Additional compute services

Serverless computing

Earlier in this module, you learned about Amazon EC2, a service that lets you run virtual servers in the cloud. If you have applications that you want to run in Amazon EC2, you must do the following:

• 1

  Provision instances (virtual servers).

• 2

  Upload your code.

• 3

  Continue to manage the instances while your application is running

• The term “serverless” means that your code runs on servers, but you do not need to provision or manage these servers. With serverless computing, you can focus more on innovating new products and features instead of maintaining servers.

AWS Lambda is a service that lets you run code without needing to provision or manage servers.

While using AWS Lambda, you pay only for the compute time that you consume. Charges apply only when your code is running. You can also run code for virtually any type of application or backend service, all with zero administration.

For example, a simple Lambda function might involve automatically resizing uploaded images to the AWS Cloud. In this case, the function triggers when uploading a new image.

• 1 You upload your code to Lambda.

• 2

  You set your code to trigger from an event source, such as AWS services, mobile applications, or HTTP endpoints.

• 3

  Lambda runs your code only when triggered.

• 4

  You pay only for the compute time that you use. In the previous example of resizing images, you would pay only for the compute time that you use when uploading new images. Uploading the images triggers Lambda to run code for the image resizing function.

In AWS, you can also build and run containerized applications.

Containers provide you with a standard way to package your application's code and dependencies into a single object. You can also use containers for processes and workflows in which there are essential requirements for security, reliability, and scalability.

Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS) is a highly scalable, high-performance container management system that enables you to run and scale containerized applications on AWS.

Amazon ECS supports Docker containers. Docker is a software platform that enables you to build, test, and deploy applications quickly. AWS supports the use of open-source Docker Community Edition and subscription-based Docker Enterprise Edition. With Amazon ECS, you can use API calls to launch and stop Docker-enabled applications.

Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) is a fully managed service that you can use to run Kubernetes on AWS.

Kubernetes is open-source software that enables you to deploy and manage containerized applications at scale. A large community of volunteers maintains Kubernetes, and AWS actively works together with the Kubernetes community. As new features and functionalities release for Kubernetes applications, you can easily apply these updates to your applications managed by Amazon EKS.

AWS Fargate is a serverless compute engine for containers. It works with both Amazon ECS and Amazon EKS.

When using AWS Fargate, you do not need to provision or manage servers. AWS Fargate manages your server infrastructure for you. You can focus more on innovating and developing your applications, and you pay only for the resources that are required to run your containers.