Processing event messages for user requests to execute program code

• US 9,483,335 B1
• Filed: 09/29/2015
• Issued: 11/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wagner, Timothy Allen
• Primary Examiner(s): Wathen, Brian W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Seye, Abdou
• Application Number:
  US14/869,886
• Time in Patent Office: 399 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5011 Pool
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/549 Remote execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues

Abstract

A service manages a plurality of virtual machine instances for low latency execution of user codes. The service can provide the capability to execute user code in response to events triggered on an auxiliary service to provide implicit and automatic rate matching and scaling between events being triggered on the auxiliary service and the corresponding execution of user code on various virtual machine instances. An auxiliary service may be configured as an event triggering service to detect events and generate event messages for execution of the user codes. The service can request, receive, or poll for event messages directly from the auxiliary service or via an intermediary message service. Event messages can be rapidly converted to requests to execute user code on the service. The time from processing the event message to initiating a request to begin code execution is less than a predetermined duration, for example, 100 ms.

Claims

1. A system for processing event messages for requests to execute program code on one or more virtual machine instances, the system comprising:

a front end computing system comprising one or more hardware computing devices executing specific computer-executable instructions, said front end computing system in communication with (1) a message queue system and (2) a virtual compute system adapted to execute program codes on a per-request basis, the front end computing system configured to at least;

retrieve, from the message queue system, an event message generated in response to an event occurring at an event-originating service, said event message identifying a program code to be executed on the virtual compute system and comprising programmatic information organized in a schema usable for executing the program code on the virtual compute system;

convert, based on the programmatic information and the schema, the event message into a request to execute the program code, said request comprising one or more input parameters to the program code; and

cause the virtual compute system to begin executing the program code within 100 ms after the event message is retrieved from the message queue system, wherein the request comprises at least some of the programmatic information for executing the program code.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the event-originating service is a remote storage system, and wherein the event message is generated in response to a data file being uploaded to the remote storage system.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the event-originating service is a database system, and wherein the event message is generated in response to a database table being updated in the database system.

4. A system, comprising:

a virtual compute system comprising one or more hardware computing devices executing specific computer-executable instructions and configured to at least;

receive an event message generated in response to an event occurring at an event source, said event message comprising event metadata identifying a program code to be executed on the virtual compute system and one or more input parameters to the program code;

convert, based on the event metadata, the event message into a request to execute the program code on the virtual compute system, said request comprising configuration information for executing the program code, said configuration information identifying the program code to be executed and the one or more input parameters to the program code; and

cause the program code to begin executing within 100 ms after the event message is received by the virtual compute system using the one or more input parameters.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the event source is a remote storage system, and wherein the event message is generated in response to a data file being uploaded to the remote storage system.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the event source is a database system, and wherein the event message is generated in response to a database table being updated in the database system.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the event source is provided by a computing system that is separate and distinct from the virtual compute system.

8. The system of claim 4, wherein the configuration information is formatted according to a shared schema used by both the event source and the virtual compute system to process event messages related to the program code to be executed.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the shared schema is in the form of a remote procedure call.

10. The system of claim 4, wherein the event metadata includes an indicator of at least (1) an operating system on which the program code is to be executed and (2) a program language in which the program code is written.

11. A computer-implemented method comprising:

as implemented by one or more computing devices configured with specific executable instructions,

querying an event source for an event message generated in response to an event;

detecting the event message, said event message comprising event metadata identifying a program code to be executed on a virtual compute system configured to execute user code on a per-request basis and one or more input parameters to the program code;

converting, based on the event metadata, the event message into a request to execute the program code on the virtual compute system, said request comprising configuration information identifying the program code to be executed and the one or more input parameters to the program code; and

causing the program code to begin executing within 100 ms after detecting the event message using the one or more input parameters.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the event source is provided by a computing system separate and distinct from the virtual compute system.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the configuration information is formatted according to a shared schema used by both the event source and the virtual compute system to process event messages related to the program code to execute.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the shared schema is formatted according to a definition provided in a software developer kit (“

SDK”

).

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising causing the program code to be executed inside a container created on a virtual machine instance currently assigned to a user associated with the program code.

16. Non-transitory physical computer storage comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed by one or more computing devices, configure the one or more computing devices to:

access an event message generated by an auxiliary service, said event message comprising event metadata identifying a program code to be executed on a virtual compute system configured to execute user code on a per-request basis and one or more input parameters to the program code;

convert, based on the event metadata, the event message into a request to execute the program code on the virtual compute system, said request comprising configuration information for executing the program code, said configuration information identifying the program code to be executed and the one or more input parameters to the program code; and

cause the program code to begin executing within 100 ms after the event message is accessed using the one or more input parameters.

17. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 16, wherein the auxiliary service is provided by a computing system that is separate and distinct from the virtual compute system.

18. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 16, wherein the auxiliary service is a remote storage system, wherein the event message is indicative of a data file upload event on the remote storage system, and wherein the program code to be executed is a file upload event handler designated to be executed in response to detection of the data file upload event on the remote storage system.

19. The computer-readable, non-transitory storage medium of claim 16, wherein the computer executable instructions further cause the one or more computing devices to cause the program code to be executed inside a container created on a virtual machine instance currently assigned to a user associated with the program code.