless way

The clients send data to AWS Lambda and the client could be anyone who's sending requests to AWS Lambda. It could be an application or other AWS services  Lambda receives the request and depending on the size of the data or the volume of the data, it runs on a defined number of containers. The requests are given to the container to handle and the container which contains the code the user has provided to satisfy the query would run. With an increasing number of requests, an increasing number of containers are created, and when the requests reduce the number of containers reduce as well which also helps in saving cost.

Read More: About AWS Organizations Terminologies click here

Use Cases

There are a huge number of ways that AWS Lambda is specifically used in the business world and some of them are listed below.

• AWS Lambda is used to process an image when it's uploaded
  Let's say the object gets uploaded in the S3 bucket in a raw format or in the format which we don't expect to get uploaded. AWS Lambda is triggered anytime a new object is added to the bucket and the images are processed and converted into thumbnails based on the devices that would be reading the data. It can be a PC, mobiles, tablets, etc. So based on the different device formats Lambda can get triggered and convert the video or image into different formats as per requirement.
  

• AWS Lambda is used to analyze social media data
  Let's say we are collecting the hashtag trending data and the data is received and is added to the Kinesis stream to feed into the Amazon environment and Lamda actions get triggered. It receives the data and the data is stored in the database which can be stored by businesses for later analysis.
  

• Backing Up Data
  Consider a situation where you have to set up a temporary storage system to back up data as soon as it is uploaded as real-time manual backups are not possible and efficient too, looking at the size of the data and the random times it will be put in the bucket. AWS Lambda comes to the rescue. This is what can be done to achieve this.

1) Create two buckets i.e. source and destination bucket. One for uploading and the other for backing up the data
2) Create IAM role and policies
3) Create a Lambda function to copy files between buckets. The Lambda function is triggered every time there is an upload into the bucket. This data is then uploaded to the backup bucket.
4) Testing out

Go through this AWS Blog to get a clear understanding of aws kinesis

AWS Lambda Pricing

With AWS Lambda you only pay for what you use. You will be charged as per the number of requests for your functions and the amount of time for execution of your code. The request is counted, each time the response to an event is being executed by Lambda. Similarly, the amount of time taken is calculated from the time your code begins executing till it returns a response or gets terminated rounded up to the nearest 1ms and also how much memory size you assign to your function. For free usage tier, 1M free requests per month and 400,000 GB-seconds of compute time per month.

Check Out: Our Blog post on AWS Storage

Limitations of AWS Lambda

• You have a limited disk space of 512 MB
• By default, the deployment package size is 50 MB
• Memory ranges from 128 to 3008 MB
• The maximum execution time for a function is 15 minutes
• Body payload size for request and response is up to 6 MB
• Event request body can be up to 128 KB

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: What is serverless computing?
Answer: Serverless computing allows you to build and run applications and services without thinking about servers. With serverless computing, your application still runs on servers, but all the server management is done by AWS. At the core of serverless computing is AWS Lambda, which lets you run your code without provisioning or managing servers.

Q2: What languages does AWS Lambda support?
Answer: AWS Lambda natively supports Java, Go, PowerShell, Node.js, C#, Python, and Ruby code, and provides a Runtime API that allows you to use any additional programming languages to author your functions. Please read our documentation on using Node.js, Python, Java, Ruby, C#, Go, and PowerShell.

Q3: What is an AWS Lambda function?
Answer: The code you run on AWS Lambda is uploaded as a "Lambda function". Each function has associated configuration information, such as its name, description, entry point, and resource requirements. The code must be written in a "stateless" style i.e. it should assume there is no affinity to the underlying compute infrastructure.

Q4: What events can trigger an AWS Lambda function?
Answer:Please click here for a complete list of event sources.

Related Links/References

• Overview of Amazon Web Services & Concepts
• How to Create a free tier Account in AWS
• AWS Management Console Walkthrough
• AWS Solution Architect Certification [SAA-C02]

Next Task For You

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