Guide to ‘Web Scraping with AWS Lambda’ | Growwstacks
Overview:
This Showcase from Growwstacks Automation Solutions offers a detailed guide on web scraping using AWS lambda function and explains how to scrape information from websites using lambda functions. It covers the basics of web scraping, introduces lambda functions, and shows how to combine them to make scraping easier and Invoke a function through make.com. Overall, it’s a helpful resource for anyone looking to efficiently extract data from the web.
Demo Video:
Step-by-Step Instructions:
- Navigate to the Lambda Console: Log in to the AWS Management Console using your credentials. Once logged in, locate and click on the “Lambda” service.
- Create a Lambda Function: Within the Lambda dashboard, click on the “Create function” button. From the options presented, choose “Author from scratch.” Provide a descriptive name for your function, such as “WebScrapingFunction.” Next, select the runtime environment. Since your code is in Python, choose the appropriate Python runtime version (e.gPython 3.9).
- Configure Basic Settings: In this step, you need to specify the execution role for your Lambda function. You can choose an existing role if one is available and has the necessary permissions to access the internet for web scraping. Alternatively, you can create a new role with the required permissions. Once you’ve configured the role, click on the “Create function” button to proceed.
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Create a folder in your local directory and navigate to it in the terminal.
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Install Dependencies: Open your terminal and run, It will install all dependencies into the targeted folder ’AWS_lambda_Test’:
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Save Python Code: After installing all dependencies, add a Python file named ‘lambda_function’. It should then appear like this.
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Create a zip file for all the files: Select all the files and create a zip file for them.
Or
For Mac/Linux:
- Upload Zip file on lambda function: After creating the function, you’ll be taken to the function configuration page. Scroll down to the “Function code” section. Here, you’ll upload your code by selecting “Upload from” and then choosing “ZIP file.” Ensure that your ZIP file includes all the necessary dependencies, such as requests, bs4, html2text, etc. Once you’ve uploaded the ZIP file, AWS Lambda will automatically extract and deploy your code.
- Configure the Lambda Handler: In the “Handler” field, specify the name of your Python file (without the .py extension) followed by the name of your Lambda handler function, separated by a dot. For example, if your Python file is named lambda_function.py and your handler function is named lambda_handler, the handler value would be lambda_function.lambda_handler.
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Configure Trigger (Optional): Lambda functions can be triggered by various AWS services like API Gateway, CloudWatch Events, S3, etc. If you want your Lambda function to be triggered by an event, you can configure the trigger in the “Add triggers” section. This step is also optional and depends on your application’s requirements.
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Save and Test Your Function: Once you’ve configured your function, click on the “Save” button to save your changes. You can then test your Lambda function using the “Test” button provided in the Lambda console. Provide a sample event with a URL in the url key to test your function’s functionality and ensure it behaves as expected.
- Log in your Make.com Account: Login your make account and create a scenario for testing AWS lambda function.
- Search ‘AWS lambda’: for lambda function and just select ‘invoke a function’ Module:
- Get in Your AWS account and click on Profile, click on security and credentials.
- Create access key: Create access key and just copy that.
- Paste AWS Key and AWS Secret Key in your module for connection:
- Just select ‘Function’ and set the Invocation type as ‘Request Response’. Then, enter the body as I specified in the Body Parameter.
- Deploy Your Lambda Function: After testing and confirming that your Lambda function works correctly, you can deploy it by clicking on the “Deploy” button. This action makes your function available for use in your AWS environment.
Benefits:
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Data Acquisition: Web scraping efficiently gathers data from websites, while lambda functions provide concise and efficient code execution, streamlining the data extraction process.
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Automation: Combining web scraping with lambda functions automates data collection, saving time and effort compared to manual methods.
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Competitive Analysis: The integration allows businesses to quickly analyse competitor data, such as pricing and product information, facilitating informed decision-making.
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Real-Time Insights: Web scraping with lambda functions enables access to real-time data, providing up-to-date information for market research and trend analysis.
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Customization and Efficiency: Lambda functions can be tailored to extract specific data, enhancing the customization and efficiency of web scraping tasks.
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Scalability: The combination of web scraping and lambda functions supports scalable data extraction, accommodating varying data requirements and processing loads effectively.
Check out what else we can do here : https://www.growwstacks.com/case-studies
Conclusion:
We at Growwstacks have offered a comprehensive guide to setting up a Lambda function for web scraping entails navigating to the Lambda Console, creating a function, configuring basic settings, uploading code with dependencies, defining the Lambda handler, and optionally setting environment variables and triggers and Invoke this function via make.com. Save and test the function before deploying it for use. This detailed guide from Growwstacks Automation Solutions offers insights into web scraping with Lambda, covering essentials and demonstrating effective utilisation of Lambda functions for data extraction using make.com. It serves as a valuable resource, providing guidance to optimise web scraping operations for enhanced efficiency and productivity.
Watch more Automation Demos Here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay8igynbUNc&list=PLtHT6MrIoASr_KzaMPN7qrbPXzOVeARjY
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