Day 1 of AWS re:Invent just ended and I’m now writing this update while watching the replay of Monday Nights keynote with Peter DeSantis. I couldn’t attend the keynote due to a customer survey session, but I always enjoy the balance of in depth knowledge on the latest development in compute.
Today was mixed with sessions and social events. For the sessions I tried to focus on non-breakout session and attended a couple of code talks which was great. Code talks focus on particular topics while diving into (example) code and are not recorded (most of the breakout sessions are) so you can’t watch them after the conference. To not stick to what I know I explored some unfamiliar topics as well.
Sessions
During the day I attended several sessions which I want to share something about.
STG351 - Automate data protection at scale with AWS Backup.
This was a great talk given by Khurram Nizami and Yangsoo(Leo) Park on AWS Backup in a Cross Account and Cross region setup. After applying tag based strategies for backup plans it introduced me to the concept of backup (test) validation. You can find the git repo for the project on Github: https://github.com/aws-samples/backup-recovery-with-aws-backup
COP405 - Coding for account customizations with AWS Control Tower with Welly Siauw and Justin P.
Even though I don’t work with AWS Control Tower in combination with the Account Factory for Terraform (AFT), this sessions was quite insightful. It gave me a good idea on the complexity of managing large organizations. You can find the sample repository here https://github.com/aws-samples/aft-workshop-sample.
COP318 - Streamlining incident response with AWS Systems manager with Jean Velez Torres and Raviteja Sunkavalli
Very interesting session which introduced me to Systems Manager Automation for building automated incident response handling. By means of SSM Automation they showed how to could build a workflow similar to AWS Step functions for mitigating failures. They did this all live which was pretty great to see. You can find the code for this session at https://github.com/sunkavar/reInvent2024-COP318
Taking a short break
After this session I took a bit of a breather and went to the AWS Community Hub. The Community Hub is a dedicated spot for AWS Community Builders, AWS Heroes and AWS Community Leaders to take a step back and relax. At the Community Hub I got to meet Johannes Koch, Julian Wood, Ran Isenberg, Raphael Manke and Faye Ellis in person. It’s always great to meet people you follow or converse with online.
SVS401 - Best practices for Serverless developers with Ran Isenberg and Julian Wood
This breakout sessions was high on my wish list and looking at the walk-up line just before the session, I wasn’t the only one. If you’re into serverless or thinking about using serverless this is the session for you! The session was packed with valuable insights and I highly recommend 💯 watching this session when it becomes available (it was recorded) ! It was great watching this talk with Karl Robinson whose podcast I regularly consume on my daily commute.
Reflecting on the day
I ended my day in the Expo hall and it was great to connect with Martijn van Dongen, Pubudu Jayawardana, Carlo Vollebregt and Nova Lailatul Rizkiyah.
While doing some mid night snack shopping on the way to the hotel I ended up having a lovely conversation with Camille Nigon about what it feels like to attend re:invent for the first time. A lot of people had warned me about how massive and impressive it is, but you only know what it feels like when you actually attend.