3 AWS Lambda Use Cases and Examples

Traditionally, server management has been essential to running a successful online business. About 24% of companies claim that just an hour of server downtime costs them at least $300,000. But what if you didn’t have to deal with servers at all? That might sound like a pipe dream, but with services like AWS Lambda, we’re getting closer to that reality every day. AWS Lambda lets you run code without using a server instance.

What is AWS Lambda?

AWS Lambda is a service that lets you run your own code on Amazon’s servers, so you don’t need to host the code yourself. Best of all, you don’t pay a dime when your code isn’t being used. You only pay for computation time. Your code can sit on the server for months, and if you don’t touch it, Amazon doesn’t charge you. So, why would you use AWS Lambda?

AWS Lambda Use Cases

Let’s look at just a few examples of how you can use AWS Lambda to make your life easier starting right now!

Security Updates

You can write a lambda function that will monitor your website’s log files. Set up your lambda function so that when a log file changes, it triggers the lambda code. Your code can perform any number of analyses on the log files which will give you important security information. Have the lambda function send a report to your email address. You’ll never again miss an important security event.

Automated Backups

You can easily write a lambda function that will automatically create backups of important information. If you want to keep it simple, set the backup to occur at the end of every day. If you want a more sophisticated backup mechanism, backup your information every time it changes.

Serverless Website

You can store your website content on S3 and outsource all computations to AWS Lambda. This allows you to run your website without paying for any actual server space. It’s a serverless website. You’ll need to pay for your S3 space and your lambda calculations. But if it’s a low-traffic site, this could save you a lot of money. And if there’s a huge bump in traffic, AWS will adjust to provide you with the necessary resources. You’ll also have the security and uptime benefits of using Amazon’s servers.

File Conversion

A lambda function can provide a quick way to convert files. Imagine you have an application that outputs files at random times. And you want to convert those files to an easier to use format. You can set the application to send the files to a lambda function that does the conversion for you. You won’t have to run code on your own server, and you’ll be able to convert files with ease.

Read More About AWS Lambda

That’s just the beginning. There are many more AWS Lambda use cases we didn’t mention. Check out our lambda blog for more. If you want help getting started with AWS Lambda, we strongly suggest you look into a serverless monitoring tool. Check out Dashbird.io to learn more.

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Dashbird was born out of our own need for an enhanced serverless debugging and monitoring tool, and we take pride in being developers.

What our customers say

Dashbird gives us a simple and easy to use tool to have peace of mind and know that all of our Serverless functions are running correctly. We are instantly aware now if there’s a problem. We love the fact that we have enough information in the Slack notification itself to take appropriate action immediately and know exactly where the issue occurred.

Thanks to Dashbird the time to discover the occurrence of an issue reduced from 2-4 hours to a matter of seconds or minutes. It also means that hundreds of dollars are saved every month.

Great onboarding: it takes just a couple of minutes to connect an AWS account to an organization in Dashbird. The UI is clean and gives a good overview of what is happening with the Lambdas and API Gateways in the account.

I mean, it is just extremely time-saving. It’s so efficient! I don’t think it’s an exaggeration or dramatic to say that Dashbird has been a lifesaver for us.

Dashbird provides an easier interface to monitor and debug problems with our Lambdas. Relevant logs are simple to find and view. Dashbird’s support has been good, and they take product suggestions with grace.

Great UI. Easy to navigate through CloudWatch logs. Simple setup.

Dashbird helped us refine the size of our Lambdas, resulting in significantly reduced costs. We have Dashbird alert us in seconds via email when any of our functions behaves abnormally. Their app immediately makes the cause and severity of errors obvious.