Preparing for AWS re:Invent 2024

2024-10-01 12 min read Events Adam Divall

AWS re:Invent 2024, the biggest event in the annual Amazon Web Services (AWS) calendar, is fast approaching once again.

If you’re attending in person, it can be challenging to determine which sessions will be most valuable. In this blog post, I’ve highlighted the sessions I’m planning to attend, along with some tips to help you make the most of the event.

Reserved seating opens on October 8th, a day I like to refer to as “whack-a-mole night.” As soon as you try to reserve a spot, it’s likely the session will already be fully booked, leaving you to queue up on the day and potentially miss out on other opportunities.

To avoid disappointment, it’s essential to plan your week ahead to maximize your time at the conference, especially if there’s something specific you don’t want to miss.

When browsing the Session Catalog, pay attention to the numbers at the beginning of the session titles. These numbers indicate the technical depth of the session:

100 = Foundational
200 = Intermediate
300 = Advanced
400 = Expert

Most breakout sessions are typically recorded and available on the AWS YouTube Channel or AWS Stash after the conference, so it’s often best to prioritise other types of content that can only be experienced while you’re in Las Vegas.

When choosing what to attend at this year’s re:Invent, I’ve considered several factors. These include services I want to explore further, either because I haven’t had hands-on experience yet or I want to dive deeper into them, as well as areas where I see potential for improvements or enhancements to the solutions my team delivers to our clients. Additionally, I also want re:Invent to challenge me, rather than simply going through the motions throughout the week.

With that in mind, here’s my current agenda for the week:

Monday 2nd December

08:30-09:30 - NET305-R | Outbound traffic inspection with AWS CloudWAN & AWS Network Firewall: AWS offers several managed networking services that help you more easily build, manage, and secure global networks. This builders’ session explores two of those managed services, AWS Cloud WAN and AWS Network Firewall, through the build-out of a solution that allows you to architect and implement outbound traffic controls.
10:00-11:00 - ARC327 | Mastering resilience at every layer of the cake: Most workloads on AWS resemble a finely crafted cake, with delight at every layer. In this session, master resilience at each layer of deliciousness: from platform to infrastructure and applications, using services like AWS Resilience Hub, AWS Fault Injection Service (FIS), Amazon Route53 ARC, Amazon Elastic Disaster Recovery (DRS), AWS Backup, and more. Leave with a mental model for how resilience works throughout these layers, with ready-to-use reference architectures and prescriptive guidance.
12:30-14:30 - NET306 | Dual-stack global networks with AWS CloudWAN and AWS Direct Connect: Get hands-on experience building a modern global network with AWS Cloud WAN and AWS Direct Connect. In this workshop, transform your network by replacing traditional data center interconnect circuits with AWS Direct Connect SiteLink. Also, dual-stack your hybrid network to prepare IPv6 connectivity for applications, and scale beyond limitations of IPv4 space. Finally, enhance your hybrid cloud network by implementing Amazon Route 53 Resolver endpoints with Route 53 Profiles to integrate your AWS and on-premises DNS infrastructure. Leave this workshop well-equipped to architect and deploy efficient hybrid network architectures.
14:30-15:30 - NFX401 | Practical IAM abstractions: Self-service without the JSON: Building services on AWS necessitates using identity and access management (IAM) to define the privileges between cloud identities and resources. The policy language for IAM is as complex as it is expressive, often requiring extensive tooling to avoid pitfalls in large cloud environments. At Netflix, the Cloud Infrastructure Security team continuously works to reduce the complexity of IAM for its engineers, balancing ease of use with right-sized permissions. This chalk talk explores some techniques and non-traditional IAM patterns that Netflix uses to meet engineers where they are—boosting their productivity and increasing the security of their services.
16:00-17:00 - XNT304 | How to navigate your SQL Server migration journey with AWS: In this chalk talk, discover the spectrum of migration strategies for SQL Server on AWS. Whether you have a single database or thousands, learn the difference between using AWS Migration Hub, AWS Application Migration Service, and AWS Database Migration Service (AWS DMS). Learn about native SQL Server methods, including replication, Always On availability groups, and log shipping. Gain insights from real-world migrations and best practices tailored for diverse migration needs. Come prepared with your questions.
17:30-18:30 - XNT311 | Go codeless and replatfom Windows applications on Amazon EKS: Moody’s runs dozens of .NET applications on Amazon EC2 for Windows Server. As part of its modernization strategy, Moody’s replatformed its critical legacy applications to Amazon EKS with Windows support, achieving cost reduction, better performance, and more flexibility for its developers. In this session, Moody’s shares key takeaways and best practices from its successful replatform, including how it overcame challenges and maximized its platform engineering investments. Leave this session with concrete examples and techniques to replatform your own .NET Framework applications on Amazon EKS.
19:30-21:00 - KEY001 | Monday Night Live with Peter DeSantis: Join Peter DeSantis, Senior Vice President of AWS Utility Computing, as he continues the Monday Night Live tradition of diving deep into the engineering that powers AWS services. Get a closer look at how our unique approach and culture of innovation help create leading-edge solutions across the entire spectrum, from silicon to services—without compromising on performance or cost.

Tuesday 3rd December

08:00-10:30 - KEY002 | CEO Keynote with Matt Garman: Join AWS CEO Matt Garman to hear how AWS is innovating across every aspect of the world’s leading cloud. He explores how we are reinventing foundational building blocks as well as developing brand new experiences, all to empower customers and partners with what they need to build a better future.
12:00-13:00 - DOP214 | Unleashing generative AI: Amazon’s journey with Amazon Q Developer: Join us to discover how Amazon rolled out Amazon Q Developer to thousands of developers, trained them in prompt engineering, and measured its transformative impact on productivity. In this session, learn best practices for effectively adopting generative AI in your organization. Gain insights into training strategies, productivity metrics, and real-world use cases to empower your developers to harness the full potential of this game-changing technology. Don’t miss this opportunity to stay ahead of the curve and drive innovation within your team.
13:30-14:30 - DOP215 | Next-generation CDK development with Amazon Q Developer: The AWS Cloud Development Kit (AWS CDK) has emerged as a powerful infrastructure as code tool, but building custom high-level constructs can be challenging. This session demonstrates how to leverage Amazon Q Developer, an AI-powered assistant for software development, to create tailored CDK constructs that encapsulate cloud architecture patterns. Learn to design effective constructs, utilize Amazon Q’s features for automated documentation and testing, and explore customization options to optimize the developer experience with infrastructure as code using AWS CDK and Amazon Q Developer.
15:30-17:30 - ARC307 | Benchmarking through cost insights: The way of the frugal architect: Does your infrastructure’s cost reflect best practices and recommended patterns? Are you using AWS services optimally while implementing robust, cost-optimized foundations? This workshop is designed to help you drive architectural improvements through cost observation. It explores how to uncover suboptimal architecture patterns, hidden failures, and noncompliant deployments by using costs to establish and visualize good baselines for foundational services and workload architectures. It demonstrates how to combine cost categories and usage data with design requirements, application profiles, and best practices to generate flexible visualizations and KPIs that empower the frugal architect. Join this workshop to gain expertise in creating a cost-effective architecture.

Wednesday 4th December

09:00-11:00 - ANT310 | Low-cost logging and observabiluty with Amazon OpenSearch Service: In this workshop, discover how to build a cost-efficient enterprise logging and observability solution for large amounts of data with Amazon OpenSearch Service. Learn how to use storage tiering, OR1 instance types, zero-ETL, and query acceleration techniques to drive cost efficiencies and performance.
12:30-14:30 - XNT401-R | Easily port .NET Framework applications to Linux with Amazon Q: In this workshop, gain hands-on experience porting a .NET Framework application to cross-platform .NET. Use Amazon Q Code Transformation for .NET, a modernization tool powered by generative AI that significantly reduces the time to migrate applications from Windows Server to Linux. Learn how migrating to Linux helps you avoid additional licensing fees and gain performance and security benefits.
16:00-18:00 - BSI204-R1 | Hands-on with Amazon Q in QuickSight: A step-by-step workshop: In this workshop, explore the Generative BI capabilities of Amazon Q in QuickSight. Experience authoring visuals and refining them using natural language. Learn how business users can leverage natural language to generate data stories to create highly customizable narratives or slide decks from data. Discover how natural language Q&A with Amazon Q helps users gain insights beyond what is presented on dashboards while executive summaries provide an at-a-glance view of data, surfacing trends and explanations.

Thursday 5th December

08:30-10:30 - KEY005 | Dr. Werner Vogels Keynote: Join Dr. Werner Vogels, VP and CTO at Amazon.com, as he shares the critical lessons and strategies he has learned for managing increasingly complex systems. The keynote explores the core principles for embracing complexity, drawing on Amazon’s experiences building distributed systems at massive scale.
08:00-12:00 - GHJ305 | AWS Jam: Generative AI: Are you curious about the cutting-edge world of generative AI? Learn about the power of generative AI through AWS Jam challenges designed to spark fresh ideas by presenting real-world scenarios. Join us for the Jam session to gain hands-on experience with AWS services and offerings from AWS partners. The activities are structured to cater to AWS users of all skill levels, and you have a chance to win swag and prizes. AWS experts, along with guided exercises, are available to help enhance your generative AI knowledge.
13:00-14:00 - NET301 | Advanced VPC design and what’s new in VPC: Amazon VPC is a foundational service on AWS, giving you control over your virtual networking environment. Every year, AWS makes updates to Amazon VPC to help improve functionality, security, and usability. In this session, learn about the latest updates to Amazon VPC and how you can use them to enhance your current architectures.
15:30-16:30 - COP302-R1 | Automate patch management and compiance: In this workshop, learn how to automate patch management and compliance. See how you can quickly enable patching at scale across your AWS accounts and Regions within your AWS organization using AWS Systems Manager. Gain hands-on experience with how to use AWS Systems Manager to enable patching operations and maintain compliance.

Friday 6th December

10:30-12:30 - STG403-R1 | Safeguard and audit data protection with AWS Backup: Backup is critical for organizations to meet business operation and regulatory compliance needs. It also helps protect against disasters, accidental deletions, and ransomware. In this workshop, explore different scenarios using AWS Backup. Find out how you can define policies to centrally protect and restore AWS services; choose among Amazon EC2 instances, Amazon EBS volumes, Amazon S3 objects, Amazon Aurora databases, and Amazon EFS file systems; configure AWS Backup Vault Lock to enable write-once, read-many (WORM) backup data; and deliver simple, auditor-ready compliance monitoring and reporting with AWS Backup Audit Manager.

Key Tips for re:Invent

I’ve been fortunate to attend several AWS re:Invent’s now and here are my personal tips for making the most of your experience:

Plan your schedule: Prioritise the sessions you really want to attend, and make sure to build in time for breaks and travel between venues—Las Vegas is massive! For example, if you have a session at the Venetian and another 30 minutes later at the MGM Grand or Mandalay Bay, you’ll struggle to make it on time. In that case, Uber or Lyft will be your best option, as the Campus Shuttle likely won’t get you there fast enough. Creating a calendar is key to this and Raphael Manke has created an Unofficial Session Planner that allows you to easily add sessions and export them to share with others. Mine is available for download here.
Get a pre-paid SIM card: Avoid expensive roaming charges by getting a pre-paid SIM card for your mobile phone before you go. Although there’s Wi-Fi everywhere, roaming fees can add up. I’ve used these SIM cards during recent U.S. trips and they include unlimited data. Alternatively, you can purchase an eSIM from providers like Airalo.
Wear comfortable shoes and bring layers: You’ll be doing a lot of walking, standing, and sitting, so comfortable shoes are a must. Also, venues can get chilly, so pack a jacket or hoodie to stay warm.
Network: Networking is crucial! This event offers an incredible opportunity to grow your professional network. Make sure to attend networking events, including after-parties listed on Conference Parties, some of which require registration before you arrive in Las Vegas.
Pick up your badge early: As soon as you arrive, pick up your conference badge, either at the airport (on Sunday or Monday) or at Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, or The Venetian. You’ll need it to access sessions, the re:Play Party, and to use the Campus Shuttles.
Take advantage of included meals: Breakfast and lunch are included with your re:Invent Conference Pass. Breakfast is served from 7:00 to 9:00 AM, and lunch is available between 11:00 AM and 1:30 PM at Caesars Forum, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, The Venetian, or Wynn.
Stock up on snacks and drinks: Prices in the U.S., particularly in Las Vegas, have risen in recent years. I recommend stocking up on water and soft drinks from CVS or Walgreens for your hotel room to avoid high hotel prices. Staying hydrated is essential, as the air conditioning can make your throat dry.
Get extra SWAG: AWS encourages feedback on sessions by offering SWAG for filling out surveys after each session. Don’t miss this chance to grab some extra goodies!
Visit the Expo Hall: Make time to explore the Expo Hall at The Venetian. You’ll find booths, meet AWS experts, and network with other attendees. Be sure to bring an extra bag (or a large one) to carry all the SWAG you’ll collect.
Don’t miss the re:Play party: On Thursday, December 5th, from 8:00 PM to midnight, enjoy interactive activities, games, food, drinks, and a surprise musical guest at the re:Play party. Don’t forget to pick up a party t-shirt! There are usually multiple music stages, so you can find something that suits your taste.

Feel free to say hello if you see me at re:Invent! You might even spot me in my sparkly gold jacket from last year’s AWS Global Ambassador Summit in Seattle.

See you there!