Metaevent handling for on-demand code execution environments

• US 9,928,108 B1
• Filed: 09/29/2015
• Issued: 03/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wagner, Timothy Allen, Wisniewski, Scott Daniel
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Hiren
• Application Number:
  US14/869,801
• Time in Patent Office: 910 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5011 Pool
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for generating and executing metaevents within an on-demand code execution environment. The code execution environment can include virtual machine instances that are pre-initialized to enable low latency execution of arbitrary user-defined code. Code execution can typically occur in response to a defined event trigger, such as a call to an application programming interface (API) from an external source. Code execution may also occur in response to metadata regarding the operation of the code execution environment. A user may specify criteria for “metaevents” based on the metadata, and also specify code to be executed in response to satisfaction of the criteria. When the code execution environment determines that the user'"'"'s criteria is satisfied, a metaevent may be generated that causes execution of the set of code. This execution may, in turn, generate metadata that triggers one or more metaevents.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for handling metaevents within an on-demand code execution environment, the on-demand code execution environment comprising at least one virtual machine instance executing an initialized operating system and awaiting requests to execute user-specified code within that operating system, the method comprising:

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

receiving a request to define a metaevent on the on-demand code execution environment, wherein the metaevent is defined at least partly by satisfaction of a set of metaevent criteria relating to execution of a first set of user-specified code on the on-demand code execution environment, wherein the request specifies the set of metaevent criteria and a job to be executed by the on-demand code execution environment on occurrence of the metaevent by satisfaction of the metaevent criteria, and wherein the job includes execution of a second set of user-specified code, wherein satisfaction of the metaevent criteria requires that execution of the first set of user-specified code has not occurred within a specified time interval on the on-demand code execution environment;

obtaining metadata regarding execution of the first set of user-specified code on the on-demand code execution environment, wherein the metadata regarding the operation of the on-demand code execution environment comprises at least one of;

an indication of execution of the first set of user-specified code detected at the on-demand code execution environment, information regarding queuing a request to execute the first set of user-specified code at the on-demand code execution environment, information regarding timing of execution of the first set of user-specified code, information regarding throttling of execution the first set of user-specified code, or information regarding results or output of execution first set of user-specified code;

analyzing the metadata according to the metaevent criteria to determine that the metadata satisfies the metaevent criteria; and

processing the job at least partly by executing the second set of user-specified code within the initialized operating system of the at least one virtual machine instance.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a request to define a second metaevent on the on-demand code execution environment, wherein the request to define the second metaevent specifies a second set of metaevent criteria and a third set of user-specified code to be executed on satisfaction of the second metaevent criteria;

obtaining second metadata regarding execution of the second set of user-specified code;

analyzing the second metadata according to the second metaevent criteria to determine that the second metadata satisfies the second metaevent criteria; and

executing the third set of user-specified code within the initialized operating system of the at least one virtual machine instance.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least one virtual machine instance includes a plurality of virtual machine instances, and wherein executing the second set of code user-specified code within the initialized operating system of the at least one virtual machine instance comprises:

identifying a virtual machine instance from the plurality of virtual machine instances, wherein the identified virtual machine instance contains a particular software component that is suitable to execute the first set of user-specified code;

creating, within the virtual machine instance, a container to execute the second set of user-specified code;

loading the particular software component and the second set of user-specified code into the container; and

initiating execution of the second set of user-specified code by the container.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the metadata according to the metaevent criteria to determine that the metadata satisfies the metaevent criteria comprises periodically analyzing at least a portion the metadata at each interval of a plurality of time intervals.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein obtaining metadata regarding the execution of the first set of user-specified code on the on-demand code execution environment comprises obtaining metadata from a log file maintained by at least one of the on-demand code execution environment or a data logging service external to the on-demand code execution environment.

6. A system for handling metaevents of an on-demand code execution environment, the on-demand code execution environment comprising at least one virtual machine instance executing an initialized operating environment, the system comprising:

a computing device comprising a processor coupled to a memory, the memory including specific instructions to cause the computing system to;

obtain a metaevent definition, the definition specifying a set of metaevent criteria and a first set of user-specified code to be executed on satisfaction of the metaevent criteria, wherein the metaevent criteria is based at least in part on execution of a second set of user-specified code on the on-demand code execution environment, wherein satisfaction of the metaevent criteria requires that execution of the second set of user-specified code has not occurred within a specified time interval on the on-demand code execution environment;

obtain metadata regarding execution of the second set of user-specified code on the on-demand code execution environment, wherein the metadata regarding the execution of the second set of user-specified code on the on-demand code execution environment comprises at least one of;

an indication of execution of the second set of user-specified code detected at the on-demand code execution environment, information regarding queuing a request to execute the second set of user-specified code at the on-demand code execution environment, information regarding timing of execution of the second set of user-specified code, information regarding throttling of execution the second set of user-specified code, or information regarding results or output of execution second set of user-specified code;

analyze the metadata according to the metaevent criteria to determine that the metadata satisfies the metaevent criteria; and

execute the first set of user-specified code within the initialized operating environment of the at least one virtual machine instance.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one virtual machine instance is maintained, prior to determining that the metadata satisfies the metaevent criteria, in an pre-initialized state, and wherein the pre-initialized state enables the at least one virtual machine instance to execute the first set of user-specified code without requiring an operating system to be loaded on the at least one virtual machine instance subsequent to determining that the metadata satisfies the metaevent criteria.

8. The system of claim 6 further comprising a data store including a distributed memory cache, wherein the specific instructions further cause the computing device to store the received metadata within the distributed memory cache.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the specific instructions cause the computing device to analyze the metadata based at least in part on retrieving the metadata from the distributed memory cache at each interval of a set of defined intervals.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the set of defined intervals are determined based at least in part on an account associated with the metaevent criteria.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein the metadata includes information regarding data retrieved by the on-demand code execution environment from a data source external to on-demand code execution environment.

12. The system of claim 6, wherein the metadata indicates a change in configuration of the at least one virtual machine instance.

13. The system of claim 6, wherein the specific instructions further cause the computing system to:

obtain a second metaevent definition, wherein the second definition specifies a second set of metaevent criteria and a third set of user-specified code to be executed on satisfaction of the second metaevent criteria;

obtain second metadata regarding execution of the first set of user-specified code;

analyze the second metadata according to the second metaevent criteria to determine that the second metadata satisfies the second metaevent criteria; and

execute the third set of user-specified code within the initialized operating environment of the at least one virtual machine instance.

14. Non-transitory, computer-readable storage media comprising computer-executable instructions for handling metaevents of an on-demand code execution environment, the on-demand code execution environment comprising at least one initialized virtual machine instance, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to:

obtain a metaevent definition, the definition specifying a set of metaevent criteria and a first set of user-specified code to be executed on satisfaction of the metaevent criteria, wherein the metaevent criteria is based at least in part on execution of a second set of user-specified code on the on-demand code execution environment, wherein satisfaction of the metaevent criteria requires that execution of the second set of user-specified code has not occurred within a specified time interval on the on-demand code execution environment;

obtain metadata regarding execution of a second set of user-specified code on the on-demand code execution environment, wherein the metadata regarding the execution of the second set of user-specified code on the on-demand code execution environment comprises at least one of;

an indication of execution of the second set of user-specified code detected at the on-demand code execution environment, information regarding queuing a request to execute the second set of user-specified code at the on-demand code execution environment, information regarding timing of execution of the second set of user-specified code, information regarding throttling of execution the second set of user-specified code, or information regarding results or output of execution second set of user-specified code;

analyze the metadata according to the metaevent criteria to determine that the metadata satisfies the metaevent criteria; and

transmit instructions to the on-demand code execution environment to execute the first set of user-specified code on the at least one initialized virtual machine instance.

15. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 14, wherein initialization of the at least one initialized virtual machine instance enables the at least one initialized virtual machine instance to execute the first set of user-specified code without requiring an operating system to be loaded on the at least one initialized virtual machine instance subsequent to determining that the metadata satisfies the metaevent criteria.

16. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 14, wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the computer system to analyze the metadata in response to an event on the on-demand code execution environment.

17. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 14, wherein the execution of the second set of user-specified code on the on-demand code execution environment is occurs in response to a request generated by at least one of the on-demand code execution environment or an event source external to the on-demand code execution environment.

18. The non-transitory, computer-readable storage media of claim 14, wherein set of the set of metaevent criteria is included within a third set of user-specified code, and wherein satisfaction of the metaevent criteria is determined based at least in part on execution of the third set of user-specified code.