Node Wrapper for AWS Lambda

Runs recent versions of Node.js on AWS Lambda. Tested with Node.js v4.2.4.

Rationale

AWS Lambda is sweet but at the time of this writing, it still runs on Node.js v0.10.36, which is ancient. The docs suggest including your own node binary in the package zip. This little app demonstrates that concept.

Usage

0. Make sure you have Node.js and Gulp installed.
1. Clone this repository and npm install it.
2. Create a Lambda function. By default, this app uses node-wrapper in the eu-west-1 region; you can change that in gulpfile.babel.js.
3. Run gulp deploy to deploy the function.
4. Run the Lambda function.
5. View the logs.

Findings

• Because zip files don't support permissions, you need to chmod the node binary at runtime. However, the file is read-only, so you need to copy it to /tmp first. Obviously, this implies a performance hit.

• With the 512 MB Lambda configuration, copying node takes about 300 ms, and spawning the (trivial) child script adds another 300 ms. Even if your code isn't time-critical, this slowdown will still impact your AWS bill.

• Even without the latest Node, deploying a Lambda is a hassle due to the fact that you need to include the required node_modules manually. For the sake of simplicity, this app only relies on babel-runtime.

Author

Tim De Pauw

License

MIT