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Pub/Sub Architecture in Cloud Computing

Learn about Pub/Sub Architecture in this comprehensive Cloud Computing tutorial. Broadcasting events.

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1Why Fan-Out?

If an e-commerce order is placed, you need to bill the user, update inventory, and start shipping. Instead of the frontend calling 3 APIs, it sends 1 message to SNS. SNS securely 'fans out' that message to 3 separate SQS queues, guaranteeing delivery to all microservices.

2Step-by-Step Breakdown

What is SNS?. A fully managed pub/sub messaging, SMS, email, and mobile push notifications service.

Topics. A Topic is a logical access point that acts as a communication channel. Publishers send messages to the topic.

Subscriptions. Subscribers listen to a topic. When a message hits the topic, SNS pushes it to all subscribers simultaneously.

The Fan-Out Pattern. A powerful pattern where one SNS topic pushes the exact same message to multiple SQS queues for parallel processing.

Knowledge Check. What architectural pattern involves an SNS topic distributing one message to multiple SQS queues simultaneously?

→Fan-out Pattern
→Long Polling Pattern

SNS vs SQS. SNS is PUSH (it sends data to you). SQS is PULL (you must ask for data).

Message Filtering. Subscribers can apply a filter policy so they only receive specific messages from the topic.

Standard vs FIFO Topics. Like SQS, SNS offers Standard (max throughput) and FIFO (strict ordering and deduplication) topics.

Mobile Push & SMS. SNS can send push notifications directly to Apple (APNs), Google (FCM), and raw SMS text messages globally.

Summary. Use SNS to broadcast events across your entire architecture instantly.

Pascual Vila

Frontend Instructor // Code Syllabus

Common Pitfalls & Errors

The Error //

Using SNS alone for a workload that needs guaranteed processing, not just fan-out

// SNS -> SQS fan-out pattern for durability
aws sns subscribe --topic-arn arn:aws:sns:...:my-topic --protocol sqs --notification-endpoint arn:aws:sqs:...:my-queue

The Solution //

SNS delivers a push notification to subscribers but doesn't retain messages for a subscriber that's down at delivery time. For workloads where a message must be reliably processed even if a consumer is temporarily unavailable, fan out from SNS into an SQS queue per consumer instead of subscribing the consumer directly.

The Error //

Not confirming subscriptions and assuming messages are being delivered

aws sns list-subscriptions-by-topic --topic-arn arn:aws:sns:...:my-topic

The Solution //

An SNS subscription created via email or HTTP endpoint stays in 'PendingConfirmation' until the subscriber confirms it, silently dropping every message sent in the meantime. Always verify subscription status shows 'Confirmed' after creating it.