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AWS Lambda vs Amazon EBS: What are the differences?
AWS Lambda vs Amazon EBS
AWS Lambda and Amazon EBS are two essential services provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS). While both services are commonly used for serverless computing and storage, there are key differences between the two.
Scalability: AWS Lambda enables auto-scaling by automatically adjusting resources based on the incoming workload. It allows the execution of code without provisioning or managing servers. On the other hand, Amazon EBS provides scalable block storage volumes that can be attached to EC2 instances, allowing the storage capacity to be flexibly adjusted.
Billing: AWS Lambda charges users based on the number of requests and the duration of code execution in milliseconds, offering a pay-per-usage model. In contrast, Amazon EBS bills users based on the provisioned storage capacity, so users pay for the allocated storage regardless of usage.
Execution Environment: AWS Lambda provides an execution environment where users can run their code without the need for server management. It supports several programming languages and offers serverless functions. However, Amazon EBS is a block-level storage service that provides persistent storage volumes for use with EC2 instances.
Usage Pattern: AWS Lambda is commonly used for event-driven applications, real-time stream processing, and automatic scaling of APIs. It allows for rapid development and execution of code in response to events. On the other hand, Amazon EBS is generally utilized for persistent storage of data, databases, and file systems requiring higher I/O throughput.
Scaling Limitations: AWS Lambda has certain limitations on execution duration, CPU usage, and memory allocation. It is designed to handle short-lived tasks and has a maximum execution duration of 15 minutes. In contrast, Amazon EBS can handle long-running applications and sustains consistent performance even for extended periods.
Deployment Model: AWS Lambda supports serverless deployment, where users only need to upload their code and configure triggers. It abstracts the underlying infrastructure, allowing developers to focus on writing functions. Amazon EBS, on the other hand, requires manual deployment and configuration as it is primarily used for persistent storage of EC2 instances.
In summary, AWS Lambda is a serverless compute service that enables event-driven execution of code with auto-scaling capabilities, while Amazon EBS is a scalable block storage service used for persistent storage of data in EC2 instances.
When adding a new feature to Checkly rearchitecting some older piece, I tend to pick Heroku for rolling it out. But not always, because sometimes I pick AWS Lambda . The short story:
- Developer Experience trumps everything.
- AWS Lambda is cheap. Up to a limit though. This impact not only your wallet.
- If you need geographic spread, AWS is lonely at the top.
Recently, I was doing a brainstorm at a startup here in Berlin on the future of their infrastructure. They were ready to move on from their initial, almost 100% Ec2 + Chef based setup. Everything was on the table. But we crossed out a lot quite quickly:
- Pure, uncut, self hosted Kubernetes — way too much complexity
- Managed Kubernetes in various flavors — still too much complexity
- Zeit — Maybe, but no Docker support
- Elastic Beanstalk — Maybe, bit old but does the job
- Heroku
- Lambda
It became clear a mix of PaaS and FaaS was the way to go. What a surprise! That is exactly what I use for Checkly! But when do you pick which model?
I chopped that question up into the following categories:
- Developer Experience / DX 🤓
- Ops Experience / OX 🐂 (?)
- Cost 💵
- Lock in 🔐
Read the full post linked below for all details
Pros of Amazon EBS
- Point-in-time snapshots36
- Data reliability27
- Configurable i/o performance19
Pros of AWS Lambda
- No infrastructure129
- Cheap83
- Quick70
- Stateless59
- No deploy, no server, great sleep47
- AWS Lambda went down taking many sites with it12
- Event Driven Governance6
- Extensive API6
- Auto scale and cost effective6
- Easy to deploy6
- VPC Support5
- Integrated with various AWS services3
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Cons of Amazon EBS
Cons of AWS Lambda
- Cant execute ruby or go7
- Compute time limited3
- Can't execute PHP w/o significant effort1
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