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How to write unit tests when using the AWS JavaScript SDK v3?

Writing unit tests for code that interacts with the AWS JavaScript SDK v3 comes with two major benefits. Obviously, writing unit tests ensures you catch bugs early and therefore increase the quality of your code. Also, writing unit tests enables you to ...

Tidying up after failed Terraform tests

Automated tests are making their way into Infrastructure as Code projects. Recently, I’ve implemented tests with Terraform’s test framework which was released in October 2023. However, I ran into the issue that Terraform could not remove all AWS resourc...

How to monetize an API on AWS?

Did you develop an API and want to sell access? Here is how I combined Amazon’s API Gateway (REST APIs) and FastSpring, a payment and subscription platform, to monetize our API for malware scanning. Luckily, you can apply the pattern to any REST API. T...

Cleaning up AMIs

Costs are like fingernails. You have to cut them constantly. When working with AWS, cleaning up unused resources is crucial. Otherwise, you will end up with a steadily growing AWS bill and waste money. Do you build AMIs automatically, for example, with ...

How to reduce costs for GitHub Actions?

GitHub Actions is my favorite CI/CD solution. Over the past year, I gradually switched all projects from CodePipeline to GitHub Actions. To this day, I enjoy the smooth user experience. However, GitHub-hosted runners quickly become a big item on GitHub’...

KMS Key Policy Privilege Escalation

Encrypting data at rest is a widespread best practice on AWS. In 2019, Werner Vogels set the tone with his motivational slogan, “Dance like nobody’s watching. Encrypt like everyone is!”. AWS shipped the ability to encrypt data at rest for almost all its...

Connect GitHub Actions with AWS VPC

GitHub Actions is my preferred CI/CD solution. I’m using GitHub Actions to build and deploy applications on AWS. However, GitHub Actions does not have access to private subnets, which is required in the following scenarios: Execute database migrations ...

Protect Amazon Connect from viruses and malware by scanning attachments

Four years ago, we stumbled into Amazon Connect. In essence, Amazon Connect allows your users to reach your organization represented by agents via phone or chat. While chatting, Amazon Connect allows users and agents to upload attachments. For many year...

Worldwide availability of EC2 instance types

The promise sounds tempting; with AWS, you can roll out your infrastructure in 28 regions worldwide. Indeed, it is an eye-opening moment when rolling out the same infrastructure into multiple regions to serve users in different parts of the world. Howev...

How to monitor container workloads running on ECS and Fargate?

How do you monitor a container workload running on ECS (Elastic Container Service) and Fargate with on-board resources? Here are the prioritized aspects when it comes to monitoring containers on AWS. Event-driven monitoring with EventBridge Monitoring ...