AWS Lambda Guide for Beginners
Are you looking to learn and use AWS Lambda? This is your go-to guide for getting started.
Introduced in November 2014, AWS Lambda is a serverless cloud computing service offered by Amazon Web Services to simplify the process of building applications. The aim was to automatically run codes in response to events.
Getting started with this is easy.
There are no complex languages involved in it, no tools that you need to learn, and no frameworks that you must spend hours trying to understand.
The advantage of it is that it is user-friendly as it allows you to use any third-party library to perform the tasks required to get started. Plus, it is cost-effective.
With the help of AWS Lambda, you can avoid spending tons of time and effort managing servers.
You can run a backend code in response to events. After you are done with the upload, the lambda service handles all the activities like capacity, scaling, and administration of the infrastructure required to run the code.
What is AWS Lambda Function?
An essential part of learning about this service is to understand the lambda function.
With the lambda function, all you need to do is upload the code that you have written in the form of a zip file. You can even choose to design the code in the AWS management console and make the upload to the Lambda.
There are also pre-built function samples of Lambda function available for common use cases like image conversion and file compression. Besides this, you can also access other AWS support services to perform tasks.
For better understanding, below is the Anatomy of a Lambda function.
After the upload of the lambda function, the next step is to choose the event source that you wish to monitor. You can use Amazon Event Sources like S3 bucket and DynamoDB. This allows the lambda function to automate responses. The rest is handled by the software as it begins to use that lambda function and generate a response when an event occurs.
With AWS lambda, any event can trigger the lambda function and instantly generate a response. You can instantly create a lambda function, run it and get logs and metrics.
Lambda Instance and Lambda Package
As the name suggests, the data captured by the server lasts only for a specific instance. When the tasks are completed, the data gets automatically discarded. However, these instances are not automatic.
One has to update the set of tasks manually in the form of a lambda package and give AWS an instruction to run it in response to an event. The code you write is used to create a lambda function. This lambda function is packed (commonly known as lambda package) and uploaded to the AWS S3 bucket. This is to send an instruction to AWS that you want this specific package to be used when an event occurs.
It is essential to remember that backup of executions and runs are not available. AWS Lambda isn’t for long-run processes. Ironically, this stateless nature of Lambda contributes to the easy building of serverless applications.
Quick takeaway – The maximum size of a Lambda package is 50 MB and 250 MB in a compressed and uncompressed format respectively.
What kind of responses can AWS Lambda generate?
Response to image uploads
Response to clicks on a website
Response to custom HTTP requests
Response to in-app activity
Response to sensor outputs
A Lambda instance starts and responds just within milliseconds of an event.
Technical Specifications of Lambda
Are you planning to build a serverless application using AWS Lambda? Here are the technical specifications to take into consideration.
Each lambda function is executed in a container aka sandbox. These containers can be reused and the size of every container is 64-bit.
Execution duration – 900 seconds to 15 minutes
Lambda package size – Compressed file – 50 MB
Lambda package size - Uncompressed file – 250 MB
Memory – 128 MB – 3008 MB (64 MB increments)
Ephemeral disk space – 512 MB
Supported languages – Java 8, Java 10, Node.js, Ruby, Python, c#, PowerShell Core 6.0
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AWS Lambda Pricing
AWS Lambda is cost-effective. You’re charged only for the time your code runs which is measured in increments of one hundred milliseconds. The billing is done based on the time the function starts execution until the termination.
If you have an AWS account, you are eligible to use the AWS lambda executions and make the most of the AWS free tier. It lasts 12 months and offers new and existing users over 1 million requests. Besides this, it includes 400,000 GB seconds of function run time and memory per month.
With the addition of custom run support feature, AWS lambda gained more popularity among developers as it could then be run in the programming language of their choice. You can track performance as this offers real-time metrics and logs to Amazon cloud watch. All you need to do is just write the code and upload it. With the ease of use and wide range of benefits it offers, it has made building applications and managing them easy. To find AWS lambda tutorials and documentation on how to get started building serverless applications, visit Amazon Web Services Lambda Continue Reading
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