Amazon DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX)

DynamoDB 推出的新架構,在系統上幫忙處理 cache:「Amazon DynamoDB Accelerator (DAX) – In-Memory Caching for Read-Intensive Workloads」。

DAX 跟現有的 DynamoDB API 相容:

DAX is a fully managed caching service that sits (logically) in front of your DynamoDB tables. It operates in write-through mode, and is API-compatible with DynamoDB.

因為 cache 的緣故,會是 eventually-consistent 架構:

Responses are returned from the cache in microseconds, making DAX a great fit for eventually-consistent read-intensive workloads.

然後是 r3 系列的機器組成的,限制在十台 (冒出大大的問號):

Each DAX cluster can contain 1 to 10 nodes; you can add nodes in order to increase overall read throughput. The cache size (also known as the working set) is based on the node size (dax.r3.large to dax.r3.8xlarge) that you choose when you create the cluster. Clusters run within a VPC, with nodes spread across Availability Zones.

不是很清楚這樣的好處 (比起自己用 memcached 或是其他類似的 cache 架構),也許過幾天想通了會開竅... :o

Cloudflare 推出 SSL 的 SaaS 服務

Cloudflare 把之前需要人力介入的操作,包成 API 直接提供給大家用:「Introducing SSL for SaaS」。

要解決的是「用戶自己的 domain 掛到我的服務上,而且需要 HTTPS」,而 Cloudflare 提供 API 把上面三部跑完,下面的就是 Cloudflare 自己處理 (包括取得用戶的同意):

以後被盜開機器的機種又多一個了:EC2 F1 Instances with FPGAs

又多了一種可以挖 BitCoin 的 instance type 了,AWS 正式推出 F1 Instance:「EC2 F1 Instances with FPGAs – Now Generally Available」。

目前只有在 us-east-1 有,不過有計畫要推到其他地區:

Today we are making the F1 instances generally available in the US East (Northern Virginia) Region, with plans to bring them to other regions before too long.

AWS Lambda 支援 Python 3.6 了

大家都等很久的需求總算推出來了 (雖然我覺得還好...),AWS Lambda 要支援 Python 3.6 了:「AWS Lambda Supports Python 3.6」。會逐步推上線:

You can now develop your AWS Lambda functions using Python 3.6. This feature will become available in all AWS Lambda regions within 24 hours.

Amazon Redshift 壓縮率的改善

Amazon Redshift 對壓縮率的改善:「Data Compression Improvements in Amazon Redshift Bring Compression Ratios Up to 4x」。

首先是引入了 Zstandard

First, we added support for the Zstandard compression algorithm, which offers a good balance between a high compression ratio and speed in build 1.0.1172. When applied to raw data in the standard TPC-DS, 3 TB benchmark, Zstandard achieves 65% reduction in disk space. Zstandard is broadly applicable.

然後是自動選擇壓縮,對於之前沒有設定壓縮參數的人,會直接有改善:

Second, we’ve improved the automation of compression on tables created by the CREATE TABLE AS, CREATE TABLE or ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN commands. Starting with Build 1.0.1161, Amazon Redshift automatically chooses a default compression for the columns created by those commands. Automated compression happens when we estimate that we can reduce disk space without degrading query performance. Our customers have seen up to 40% reduction in disk space.

再來是改善資料結構:

Third, we’ve been optimizing our internal on-disk data structures. Our preview customers averaged a 7% reduction in disk space usage with this improvement. This feature is delivered starting with Build 1.0.1271.

最後是提供更好的分析判斷:

Finally, we have enhanced the ANALYZE COMPRESSION command to estimate disk space reduction.

不過其他幾個產品線的使用方式更成熟 (像是 Amazon Athena 這類產品),不知道會不會讓 Amazon Redshift 慢慢退出第一線...

ALB (Application Load Balancer) 支援對 Host 的分流了

大概是有時候 cluster 太小,ELB 或是 ALB 的費用反而比 cluster 還貴,再加上 ALB 提供起來算方便,所以就推出這樣的功能了:「New – Host-Based Routing Support for AWS Application Load Balancers」。

現在可以針對 Host 欄位決定導到不同的 cluster 上了:

然後讓 ALB 可以設的 rule 數量增加:

As part of today’s launch we are raising the maximum number of rules per Application Load Balancer from 10 to 75, and also introducing a new rule editor.

這個功能有種微妙的感覺 XDDD

Amazon Aurora 改善 ALTER TABLE 時增加 column 的速度

Amazon Aurora (MySQL) 提昇了增加 column 操作的速度:「Amazon Aurora Supports Fast DDL Operations」,細節可以在「Amazon Aurora Under the Hood: Fast DDL」這邊看到。

這次加速是限制在 nullable 欄位:

We’re addressing this mess, starting with the most common DDL operation we’ve seen: adding a nullable column at the end of a table.

MySQL 5.6 (Online DDL Overview) 與 5.7 (Online DDL Overview) 都有列出增加 column 需要 rebuild table。

對於一般的 MySQL server 來說,增加 column 這種事情通常都會用 pt-online-schema-change 解決,Amazon Aurora 這個改善算是讓 DBA 可以輕鬆一些...

HashiCorp 的 Packer 出 1.0 版了

HashiCorpPacker 出 1.0 了:「HashiCorp Packer 1.0」。

在 HashiCorp 推出的一串工具裡面算是比較成熟的產品,就算是先前還在 0.12.x 的版本也已經很穩定。

然後 Logo 改了,居然是用 SVG (可以直接開官網看原始碼),只好用截圖的方式:

Amazon EC2 上的 Ubuntu 的效能提昇

UbuntuAWS 合作,對 AWS 上 EC2 的 kernel 最佳化:「Ubuntu on AWS gets serious performance boost with AWS-tuned kernel」。

透過各界面拉出來的 Ubuntu 16.04 都將會是對 kernel 最佳化過的版本了:

As of March 29th, Ubuntu Cloud Images for Amazon have been enabled with the AWS-tuned Ubuntu kernel by default. The AWS-tuned Ubuntu kernel will receive the same level of support and security maintenance as all supported Ubuntu kernels for the duration of the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

可以看到大量的改善:

  • Up to 30% faster kernel boot speeds, on a 15% smaller kernel package
  • Full support for Elastic Network Adapter (ENA), including the latest driver version 1.1.2, supporting up to 20 Gbps network speeds for ENA instance types (currently I3, P2, R4, X1, and m4.16xlarge)
  • Improved i3 instance class support with NVMe storage disks under high IO load
  • Increased I/O performance for i3 instances
  • Improved instance initialization with NVMe backed storage disks
  • Disabled CONFIG_NO_HZ_FULL to eliminate deadlocks on some instance types
  • Resolved CPU throttling with AWS t2.micro instances

所以先前打包好的 AMI 都要再重打一次了... @_@

完全分散式的 BitTorrent 搜尋引擎

BitTorrent 已經有足夠的技術與環境 (ecosystem) 做出完全分散式架構的搜尋引擎了,類似於 eDonkey Network (或是說後來變成主流的 eMule) 上的 search 功能,但一直沒看到類似的東西...

magnetico 算是一個嘗試,完全透過 DHT 搜尋取得結果:

不過這套軟體的 license 是攻擊性超強的 AGPLv3,算是實驗性質吧。要真正普及應該要像 eMule 一樣直接做進 client 內...