NBA Game Day Notifications /Sports Alerts System

Project Overview

Stay on top of the game!This project is a real time NBA Game Day Notifications System that delivers live score updates straight to your inbox or phone via SMS/Email. Built using AWS Services and NBA APIs, it showcases how to design a secure, scalable, and automated cloud-based notification system. Perfect for sports enthusiasts and techies exploring AWS and Python-based solutions.

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Key Features

• Live Score Updates: Fetches live NBA scores from the NBA Game API.
• Real-Time Notifications: Sends formatted updates via Amazon SNS (SMS/Email).
• Automated Scheduling: Uses Amazon EventBridge for regular updates.
• Security-Focused Design: Implements the principle of least privilege for AWS IAM roles.

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Tech Stack

• Cloud Provider: AWS
• Core Services: Amazon SNS, AWS Lambda, EventBridge
• API: NBA Game API from SportsData.io
• Language: Python 3.x
• Security: Custom IAM policies for secure integration

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Architecture Overview

• Amazon EventBridge: Automates scheduling of the Lambda function to fetch live game data.
• AWS Lambda: Executes the notification logic in real time.
• Amazon SNS: Sends game day updates to users via SMS and Email.

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Project Structure

game-day-notifications/
├── src/
│   ├── gd_notifications.py          # Main Lambda function code
├── policies/
│   ├── gd_sns_policy.json           # SNS publishing permissions
│   ├── gd_eventbridge_policy.json   # EventBridge to Lambda permissions
│   └── gd_lambda_policy.json        # Lambda execution role permissions
├── .gitignore
└── README.md                        # Project documentation

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Getting Started

1. Prerequisites

   • NBA API Key: Get your free API key from SportsData.io
   • AWS Account: Familiarity with AWS services and Python is a plus!

2. Clone the Repository

git clone [e-mail]:adesegunasunmo/Game-Day-Notifications.git
cd Game-Day-Notifications

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Step-by-Step Setup

Create an SNS Topic

1. Open the AWS Management Console.
2. Navigate to the SNS service.
3. Click Create Topic and select Standard as the topic type.
4. Name the topic (e.g., gd_topic) and note the ARN.
5. Click Create Topic.

Add Subscriptions to the SNS Topic

1. After creating the topic, click on the topic name from the list.
2. Navigate to the Subscriptions tab and click Create subscription.

3. Select a Protocol: For Email:

   • Choose Email.
   • Enter a valid email address.
   • For SMS (phone number):
   • Choose SMS.
   • Enter a valid phone number in international format (e.g., [phone]).

4. Click Create Subscription.

5. If you added an Email subscription:

6. Check the inbox of the provided email address.

7. Confirm the subscription by clicking the confirmation link in the email.

8. For SMS, the subscription will be immediately active after creation.

Create an SNS Topic Policy

1. Open the IAM service in the AWS Management Console.
2. Navigate to Policies → Create Policy.
3. Click JSON and paste the JSON policy from gd_sns_policy.json file
4. Replace REGION and ACCOUNT_ID with your AWS region and account ID.
5. Click Next: Tags (you can skip adding tags).
6. Click Next: Review.
7. Enter a name for the policy (e.g., gd_sns_policy).
8. Review and click Create Policy.

Create an IAM Role for Lambda

1. Open the IAM service in the AWS Management Console.
2. Click Roles → Create Role.
3. Select AWS Service and choose Lambda.
4. Attach the following policies:
5. SNS Publish Policy (gd_sns_policy) (created in the previous step).
6. Lambda Basic Execution Role (AWSLambdaBasicExecutionRole) (an AWS managed policy).
7. Click Next: Tags (you can skip adding tags).
8. Click Next: Review.
9. Enter a name for the role (e.g., gd_role).
10. Review and click Create Role.
11. Copy and save the ARN of the role for use in the Lambda function.

Deploy the Lambda Function

1. Open the AWS Management Console and navigate to the Lambda service.
2. Click Create Function.
3. Select Author from Scratch.
4. Enter a function name (e.g., gd_notifications).
5. Choose Python 3.x as the runtime.
6. Assign the IAM role created earlier (gd_role) to the function.
7. Under the Function Code section:
8. Copy the content of the src/gd_notifications.py file from the repository.
9. Paste it into the inline code editor.
10. Under the Environment Variables section, add the following:
11. NBA_API_KEY: your NBA API key.
12. SNS_TOPIC_ARN: the ARN of the SNS topic created earlier.
13. Click Create Function.

Automate with Eventbridge

1. Navigate to the Eventbridge service in the AWS Management Console.
2. Go to Rules → Create Rule.
3. Select Event Source: Schedule.
4. Set the cron schedule for when you want updates (e.g., hourly).
5. Under Targets, select the Lambda function (gd_notifications) and save the rule.

Testing the System

• Open the Lambda function in the AWS Management Console.
• Create a test event to simulate execution.
• Run the function and check CloudWatch Logs for errors.
• Verify that SMS notifications are sent to the subscribed users.

What I Learned

• Setting up a cloud-based notification system with AWS SNS and Lambda.
• Best practices for securing AWS resources with IAM..
• Integrating third-party APIs into serverless workflows.
• Automating tasks with EventBridge and Lambda.

Remember to delete all the resources you created on AWS once you’re done so as not to incur any costs!

Thank you for reading, and I hope you found this guide helpful. Keep learning and building!