Updated timeframe for the upcoming AWS Lambda and AWS Lambda@Edge execution environment update

On May 14th we announced an upcoming update to the AWS Lambda and AWS Lambda@Edge execution environments. In that announcement we shared that we are updating the execution environment to a more recent version of Amazon Linux. This newer execution environment brings updates that offer improvements in capabilities, performance, security, and updated packages that your application code might interface with. The previous post explained approaches to proactively testing against the new update, and methods to update your code to be compatible in the rare case you were impacted.

So far, we’ve heard from many customers that their functions have not been impacted when using the new execution environment by configuring the Opt-in mechanism. For those that have been impacted, they have been able to follow the guidance on rebuilding any dependencies against the new execution environment and retesting their functions with success.

We also received feedback that customers wanted to see a longer time frame for validation as well as have more control over it, and so based on this feedback we’ve decided to modify the timeframe in two ways.

The first phase, Begin Testing, will be extended by three weeks, retroactive starting May 21 and now ending June 10. This will give you more time to test your functions with the Opt-in layer before any further changes to the platform kick in.

We are then taking the second phase, originally called Update/Create and breaking into two independent periods of time. The first, now referred to as the New Function Create phase, will be two weeks long and during this time all newly created functions will use the new execution environment unless a delayed-update layer is configured. The second new phase, Existing Function Update, will be three weeks long and during this time both newly created functions as well as existing functions that you update, will use the new execution environment unless a delayed-update layer is configured.

The end result is that you now have 5 more weeks in total to test and potentially update your functions for this change before the General Update begins. As a reminder, starting at that time, all functions without a delayed-update layer configured will begin migrating to the new execution environment.

New update timeline

The following is the new timeline for the update, which is now broken up over five phases:

May 14, 2019 – Begin Testing: You can begin testing your functions for the new execution environment locally with AWS SAM CLI or using an Amazon EC2 instance running on Amazon Linux 2018.03. You can also proactively enable the new environment in AWS Lambda using the opt-in mechanism described in the original announcement post.
June 11, 2019 – New Function Create: All newly created functions will result in those functions running on the new execution environment, unless they have a delayed-update layer configured.
June 25, 2019 – Existing Function Update: All newly created functions or existing functions that you update will result in those functions running on the new execution environment, unless they have a delayed-update layer configured.
July 16, 2019 – General Update: Existing functions begin using the new execution environment on invoke, unless they have a delayed-update layer configured.
July 23, 2019 – Delayed Update End: All functions with a delayed-update layer configured start being migrated automatically.
July 29, 2019 – Migration End: All functions have been migrated over to the new execution environment.

Note, that we have updated the original announcement post with this new timeline as well.

FAQ

We also wanted to take the chance to provide additional information on follow up questions customers have had about the update.

Q. How does this relate to the recent Node.js v10 runtime launch?
A. The Node.js v10 launch is unrelated and is not impacted by this change. The Node.js v10 runtime is based on Amazon Linux 2 as its execution environment. Please see the AWS Lambda Runtimes section in the documentation for more information.

Q. Does this update change the execution environment for other runtimes to run on Amazon Linux 2?
A. No, this update brings the execution environment to the latest Amazon Linux 1 distribution release. In the future, new runtimes will launch on Amazon Linux 2, but all previous existing runtimes will continue to run on Amazon Linux 1.

Q. Was this update related to the recent Intel Quarterly Security Release (QSR) 2019.1?
A. No, this motion to begin updating the execution environment for Lambda and Lambda@Edge is unrelated to the Intel QSR. There is no action for Lambda or Lambda@Edge customers to take in relation to the QSR.

Next Steps

Your feedback greatly matters to us and we will continue to listen and learn from you. Please continue to contact us through AWS Support, the AWS forums, or AWS account teams.