Summary of AWS Podcast Episode #688: AWS News Updates, October 7, 2024
Released on October 7, 2024
Introduction
In episode #688 of the AWS Podcast, hosted solely by Gillian Ford, Amazon Web Services delivers a comprehensive update on the latest advancements and offerings across various domains, including analytics, artificial intelligence, compute, cost management, databases, developer tools, and more. This episode is particularly valuable for developers and IT professionals seeking to stay abreast of AWS’s continuous innovations and enhancements.
Analytics
OpenSearch 2.15 and OR1 Instances
Gillian Ford kicks off the analytics segment by introducing OpenSearch 2.15, highlighting the integration of OR1 instances. These instances offer significant improvements, delivering up to 30% better price performance compared to existing options. Additionally, OR1 leverages Amazon S3 to ensure 11 nines of durability, enhancing data reliability and longevity.
“OpenSearch 2.15 with OR1 instances delivers up to 30% price performance improvements over existing instances and uses Amazon S3 to provide 11 nines of durability.” (02:15)
Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka Enhancements
Furthering the analytics offerings, Amazon announces that Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka (MSK) now supports multi-VPC and cross-account private connectivity. This enhancement allows for more flexible and secure configurations, accommodating various authentication mechanisms supported by MSK.
Artificial Intelligence
Amazon SageMaker Studio's Auto Shutdown Feature
A major highlight in the AI segment is the update to Amazon SageMaker Studio, which now automatically shuts down applications after a period of inactivity. This feature addresses cost optimization concerns by ensuring that machine learning workloads do not incur unnecessary expenses when not in use.
“I really like this one because a lot of people are looking for ways to be able to cost optimize their machine learning workloads and I think this one is a no brainer of just being able to make sure that it can shut down when you're not using it.” (04:30)
Jamba 1.5 Models in Amazon Bedrock
AWS introduces the Jamba 1.5 model family from AI20 Labs in Amazon Bedrock. The Jamba 1.5 Large and 1.5 Mini models boast a 256k effective context window, one of the longest available in the market. These models are tailored for enterprise applications, enabling tasks such as lengthy document summarization and analysis.
AWS Chatbot Integration with Amazon Bedrock Agents
The AWS Chatbot now facilitates interactions with Amazon Bedrock agents directly from Slack and Microsoft Teams chat channels. This integration streamlines communication and enhances collaborative AI-driven workflows within organizations.
AWS Neuron Kernel Interface
Announcing the Neuron Kernel Interface, AWS provides a programming interface for AWS Trainium and Inferentia. This interface empowers developers to build optimized compute kernels for new functionalities, optimizations, and scientific innovations, thereby enhancing model training and inference performance.
Content Credentials for Amazon Titan Image Generator
To increase transparency around AI-generated content, Amazon Titan Image Generator versions 1 and 2 now include content credentials. These credentials adhere to an open technical specification developed by the Coalition for Content Provenance Governance and Authority (CPGA), ensuring standardized transparency across the industry.
Compute
Amazon EC2 Instance Connect Enhances IPv6 Support
AWS enhances Amazon EC2 Instance Connect by adding IPv6 support. This allows customers transitioning to IPv6 to connect to their instances seamlessly using a single click or command, facilitating modern network configurations.
General Availability of EC2x8G Instances
AWS announces the general availability of EC2x8G instances, powered by the latest AWS Graviton 4 processors. These instances deliver up to 60% better performance than their Graviton 2-based counterparts. With up to 3 TiB of total memory and increased memory per VCPU, EC2x8G instances are ideal for memory-intensive workloads such as electronic design automation (EDA), relational databases, real-time big data analytics, and memory-intensive containerized applications.
AWS Lambda Enhancements
AWS Lambda now supports tagging, event source mappings, and code signing configurations. Tags, which are simple key-value pairs, enable customers to organize, search, identify, and control access to AWS resources more efficiently.
Cost Management
AWS Cost Explorer's DynamoDB Reserved Capacity Recommendations
In a move to aid cost optimization, AWS Cost Explorer now offers purchase recommendations for Amazon DynamoDB reserved capacity. By committing to a one or three-year term, customers can save up to 77% compared to provisioned capacity pricing. These recommendations streamline the process of optimizing DynamoDB expenditures, allowing informed capacity purchases in minutes.
Customer Engagement
Amazon SES Enhances Virtual Delivery Manager Advisor
Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) introduces a new feature within the Virtual Delivery Manager Advisor. This feature increases awareness among customers when their complaint rates approach or exceed best practice levels, thereby aiding in maintaining high email delivery standards and reputation.
Databases
Node.js Support for Valky’s Glide Driver
AWS announces Node.js support for Valky’s General Language Independent Driver for Enterprise (Glide). Glide, an open-source client library for Valky—a key-value data store—now supports Java, Python, and Node.js, broadening its applicability for various workloads including caching and message queues.
Enhancements to Amazon Keyspaces and Amazon RDS
- Amazon Keyspaces for Apache Cassandra now supports the Add Column feature for multi-region tables, enhancing data management capabilities.
- Amazon RDS Performance Insights extends support to Aurora Cluster level configuration, providing deeper performance monitoring.
- Amazon RDS for SQL Server now supports multiple minor versions released in September 2024, ensuring better compatibility and feature support.
Developer Tools
Koreto 23 Release
AWS releases Koreto 23, a no-cost, multi-platform, production-ready distribution of OpenJDK, offering developers a robust and secure Java runtime environment.
AWS CodeBuild Supports Managed GitLab Runners
Enhancing CI/CD capabilities, AWS CodeBuild now supports managed GitLab runners, enabling seamless integration with GitLab repositories and workflows.
AWS SDK for Swift Now Generally Available
AWS announces the general availability of the AWS SDK for Swift, the official solution for developers to access AWS services from applications built using the Swift programming language.
End User Computing
Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 143 Validated Cryptography Endpoints
AWS End User Computing Services now allows customers to use FIPS 143 validated cryptography endpoints with their WorkSpaces secure browser portals, ensuring compliance with stringent security standards.
Support for Graphics Bundles in Amazon WorkSpaces
Amazon WorkSpaces expands its offerings by supporting graphics bundles G4DN instances within WorkSpaces pools, catering to users requiring enhanced graphical performance for tasks such as 3D rendering and video editing.
Frontend Web and Mobile
AWS Amplify Enhances AWS AppSync Integration
AWS Amplify introduces support for asynchronous AWS Lambda invocations from AWS AppSync APIs. This new feature allows APIs to handle more complex and long-running processes without blocking client responses, improving the efficiency and responsiveness of frontend applications.
Internet of Things (IoT)
AWS IoT Device Management Enhancements
AWS unveils several updates to AWS IoT Device Management, focusing on the Software Package Catalog and Jobs:
- Association of Software Bill of Materials (SBOM): Users can now associate and store industry-standard SBOM files with package versions, enabling proactive identification and mitigation of potential security risks.
- Sample Deployment Instruction Sets (Recipes): Simplifies version deployment workflows by providing sample instructions.
- Placeholders in Job Documents: Introduces package and version placeholders to specify destination version attributes automatically.
- Artifact Storage in S3: Allows storage of artifacts associated with each software version in S3 buckets, streamlining version deployments.
- Default Package Versions: Enables setting desired package versions as default and referencing them in job documents for quick metadata retrieval.
- S3 Pre-signed URL Placeholders: Facilitates secure retrieval or uploading of artifacts from specific locations using pre-signed URLs.
- Visibility into Job Documents: Users can view job documents and metadata before and after parameter substitution, enhancing deployment transparency.
Management and Governance
AWS CloudFormation Git Sync Enhances Pull Request Workflows
AWS CloudFormation Git Sync now supports pull request workflows, allowing users to review stack changes within pull requests. The feature automatically posts change set information as comments to new or updated pull requests, enabling seamless review and deployment through merging.
Amazon CloudWatch Synthetics and AWS Resource Explorer Updates
- Amazon CloudWatch Synthetics now supports canary tag replication to associated AWS Lambda resources, improving monitoring capabilities.
- AWS Resource Explorer introduces a new search operator, enhancing the discovery of tagged AWS resources across services, regions, and accounts.
Media Services
Bandwidth Reduction Filter in AWS Elemental Media Live
AWS Elemental Media Live introduces the Bandwidth Reduction Filter, which improves video encoding efficiency by an average of 7%. This enhancement reduces bandwidth and storage costs while maintaining comparable video quality, allowing significant savings in transmission and content distribution without compromising the viewing experience.
Volume Discount Pricing for AWS Elemental MediaConvert
To cater to high-volume users, AWS launches volume discount pricing for AWS Elemental MediaConvert. This pricing model offers scalable discounts as usage increases, providing cost-effective solutions for extensive media conversion needs.
AWS Deadline Cloud Enhancements
AWS Deadline Cloud now supports the ability to sort additional columns within Step Task and Worker data and filter tasks by status, enhancing task management and workflow efficiency.
Migration and Modernization
Enhanced Monitoring for AWS Database Migration Service (DMS)
AWS introduces an enhanced monitoring dashboard for AWS Database Migration Service tasks, offering improved monitoring capabilities for database and analytics workloads being migrated across services and locations.
AWS Transfer Family and Mainframe Modernization Updates
- AWS Transfer Family: Increases throughput and supported file sizes for SFTP connectors, facilitating faster and larger data transfers.
- AWS Mainframe Modernization File Transfer: Adds binary transfer and better performance, ensuring compatibility with modernization tools that require raw mainframe data formats. Additionally, performance enhancements reduce file transfer task startup time, enabling rapid initiation of multiple transfer tasks.
These updates provide customers with greater flexibility and efficiency when transferring mainframe data to the cloud, supporting various modernization strategies such as refactoring, replatforming, or augmentation.
Security, Identity, and Compliance
AWS Directory Service Enhancements
AWS Directory Service for Managed Microsoft Active Directory now includes new capabilities to manage users and groups, streamlining identity management and enhancing security controls within enterprise environments.
Storage
Amazon S3 Lifecycle Transition Rules Update
Amazon S3 is implementing a default minimum object size of 128 kilobytes for S3 lifecycle transition rules applicable to any storage class. This change optimizes transition costs for datasets with numerous kilobyte-sized objects by reducing the number of transition requests. However, customers retain the flexibility to override this default and customize the minimum object size as needed.
Amazon S3 Express 1 Zone Enhancements
Amazon S3 Express 1 Zone now supports AWS Key Management Service (KMS) with customer-managed keys, enhancing data security for customers leveraging single-zone storage solutions.
AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery Updates
AWS Elastic Disaster Recovery now enables recovery to AWS Local Zones, allowing customers to launch recovered instances geographically closer to their end users and data sources. This proximity results in lower latency and ensures the maintenance of data residency requirements, offering a robust solution for disaster recovery scenarios.
“...customers can launch recovered instances in a geography closer to their end users and data sources, which means lower latency and maintenance of data residency. That's a really cool update. I've never seen that something like that before.” (58:45)
Conclusion
Gillian Ford wraps up the episode by encouraging listeners to provide feedback and engage with the AWS community. She emphasizes the importance of staying connected to AWS updates to continue building and innovating effectively.
“If you have feedback on the AWS podcast or you just want to say hi, come to aws.Amazon.com/podcasts and there's going to be a big button called Submit Questions and Feedback. Click the button, fill out the form, send us an email. We want to hear from you, so please reach out, and until next time, keep on building.” (59:30)
This episode of the AWS Podcast serves as a vital resource for professionals aiming to leverage the latest AWS technologies and services, offering detailed insights and actionable updates to optimize and enhance their cloud-based solutions.