AWS Lambda: Features, Uses, and Operation

Introduction to AWS Lambda

• AWS Lambda helps solve manual, repetitive work.
• The features, uses, and operation of AWS Lambda will be covered.
• A use case involving automatic data backup to cloud storage will also be discussed.

What is AWS Lambda?

• Lambda runs code without requiring server provisioning or management.
• Users only need to write the code and upload it to Lambda.
• Lambda automatically scales applications by running code in response to triggers.
• Code runs in parallel, processing each trigger individually, scaling with the workload size.
• Billing is metered by the second, charging only for the duration the code runs.
• Payment is required for every 100 milliseconds the code executes and the number of times the code is triggered.
• No charges are incurred when the code is not running.
• AWS Lambda falls under the compute domain of AWS services.
• It allows the execution of code for applications or backend services.
• Supported languages include Node.js, Java, C#, Go, and Python.
• Lambda runs code in response to events from other services, triggering functions based on those events.

Use Cases of Lambda

• Lambda is used to process images uploaded to an S3 bucket.
• It can format files, convert images into thumbnails based on the device reading the data.
• Lambda can analyze social media data.
• It collects hashtag trending data, which is added to a Kinesis stream.
• Triggered Lambda actions receive the data and store it in a database for later analysis by businesses.
• Companies like Thomson Reuters, Benchling, Nordstrom, Coca-Cola, and Roblox have benefited from using Lambda.

How Lambda Works

• Clients send data to Lambda, which can be an application or other AWS services.
• Lambda receives the requests and runs them on a defined number of containers based on the data size.
• A single container handles smaller requests, while larger requests are distributed across multiple containers.
• Container images are lightweight, standalone, executable packages containing code, runtimes, system tools, and libraries.
• Containers isolate software from its surroundings, reducing conflicts between teams running different software.
• The number of containers provisioned scales up or down depending on the request volume, optimizing costs by only charging for the time functions run.

Use Case: Automatic Data Backups

• Lambda can be used to set up a temporary storage and backup system that activates as soon as data is uploaded.
• The setup involves creating two S3 buckets: a source bucket for uploads and a destination bucket for backups.
• An Identity and Access Management (IAM) role is required for the buckets to communicate.
• A Lambda function automates copying files from the source to the destination bucket.
• The function is triggered by changes in the metadata of the source bucket.
• Data is then uploaded to the destination bucket automatically.

Replicating Data Between Buckets

• Lambda can replicate data between two different buckets in different accounts.
• The process involves creating two buckets.
• Then, an IAM role is made to allow access to pull data from the source bucket and put data in the destination bucket.
• Lambda files or event triggers look for events in the source bucket.
• When new data is added, Lambda gets triggered, copies the data from the source bucket, and moves the data to the destination bucket
• The IAM role and policy are used for permissions.