In today’s cloud-driven world, serverless architecture can significantly enhance efficiency and reduce operational overhead. AWS Lambda, a cornerstone of AWS’s serverless offerings, allows you to run code responding to events without provisioning or managing servers. This tutorial will explore the practical aspects of using AWS Lambda to set up a serverless file replication system between Amazon S3 buckets.

Harnessing the Power of AWS Lambda for Serverless Applications

AWS Lambda is designed to execute your code in response to various triggers, such as changes in data state, shifts in system state, or incoming HTTP requests. Its serverless nature means you can focus purely on your code without worrying about the underlying infrastructure. By harnessing AWS Lambda, you can build scalable and cost-effective applications that automatically respond to events within your AWS environment.

Creating S3 Buckets: The Source and Destination for File Replication

To start, we need to create two S3 buckets: one to act as the source and another as the destination for file replication.

  1. Navigate to the S3 Console:
    • Go to the AWS Management Console and select S3 under the Services menu.
  2. Create the Source Bucket:
    • Click on “Create bucket.”
    • Provide a unique name for your bucket (e.g., source-bucket-demo).
    • Select the appropriate region and leave the other settings as default.
    • Click “Create bucket.”
  3. Create the Destination Bucket:
    • Repeat the above steps to create another bucket (e.g., destination-bucket-demo).

Granting Permissions: Configuring IAM Policy and Role for Lambda

Next, we must set up the necessary IAM roles and policies to ensure our Lambda function can access the S3 buckets.

  1. Create an IAM Role for Lambda:
    • Navigate to the IAM console and click on “Roles.”
    • Click “Create role” and select “Lambda” as the trusted entity.
    • Attach the following policies to the role:
      • AmazonS3FullAccess
      • AWSLambdaBasicExecutionRole
    • Name your role (e.g., lambda-s3-replication-role) and create it.

Setting the Trigger: S3 Events That Activate Your Lambda

We need to configure an S3 event to trigger our Lambda function whenever an object is created in the source bucket.

  1. Navigate to the S3 Console:
    • Go to the source-bucket-demo and click on the “Properties” tab.
  2. Set Up Event Notifications:
    • Scroll to the “Event notifications” section and click “Create event notification.”
    • Provide a name for your event (e.g., file-upload-trigger).
    • Select “All object create events.”
    • Under “Send to,” choose “Lambda function” and select your Lambda function from the list.
    • Save changes.

Putting it to the Test: Verifying Successful File Replication

Finally, we must verify that our Lambda function successfully replicates files from the source to the destination bucket.

  1. Upload a File to the Source Bucket:
    • Go to the source-bucket-demo and upload a test file.
  2. Verify Replication:
    • Navigate to the destination-bucket-demo and check if the uploaded file appears.

If the file is successfully replicated to the destination bucket, congratulations! You have successfully set up serverless file replication using AWS Lambda.

Conclusion

Setting up serverless file replication with AWS Lambda and S3 can streamline your file management processes and ensure your data is efficiently replicated without manual intervention. This tutorial covered the essential steps, from creating S3 buckets to verifying successful replication.

References

Developing a serverless workflow

Serverless