Amazon SNS + Twilio Integrations

Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS. is a web service that delivers messages to applications and end users from an Amazon Web Services (AWS. cloud. It is used for sending email, texts and push notifications. Amazon SNS can be used for sending out notifications about website changes or system status updates. It also can be used to send out information regarding weather alerts, package delivery, product sale promotions and other relevant notifications.

Amazon SNS is easy to integrate with other AWS services like Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Relational Database Service (RDS), Simple Storage Service (S3), Simple Queue Service (SQS), Mobile Hub and Application Load Balancer, and it's also easy to integrate with on-premises servers and applications using the Amazon SNS API.

Twilio provides an application program interface (API. to connect software applications to communications channels like Voice, SMS, and MMS. The API powers communications capabilities within web, desktop, and mobile applications.

Integration of Amazon SNS and Twilio helps in adding messaging capabilities to your application without the need for complex programming. It is also useful in adding notifications to your application.

Twilio provides APIs that can be used to route incoming phone calls, text messages, or push notifications to the right place in your application. It also allows you to build voice, VoIP, chat bots and other real-time communications into your web apps and devices.

This integration helps in building scalable phone trees which can handle thousands of phone calls per second by routing them to the appropriate person or department. This integration also helps in creating a feedback loop in your application. You can create automated surveys and questionnaires based on the responses received from customers as well.

The integration of Amazon SNS and Twilio helps in a variety of ways. Some of them are listed below:

• Create a free account at both Amazon SNS and Twilio if you don't have one already.
• Create a new topic on Amazon SNS console and fill in the details:

Topic Name. TwilioTopic ARN. arn:aws:sns:eu-west-1:XXXXXXXXXX:TwilioTopic

Subscription Type. TopicMessageWebhook

Click on the "Create topic" button.

• Create a new app on Twilio console and fill in the details:

Name. TwilioTopicApp Webhook URL. https://api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/DXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/Messages

Click on the "Create" button.

It should take few minutes for the app to get created. Once the app is created, copy down the values of Account SID and Auth Token as we will need them later on.

• Create a new Lambda function by clicking on the "Create" button under the "Lambda" section in AWS Console. It will ask you to choose between Java 8 runtime or nodejs4.3 runtime environment; select nodejs4.3 runtime environment if you are not sure where to go with this choice then choose Java8 runtime environment as it is more popular among developers than nodejs4.3 runtime environment .

Next step would be configuring the trigger for this Lambda function . For this Lambda function the trigger will be configured as "Cloudwatch Event". Under Event source choose "SNS".

In next screen fill in the details as shown in figure below:

• Now click on the "Next" button and fill in the details as shown in the following image :

• Next click on the "Upload" button and upload the code zip file from here . This zip file contains two files . index.js and config.json .
• Your Lambda function has been successfully created; it's time to configure it with our API keys for Twilio now. We have two options available here. we can either do this manually or we can use AWS Serverless Application Model (SAM. template which we have built earlier. I am going to use AWS SAM template here as it is easier way of doing it.

Here is how you can do this :

Go to AWS console → navigate to AWS Lambda → Functions → click on yours → Actions → Configure function → Search for SAM in list → click on Configure via SAM Template item → search for your function name → click on it → give permission for this template to configure your lambda function → let it configure it :

• After successful configuration of Lambda function it should look like this :
• Go back to AWS Console → navigate to Services → Twilio → Click on "+" sign next to your Twilio account → Click on Messaging → Click on Test Messages → Populate your number here → Send a test message → Make sure you got test message :
• Go back to AWS Console → Navigate to Services → Twilio → Click on "+" sign next to your Twilio account → Click on Phone Numbers → Click on "+" sign next to your Twilio phone number → Click on Edit Number → Click on HTTP Callback URL field → Paste your URL here :
• Go back to AWS Console → Navigate to Services → Amazon SNS → Click on Subscription created earlier for your Topic named TwilioTopic => Click on Actions tab => Click on Edit topic => Add ARN of Lambda function which we created earlier (i.e. arn:aws:lambda:eu-west-1:XXXXXXXXXXXXXX::YOUR_LAMBDA_FUNCTION_NAME . => Save your changes :
• Go back to AWS Console → Navigate to Services → Amazon SNS => Topics → Select TwilioTopic => Actions tab => Edit topic => Click on Publish Subscribe Endpoint Option => Add your endpoint URL which we created earlier (i.e. https://api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/DXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/Messages . => Save changes :
• Finally go back to AWS Console -> Services -> Twilio -> Numbers -> Click on the number which you want to receive messages from Topic we have created earlier => Actions -> Edit number -> Quick actions tab -> Enable webhooks => enable Receive webhooks checkbox => fill in your endpoint url (i.e https://api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/DXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/Messages . => Save Changes :

Congratulations !! Your Amazon SNS & Twilio Integration has been successfully set up !! Let's test out this integration by receiving a notification from Topic we have created earlier .

• Go back to AWS Console -> Services -> Amazon SNS => Topics -> Select TwilioTopic => Actions tab => Edit topic => Click on Publish Subscribe Endpoint Option => Add your endpoint URL which we created earlier (i.e https://api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/DXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/Messages . => Save changes :
• Go back to AWS Console -> Services -> Twilio -> Numbers -> Click on the number which you want to receive messages from Topic we have created earlier => Actions -> Edit number -> Quick actions tab -> Enable webhooks => enable Receive webhooks checkbox => fill in your endpoint url (i.e https://api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/DXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/Messages . => Save Changes :

Now whenever someone sends test message from Twilio console you should see something like below in your AWS Console /services/Amazon SNS=>Topics=>TwilioTopic=>Events=>click on test message event :

You should see something like below in your twilio console :

• You will see something like below once event is processed by lambda function :

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