What has happened this week
- AWS continues to eliminate services, reducing its cloud offerings
- However, it keeps making changes to key services like KMS and EC2
- This time, we bring news from another provider
I hope you are not using unpopular AWS services. You could be next:
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AWS
AWS discontinues services like App Mesh and DeepComposer.
In a series of recent announcements, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has revealed plans to retire multiple services, signaling a possible shift in its long-standing approach to maintaining existing offerings.
- AWS App Mesh, a service mesh for monitoring and controlling microservices, will be discontinued by September 30, 2026. Existing customers can continue using it until then, but new sign-ups ceased on September 24, 2024.
- Access to Amazon FSx File Gateway will be restricted by the end of this month, although existing customers will not be affected.
- The machine learning services facing retirement include AWS DeepComposer, Amazon Lookout for Equipment, and the AWS DeepRacer League championship.
- NICE EnginFrame, a high-performance computing interface, is also being discontinued.
These announcements follow previous service retirements such as AWS CodeCommit, AWS Cloud9, and Amazon Forecast. While AWS has historically prided itself on providing long-term support for its services, this wave of discontinuations suggests a strategic shift.
For developers and organizations using these services, it is crucial to stay informed about migration paths and alternatives provided by AWS.
Microservices
How to Migrate 2,800 Microservices
In a fascinating in-depth analysis, Monzo, the digital bank, reveals its strategy for managing large-scale migrations across its impressive set of 2,800 microservices.
- Centralized migrations: Monzo opts for a single team to manage migrations, reducing coordination overhead and increasing consistency.
- Automation is key: Heavy use of tools for mass deployments and automated rollback checks streamlines the process.
- Gradual deployment: The team employs a wrap-and-replace strategy, allowing for easy rollback and progress without service interruption.
- Planning and alignment: Transparent planning processes, including proposals and architecture reviews, help identify potential issues early.
- 80/20 rule for automation: Focus on automating common changes while manually handling edge cases.
Large organizations can maintain technological consistency and efficiently manage drastic changes in complex microservices architectures.
Azure
Drasi Simplifies Change Detection in Complex Systems.
Microsoft has open-sourced Drasi, a new data processing system designed to simplify change detection and reaction in complex infrastructures.
- Drasi addresses common challenges in event-driven architectures, such as scalability issues, data silos, and processing delays.
- The system uses a lightweight approach, observing events in logs and change streams without copying data or repeatedly querying sources.
- Developers can define tracked changes using database queries and set logical conditions to evaluate change data.
- Drasi automatically executes context-aware reactions based on business needs when relevant changes are detected.
For those interested in exploring Drasi's capabilities, visit drasi.io.
AWS
AWS Compute Optimizer now supports 80 new EC2 types
AWS Compute Optimizer now supports 80 additional types of Amazon EC2 instances, bringing the total to 779. This expansion includes next-generation compute, memory, storage, and GPU-based instances, opening new avenues for cost savings and performance improvements.
- Next-generation instances: The update covers c7i-flex, c6id, c8g (optimized for compute), r8g, x8g (optimized for memory), i4i (optimized for storage), and several GPU-based instances.
- Graviton power: The new c8g, r8g, and x8g instances feature AWS Graviton4 processors, offering up to 60% better performance than Graviton2.
- Intel advancements: The C7i-flex instances, powered by 4th generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors, present a 5% better price/performance ratio compared to c7i instances.
🏆 Quick Wins
Announcements
- AWS has introduced support for Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) key agreement in its Key Management Service (KMS). This new feature, accessible through the DeriveSharedSecret API, enables secure communication channels using derived shared secrets.
- Alibaba Cloud has partnered with NVIDIA to integrate cutting-edge AI technology into smart vehicles. This collaboration promises to enhance in-vehicle interactions and autonomous driving capabilities for Chinese automakers.
Articles and Podcasts
- FinOps More Than Costs with Ariel Munafo, where we discuss the challenges and opportunities of the cloud today.
- Google takes on Microsoft in the EU cloud competition dispute
- Increased Spending on Data Centers as AI Drives Cloud Expansion, in the race to meet the growing demand for computing power for AI
That's all for this week. Until next Saturday.
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