What Is Amazon Lambda In 2023? The Complete Guide for Beginners

Hey there! Have you heard about Lambda, the ultra-cool "serverless" computing service from Amazon Web Services (AWS)? If not, you‘re in for a treat – Lambda is one of the most innovative cloud technologies out there today.

In this comprehensive beginner‘s guide, I‘ll teach you exactly what Lambda is, how it works, who uses it, the costs, and how to get started.

Here‘s a quick overview of what I‘ll cover:

Let‘s start by looking at what exactly Lambda is and how it works!

What is Lambda? A Simple Explanation

Amazon Lambda is a serverless computing service offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS).

With Lambda, you can run code without having to provision or manage servers. Lambda executes your code only when needed to respond to events, and automatically scales compute capacity as required.

Let me break this down…

Traditionally, to run code you would rent servers like EC2 instances, install runtimes and libraries, deploy your code, and continuously manage these resources.

But with Lambda, there are no servers to worry about!

You just upload your code, and Lambda runs it in a high-availability compute environment without you having to configure or scale infrastructure.

When an event occurs, such as a file upload or API call, Lambda automatically executes your code to respond. Millions of requests? No sweat, Lambda scales out instantly!

Lambda is extremely flexible, able to run short or long-running functions written in languages like Python, Node.js, Java and more.

The end result? You have a super-scalable, event-driven compute service where you only pay for the time your code actually runs.

So in a nutshell:

• Serverless – No servers to manage
• Event-driven – Code runs in response to events
• Automatically scales – Handles any volume of requests
• Subsecond scaling – Scales from 0 to thousands of instances in milliseconds
• Pay per use – Pay only for compute time used

Lambda is designed for modern applications and microservices architectures that need massive scalability without infrastructure management overhead.

Let‘s look at how Lambda executes code under the hood…

How Does Amazon Lambda Work?

One of the coolest parts about Lambda is how it can run code in an ephemeral compute environment that appears in milliseconds when needed.

Here is a simple step-by-step of how Lambda works:

1. You upload your function code to Lambda in the form of a .ZIP file or Docker image.

2. Lambda stores the code until an event triggers execution.

3. An event source like Amazon S3 dispatches an event payload to the Lambda service.

4. Lambda provision containers using the requested memory, CPU, network and storage settings.

5. Your code runs in the container serving the function invocation.

6. The code generates a response which Lambda returns to the invoker.

7. Lambda scales up by running more copies of the function concurrently if there are multiple events.

8. When the function finishes, Lambda scales down the containers until more events arrive.

This architecture allows your code to scale instantly and massively without you managing servers!

Lambda handles all the load balancing, scaling, patching, and infrastructure maintenance tasks automatically.

Common Triggers and Use Cases

Lambda functions can be triggered by over 200 different AWS services and SaaS applications.

Some common examples include:

• File uploads to S3, S3 Glacier
• Data streams from Kinesis, IoT Core
• Message queues like SQS, Amazon MQ
• Monitoring alerts from CloudWatch
• API actions in API Gateway, Alexa Skills Kit
• State changes in DynamoDB, EKS, ECS
• Web requests from apps or mobile apps
• Code commits in Bitbucket Pipelines

Popular use cases taking advantage of these triggers include:

• Processing and transforming uploaded files
• Responding to changes in database and storage
• Running ETL jobs on streams and queues
• Performing IoT data analytics
• Building serverless backends for web/mobile apps
• Automating DevOps pipelines and workflows

Basically any process that can benefit from instant scale, event-driven automation and no server management can leverage Lambda!

Next let‘s look at some of the key benefits of using Lambda and why it has become so popular.

Key Benefits of Using Lambda

Lambda offers some huge advantages compared to provisioning and maintaining your own application servers:

Serverless operation – Removes all complexity of managing servers yourself. Lambda handles the fleet for you.

Auto-scaling – Scales from 0 to thousands of instances in milliseconds based on demand.

Subsecond metering – Get billed in increments of 100ms when code executes.

Cost savings – No idle capacity or overhead, pay only for compute time used.

Fully managed – AWS handles infrastructure, patching, HA and redundancies.

High availability – Executes code across multiple AZs automatically for resilience.

Fast performance – Optimized for low latency, high throughput workloads.

Flexible platforms – Code can use Node.js, Python, Java, Go, .NET Core, Ruby, Rust, and more.

Integrated security – Functions can securely access other resources and data.

Reliability – Leverage AWS well-architected framework and best practices.

Growing ecosystem – Continuous new features, integrations, and updates.

These advantages make Lambda a compelling service for startups, enterprises, and companies of all sizes looking to build scalable applications and workflows.

Let‘s look at some examples of real companies using Lambda today.

Who Uses AWS Lambda?

Lambda has grown quickly since launch, used by many thousands of customers globally. Here are a few recognizable companies running key workloads on Lambda:

• Netflix – Transcodes movie uploads to different formats using Lambda.

• Pinterest – Replaced monolithic architecture with Lambda microservices.

• McDonald‘s – Uses Lambda for order processing pipelines.

• Capital One – Handles security alerts and automation with Lambda.

• Samsung SmartThings – Leverages Lambda for IoT telemetry processing.

• Nike – Built entire backend platform for Nike Fitness on serverless.

• Coca-Cola – Uses Lambda for demand forecasting models.

• Lyft – Implemented CI/CD automation for services using Lambda.

• Coinbase – Scales crypt trading bots up 10x on Lambda.

As these examples illustrate, leading enterprises use Lambda to eliminate server management and deploy massively scalable architectures cost-effectively.

Startups and SaaS companies are also choosing Lambda to improve agility and reduce infrastructure costs when building modern applications.

Now let‘s dive into Lambda‘s pricing and free tier options.

Lambda Pricing and Cost Calculator

One of the most attractive aspects of Lambda is the pricing model. Here‘s an overview of how costs work:

• Free tier – 1M free requests and 400,000 GB-seconds monthly

• Pay per request – $0.20 per 1 million requests after free tier

• Duration charges – Based on allocated memory and execution time

• Savings Plans – Reduce duration costs up to 17% with 1-3 yr plans

Lambda bills duration incrementally, charging you per 1ms of execution time and rounding up to the nearest 100ms.

Duration pricing varies based on the memory you allocate to functions from 128MB up to 3008MB. Higher memory = higher GB-second rate.

For example, with 1024MB memory allocated, each GB-second used costs $0.00001667 (in us-east-1).

To estimate potential costs, you can use the AWS Lambda Pricing Calculator.

Just input your projected usage numbers and it will show you estimated costs. Super handy!

The granular billing model ensures you only pay for exactly what you use – no idle capacity or overhead charges.

Next let‘s look at Lambda‘s generous free tier.

Lambda Free Tier Details

One of the best parts of Lambda is the free tier for experimenting and smaller workloads:

• 1M free requests per month
• 400,000 GB-seconds of compute time per month
• Execution time capped at 5 minutes
• 1GB /tmp storage included

For apps that fit within these limits, you can run them completely free each month!

The free tier applies to functions running in AWS Lambda regions in the US (N. Virginia), EU (Ireland), and Asia Pacific (Tokyo).

This free tier makes it easy and risk-free to try out Lambda and demonstrate its value before paying.

Many smaller applications can operate entirely within the free tier limits. But if your needs exceed 1M requests or 400,000 GB-seconds, you simply pay the standard rates for the additional resources used.

Now let‘s quickly cover how to get started with Lambda.

How to Get Started with Lambda in 5 Easy Steps

Ready to start building serverless apps on AWS Lambda? Here is a simple 5 step process:

1. Sign up for an AWS account

If you don‘t already have one, create a free AWS account.

2. Author your Lambda function code

In the Lambda console, write a basic function in Node.js, Python, Java or your preferred language.

3. Configure a test event

Define a test event to trigger the function and validate it works as expected.

4. Monitor execution and logs

Check metrics, logs, and traces as your function executes to understand performance.

5. Set up an event source

Connect your function to an AWS service like S3 or DynamoDB to run it based on actual events.

Once you have these basics down, you can start building real-world serverless applications leveraging all of Lambda‘s capabilities!

Lambda vs Servers: Key Differences

Since Lambda represents a new paradigm in computing, it helps to compare it to provisioning traditional servers:

As this comparison shows, Lambda provides immense time and cost savings by eliminating the burden of managing your own servers.

Lambda‘s auto-scaling, fine-grained billing, and managed infrastructure frees you up to focus on writing amazing applications!

The Bright Future of Serverless Lambda

Lambda is one of the fastest growing AWS services as developers embrace serverless architectures.

AWS is rapidly evolving Lambda with new capabilities aimed at unlocking more advanced use cases:

• Lambda containers – Package functions as Docker images for more efficient deployments.

• Provisioned concurrency – Pre-initialize functions to improve cold start latency.

• Lambda Destinations – Stream results to other services without writing code.

• Lambda Layers – Centrally manage code dependencies to share across functions.

• Lambda container image support – Use Docker images for simplified dependencies.

• Lambda Cloning – Quickly replicate functions across regions and accounts.

And many other ongoing improvements!

These innovations will help Lambda become an even more robust service over time.

Lambda in 2024: An Exciting New Paradigm for Computing

In summary, Lambda represents an exciting shift in how we can build apps and process data in the cloud.

Instead of managing fleets of servers, you can now run massively scalable architectures that automatically scale up and down based on usage needs.

Key takeaways about Lambda in 2024:

• Provides serverless, event-driven computing with no infrastructure to manage

• Allows focusing on code while AWS handles all operational aspects

• Only pay for compute time consumed – no overhead or waste

• Integrates with hundreds of services and SaaS apps

• Makes it easy to build ultra-scalable, resilient applications

• Continues to rapidly evolve new capabilities

So if you‘re looking for a better, simpler way to build apps for the future, Lambda could be a game changer!

I hope this beginner‘s guide gave you a helpful introduction to Lambda on AWS. Let me know if you have any other questions!

John