AWS 新推出的 m7a 宣稱比 m6a 多 50% 效能?

AWS 在「Introducing Amazon EC2 M7a instances (Preview)」這邊看到 m7a 會比 m6a 快 50% 的宣稱:

These instances deliver up to 50% greater performance on average compared to M6a instances.

目前還是 preview 階段,需要申請才有機會用,所以還不知道他的真實性能是怎麼樣?另外一方面,價錢也還沒查到... 但如果價錢不要漲太多的話,算一下好像有可能跟上 ARMm7g 了?

另外這樣也就蠻值得期待會不會有 t4a

AWS 也推出了 GitHub Copilot 的競爭對手 Amazon CodeWhisperer

AWS 推出了 Amazon CodeWhisperer,可以看做是 GitHub Copilot 的競爭產品:「Now in Preview – Amazon CodeWhisperer- ML-Powered Coding Companion」,在 Hacker News 上的討論還不多:「Copilot just got company: Amazon announced Codewhisperer (amazon.com)」。

目前還是 Preview 所以是免費的,但也還沒有提供價錢:

During the preview period, developers can use CodeWhisperer for free.

另外目前提供的程式語言只有 PythonJavaJavaScript

The preview supports code written in Python, Java, and JavaScript, using VS Code, IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, and AWS Cloud9. Support for the AWS Lambda Console is in the works and should be ready very soon.

至於 training 的資料集,這邊有提到的是 open source 專案與 Amazon 自家的東西:

CodeWhisperer code generation is powered by ML models trained on various data sources, including Amazon and open-source code.

開發應該需要一段時間,不知道是剛好,還是被 GitHub Copilot 轉 GA 的事件強迫推出 Preview 版...

Amazon RDS 支援 readonly instance 當作 Multi AZ 的機器了

從來沒在用 RDS 的 Multi AZ,所以根本沒注意到居然沒這個功能:「New Multi-AZ deployment option for Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL and for MySQL; increased read capacity, lower and more consistent write transaction latency, and shorter failover time (Preview)」。

看起來 (加上印象中) 之前的 Multi AZ 是另外一台機器先開著但不能用:

In the case of an infrastructure failure, Amazon RDS performs an automatic failover to the standby, so that database operations resume as soon as the failover is complete.

現在則是開著的機器可以跑 readonly 模式:

The standby DB instances act as automatic failover targets and can also serve read traffic to increase throughput without needing to attach additional read replica DB instances.

這樣做除了省成本外,另外因為這些 instance 平常就有 query 的量,當真的遇到 failover 切換時,warmup 的時間也會短很多 (尤其是服務夠大的時候)。

不過有些限制,首先看起來只支援 Graviton2 (ARM-based) 的機種?

The readable standby option for Amazon RDS Multi-AZ deployments works with AWS Graviton2 R6gd and M6gd DB instances (with NVMe-based SSD instance storage) and Provisioned IOPS Database Storage.

然後是支援的區域:

The Preview is available in the US East (N. Virginia), US West (Oregon), and Europe (Ireland) regions.

以及夠新的版本,MySQL 8 與 PostgreSQL 13.4 才有提供:

Amazon RDS for MySQL supports the Multi-AZ readable standby option for MySQL version 8.0.26. Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL supports the Multi-AZ readable standby option for PostgreSQL version 13.4.

但看起來還不錯,畢竟這比較接近以前在地端機房時的作法...

Amazon EBS 的 io2 給了不少新消息...

Amazon EBS 的另外一個新推出的東西,是針對 io2 的改善:

前面兩則消息可以一起看,主要是推出了 EBS Block Express,有著效能上的提昇:

Built on our new EBS Block Express architecture that takes advantage of some advanced communication protocols implemented as part of the AWS Nitro System, the volumes will give you up to 256K IOPS & 4000 MBps of throughput and a maximum volume size of 64 TiB, all with sub-millisecond, low-variance I/O latency. Throughput scales proportionally at 0.256 MB/second per provisioned IOPS, up to a maximum of 4000 MBps per volume. You can provision 1000 IOPS per GiB of storage, twice as many as before. The increased volume size & higher throughput means that you will no longer need to stripe multiple EBS volumes together, reducing complexity and management overhead.

目前因為是 preview 階段,想要用的人需要申請測試。要注意目前支援的區域有限 (不像這次推出 gp3 的時候就是全區),而且需要搭配 r5b 的機器:

The preview is currently available in the US East (N. Virginia), US East (Ohio), US West (Oregon), Asia Pacific (Singapore), Asia Pacific (Tokyo), and Europe (Frankfurt) Regions. During the preview, we support the use of R5b instances, with support for other Nitro-powered instances in the works.

第三則消息則是在講 io2 的 IOPS 的折扣,針對購買 32K IOPS 以上的部份會有 30% 折扣:

Now, with the new tiered pricing structure, the first 32,000 IOPS provisioned on a volume are charged at the current base rate ($0.065 per provisioned IOPS-mo) and the second tier between 32,001 and 64,000 is charged at a 30% lower rate ($0.046 per provisioned IOPS-mo).

針對前面提到的 preview 版本 (EBS Block Express),因為可以超過 64K IOPS,這個部份的價錢會更低,再疊一次 30% 的折扣:

Furthermore, for customers who have even higher performance requirement than currently supported by a single io2 volume today, we are previewing io2 volumes that run on EBS Block Express, the next generation of our block storage architecture. io2 Block Express volumes can be provisioned to deliver peak IOPS of 256,000. For these volume, any IOPS provisioned over 64,000 IOPS will be charged at a further 30% lower rate than the second tier ($0.032 per provisioned IOP-mo for IOPS over 64,000). This lowers the effective rate to $0.038 per provisioned IOPS on a volume provisioned with 256,000 IOPS.

算是要衝效能的人用的,目前平常應該還是會用 gp2 或是 gp3 的 SSD...

Android 上的 Firefox 可以安裝 uBlock Origin 了

Update:我寫的這篇標題與內容是錯的,請參考 comment 提到的說明。

在桌機上擋廣告的神器 uBlock Origin 總算是要被移植到 AndroidFirefox 上了:「uBlock Origin available soon in new Firefox for Android Nightly」。

In the next few weeks, uBlock Origin will be the first add-on to become available in the new Firefox for Android. It is currently available on Firefox Preview Nightly and will soon be available on Firefox for Android Nightly.

手機上的廣告一直都是個頭痛的問題啊,多了一個神器可以用總是好事...

Microbrowser 的影響力

在「Microbrowsers are Everywhere」這篇文章裡提到在討論 Microbrowser 的影響力。這邊講的 Microbrowser 是指在各種平台上面貼連結時產生的預覽資訊,像是 IM 裡面連結的預覽資訊 (左邊的圖):

這些預覽通常都不會執行 JavaScript,所以不會觸動頁面裡追蹤的服務,而一般的業主就會低估這個管道。但透過這個方式觸及到使用者的量以及影響力,作者覺得有可能比 Googlebot 還大:

3. Microbrowser are probably more important than google bot

算是另外一個領域的 optimization,畢竟不同的平台預覽的效果都不同...

Amazon Detective:用 Machine Learning 分析可能的安全問題

也是這次 AWS re:Invent 發表的服務,透過 Machine Learning 分析可能的安全問題:「Introducing Amazon Detective」。

透過現有的各種 log 建立模型分析:

Amazon Detective can analyze trillions of events from multiple data sources such as Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) Flow Logs, AWS CloudTrail, and Amazon GuardDuty, and automatically creates a unified, interactive view of your resources, users, and the interactions between them over time.

依照 log 的量算錢的,然後 preview 階段不收費,所以有興趣的人可以開起來跑看看?

Amazon RDS 推出了 Connection Pool 的產品

Amazon RDS 推出了 Connection Pool 的產品,叫做 Amazon RDS Proxy:「Introducing Amazon RDS Proxy (Preview)」。

目前支援 MySQL (包括了傳統的與 Aurora 版本的):

Amazon RDS Proxy supports Amazon RDS for MySQL and Amazon Aurora with MySQL compatibility, with support for additional RDS database engines coming soon.

定價策略看起來是依照後端資料庫的 vCPU 計算:

Pricing is simple and predictable: you pay per vCPU of the database instance for which the proxy is enabled.

翻了一下價錢頁是 USD$0.015/vCPU (用 us-east-1 的資料),而如果是 t2 系列的機器,最低是以 2 vCPUs 計算,不是照使用比例算:

RDS Proxy pricing correlates to the number of vCPUs of the database instance for which it is enabled, with a minimum charge for 2 vCPUs.

這樣一個 vCPU 一個月大約要 USD$21.6,算起來頗貴的... 如果 SLA 允許的話,用基本的方式 failover 也許就 ok 了...

如果 SLA 真的要追求到這麼高的話,可以在這些區域測試:

Amazon RDS Proxy is available in preview for RDS MySQL and Aurora MySQL in US East (N. Virginia), US East (Ohio), US West (Oregon), EU West (Ireland), and Asia Pacific (Tokyo) regions. Support for RDS PostgreSQL and Aurora PostgreSQL is coming soon.

Yubico 宣佈推出 Lightning 的 U2F 界面...

YubicoCES 2019 上宣佈推出兩用版的 YubiKey,同時支援 USB-CLightning 接頭:「Yubico Launches the Security Key NFC and a Private Preview of the YubiKey for Lightning at CES 2019」。

從照片可以看出來是直接做成兩側各一個頭:

目前是 Private Preview,開發者需要跟 Yubico 申請:

If you are a developer or service that would like to support strong hardware authentication on iOS, we invite you to work with us by applying to participate in the YubiKey for Lightning Program. Selected participants will have access to the private preview of YubiKey for Lightning and also the Yubico Mobile iOS SDK for Lightning.

不過看起來是硬體限制沒辦法朝 NFC 支援?另外如果蘋果下一代 iPhone 換掉變成 USB-C 就搞笑了...

AWS 決定花力氣支援 OpenJDK (Corretto 計畫)

AWS 推出了 Amazon Corretto (其中 Corretto 這個名字應該是取自 Caffè corretto,還是跟咖啡有關的字),提供 OpenJDK 的長期支援:「Introducing Amazon Corretto, a No-Cost Distribution of OpenJDK with Long-Term Support」。

文章裡提到了幾個重點,第一個是目前先推出了 Corretto 8 Preview (對應到 OpenJDK 8),而之後 GA 會推出 UbuntuRHEL 上的套件,另外也打算推出 Corretto 11 (對應到將來的 OpenJDK 11):

The Corretto 8 preview corresponding to OpenJDK 8 is available at this time for Amazon Linux 2, Microsoft Windows, and macOS platforms and Docker image. Preview builds can be downloaded by visiting aws.amazon.com/corretto. General Availability is planned for Q1 2019, and will also include Ubuntu and Red Hat Enterprise Linux platforms. Corretto 11 builds corresponding to Open JDK 11 on these platforms will follow with ample time for testing before April 2019.

再來是支援期都差不多是四~五年:

Amazon will distribute security updates to Corretto 8 at no cost until at least June, 2023, and to Corretto 11 until at least August, 2024.

這樣在又多了一些選擇...