How to Scale End-to-End Observability in AWS Environments

Amazon Passes Bill for AWS Lambda Extensions General Availability

The Lambda extensions allow users to extend the Lambda capacity to incorporate supported partners easily.

May 27, 2021, 6:27 p.m.

TL;DR

On May 24, 2021, Amazon Web Services announced the availability of AWS Lambda Extensions to expand the AWS Lambda Capacity. This could be considered as an expansion of the AWS Lambda platform.

Amazon is taking on a lot of responsibility with this serverless code, AWS Lambda.

Key Facts

1
The Lambda Runtime Extensions API allows deeper communication with the Lambda Environment.
2
AWS has deemed that the AWS Lambda can capture diagnostic information.
3
The Lambda Extensions design embraces the integration of common developer tools
4
AWS Lambda Extensions could be installed and managed on the Lambda Console, CLI, or AWS CloudFormation.

Details

After a little six months in the preview form, Amazon gives the go-ahead for the general availability of the largely awaited AWS Lambda Extensions. DevOps loves innovation; serverless is innovation.

The reduction of operational demands is crucial if an organization aims to focus more on business. Amazon is taking on a lot of responsibility with this serverless code, AWS Lambda.

Amazon CloudWatch for native integrations, AWS X-Ray for scanning and tracing, AWS Config charged with tracing even the slightest configuration changes, AWS CloudTrail for recording calls on API, Altis, Anchormen, Alite-international, and a stream of other AWS Lambda partners leverage for application management, application deployment, API integration, and security. This service has not been around for long but has been adopted by many profiling their extensions into the AWS Lambda; Datadog; Thundra; Dynatrace; Splunk; Imperva are named among this growing list. This shows the affinity attached to serverless protection.

AWS Lambda can also step in for capturing diagnostic information before, in the process, and after function invocation.

However, the serverless code always had its limitations, which customers had been very vocal about, around maintenance and overhead attached while incorporating developers’ preferred monitoring, logging, security, and governance tools. Now developers can worry less about that while integrating any from the broad list of tools, especially long-running processes like log routers. Developers can utilize extensions from Amazon Web Services itself, AWS Partners, or various open source projects.

AWS Lambda allows internal and external extensions. The external extensions run inside and outside the execution environment and are not dependent on it. AWS Lambda removes the strain of installing and configuration every time a tool is needed.

The new feature, AWS claims, has enlisted functions to send notifications with the completion of the function code, regardless of the progress of the included extensions. Thus extensions can send telemetry once the function code has been returned.

The AWS Lambda structure enables developers to link commonly used tools without installing or configuring them on AWS Lambda. They can easily be added by placing them on Lambda layers or embedded in functions spawned as container images.

AWS Lambda can also step in for capturing diagnostic information before, in the process, and after function invocation. Users can delegate code instrumentation, detect and rectify hidden configuration deformities, detect concurrent activity through security agents, and deliver telemetry to custom locations.

Extensions can be installed and managed through the Lambda Console, AWS CloudFormation, or the Command Line Interface.

Users can install and manage extensions using the Lambda console, the AWS Command Line Interface (CLI), or infrastructure as code services such as AWS CloudFormation.

The pricing arrangement remains the same, as the service itself was not changed, only modified.