AWS Week in Review - February 1, 2016

Let's take a quick look at what happened in AWS-land last week:

Monday February 1	We launched the AWS Answers site. The Amazon Mobile App Distribution Blog showed you how to Test Your App's Compatibility with Android 6.0 Using Amazon's App Testing Service (ATS). The AWS DevOps Blog explored how to Continue Rolling Back an Update for AWS CloudFormation Stacks in the UPDATE_ROLLBACK_FAILED State. The AWS Security Blog showed you How to Set Up DNS Resolution Between On-Premises Networks and AWS Using AWS Directory Service and Amazon Route 53. The Fugue Blog discussed AWS Lambda and the Evolution of the Cloud. Serverless Code talked about Customizing CloudFormation with Python and then explained How to Use CloudFormation to Build a CDN with (Free) Custom SSL. Evident.io explained How the Cloud Simplifies Security. 2nd Watch discussed Cloud Cost Optimization with AWS. In a 2-part series, Cloudreach discussed Amazon EC2 - Making Sense of the Cost Options (Part 1, Part 2). Securosis talked about Event-Driven Security on AWS.
Tuesday February 2	The AWS Mobile Development Blog talked about Migrating from Parse Push to Amazon SNS. The AWS Mobile Development Blog showed you how to Set Up Continuous Testing with Appium, AWS CodeCommit, Jenkins, and AWS Device Farm. The AWS Security Blog showed you How to Set Up DNS Resolution Between On-Premises Networks and AWS Using AWS Directory Service and Microsoft Active Directory. The AWS Startup Collection talked about Movidiam: Filmmaking Reimagined. Stelligent talked about Working with CFNDSL in AWS CloudFormation. Botmetric shared Good News - Now Easily Track Costs of Untaggable AWS Resources. Cloud Academy reviewed Amazon S3 Security: Master S3 Bucket Policies and ACLs. Cloud Machine Manager talked about Using Spot Instances to Optimize Your Cloud Computing Strategy. Cloudability talked about Decoding Your Hidden Amazon EC2 Costs. ParkMyCloud wondered Why Are AWS Tools Good at Flexibility or Cost-Efficiency, But Rarely Both? Trek10 talked about Ops in a Serverless World.
Wednesday February 3	Cloud Machine Manager talked about Amazon EC2 Costs Made Easy. Cloudreach explained How AWS CloudTail Can Help Resolve DNS Gotchas in the Cloud. The Sparta Framework for Lambda Now Supports CloudWatch Events. EatCodePlay talked about Installing TensorFlow with Python 3 on EC2 GPU Instances. Matthew D. Fuller published his book, AWS Lambda: A Guide to Serverless Microservices.
Thursday February 4	The Amazon Mobile App Distribution Blog shared some Alexa Skills Kit Certification Tips. The AWS Government, Education, & Nonprofits Blog talked about the FedRAMP - Trusted Internet Connection (TIC) Overlay Pilot Program. The AWS Mobile Development Blog showed you How to Set up Parse Server on AWS Using AWS Elastic Beanstalk. The AWS Partner Network Blog talked about Terraform: Beyond the Basics with AWS. Cloud Zone talked about Working With CFNDSL in AWS CloudFormation. ParkMyCloud discussed Cloud Management Tools in the Amazon. GorillaStack talked about Understanding AWS for the Junior Developer.
Friday February 5	The Amazon Mobile App Distribution Blog talked about Creating a Game Design Document. The AWS Big Data Blog talked about Submitting User Applications with spark-submit. Spotinst announced Support for AWS OpsWorks. Cloud Academy reviewed Five New Amazon EC2 Services and Features from 2015. Cloud Machine Manager talked about Reducing AWS Small Business Costs and Optimizing Cloud Usage.
Saturday February 6	Cloud Zone showed you how to Deploy Docker to Amazon Cloud Using Tutum. Lee Provost revealed the secret to Securely Connecting to an AWS RDS Postgres Database from a Mac.
Sunday February 7	Powerupcloud talked about AWS Inventory Details in CSV Using Lambda.

New & Notable Open Source

• goad is an AWS Lambda powered, highly distributed, load testing tool.


• python-lambder lets you create and manage scheduled AWS Lambdas from the command line.


• sevenseconds is an AWS account configurator.


• Zappa implements serverless WSGI with AWS Lambda and API Gateway.


• ctl-transcode transcodes videos using AWS.


• AWS is a set of PowerShell scripts, functions, and modules for managing AWS.


• ssc-lambda is a set of SSC Lambda functions for AWS processing.


• rifactor can automatically refactor your AWS Reserved Instances to match your running instances.


• Eureka is an AWS service registry for resilient mid-tier load balancing and failover.


• lamvery is a function-based deployment and management tool for AWS Lambda.

New SlideShare Presentations

• AWS Security Day:
  
  
  
  • Introduction.
  
  
  • IAM Recommended Practices.
  
  
  • What's (Nearly) New.
  
  
  • Crypto Options in AWS.
  
  


• AWS January 2016 Webinars:
  
  
  
  • Introduction to Docker on AWS.
  
  
  • Amazon Aurora for Enterprise Database Applications.
  
  
  • Real-World Smart Applications with Amazon Machine Learning.
  
  
  • Infrastructure as Code.
  
  
  • Best Practices for Building IoT Backends with AWS IoT and AWS Lambda.
  
  
  • Cloud Data Migration: 6 Strategies for Getting Data into AWS.
  
  
  • AWS IoT - Getting Started.
  
  
  • Getting Started with Big Data: Analytic Options on AWS & Common Use Cases.
  
  
  • Introduction to Deploying Applications on AWS.
  
  

New Customer Success Stories

• Career Builder - By automating its software release process using AWS CodePipeline and AWS CodeDeploy, CareerBuilder increases update speed and assures quality code, freeing up developers to focus on the core product.


• edotco Group - edotco Group has achieved availability well in excess of its service level agreement of 99.95 percent and reduced infrastructure costs by at least 50 percent over five years using AWS.


• KeptMe - By launching its service on AWS, KeptMe was able to quickly expand to more than 4,000 schools in nine different countries.


• Open Universities Australia - By moving its collocated data center to AWS, OUA reduced the the time required to deliver changes to production from three months to less than two hours, cut costs by up to AU$1 million (US$726,850) over two years, and improved the performance of its websites by up to 20 percent.


• Sokrati - By using AWS, Sokrati reduced the data in its database from 20 terabytes to 2 terabytes and reduced its infrastructure costs by 35 percent.


• Time Inc. - Time Inc. uses AWS Enterprise Support to assist with planning and executing the migration of existing and new applications to AWS.


• 91App - Using AWS has enabled 91App to create and launch digital campaigns in just 24 hours, compared to the several weeks the same processes would have required with a physical IT infrastructure.


• Air Works - By using AWS, Air Works has improved its operational performance by 84 percent and its response times by 160 percent.


• Autodesk - Autodesk can monitor and control the use of hundreds of AWS accounts from a single pane of glass.


• GENALICE - GENALICE uses AWS to run the Population Calling module of its GENALICE MAP Next-Generation Sequencing data analysis suite.


• The Guardian - Guardian News and Media increased the velocity of releases for its digital properties to 40,000 in 2015, up from 25 in 2012, by using AWS.


• Jelly Button Games - Jelly Button Games, an Israeli social gaming company, can grow its business while its AWS environment handles up to one million game server requests a minute.


• Lyft - By using Spot, the startup saves up to 75 percent monthly versus on-demand instances for routine testing processes that do not require the most current or most powerful compute resources.

New YouTube Videos

• Introduction to Amazon Route 53.


• Introduction to AWS Training & Certification.


• Introduction to AWS Snowball.


• Container Day:
  
  
  
  • Empire - Building a PaaS with Amazon ECS.
  
  
  • Simplifying DevOps at Shippable.
  
  

Upcoming Events

• February 11 - Partner Webinar - Finding the Hidden Waste in Your AWS Infrastructure.


• AWS Loft - San Francisco.


• AWS Loft - New York.


• AWS Global Summit Series.

Help Wanted

• AWS Careers.

Stay tuned for next week! In the meantime, follow me on Twitter and subscribe to the RSS feed.

-- Jeff;