Switched On Sytems

22/04/2026

We're building a microservices platform in C++ on AWS Lambda. Every service ships with the same set of shared libraries — and we were packaging all of them, every single time. 30 services meant 1.5GB of nearly identical files on every release.

It was slow, wasteful, and honestly a bit embarrassing once we did the maths.

So we split it: one shared layer that all services reference, and a lightweight packager that only ships what's unique to each service. The whole thing works because every build comes from the same Docker image — so the shared parts are guaranteed to be identical.

A couple of scripts and a manifest file later — deployments dropped by 99%. Wrote up the full approach 👇

When you build AWS Lambda functions in C++ using the custom runtime (provided.al2), every deployment zip ships the compiled binary alongside every shared library it depends on — the AWS SDK, libcurl, zlib, libstdc++, and dozens of transitive system libraries. For a single function, the ~50MB zip i...

02/02/2026

Users rarely say they are confused. More often, they continue clicking, scrolling, and attempting to make progress while quietly compensating for an interface that no longer supports their intent. They hesitate, backtrack, rely on search, or abandon tasks without clearly articulating why. These beha...

27/01/2026

It's easy to prototype and so everyone is prototyping, without really knowing why they are doing it. The resultant noise drowns out thoughtful work.

14/08/2023

Introducing a revolutionary solution to streamline your RDS Aurora PostgreSQL database management. Say goodbye to complex EC2 instances and command line tools. Experience the power of our secure, serverless application, designed to enhance your workflow.

With our cutting-edge Angular frontend hosted on S3 and leveraging AWS Lambda functions, you can effortlessly access your databases and retrieve data and meta information. Say hello to simplicity and efficiency.

Don't let outdated tools hold you back. Take control of your RDS Aurora PostgreSQL databases with our intuitive and robust solution. Experience seamless integration with AWS APIs and unlock a world of possibilities. Upgrade your database management game today.

18/12/2022

Cloud-based business software infrastructure solutions can provide organizations with a modern, cost-effective solution to their operational needs. Some of the advantages associated with cloud-based CRM, ERP and other enterprise solutions include superior scalability, enhanced data backup and redundancy capabilities, an increase in efficiency from concurrent access by multiple users and 24/7 availability from anywhere with an Internet connection. With the rapid growth of cloud technology, these solutions are becoming increasingly feature rich at very competitive pricing. When researching your business software infrastructure needs for the future, it is worth considering the sophisticated capabilities of a quality cloud-based system to ensure you will maximize your teams' performance and exceed customer expectations.

https://www.switchedonsystems.com/harnessing-the-power-of-cloud-applications/

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/harnessing-power-cloud-applications-your-business-roland-welker/

13/04/2022

After previously having written an article on developing a AWS Embedded Metrics Format C++ library:

http://www.switchedonsystems.com/emf_for_cpp/

I have now finished working on it and written some usage documentation and made it available on Github:

https://github.com/sosRoland/embedded_metrics

21/02/2022

I have written an article about a C++ utility I have coded that generates AWS Embedded Metrics Format log messages for the AWS Lambda Custom Runtime (for C++).

Please feel free to comment and of course I appreciate any share.

++

Amazon Web Services introduced[ref] the Embedded Metrics Format (from now on referred to as EMF) which allows for metrics generation out of the log stream.

13/02/2022

A wee article on the integration of the Valitor Payment Gateway with Angular

This article briefly describes how you integrate the Valitor Payment processing with an Angular application. Valitor Checkout provides a simple and easy way to take payments for your Angular application. It’s API integration method is well suited for use with Angular.