AWS CF compression

 

AWS CloudFront (CF) automatically compresses certain types of objects (files) and serve the compressed objects when viewers (web browsers or other clients) support them. Viewers indicate their support for compressed objects with the Accept-Encoding HTTP header. CloudFront can compress objects using the Gzip and Brotli compression formats. When the viewer supports both formats, CloudFront prefers Brotli.

Chrome and Firefox web browsers support Brotli compression only when the request is sent using HTTPS. These browsers do not support Brotli with HTTP requests.

When requested objects are compressed, downloads can be faster because the objects are smaller—in some cases, less than a quarter the size of the original. Especially for JavaScript and CSS files, faster downloads can result in faster rendering of webpages for your users. In addition, because the cost of CloudFront data transfer is based on the total amount of data served, serving compressed objects can be less expensive than serving them uncompressed.

CloudFront only compresses objects that have one of the following values in the Content-Type response header:

1. application/dash+xml
2. application/eot
3. application/font
4. application/font-sfnt
5. application/javascript
6. application/json
7. application/opentype
8. application/otf
9. application/pkcs7-mime
10. application/protobuf
11. application/rss+xml
12. application/truetype
13. application/ttf
14. application/vnd.apple.mpegurl
15. application/vnd.mapbox-vector-tile
16. application/vnd.ms-fontobject
17. application/xhtml+xml
18. application/xml
19. application/x-font-opentype
20. application/x-font-truetype
21. application/x-font-ttf
22. application/x-httpd-cgi
23. application/x-javascript
24. application/x-mpegurl
25. application/x-opentype
26. application/x-otf
27. application/x-perl
28. application/x-ttf
29. font/eot
30. font/opentype
31. font/otf
32. font/ttf
33. image/svg+xml
34. text/css
35. text/csv
36. text/html
37. text/javascript
38. text/js
39. text/plain
40. text/richtext
41. text/tab-separated-values
42. text/xml
43. text/x-component
44. text/x-java-source
45. text/x-script
46. vnd.apple.mpegurl

Ultimately, I realize a significant performance improvement on leveraging AWS CF compression.

AWS CF vs TF

 

AWS CloudFormation (CF) is an infrastructure templating, or infrastructure as code (IaC) service provided free of charge by AWS. HashiCorp Terraform addresses similar needs, including an IaC declarative approach, but in a cloud agnostic way.

Terraform (TF) is an open source product first released by HashiCorp in 2014. Like all open source, this means limitations are out in the open (security or otherwise), and high priority changes/fixes can be made by the public if needed.

CloudFormation is a free but proprietary SaaS offering.  The implementation is not available for examination or modification except by Amazon staff.  Like all traditional software products, this means that the quality of the underlying implementation is a trade secret of AWS, and change prioritization is set by AWS.

Comparison chart is attached in the blog title image.  It's up to you and your business to choose the appropriate cloud automation framework based on your enterprise needs.

AWS .NET 6

Start of 2022, Microsoft announced .NET 6, which has the advantages of new .NET language features and performance optimizations. Ref: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/whats-new/dotnet-6

Last week, AWS Lambda started to support .NET 6 as both a managed runtime and a container base image. Developers creating serverless applications in Lambda with .NET 6 can take advantage of new features such as improved logging, simplified function definitions using top-level statements, and improved performance using source generators.

To build and deploy Lambda functions using .NET 6, use the .NET Core CLI, AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio, or AWS Serverless Application Model (AWS SAM). Additionally, you can also use the AWS-provided .NET 6 base image to build and deploy .NET 6 functions using a container image. To migrate existing Lambda functions running earlier .NET versions, see the blog post linked above.

.NET 6 is the latest long-term support (LTS) release of .NET and will be supported for security and bug fixes until November 2024. AWS will automatically apply updates to the .NET 6 managed runtime and to the AWS-provided .NET 6 base image, as they become available.

AWS Budgets

 

This week, AWS Budgets has the ability to create auto-adjusting budgets. An auto-adjusting budget dynamically sets your budget amount based on historical cost or usage over a time range that you specify.

This reduces the guesswork in setting a budget limit and keeps you updated as your spend patterns change. Auto-adjusting budgets are generally available in all public AWS Regions.

On catching the spikes in cloud spend, auto-adjusting budgets can be used to receive alerts when your cost or usage patterns change as a complement to your existing budgets.
At the beginning of each new period, AWS Budgets calculates your auto-adjusted budget amount using historical billing data within the specified time range.
For example, you can create an auto-adjusting cost budget with a baseline time range of the last six months.

In this scenario, whilst spending each budget period in the last six months was $100, auto-adjusted budget amount will be $100.

Certified Azure Engineer

As committed in Multi Cloud blog, now I'm Microsoft Certified Azure engineer.

This exam is an opportunity to prove knowledge of cloud concepts, Azure services, Azure workloads, security and privacy in Azure, as well as Azure pricing and support. It makes to be familiar with the general technology concepts, including concepts of networking, storage, compute, application support, and application development.

With the earlier couple of AWS certifications & work experiences, it is making a clear road map to contribute in my home ground Microsoft technology.

Side note: 2022 industry certification goal is fulfilled earlier, with consistent 15 years mark since 2008. 

Stay tuned for continuous learning & sharing !

AWS Private 5G

 

AWS Private 5G is a managed service that makes it easy to deploy, operate, and scale your own private cellular network, with all required hardware and software provided by AWS.

With AWS Private 5G, you can build private cellular networks to take advantage of the technological benefits of 5G while maintaining the security and granular application and device controls of a private network.

Top-3 Use Cases are

1. Run a smart manufacturing facility
2. Enable business-critical applications
3. Deliver reliable campus connectivity

Preview is available at https://pages.awscloud.com/Private5GPreview.html

UPnP

 Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) service becomes dangerous if it establishes connections with devices that are infected with malware. Such connections make DDoS attacks possible. UPnP exploitation can result in more than just the connection of an infected device

A malicious campaign known as 'Eternal Silence' is abusing UPnP turns your router into a proxy server used to launch malicious attacks while hiding the location of the threat actors.

The new rulesets defined by the hackers contain the phrase 'galleta silenciosa', which is Spanish for 'silent cookie'.

{"NewProtocol": "TCP", "NewInternalPort": "445", "NewInternalClient": "192.168.10.212",
"NewPortMappingDescription": "galleta silenciosa", "NewExternalPort": "47669"}

The injections attempt to expose TCP ports 139 and 445 on devices connected to the targeted router, roughly 1,700,000 machines running SMB services.

As the best practice, the latest firmware update should be a priority as the device vendor may have addressed any UPnP implementation flaws via a security update.