Hello, everyone!

It’s been an interesting week full of AWS news as usual, but also full of vibrant faces filling up the rooms in a variety of events happening this month.

Let’s start by covering some of the releases that have caught my attention this week.

My Top 3 AWS news announcements of the week

Amazon RDS for MySQL zero-ETL integrations is now generally available and it comes with exciting new features. You are now able to configure zero-ETL integrations in your AWS CloudFormation templates, and you also now have the ability to set up multiple integrations from a source Amazon RDS for MySQL database with up to five Amazon Redshift warehouses. Lastly, you can now also apply data filters which determine which database and tables get automatically replicated. Read this blog post where I review aspects of this release and show you how to get started with data filtering if you want to know more. Incidentally, this release pairs well with another release this week: Amazon Redshift now allows you to alter the sort keys of tables replicated via zero-ETL integrations.

Oracle Database@AWS has been announced as part of a strategic partnership between Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Oracle. This offering allows customers to access Oracle Autonomous Database and Oracle Exadata Database Service directly within AWS simplifying cloud migration for enterprise workloads. Key features include zero-ETL integration between Oracle and AWS services for real-time data analysis, enhanced security, and optimized performance for hybrid cloud environments. This collaboration addresses the growing demand for multi-cloud flexibility and efficiency. It will be available in preview later in the year with broader availability in 2025 as it expands to new Regions.

Amazon OpenSearch Service now supports version 2.15, featuring improvements in search performance, query optimization, and AI-powered application capabilities. Key updates include radial search for vector space queries, optimizations for neural sparse and hybrid search, and the ability to enable vector and hybrid search on existing indexes. Additionally, it also introduces new features like a toxicity detection guardrail and an ML inference processor for enriching ingest pipelines. Read this guide to see how you can upgrade your Amazon OpenSearch Service domain.

So simple yet so good
These releases are simple in nature, but have a big impact.

AWS Resource Access Manager (RAM) now supports AWS PrivateLink – With this release, you can now securely share resources across AWS accounts with private connectivity, without exposing traffic to the public internet. This integration allows for more secure and streamlined access to shared services via VPC endpoints, improving network security and simplifying resource sharing across organizations.

AWS Network Firewall now supports AWS PrivateLink – another security quick-win, you can now securely access and manage Network Firewall resources without exposing traffic to the public internet.

AWS IAM Identity Center now enables users to customize their experience – You can set the language and visual mode preferences, including dark mode for improved readability and reduced eye strain. This update supports 12 different languages and enables users to adjust their settings for a more personalized experience when accessing AWS resources through the portal​.

Others
Amazon EventBridge Pipes now supports customer managed KMS keys – Amazon EventBridge Pipes now supports customer-managed keys for server-side encryption. This update allows customers to use their own AWS Key Management Service (KMS) keys to encrypt data when transferring between sources and targets, offering more control and security over sensitive event data. The feature enhances security for point-to-point integrations without the need for custom integration code. See instructions on how to configure this in the updated documentation. 

AWS Glue Data Catalog now supports enhanced storage optimization for Apache Iceberg tables – This includes automatic removal of unnecessary data files, orphan file management, and snapshot retention. These optimizations help reduce storage costs and improve query performance by continuously monitoring and compacting tables, making it easier to manage large-scale datasets stored in Amazon S3. See this Big Data blog post for a deep dive into this new feature.

Amazon MSK Replicator now supports the replication of Kafka topics across clusters while preserving identical topic names – This simplifies cross-cluster replication processes allowing users to replicate data across regions without needing to reconfigure client applications. This reduces setup complexity and enhances support for more seamless failovers in multi-cluster streaming architectures​. See this Amazon MSK Replicator developer guide to learn more about it.

Amazon SageMaker introduces sticky session routing for inference – This allows requests from the same client to be directed to the same model instance for the duration of a session improving consistency and reducing latency, particularly in real-time inference scenarios like chatbots or recommendation systems, where session-based interactions are crucial​. Read about how to configure it in this documentation guide.

Events
The AWS GenAI Lofts continue to pop up around the world! This week, developers in San Francisco had the opportunity to attend two very exciting events at the AWS Gen AI Loft in San Francisco including the “Generative AI on AWS” meetup last Tuesday, featuring discussions about extended reality, future AI tools, and more. Then things got playful on Thursday with the demonstration of an Amazon Bedrock-powered MineCraft bot and AI video game battles! If you’re around San Francisco before October 19th make sure to check out the schedule to see the list of events that you can join.

Make sure to check out the AWS GenAI Loft in Sao Paulo, Brazil, which opened recently, and the AWS GenAI Loft in London, which opens September 30th. You can already start registering for events before they fill up including one called “The future of development” that offers a whole day of targeted learning for developers to help them accelerate their skills.

Our AWS communities have also been very busy throwing incredible events! I was privileged to be a speaker at AWS Community Day Belfast where I got to finally meet all of the organizers of this amazing thriving community in Northern Ireland. If you haven’t been to a community day, I really recommend you check them out! You are sure to leave energized by the dedication and passion from communities leaders like Matt Coulter, Kristi Perreault, Matthew Wilson, Chloe McAteer, and their community members – not to mention the smiles all around. :)

Certifications
If you’ve been postponing taking an AWS certification exam, now is the perfect time! Register free for the AWS Certified: Associate Challenge before December 12, 2024 and get a 50% discount voucher to take any of the following exams: AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate, AWS Certified Developer – Associate, AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate, or AWS Certified Data Engineer – Associate. My colleague Jenna Seybold has posted a collection of study material for each exam; check it out if you’re interested.

Also, don’t forget that the brand new AWS Certified AI Practitioner exam is now available. It is in beta stage, but you can already take it. If you pass it before February 15, 2025, you get an Early Adopter badge to add to your collection.

Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed the news this week!

Keep learning!