SNS notification types (email, SMS, Lambda) in AWS - Mini Project: Build & Apply

SNS Notification Types (Email, SMS, Lambda)

📖 Scenario: You are setting up a notification system for a small online store. When an order is placed, the system should notify the store owner by email, send a text message to the manager, and trigger a Lambda function to update the inventory.

🎯 Goal: Create an AWS SNS topic with three subscriptions: one for email notifications, one for SMS notifications, and one that triggers a Lambda function.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create an SNS topic named OrderNotifications.

Subscribe an email endpoint [e-mail] to the topic.

Subscribe an SMS endpoint [phone] to the topic.

Subscribe a Lambda function named UpdateInventoryFunction to the topic.

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

SNS topics are used to send notifications to multiple endpoints like email, SMS, and Lambda functions in real-world applications such as order processing, alerts, and system monitoring.

💼 Career

Understanding how to configure SNS with different subscription types and Lambda integration is essential for cloud engineers and developers working with AWS event-driven architectures.

1

Create the SNS topic

Create an SNS topic named OrderNotifications using AWS CloudFormation syntax.

AWS

# Your code here to create the SNS topic named OrderNotifications

Need a hint?

Use the AWS::SNS::Topic resource type and set TopicName to OrderNotifications.

2

Add email and SMS subscriptions

Add two subscriptions to the OrderNotifications topic: one email subscription with endpoint [e-mail] and one SMS subscription with endpoint [phone].

AWS

Resources:
  OrderNotifications:
    Type: AWS::SNS::Topic
    Properties:
      TopicName: OrderNotifications
# Add email and SMS subscriptions below

Need a hint?

Use the Subscription property with a list of subscriptions. Each subscription needs a Protocol and an Endpoint.

3

Add Lambda function resource

Create a Lambda function resource named UpdateInventoryFunction with runtime python3.12 and handler index.handler. Use a placeholder for the code with inline code "exports.handler = async () => {};".

AWS

Resources:
  OrderNotifications:
    Type: AWS::SNS::Topic
    Properties:
      TopicName: OrderNotifications
      Subscription:
        - Protocol: email
          Endpoint: [e-mail]
        - Protocol: sms
          Endpoint: [phone]
# Add Lambda function resource below

Need a hint?

Define the Lambda function with AWS::Lambda::Function. Use ZipFile for inline code. You must specify a valid Role ARN (use a placeholder ARN).

4

Subscribe Lambda function to SNS topic

Add a subscription to the OrderNotifications topic that triggers the Lambda function UpdateInventoryFunction. Use protocol lambda and the function's ARN reference.

AWS

Resources:
  OrderNotifications:
    Type: AWS::SNS::Topic
    Properties:
      TopicName: OrderNotifications
      Subscription:
        - Protocol: email
          Endpoint: [e-mail]
        - Protocol: sms
          Endpoint: [phone]
# Add Lambda subscription below
  UpdateInventoryFunction:
    Type: AWS::Lambda::Function
    Properties:
      FunctionName: UpdateInventoryFunction
      Runtime: python3.12
      Handler: index.handler
      Code:
        ZipFile: |
          exports.handler = async () => {};
      Role: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/lambda-execution-role

Need a hint?

Add a subscription with Protocol: lambda and use !GetAtt UpdateInventoryFunction.Arn to reference the Lambda ARN.