AWS has been the most popular cloud platform globally, holding the largest market share in the space for as long as we can remember. No matter what solutions or applications you are trying to build – be it Generative AI, compute power, database storage, content delivery, or any other functionality, AWS will definitely have all the services you need to develop the same. It is the ultimate cloud platform one could use to build sophisticated applications with all the required flexibility, scalability, and reliability. Since its launch in 2006, AWS has provided the best-in-class cloud technologies for organizations, communities, and individuals globally.
What is AWS?
According to the AWS website, “AWS is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud, offering over 200 fully featured services from data centers globally. Millions of customers – including the fastest startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies – are using AWS to lower costs, become more agile, and innovate faster.”
AWS has the most extensive, reliable, and secure global cloud infrastructure. It offers a pay-as-you-go pricing model, meaning that each service is priced separately and you pay for what you use.
AWS has over 200 fully featured services for a wide range of technologies, industries, and use cases. One of these tools is the AWS Lambda which has recently launched some new advanced logging controls.
What is AWS Lambda?
AWS Lambda enables developers to run code without worrying about servers and clusters.
According to AWS, “AWS is a compute service that runs code in response to events and automatically manages the compute resources, making it the fastest way to turn an idea into a modern, production, serverless application.”
AWS Lambda would run the code on high-availability compute infrastructure. It also performs the administration of all compute resources including the server and operating system maintenance, capacity provisioning, automatic scaling, and logging. All a developer must do is provide code in a language that Lambda supports, and everything else will be taken care of, it is that simple.
Lambda is ideal for any situation that calls for rapid scaling up or down, like file processing, stream processing, web applications, IoT backends, mobile backends, etc.
The New Advanced Logging Controls in AWS Lambda
In July 2024, AWS Lambda announced advanced logging controls that enable users to natively capture logs in JSON structured format, adjust log levels, and select the Amazon CloudWatch log group for Lambda functions.
With this new introduction, Lambda logs can be captured in JSON structured formats without the need for a user to bring their logging libraries. The JSON format enables users to structure their logs as a series of key-value pairs, which makes it easy to search, analyze, and filter the function logs. The log levels like ERROR, INFO, DEBUG, etc. can also now be understood easily without making any changes to the code. So, one can choose the specific logging granularity for their function, ruling out the tedious process of looking through a large volume of logs while debugging and troubleshooting critical errors.
Additionally, one can also choose the CloudWatch Group where Lambda would send the logs, so logs from multiple functions can be aggregated in one location. This makes it easy to apply security, governance, and retention policies at the application level instead of needing to apply all of this separately to every function.
Previously, Lambda functions emitted logs in a plaintext format, rendering them challenging to analyze and extract meaningful insights. This unstructured data format necessitated manual search and correlation efforts, relying on specific string identifiers like “START,” “END,” or “REPORT,” or the function’s request ID. The absence of a native mechanism to enrich application logs further compounded the challenge of automated analysis and dashboard creation.
Before these enhancements, operators could not control the level of detail captured within function logs. Relying solely on application development teams to modify code and introduce log levels such as INFO, DEBUG, or ERROR proved to be an inefficient and inflexible approach.
JSON-formatted logs offer enhanced flexibility by allowing the addition of custom tags and contextual information, facilitating automated analysis of large-scale log data. This format aligns with the OpenTelemetry (OTel) Logs Data Model, a widely adopted open-source standard, enabling the use of open-source tools for effective function monitoring.
Lambda currently supports the native capturing of both application logs, generated by function code, and system logs, produced by the Lambda service, in JSON format. This capability is accessible when utilizing non-deprecated versions of Python, Node.js, and Java Lambda-managed runtimes, and when adhering to recommended logging practices such as employing the logging library for Python, the console object for Node.js, or LambdaLogger or Log4j for Java.
For managed runtimes other than those specified, Lambda currently supports the capture of system logs exclusively in JSON format. Application logs, in these instances, can be captured in JSON format through manual configuration of logging libraries within the application code.
Get certified in AWS with Cognixia
In addition to the top five resume writing tips mentioned above, having AWS cloud computing training can be an excellent asset for cloud solution architects. An AWS certification demonstrates to potential employers that you have the knowledge and skills to design, deploy, and manage applications on the AWS platform.
According to a survey, AWS-certified professionals earn higher than non-certified professionals in the same role. In addition, having an AWS certification can open new job opportunities and increase your chances of landing your dream job.
Therefore, if you are a cloud solution architect looking to advance your career, consider getting an AWS certification and highlighting it on your resume. By doing so, you can differentiate yourself from other candidates and increase your chances of landing your desired job.
Enroll in Cognixia’s cloud computing with AWS training course and upgrade your skill set. You can influence your career and future with our hands-on, live, highly interactive, and instructor-led online course. You may benefit in this competitive market by providing an extremely user-friendly online learning experience. We will assist you in improving your knowledge and adding value to your talents by offering engaging training sessions.
Cognixia’s AWS cloud computing certification course discusses the basics of AWS & cloud computing, then moves on to more advanced concepts, like service models (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS), Amazon Private Virtual Cloud (AWS VPC), and more.
