Posted On: Nov 15, 2021

Amazon Step Functions’ Synchronous Express Workflows now supports Amazon PrivateLink allowing you to start a Synchronous Express Workflow from your Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) without traversing the public internet.

Amazon Step Functions is a low-code, visual workflow service that developers can use to help build distributed applications, automate IT and business processes, and build data and machine learning pipelines using Amazon services. For high-throughput and short duration workloads Express Workflows are ideal while Synchronous Express Workflows also allow developers to quickly receive the workflow response without needing to poll additional services or build a custom solution. Amazon PrivateLink provides private connectivity between VPCs, Amazon services, and your on-premises networks, without exposing your traffic to the public internet.

Now, with Amazon PrivateLink support you can start Synchronous Express Workflows while traffic remains within the Amazon network which can reduce the risk of DDoS attacks or man-in-the-middle attacks (MITM). PrivateLink makes it easier to connect services across different accounts and VPCs to help simplify your network architecture while Synchronous Express Workflows allows you to easily coordinate Amazon services. You will need to create a new VPC endpoint to connect to Synchronous Express Workflows, but no code changes are required for your SDK configurations if Private DNS resolution is enabled in VPC and VPCe.

This feature is available in the Amazon Web Services China (Beijing) Region, operated by Sinnet and the Amazon Web Services China (Ningxia) Region, operated by NWCD.

To learn more, visit the Amazon VPC endpoints page in the Amazon Step Functions Developer Guide, or see our documentation on Express Workflows.