2022.08 - AWS Node.js update, Migration
Fall semester has started and it’s been two weeks into it already. This semester, I’m taking Operating Systems and Networking for my CS major and a bunch of electives for my degree. This will be the last semester with non-CS electives and I’m not sure how it will go next semester with no electives and CS courses all the way. (Maybe it might be better?)
It’s almost season for career fairs, and I’ve already got a chance to take a technical interview which I feel like I did a decent job, but I guess not. Pretty sure there will be a lot of rejections coming in, and I guess I’ll just have to keep on applying and applying.
I’ve recently received an email from AWS about the end-of-life for Node.js version 12. The lambda function that I was using to serve my React applications were using Node.js version 12 and I was able to update it to version 16 without a hassle. Going back to my post about how to serve static pages on AWS really helped although the UI for the AWS console changed a bit.
In addition to the Node.js update, there has been an announcement from Heroku which states that starting from November 28, 2022, there will no longer be free Heroku dynos. This was a bit of an issue as I was serving Sosizi on the free dyno to help my buddies who were still serving in my last military post. I asked one of them if they were still using the service and I honestly didn’t expect them to be using it still. That moment when an application you’ve created was still being used and was really needed felt so good. So, I decided to migrate the application from Heroku to AWS.
One of the main reason I was using Heroku instead of AWS aside from it being free was to serve the delivery point lists from a server so that if I were to update the list, the update would be registered immediately whereas if I were serving from a static website, I would have to wait until the CDNs updated their cache. However, although I can’t verify on this or looked up on it, one thing I’ve recently noticed is that AWS has gotten quicker (about a few hours) with updating their CDN cache nowadays compared to when I first started using it (where I would have to wait about a day) so I guess the above issue wasn’t too important anymore. Also, the application wasn’t being used everyday, so even if the updates were slow, it wouldn’t really matter. I know that AWS also has an EC2 instance where I can serve my server instead of a static webpage, but to me, it was too expensive even with the cheapest option (maybe I’ve configured it wrong?).
So, I’ve moved all of the delivery points to a simple JSON data structure and shipped it along with my React application. In addition, I’ve updated the design and added some new features so that it looks a bit more decent now. Another reason I didn’t want to serve it on AWS was because it would be using my thinkty.net domain with an application that was being used by others. If I could afford another domain, I would’ve gotten a separate domain and play around with Route53 to manage two domains at once. Also, I could have gone with other platforms that offer free options to serve static pages, but I’ve just decided to pay few more cents and just use my domain.
I plan to add some more features to the app. For example, a form to request changes, highlight current delivery marker, show delivery points in an overview, etc. For the feature to request changes, I hope I can somehow integrate Github so that it could automatically create issues with a specified form or atleast send an email.
I hope this semester ends well without any new pandemics or disasters popping out from here and there. I really hope I could get an internship since I’m kinda afraid that being away from the academics due to the military might have gotten my skills rusty.