Author: Nithin Mohan TK

AWS Step Functions provides serverless workflow orchestration, enabling you to coordinate Lambda functions, ECS tasks, API calls, and human approvals in a visual, maintainable way. Unlike orchestrating via code (calling Lambda from Lambda), Step Functions handles retries, error handling, and state management durably. This guide covers Standard vs Express workflows, advanced patterns like Map and […]

Cosmos DB’s partition key choice determines the scalability and cost of your database. A poor choice leads to hot partitions, throttling, and eventual redesign. Azure recently introduced Hierarchical Partition Keys—multi-level partitioning that distributes load more evenly in multi-tenant and time-series scenarios. This comprehensive guide covers partition key design fundamentals, when to use hierarchical keys, and […]

Java on AWS Lambda has always had an Achilles heel: cold starts. A typical Spring Boot application can take 5-10 seconds to cold start on Lambda—unacceptable for synchronous APIs. AWS Lambda SnapStart, announced at re:Invent 2022 and now generally available, fundamentally solves this problem by taking a snapshot of the initialized JVM and restoring it […]

Managed HSM provides FIPS 140-2 Level 3 validated hardware security modules. Required for highly regulated workloads (PCI-DSS, HIPAA). Key Differences from Standard Key Vault Single-Tenant HSM: Your keys never share hardware with other customers. BYOK: Import your own key material with cryptographic proof of transfer. Pricing: ~$3,500/month (vs ~$1/month for standard Key Vault). Use only […]

Both store secrets. When to use which? Feature Secrets Manager Parameter Store Rotation Built-in (RDS, Redshift) Manual Pricing $0.40/secret/month Free (Standard tier) Cross-Account Yes Limited My Rule: Use Secrets Manager for credentials requiring rotation. Use Parameter Store for configuration values.

The Self-Hosted Gateway runs APIM policies on your own infrastructure (Kubernetes, Docker). Use for hybrid scenarios or edge deployments. Policies (rate limiting, JWT validation) execute locally with sub-millisecond latency.