DJames617 AWS Service
AWS Step Functions
Step Functions orchestrates workflows as state machines with retries, branching, parallel steps, and service integrations.
What This Service Solves
Step Functions orchestrates workflows as state machines with retries, branching, parallel steps, and service integrations.
- Use Step Functions when the business process has ordered steps, branching, compensation, retries, or human-readable workflow state.
When You Should Not Use It
- Avoid it for a simple queue buffer where independent workers only need messages. SQS is simpler.
What AWS Manages and What You Manage
AWS manages state-machine execution. You manage state design, service integrations, permissions, timeouts, error handling, and payload size.
Security Implications
Execution roles need least privilege to every integrated service.
Availability and Scaling
Standard workflows preserve execution history and are durable. Express workflows fit high-volume short-lived work.
State transitions and service integration quotas matter.
Cost Behavior
Standard charges by state transition; Express by request and duration.
Common Integrations
- Lambda
- ECS
- SQS
- SNS
- EventBridge
- Glue
- SageMaker
How AWS Might Present It
Certification-Specific Depth
Developer Associate
Know configuration choices, integrations, failure modes, security, operations, and cost tradeoffs.
Data Engineer Associate
Know configuration choices, integrations, failure modes, security, operations, and cost tradeoffs.
Machine Learning Engineer Associate
Know configuration choices, integrations, failure modes, security, operations, and cost tradeoffs.
Related Comparisons
Sources and Review Metadata
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