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AWS Serverless Workflow Orchestration With Step Functions


What are AWS Step Functions?

AWS Step functions are functions that work in steps.

The steps are initiated automatically.

Each step is monitored and logged.

It has built-in automatic retries should a step fail.

With monitoring and logging, it's easy to detect issues.

Step functions also manage your application's distributed components.

At the same time, it keeps your code organized.

Step functions are a part of event-driven best practices.


Step Functions Tasks

Tasks handle all of the work in Step Functions.

A task uses an activity, Lambda function, or an API to execute code.

An activity is a software that you create and host on AWS, on-premises, or on a mobile device.

AWS Step Functions has a large number of services it can directly integrate into.

It reduces the amount of logic you have to write.

The Lambda function handles the business logic, whereas Step Functions monitor the task status and the step's success or failure.


Workflow Orchestration With AWS Step Functions Video

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Related reads:

AWS Step Functions Overview
AWS Step Functions Limits
Standard vs. Express Workflows

Patterns for Communicating Status Updates

There are several approaches for communicating status updates with the client.

  • Client polling
  • Webhooks with Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS)
  • WebSockets with Amazon API Gateway
  • WebSockets with AWS AppSync

Those approaches will be covered in the next pages.


AWS Serverless Exercises

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