At Amazon's re:Invent shindig in Vegas, the company announces a host of new features for its public-cloud service. Support for Docker and big databases are the highlights, but there's also something opaque about Lambda functions.
In IT Blogwatch, bloggers dig into the detail.
Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment.
Tsrif, Serdar Yegulalp stroper: [You're fired -Ed.]
After Google went all-in on Docker with Container Engine, it was only a matter of time before...Amazon unveiled the EC2 Container Service (ECS).
…
[It] uses the existing infrastructure of EC2 instances [for] Docker-ized apps [which] can be launched and managed in clusters of EC2 instances that span multiple Availability Zones. ... A set of containers, their requirements, and their behaviors can be defined by way of a JSON file or a Task Definition.
…
ECS constitutes a shot at rival cloud services, notably Google and Microsoft, adding container support. But Amazon also is taking aim at stand-alone Linux vendors [that] have been reinventing their respective distributions to become more container-centric. ... Amazon wants customers to launch containers directly in EC2...albeit at the cost of being more dependent on the Amazon way. MORE
What happened in Vegas? Tim Anderson stayed in Vegas:
Speaking at the web bazaar's Reinvent conference in Las Vegas, Vogels was joined on stage by Ben Golub, CEO of Docker.
…
Think of Docker as diet virtualization: it lets developers package up software environments into boxes and deploy them on Linux. ... A cluster using the new service can scale from a single VM to thousands of instances across multiple Amazon availability zones for resilience. [ECS] is free, which makes sense since it encourages EC2 use.
…
Microsoft's Azure cloud can run Linux Docker containers, and Google has also announced Docker integration, so in one sense Amazon is late to the party, but at least it has a comprehensive service...in preview mode. MORE
What else happened in Vegas? Joab Jackson justifies the hype:
With Wednesday's preview release of a new database service called Aurora, Amazon Web Services claims to have supercharged the open source MySQL. ... Aurora was designed to offer the high performance...reliability, and scalability characteristics...of a commercial...RDBMS.
…
Aurora could also eliminate many of the thorny setup and maintenance issues that come with running a RDBMS, [which is] no small feat. ... Amazon claimed it can [do] 6 million inserts [and] up to 30 million queries...per minute.
…
Aurora offers an exact replica of the MySQL interface, though it is actually powered by a new proprietary database engine...that runs on top of Amazon's Relational Database Service (RDS). ... Aurora can detect a database failure and recover in less than a minute. ... In the case of a permanent failure, Aurora can automatically failover.
…
Amazon is also pitching Aurora as a way for enterprises to escape the lock-in from commercial database vendors, such as Oracle. ... It will cost $0.29 per hour for each large instance. MORE
Anything else, Paul Krill?
Amazon Lambda [is] a new way to build applications and run them in the cloud by leveraging lambda functions.
…
[It] offers a zero-administration compute platform, so developers don't have to deal with EC2 instances. Functions are written in Node.js; code is uploaded; and context information, specifying the execution environment...is specified to Amazon Lambda to create a new function.
…
Lambda involves a fine-grained pricing model. ... A free tier also is available, including 1 million free requests [and] 3.2 million [CPU] seconds...per month. MORE
Hmm, clear as mud. Meanwhile, Ben Kepes was wined and dined by Amazon:
The public cloud computing market is Amazon’s to lose. It is by no means a zero sum game and there are a number of other players who will be important in the space, but it would be a brave analyst that would bet against AWS continuing to hold the lion’s share of the market. MORE
You have been reading IT Blogwatch by Richi Jennings, who curates the best bloggy bits, finest forums, and weirdest websites… so you don't have to. Catch the key commentary from around the Web every morning. Hatemail may be directed to @RiCHi or itbw@richi.uk. Opinions expressed may not represent those of Computerworld. Ask your doctor before reading. Your mileage may vary. E&OE.