AWS re:Invent in Review - Part 3

Amazon re:Invent Week 3 was packed with updates as expected. From launching brand-new services to improving popular services, Amazon ensured that the cloud computing event lives up to its name.

Week 3 AWS re:Invent Coverage

AWS CloudShell

CloudShell is a browser-based Shell available from your AWS Management Console. A CloudShell session will give customers immediate access to an Amazon Linux 2 environment with the AWS CLI pre-installed and pre-authenticated using the same credentials you used to login to the console. It allows you to securely manage, explore, and interact with your AWS resources from any location as long as you have access to a compatible browser and can access your AWS Management Console.

Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus (AMP)

A new Prometheus-compatible monitoring service from AWS aims to simplify monitoring containers running on Amazon EKS and ECS and hybrid environments. With AMP, you can use the open-source Prometheus Query Language (PromQL) to monitor containerized workload performance without dealing with the underlying infrastructure. The new fully managed service automatically scales ingestion, storage, and querying of operational metrics and is also integrated with AWS security services for fast but secure access to data. AMP has been integrated with the following services: Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS), Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS), and AWS Distro for OpenTelemetry.  

Amazon Managed Service for Grafana

You can soon offload the operational management of Grafana, an open-source analytics and interactive visualization application, to Amazon with Amazon Managed Service for Grafana. It was announced as a preview during AWS re:Invent. You can use the powerful data visualizations that Grafana is known for with a few simple clicks, without worrying about software or underlying infrastructure. The new managed service automatically scales compute and database resources as needed. This service also connects to the newly announced Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus (above), self-managed Prometheus, Amazon CloudWatch, and many other popular data sources.

AWS Cost Anomaly Detection

AWS introduced AWS Cost Anomaly Detection to reduce surprise cost surges and enhance control every user has on their spending. It uses Machine Learning to identify any anomalous spend and identify the root cause so you can take quick action. You can leverage AWS Cost Anomaly Detection via the AWS Cost Explorer API or within the Cost Management Console.  

AWS Systems Manager Fleet Manager

Fleet Manager is a new console-based experience in AWS Systems Manager that enables system admins to view and administer their fleets of managed instances in an OS-agnostic manner. The new experience promises to eliminate the need of relying on SSH or RDP to manage fleets. Using it, systems admins will be able to manage your fleet, including operations like file system exploration, log management, Windows Registry operations, performance counters, and user management.  

AWS Service Improvements

AWS re:Invent’s Week 3 also saw announcements related to improving current AWS services, spanning things like support for additional frameworks, applications, etc.

• AWS Launch Wizard Now Supports SAP Software Installation: AWS Launch Wizard is a service that guides the sizing, configuration, and deployment of AWS resources for third-party applications. It now supports SAP application software installation as part of the deployment process with support for SAP NetWeaver on HANA, SAP S/4HAHA, and SAP BW/4HANA.
• Ethereum Support for Amazon Managed Blockchain: Amazon Managed Blockchain simplifies joining public networks or creating and managing scalable private networks. It now also supports Ethereum, in addition to Hyperledger Fabric, a popular decentralized blockchain platform that establishes a peer-to-peer network that allows transactions without a trusted central authority. Amazon Managed Blockchain will automatically scale storage, monitor node health, replace unhealthy nodes, and automate Ethereum software upgrades to ensure better infrastructure availability.
• First AWS Wavelength Zone in Tokyo, Japan: AWS announced the general availability of AWS Wavelength on KDDI’s 5G network in Japan. The service will now allow developers to build ultra-low latency or high bandwidth mobile applications for 5G devices in Japan for the very first time. Wavelength Zones are AWS infrastructure deployments that embed AWS compute and storage services within communications service providers’ data centers at the edge of any supported 5G network. The service minimizes latency and network hops between a mobile device and an application hosted on AWS.
• AWS Lambda Adds Support for Self-Managed Apache Kafka Clusters: AWS Lambda now allows you to onboard non-AWS hosted Apache Kafka clusters (or AWS-hosted Kafka clusters on another service) as an event source. Until now, Lambda only supported Amazon Managed Streaming for Kafka (Amazon MSK). However, with this feature update, customers can build applications triggered by Kafka clusters they manage as long as Lambda can access it via public IP or an Amazon VPC endpoint.
• Amazon Sidewalk Integration for AWS IoT Core: Device manufacturers can quickly onboard their Sidewalk device fleet to AWS, thanks to Sidewalk’s newly-announced integration with AWS IoT Core. Sidewalk is a shared network that helps devices like Echo devices, Ring Security Cams, and smart lighting work better at home and beyond. Meanwhile, IoT core lets you connect IoT devices to the AWS cloud without provisioning or managing servers.

Now that we’ve gone over the most significant announcements from AWS re:Invent 2020, it’s time for you to start delving into details. Businesses should start with the following:

• Quickly look over these changes. You can use our Week 1 and Week 2 coverage to glean what’s new.
• Identify the new services or integrations that would save you considerable time/money/effort for your use-cases.
• Initiate a deep dive into relevant services to understand how to go about leveraging them.

If you’re not 100% sure how these new announcements will impact you, or need assistance decoding what they mean for your company, you can always get in touch with Egen for help!