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Build serverless AWS announcements email service with AWS Application Composer and AWS SAM

#aws #serverless #javascript #node

In this post, we will build a serverless email service that can send the latest 24 hours AWS Announcements to your mailbox using AWS Application Composer and AWS Serverless Application Model (SAM) like this.

email announcement

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Table of Contents

Prerequisites

  1. AWS Account
  2. Git Bash terminal
  3. AWS CLI
  4. Configure your AWS CLI
  5. SAM CLI

AWS Application Composer

Recently at AWS re:Invent 2022, AWS is launching a preview of AWS Application Composer, a visual designer that you can use to build your serverless applications from multiple AWS services.

We will use AWS Application Composer to design our serverless application service.

  • First, launch AWS Application Composer from your AWS Management console.

aws application composer management console

  • Then create new project with configurations like this.

aws application composer create project

  • Drag and drop the resources from the left side into the canvas until you get this workflow diagram

aws application composer diagram

As you can see from the above diagram, we will be using several AWS services to build our serverless service.

We will be using

  1. Amazon Event Bridge Schedule
  2. AWS Step Functions
  3. AWS Lambda
  4. DynamoDB
  5. AWS Simple Email Service

Amazon Event Bridge Schedule

Amazon EventBridge allows you to create, run, and manage scheduled tasks at scale.

We will use Amazon Event Bridge Schedule to invoke our step functions with these configurations

event bridge schedule configuration

In this configuration, we will set cron expression to invoke our step functions every day at 7 AM with Asia/Jakarta timezone.

AWS Step Functions

AWS Step Functions provides serverless orchestration for modern applications. Orchestration centrally manages a workflow by breaking it into multiple steps, adding flow logic, and tracking the inputs and outputs between the steps.

We will use AWS Step Functions to orchestrate our lambda functions with these configurations

aws step functions configurations

for the state machine definitions, we will configure it like this so that we can invoke parseFeeds Lambda function and then sendMail Lambda function.

StartAt: Start
States:
  Start:
    Type: Pass
    Next: parseFeeds
  parseFeeds:
    Type: Task
    Next: sendMail
    Resource: arn:aws:states:::lambda:invoke
    Parameters:
      FunctionName: ${parseFeedsArn}
      Payload.$: $
  sendMail:
    Type: Task
    Next: Done
    Resource: arn:aws:states:::lambda:invoke
    Parameters:
      FunctionName: ${sendMailArn}
      Payload.$: $
  Done:
    Type: Pass
    End: true
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AWS Lambda Function

AWS Lambda is a serverless compute service that runs your code in response to events and automatically manages the underlying compute resources for you.

We will create two lambda functions, one for parsing AWS announcements RSS feeds and saving them to DynamoDB (parseFeeds) and the other one for sending last 24 hours' AWS announcements from DynamoDB and sending it to your mailbox (sendMail).

for parseFeeds lambda function, we will configure it this way

parseFeeds lambda function

then for sendMail lambda function, we configure it this way

sendmail lambda function

AWS DynamodDB

Fast, flexible NoSQL database service for single-digit millisecond performance at any scale

We will use DynamoDB to save the last 24 hours AWS Announcement from parseFeed lambda function and then get those items and send them to your email from sendMail lambda function.

Our DynamoDB will be configured this way

dynamodb configuration

We will configure guid as partition key, then isodate as sort key, then we set expiration key so that DynamoDB will delete the record with expiration TTL above 30 minutes (because we don't need the data anymore after successfully send to your email to save Dynamodb cost)

After finishing configuring your resources, you can save your AWS Application Composer project into the project folder on your local computer as template.yml from Menu > Save changes

Your template.yml should look like this

Transform: AWS::Serverless-2016-10-31
Resources:
  StateMachine:
    Type: AWS::Serverless::StateMachine
    Properties:
      Definition:
        StartAt: Start
        States:
          Start:
            Type: Pass
            Next: parseFeeds
          parseFeeds:
            Type: Task
            Next: sendMail
            Resource: arn:aws:states:::lambda:invoke
            Parameters:
              FunctionName: ${parseFeedsArn}
              Payload.$: $
          sendMail:
            Type: Task
            Next: Done
            Resource: arn:aws:states:::lambda:invoke
            Parameters:
              FunctionName: ${sendMailArn}
              Payload.$: $
          Done:
            Type: Pass
            End: true
      Logging:
        Level: ALL
        IncludeExecutionData: true
        Destinations:
          - CloudWatchLogsLogGroup:
              LogGroupArn: !GetAtt StateMachineLogGroup.Arn
      Policies:
        - AWSXrayWriteOnlyAccess
        - Statement:
            - Effect: Allow
              Action:
                - logs:CreateLogDelivery
                - logs:GetLogDelivery
                - logs:UpdateLogDelivery
                - logs:DeleteLogDelivery
                - logs:ListLogDeliveries
                - logs:PutResourcePolicy
                - logs:DescribeResourcePolicies
                - logs:DescribeLogGroups
              Resource: '*'
        - LambdaInvokePolicy:
            FunctionName: !Ref parseFeeds
        - LambdaInvokePolicy:
            FunctionName: !Ref sendMail
      Tracing:
        Enabled: true
      Type: STANDARD
      DefinitionSubstitutions:
        parseFeedsArn: !GetAtt parseFeeds.Arn
        sendMailArn: !GetAtt sendMail.Arn
  StateMachineLogGroup:
    Type: AWS::Logs::LogGroup
    Properties:
      LogGroupName: !Sub
        - /aws/vendedlogs/states/${AWS::StackName}-${ResourceId}-Logs
        - ResourceId: StateMachine
  parseFeeds:
    Type: AWS::Serverless::Function
    Properties:
      Description: !Sub
        - Stack ${AWS::StackName} Function ${ResourceName}
        - ResourceName: parseFeeds
      CodeUri: src/Function
      Handler: index.handler
      Runtime: nodejs16.x
      MemorySize: 128
      Timeout: 30
      Tracing: Active
      Environment:
        Variables:
          TABLE_NAME: !Ref Feeds
          TABLE_ARN: !GetAtt Feeds.Arn
      Policies:
        - DynamoDBWritePolicy:
            TableName: !Ref Feeds
  parseFeedsLogGroup:
    Type: AWS::Logs::LogGroup
    DeletionPolicy: Retain
    Properties:
      LogGroupName: !Sub /aws/lambda/${parseFeeds}
  sendMail:
    Type: AWS::Serverless::Function
    Properties:
      Description: !Sub
        - Stack ${AWS::StackName} Function ${ResourceName}
        - ResourceName: sendMail
      CodeUri: src/Function2
      Handler: index.handler
      Runtime: nodejs16.x
      MemorySize: 128
      Timeout: 60
      Tracing: Active
      Environment:
        Variables:
          TABLE_NAME: !Ref Feeds
          TABLE_ARN: !GetAtt Feeds.Arn
      Policies:
        - DynamoDBReadPolicy:
            TableName: !Ref Feeds
        - SESCrudPolicy:
            IdentityName:  example.com //Domain you will use to send email
        - SESCrudPolicy:
            IdentityName: example@email.com //email account you will use to receive the email in sandbox SES
  sendMailLogGroup:
    Type: AWS::Logs::LogGroup
    DeletionPolicy: Retain
    Properties:
      LogGroupName: !Sub /aws/lambda/${sendMail}
  Feeds:
    Type: AWS::DynamoDB::Table
    Properties:
      AttributeDefinitions:
        - AttributeName: guid
          AttributeType: S
        - AttributeName: isodate
          AttributeType: S
      BillingMode: PAY_PER_REQUEST
      KeySchema:
        - AttributeName: guid
          KeyType: HASH
        - AttributeName: isodate
          KeyType: RANGE
      TimeToLiveSpecification:
        AttributeName: expiration
        Enabled: true
  SendMailEventSchedule:
    Type: AWS::Scheduler::Schedule
    Properties:
      ScheduleExpression: cron(0 7 * * ? *)
      FlexibleTimeWindow:
        Mode: 'OFF'
      ScheduleExpressionTimezone: Asia/Jakarta
      Target:
        Arn: !Ref StateMachine
        RoleArn: !GetAtt SendMailEventScheduleToStateMachineRole.Arn
  SendMailEventScheduleToStateMachineRole:
    Type: AWS::IAM::Role
    Properties:
      AssumeRolePolicyDocument:
        Version: '2012-10-17'
        Statement:
          Effect: Allow
          Principal:
            Service: !Sub scheduler.${AWS::URLSuffix}
          Action: sts:AssumeRole
          Condition:
            ArnLike:
              aws:SourceArn: !Sub
                - arn:${AWS::Partition}:scheduler:${AWS::Region}:${AWS::AccountId}:schedule/*/${AWS::StackName}-${ResourceId}-*
                - ResourceId: SendMailEventSchedule
      Policies:
        - PolicyName: StartExecutionPolicy
          PolicyDocument:
            Version: '2012-10-17'
            Statement:
              - Effect: Allow
                Action: states:StartExecution
                Resource: !Ref StateMachine
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Amazon Simple Email Service

Amazon SES allow you to start sending email in minutes.

Notice in sendMail function resource above that we add several policies so that our function can send email through Amazon SES

- SESCrudPolicy:
    IdentityName:  example.com //Domain you will use to send email
- SESCrudPolicy:
    IdentityName: example@email.com //email account you will use to receive the email in sandbox SES
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Makes sure you already create verified identities in Amazon SES for the domain to send email and the email account that you are going to use to receive email from Amazon SES (for sandbox SES) like this

amazon ses verified identities

The Code

parseFeeds functions

in your root project folder where you save your project template.yml, run this command (make sure you already install nodejs and npm before)

mkdir src src/Function
cd src/Function
npm init -y
npm install rss-parser
touch index.js
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then copy and paste this code below into index.js

// import aws sdk
const AWS = require('aws-sdk');
AWS.config.update({region: 'ap-southeast-1'});

const docClient = new AWS.DynamoDB.DocumentClient({apiVersion: '2012-08-10'});

const parse = new (require('rss-parser'))();

exports.handler = async (event) => {
    const {items: feeds} = await  parse.parseURL("https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/recent/feed/");
    let parseCount = 0;

    try {
        await Promise.all(feeds
            .filter((feed) => new Date(feed.isoDate).getTime() >= Date.now() - 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000) //filter feeds with isodate last  24 hours
            .map(async (feed) => {
                const params = {
                    TableName: process.env.TABLE_NAME,
                    Item: {
                        "guid": feed.guid,
                        "isodate": feed.isoDate,
                        "title": feed.title,
                        "link": feed.link,
                        "description": feed.contentSnippet,
                        "expiration": Math.round(Date.now() / 1000) + 1800 //delete feeds after 30 minutes
                    }
                };

                await docClient.put(params).promise();
                parseCount++;
            }));

        return {
            statusCode: 200,
            headers: {
                "Content-Type": "application/json"
            },
            body: JSON.stringify({parseCount})
        };
    } catch (error) {
        console.log(error.message);
        return {
            statusCode: 500,
            body: JSON.stringify({message: "Error parse feeds"})
        };
    }


}
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sendMail function

in your root project folder again run this command

mkdir src/Function2
cd src/Function2
touch index.js
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then copy and paste this code below into index.js

const AWS = require('aws-sdk');
AWS.config.update({region: 'ap-southeast-1'});

const dynamodb = new AWS.DynamoDB({apiVersion: "2012-08-10"});
const ses = new AWS.SES({ apiVersion: "2010-12-01" });

exports.handler = async (event) => {
    try {
        const {Items} = await dynamodb.scan({TableName: process.env.TABLE_NAME}).promise();
        if(Items.length > 0) {
            const params = {
              Destination: {
                ToAddresses: ["example@email.com"],
              },
              Message: {
                Body: {
                  Html: {
                    Charset: "UTF-8",
                    Data: "<h1>Today's AWSome Announcements</h1>" + Items.map(
                      (item) =>
                        `<a href='${item.link.S}'>${item.title.S}</a><p>${item.description.S}</p>`
                    ).join(""),
                  },
                },
                Subject: {
                  Charset: "UTF-8",
                  Data: "AWS Announcements",
                },
              },
              Source: "hello@example.com",
            };

            const {MessageId} = await ses.sendEmail(params).promise();

            return {
                statusCode: 200,
                headers: {
                    "Content-Type": "application/json"
                },
                body: JSON.stringify({MessageId}),
            };
        }else{
            throw new Error("No items found");
        }        
    } catch (error) {
        console.log(error.message);
        return {
            statusCode: 500,
            body: JSON.stringify({message: "Error send email"})
        }
    }
}
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Deployment

We will use SAM CLI to provision and deploy our serverless service, makes sure you already install AWS CLI and SAM CLI on your local computer and then configure AWS CLI before (check prerequisites).

First, we need to build our project with this command

sam build
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you will get output like this

Building codeuri: runtime: nodejs16.x metadata: {} architecture: x86_64 functions: parseFeeds
Running NodejsNpmBuilder:NpmPack
Running NodejsNpmBuilder:CopyNpmrcAndLockfile
Running NodejsNpmBuilder:CopySource
Running NodejsNpmBuilder:NpmInstall
Running NodejsNpmBuilder:CleanUpNpmrc
Running NodejsNpmBuilder:LockfileCleanUp
Building codeuri: runtime: nodejs16.x metadata: {} architecture: x86_64 functions: sendMail
package.json file not found. Continuing the build without dependencies.
Running NodejsNpmBuilder:CopySource

Build Succeeded

Built Artifacts  : .aws-sam\build
Built Template   : .aws-sam\build\template.yaml

Commands you can use next
=========================
[*] Validate SAM template: sam validate
[*] Invoke Function: sam local invoke
[*] Test Function in the Cloud: sam sync --stack-name {stack-name} --watch
[*] Deploy: sam deploy --guided
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then you can start for first time deploy your serverless service with this command

sam deploy --guided
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fill in the configuration below

Configuring SAM deploy
======================

        Setting default arguments for 'sam deploy'
        =========================================
        Stack Name [mail-broadcast]: mail-broadcast
        AWS Region [ap-southeast-1]: ap-southeast-1
        #Shows you resources changes to be deployed and require a 'Y' to initiate deploy
        Confirm changes before deploy [Y/n]: Y
        #SAM needs permission to be able to create roles to connect to the resources in your template
        Allow SAM CLI IAM role creation [Y/n]: Y
        #Preserves the state of previously provisioned resources when an operation fails
        Disable rollback [y/N]: N
        Save arguments to configuration file [Y/n]: Y
        SAM configuration file [samconfig.toml]:  
        SAM configuration environment [default]:
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then your serverless application will start deploying into your AWS account.

for the next deployment you just need to use this command

sam deploy
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After successful deployment, you can check into your AWS management console and find out that we successfully provision all the AWS services and deploy our lambda functions.

Test

To test our serverless service without have to wait Amazon EventBridge schedule to invoke your step functions, you can invoke your step function by going to step functions menu in your AWS management console and start execution in your step function until it shows like this

step functions execution

If the execution is successful like above, you will receive an email like this in your email account that you already configure into Amazon SES(email will only be sent when there is AWS Announcement in the last 24 hours).

email announcement

Top comments (1)

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rrsai profile image
Roy R. •

This is a useful breakdown of a relatively common need, I think. I actually want to create a simple email send-out system for an app that I am running (moving away from a deprecated email system that is using exim4 embedded on the server), so I'll try using AWS Application composer.

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