Im a little confused since AWS has a lot of features and I do not know what to use.
So, I was creating a Lambda function that does a lot of stuff with a remote web, process could last at least a minute.
So my idea was creating an API that calls this lambda, have lambda create an unique ID and return a response right away to the client with a token., save this token to a DB.
Then have lambda process all this stuff with a remote web and, when it finishes, save the results to the DB and a bucket (a file), so this result is ready to deliver when the client makes another call to another API that makes a query to the DB to know the status of this process.
Thing is, it seems that if a response is sent from the handler, lambda terminates the execution, Im afraid the processing with the remote web will never finish.
I have read that step functions is the way to go, but I cant figure out which service will take the processing, ¿maybe another lambda?
Is there another service that is more suitable for this type of work?, this process involves scrapping a page and downloading files, is written in python.
I have read that step functions is the way to go, but I cant figure
out which service will take the processing, ¿maybe another lambda?
Yes, another Lambda function would do the background processing. You could also just have the first Lambda invoke a second Lambda directly, without using Step Functions. Or the first Lambda could place the task info in an SQS queue that another Lambda polls.
Is there another service that is more suitable for this type of work?
Lambda functions are fine for this. You just need to split your task into multiple functions somehow, either by one Lambda calling the other directly, or by using Step Functions, or an SQS queue or something.
Related
i have a question about lambda anti patterns, and how to address my specific situation.
My current setup is this:
user/webpage -> ApiGateway -> Lambda1 -> synchronously calls Lambda2 (my other microservice) -> back to lambda1 -> back to user
Currently my lambda2 is behind an apigateway as well, but I toyed with idea of invoking directly. Either way it's basically another microservice that I control.
I understand that generally, lambdas calling other lambdas are considered an antipattern. All the blogs/threads/etc online mention using stepfunctions instead, or sqs, or something else.
In my situation, I don't see how I could use stepfunctions, since I have to return something to the webpage/user. If I used a stepfunction, it seems like I would have to then poll for the results, or maybe use websockets; basically in my webpage I would not be able to just call my endpoint and get a result, I'd have to have some way to asynchronously get my result.
Similarly with a queue, or any other solution I saw online, it's basically all asynchronous.
Is there any other pattern or way of doing this?
Thanks.
While invoking a lambda from another lambda, everything will work fine except when the second lambda timeouts or it throttles. If your business logic is built in such a way that failures are handled gracefully and has idempotent behaviour built in, then a lambda calling another lambda (via API gateway or direct invocation) should work fine. Having said that, AWS has come out with Synchronous Express Workflows for AWS Step Functions. The linked blog has detailed examples of using it. The only caveat here is that your entire operation should get over in 5 minutes. The maximum duration an express workflow can run is 5min. So if your application flow is completing within that time limit then this is the recommended way of orchestrating services.
I have AWS lambda function that gets details using multiple ids via rest API. The problem is the API only accept 1 id at a time/per call. Per my observation, the job can only cater around 30 ids else the job won’t finish or would max my 10 mins time limit. Currently, my ids can go as high as 200 ids per job process so I’m thinking of a way how I can resolve this issue.
So far I’m thinking of using step function so I can asynchronously run the job and just chunked my ids into multiple payload but I’m not sure how I can pass ids/payload from lambda to step function. Another solution I’m thinking is I can invoke the same lambda with chunked ids but i’m afraid that recursive would happen.
Any other suggestions or AWS services I can use to fix this?
I would have a process that dumps all the IDs into an SQS queue. Then have a Lambda function that uses the SQS queue as an event source. Lambda will then automatically spin up multiple instances of your Lambda function, passing each one a batch of IDs to process.
I have a simple problem. I want to create some kind of pipeline. First we have a function that does a request to some external resource (that answer takes a long time - sometimes is more than 60 seconds!). So first function just does a request and go down. And second function handles response of this function.
I currently try to run one lambda which do request, and second which handle response of this request.
I found a repo that has implementation of lambda messaging which is close to my idea https://github.com/pj0616/serverless-async-lambda-api. In this approach we dont wait for the results.
I was trying to run code from here too: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/nodejs-handler.html, but it doesnt wait asynchronously for response.
Is it possible to create this flow? Maybe with lambda or step functions?
Below I put a diagram that shows what I'm trying to do.
I am using AppSync with Aurora/RDS.
I would like that in some cases, when a query/mutation is sent to the db, then, after that, I want to send an email and push notification, but this should be detached from the query/mutation, that is, it does not matter if it fails or works.
At the moment I see all these options:
Can you tell me which one I should use?
Create a query that calls a lambda function that sends the
push/email and call it from the client once the actual
query/mutation is done. I don't like this because the logic is in
the client rather than the server. Seems easy to implement, and I
guess it is easy to ignore the result of the second operation from a
client point of view.
A variation of the previous one. Pack both operations in a single
network request. With GraphQL, that is easy, but I don't want the
client waits for the second operation. (Is it possible to create
lambda functions that return immediately, like a trigger of other
functions?)
Attach my queries/mutations to lambda functions instead of RDS
directly. Then, those lambda functions call other lambda functions
for notifications. Seems more difficult to program, but more
micro-services architecture friendly. Probably this is the best one,
not sure.
Use SQL triggers and call lambda functions from those triggers. I
don't know if this is even possible. Researching...
Use pipelines resolvers. The first one is the query/mutation, the
second one is the lambda function that sends the push/email. I would
say this is a bad option because I don't want the client to wait for
the second operation or manage the logic when the second resolver
fails.
Amazon RDS Events: It appears it is possible to attach lambda
functions to specific AWS RDS events.
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/services-rds.html It
seems it is about creating DBs, restoring... and that kind of
things. I don't see anything like creating a row, updating a row...
So, I discard this unless I am wrong.
Invoking a Lambda Function with an Aurora MySQL Stored Procedure
CALL mysql.lambda_async ( lambda_function_ARN,lambda_function_input )
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/AuroraUserGuide/AuroraMySQL.Integrating.Lambda.html
"For example, you might want to send a notification using Amazon
Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) whenever a row is inserted
into a specific table in your database." That is exactly what I am
looking for. I like this idea, but I don't know if that is possible
with Aurora Serverless. Researching... It seems it is not possible
when using server-less:
https://www.reddit.com/r/aws/comments/a9szid/aurora_serverless_call_lambda/
Use step functions: No idea about how to use it.
Somehow, attach this lambda notification function to GraphQL/AppSync
instead of the database, but I guess it is not a good idea because I
need to read the database to the push notification token and the
email of the use who is going to receive the notifications.
Which method do you recommend me? I am using amplify cli.
Thanks a lot.
Currently AWS AppSync can only send notifications when the app is active. We are looking into implementation of the non active case.
If you want to send notifications when the app is not active, you can use the push notifications on iOS: silent push/interactive push or push notifications on Android.
If you want to send emails, voice/text message or notifications on phone when the app is not active, you can integrate with Amazon Pinpiont.
I'm trying to implement an AWS Lambda function that should send an HTTP request. If that request fails (response is anything but status 200) I should wait another hour before retrying (longer that the Lambda stays hot). What the best way to implement this?
What comes to mind is to persist my HTTP request in some way and being able to trigger the Lambda function again in a specified amount of time in case of a persisted HTTP request. But I'm not completely sure which AWS service that would provide that functionality for me. Is SQS an option that can help here?
Or, can I dynamically schedule Lambda execution for this? Note that the request to be retried should be identical to the first one.
Any other suggestions? What's the best practice for this?
(Lambda function is my option. No EC2 or such things are possible)
You can't directly trigger Lambda functions from SQS (at the time of writing, anyhow).
You could potentially handle the non-200 errors by writing the request data (with appropriate timestamp) to a DynamoDB table that's configured for TTL. You can use DynamoDB Streams to detect when DynamoDB deletes a record and that can trigger a Lambda function from the stream.
This is obviously a roundabout way to achieve what you want but it should be simple to test.
As jarmod mentioned, you cannot trigger Lambda functions directly by SQS. But a workaround (one I've used personally) would be to do the following:
If the request fails, push an item to an SQS Delay Queue (docs)
This SQS message will only become visible on the queue after a certain delay (you mentioned an hour).
Then have a second scheduled lambda function which is triggered by a cron value of a smaller timeframe (I used a minute).
This second function would then scan the SQS queue and if an item is on the queue, call your first Lambda function (either by SNS or with the AWS SDK) to retry it.
PS: Note that you can put data in an SQS item, since you mentioned you needed the lambda functions to be identical you can store your first function's input in here to be reused after an hour.
I suggest that you take a closer look at the AWS Step Functions for this. Basically, Step Functions is a state machine that allows you to execute a Lambda function, i.e. a task in each step.
More information can be found if you log in to your AWS Console and choose the "Step Functions" from the "Services" menu. By pressing the Get Started button, several example implementations of different Step Functions are presented. First, I would take a closer look at the "Choice state" example (to determine wether or not the HTTP request was successful). If not, then proceed with the "Wait state" example.