New AWS Announcements for July 2023

Introducing DynamoDB local version 2.0

AWS has released the latest version of Amazon DynamoDB local and has changed to use the “jakarta.*” namespace. This update is great news for Java developers because it allows them to use DynamoDB locally with Spring Boot 3 and frameworks like Spring Framework 6 and Micronaut Framework 4. This makes it easier to build lightweight modern, and simplified cloud-native applications.

The best part is that you can develop and test your applications using DynamoDB locally on your computer without extra costs. You don’t need an internet connection; it works seamlessly with your existing DynamoDB commands.

You can download DynamoDB locally for free on MacOS, Linux, and Windows. To learn more, visit the link

Amazon CloudWatch Enables Cross-Account Service Quota Support

Amazon CloudWatch has a new feature that helps customers track and see how many AWS resources they use across many accounts in one area. The term for this is “Cross-Account observability.”

Quotas are like limits for the resources you can use in your AWS account. Before, you had to log into each account separately to check the quotas.

With the new Cross-Account Service Quotas, you can check these limits for all your accounts from one main account. This way, you can avoid reaching the limits unexpectedly.

Click here to learn more about Cross-Account Service Quota.

AWS Systems Manager Parameter Store Boosts API Throughput Limit

AWS Systems Manager’s Parameter Store allows you to do more things faster. Before, you could only do 3,000 transactions per second (TPS) for certain tasks. But now, they’ve increased the limit to 10,000 TPS, which is a big improvement.

Parameter Store is a useful tool because it lets you securely store important information, like passwords and API keys, in a structured way. Storing this data in key-value pairs makes it easy to organize. You can then use this data in your programs or with other AWS services, which is very convenient.

With this higher limit of 10,000 TPS, Parameter Store can handle heavy workloads and traffic without slowing down or causing problems. You must enable the higher throughput setting in your Parameter Store account to take advantage of this new limit. If you already have this setting enabled, you can use the increased limit immediately without any extra steps.

View documentation to turn on higher throughput for the Parameter Store.

AWS Application Migration Service Enables Multi-Account Migrations

AWS Application Migration Service has introduced exciting new features that are especially helpful for big organizations.  You can now manage migrations to many accounts from one main account, which makes things much more organized. 

This new feature uses AWS Organizations to make it easy to see and manage all your migrations from the AWS Application Migration Service console.

Now, you can control the data replication process actively. You can stop, start, pause, and resume it as needed. You can actively install the AWS Replication Agent even if you stop replication. Additionally, you can actively import and export your list of source environment details to and from a CSV file on your computer.

They’ve also added support for four new preconfigured actions to help modernize your applications. These include enabling Amazon Inspector, checking disk space, setting ATSS time sync for Linux servers, and verifying HTTP/HTTPS request responses.

Read more for details.

Enhanced Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL Multi-AZ Deployment: Now Supports Logical Replication with Two Readable Standbys

Amazon RDS Multi-AZ Deployments with two readable standbys now support logical replication. You can share data changes from Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL with other databases. It’s super useful for combining data for analysis, capturing changes, and copying specific tables instead of the whole database. You can also replicate data between different versions of PostgreSQL.

Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL enables you to set up logical replication, sending data from your Multi-AZ deployments to other systems or receiving changes from others.

Also, there are even more options like pglogical and wal2json extensions for streaming changes to other systems. This makes data management easier and opens up new possibilities for data sharing.

Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL version 14.8-R2 and higher, and 15.3-R2 and higher, support logical replication for Multi-AZ Deployments with two readable standbys. Click here to learn more.

AWS CodeBuild Adds Support for GitHub Actions

AWS CodeBuild users can now incorporate GitHub Actions into their software building and testing process. CodeBuild is a managed continuous integration service that compiles source code, runs tests, and prepares software packages for deployment.

By integrating with GitHub Actions, CodeBuild projects can use various pre-built actions available in GitHub’s marketplace. These actions are open-source applications designed to perform complex but repeated tasks within the GitHub Actions platform.

With this integration, you can expand your build spec definition to use third-party solutions without creating and managing custom integrations. You no longer have to worry about integrating others’ solutions into your build process, making it more streamlined and efficient.

Learn more about CodeBuild’s integration with GitHub Actions

Accelerated Container Startup with Seekable OCI in AWS Fargate

Customers using Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) with AWS Fargate can now speed up application deployment and scaling with Seekable OCI (SOCI). It is an AWS technology that allows containers to start faster by not waiting for the whole image to download.

Normally, containers wait for the entire image from a remote registry before starting. Still, SOCI changes this by loading image data only as needed, so containers begin with a part of the image.

To use SOCI, users must create a separate index (SOCI Index) of the container image files, which won’t affect the image or its digest. Amazon ECS with AWS Fargate detects the SOCI index and starts the container without waiting for the full image download. This accelerates scaling and reduces application update time.

There is no extra cost for using SOCI on Amazon ECS with AWS Fargate. You must pay a charge for storing the SOCI index in Amazon ECR. To learn more, visit Seekable OCI

AWS Control Tower launches additional proactive controls

AWS introduces 28 new proactive controls in AWS Control Tower. These controls enhance its governance features, enabling you to apply controls at scale across your multi-account AWS environments.

AWS Control Tower stops resources that don’t follow the rules from being set up for certain services. It does this for services like Amazon CloudWatch, Amazon Neptune, Amazon ElastiCache, AWS Step Functions, and Amazon DocumentDB. These controls serve various purposes, like enabling logging and monitoring, ensuring data encryption, and enhancing resilience.

To achieve this, AWS Control Tower employs AWS CloudFormation Hooks. This method helps identify and prevent non-compliant resources before they are provisioned. These proactive controls work alongside the existing preventive and detective capabilities of AWS Control Tower.

Read more for extra information.

Amazon MQ Embraces RabbitMQ 3.11 with Enhanced Operator Policies

Amazon MQ now supports RabbitMQ version 3.11, a newer and better version with fixes and improvements compared to the older versions (3.8, 3.9, and 3.10) supported by Amazon MQ. RabbitMQ 3.11 has a default operator policy for each virtual host with high availability features.

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If you’re using older versions like 3.10, 3.9, or 3.8, we highly recommend upgrading to RabbitMQ 3.11. It’s easy to do through the AWS Management Console with just a few clicks. Enabling automatic minor version upgrades on RabbitMQ 3.11 is also advised so your brokers can benefit from future fixes and improvements in version 3.11.

To learn more about operator policies and managing them, see configurations.

Introducing the Amazon ECS Delivery Specialization Partners

AWS introduces the Amazon ECS Delivery specialization, recognising partners with exceptional technical skills in handling container environments using Amazon ECS or AWS Fargate.

Companies undergoing digital changes often seek help from AWS partners who manage computing tasks using containers. These partners assist with evaluating their IT setup, moving applications from on-premise to the cloud, and making them work efficiently.

They also connect with other AWS services and software vendors, handle workload deployment, and ensure smooth operation. Amazon ECS and AWS Fargate offer reliable and secure ways to manage containers, whether through managed or serverless approaches.

  Learn more about Amazon ECS Delivery Partners