aws-lambda-r-runtime

This project makes it easy to run AWS Lambda Functions written in R.

Example

To run the example, we need to create a IAM role executing our lambda. This role should have the following properties:

• Trusted entity – Lambda.
• Permissions – AWSLambdaBasicExecutionRole.

Furthermore you need a current version of the AWS CLI.

Then create a lambda function which uses the R runtime layer:

cd example/
chmod 755 script.R
zip function.zip script.R
# current region
region=$(aws configure get region)
# latest runtime layer ARN for R 3.6.0
runtime_layer=$(aws lambda list-layer-versions --max-items 1 --no-paginate  \
    --layer-name arn:aws:lambda:${region}:131329294410:layer:r-runtime-3_6_0 \
    --query 'LayerVersions[0].LayerVersionArn' --output text)
aws lambda create-function --function-name r-example \
    --zip-file fileb://function.zip --handler script.handler \
    --runtime provided --timeout 60 \
    --layers ${runtime_layer} \
    --role <role-arn>

The function simply increments 'x' by 1. Invoke the function:

aws lambda invoke --function-name r-example \
    --payload '{"x":1}' response.txt
cat response.txt

The expected result should look similar to this:

2

Using packages

We also provide a layer which ships with some recommended R packages, such as Matrix. This example lambda shows how to use them:

cd example/
chmod 755 matrix.R
zip function.zip matrix.R
# current region
region=$(aws configure get region)
# latest runtime layer ARN for R 3.6.0
runtime_layer=$(aws lambda list-layer-versions --max-items 1 --no-paginate  \
    --layer-name arn:aws:lambda:${region}:131329294410:layer:r-runtime-3_6_0 \
    --query 'LayerVersions[0].LayerVersionArn' --output text)
# latest recommended layer ARN for R 3.6.0
recommended_layer=$(aws lambda list-layer-versions --max-items 1 --no-paginate  \
    --layer-name arn:aws:lambda:${region}:131329294410:layer:r-recommended-3_6_0 \
    --query 'LayerVersions[0].LayerVersionArn' --output text)
aws lambda create-function --function-name r-matrix-example \
    --zip-file fileb://function.zip --handler matrix.handler \
    --runtime provided --timeout 60 --memory-size 3008 \
    --layers ${runtime_layer} ${recommended_layer} \
    --role <role-arn>

The function returns the second column of some static matrix. Invoke the function:

aws lambda invoke --function-name r-matrix-example response.txt
cat response.txt

The expected result should look similar to this:

[4,5,6]

Provided layers

Layers are only accessible in the AWS region they were published. We provide the following layers:

r-runtime

R, httr, jsonlite, aws.s3, logging

Available AWS regions:

• ap-northeast-1
• ap-northeast-2
• ap-south-1
• ap-southeast-1
• ap-southeast-2
• ca-central-1
• eu-central-1
• eu-north-1
• eu-west-1
• eu-west-2
• eu-west-3
• sa-east-1
• us-east-1
• us-east-2
• us-west-1
• us-west-2

Available R versions:

• 3_5_1
• 3_5_3
• 3_6_0

Latest ARN:

aws lambda list-layer-versions --max-items 1 --no-paginate  \
    --layer-name arn:aws:lambda:${region}:131329294410:layer:r-runtime-${r_version} \
    --query 'LayerVersions[0].LayerVersionArn' --output text

r-recommended

The recommended packages that ship with R: boot, class, cluster, codetools, foreign, KernSmooth, lattice, MASS, Matrix, mgcv, nlme, nnet, rpart, spatial, survival

Available AWS regions:

• ap-northeast-1
• ap-northeast-2
• ap-south-1
• ap-southeast-1
• ap-southeast-2
• ca-central-1
• eu-central-1
• eu-north-1
• eu-west-1
• eu-west-2
• eu-west-3
• sa-east-1
• us-east-1
• us-east-2
• us-west-1
• us-west-2

Available R versions:

• 3_5_1
• 3_5_3
• 3_6_0

Latest ARN:

aws lambda list-layer-versions --max-items 1 --no-paginate  \
    --layer-name arn:aws:lambda:${region}:131329294410:layer:r-recommended-${r_version} \
    --query 'LayerVersions[0].LayerVersionArn' --output text

r-awspack

The awspack package

Available AWS regions:

• ap-northeast-1
• ap-northeast-2
• ap-south-1
• ap-southeast-1
• ap-southeast-2
• ca-central-1
• eu-central-1
• eu-north-1
• eu-west-1
• eu-west-2
• eu-west-3
• sa-east-1
• us-east-1
• us-east-2
• us-west-1
• us-west-2

Available R versions:

• 3_5_1
• 3_5_3
• 3_6_0

Latest ARN:

aws lambda list-layer-versions --max-items 1 --no-paginate  \
    --layer-name arn:aws:lambda:${region}:131329294410:layer:r-awspack-${r_version} \
    --query 'LayerVersions[0].LayerVersionArn' --output text

Documentation

The lambda handler is used to determine both the file name of the R script and the function to call. The handler must be separated by ., e.g., script.handler.

The lambda payload is unwrapped as named arguments to the R function to call, e.g., {"x":1} is unwrapped to handler(x=1).

The lambda function returns whatever is returned by the R function as a JSON object.

Building custom layers

In order to install additional R packages, you can create a lambda layer containing the libraries, just as in the second example. You must use the the compiled package files. The easiest way is to install the package with install.packages() and copy the resulting folder in $R_LIBS. Using only the package sources does not suffice. The file structure must be R/library/<my-library>. If your package requires system libraries, place them in R/lib/.

You can use Docker for building your layer. You need to run ./docker_build.sh first. Then you can install your packages inside the container and copy the files to your machine. See awspack/ for an example. The build.sh script is used to run the docker container and copy sources to your machine. The entrypoint.sh script is used for installing packages inside the container.

Debugging

In order to make the runtime log debugging messages, you can set the environment variable LOGLEVEL to DEBUG.

Limitations

AWS Lambda is limited to running with 3GB RAM and must finish within 15 minutes. It is therefore not feasible to execute long running R scripts with this runtime. Furthermore, only the /tmp/ directory is writeable on AWS Lambda. This must be considered when writing to the local disk.

Building

To build the layer yourself, you need to first build R from source. We provide a Docker image which uses the great docker-lambda project. Just run ./build.sh <version> and everything should be build properly.

If you plan to publish the runtime, you need to have a recent version of aws cli (>=1.16). Now run the <layer>/deploy.sh script. This creates a lambda layer named r-<layer>-<version> in your AWS account. You can use it as shown in the example.

Compiling on EC2

In case the Docker image does not properly represent the lambda environment, we also provide a script which launches an EC2 instance, compiles R, and uploads the zipped distribution to S3. You need to specify the R version, e.g., 3.6.0, as well as the S3 bucket to upload the distribution to. Finally, you need to create an EC2 instance profile which is capable of uploading to the S3 bucket. See the AWS documentation for details. With everything prepared, you can run the script:

./remote_compile_and_deploy.sh <version> <bucket-name> <instance-profile>

The script will also take care of terminating the launched EC2 instance.

To manually build R from source, follow these steps:

Start an EC2 instance which uses the Lambda AMI:

aws ec2 run-instances --image-id ami-657bd20a --count 1 --instance-type t2.medium --key-name <my-key-pair>

Now run the compile.sh script in r/. You must pass the R version as a parameter to the script, e.g., 3.6.0. The script produces a zip containing a functional R installation in /opt/R/. The relevant files can be found in r/build/bin/. Use this R distribution for building the layers.

Testing

After building all layers, you can test it locally with SAM CLI and Docker. Install it via pipenv install --dev. Then run python3 -m unittest. This will spawn a local lambda server via Docker and invokes the lambdas defined in template.yaml.