diff --git a/example-projects/counter-demo/aws-lambda/invoke-function.py b/example-projects/counter-demo/aws-lambda/invoke-function.py
index 46a9b9324c1a1b86b4f1badf24b7e50b49e23c67..6a595a3ef0f385ef21a8a7cbae0a4a40f6827a88 100644
--- a/example-projects/counter-demo/aws-lambda/invoke-function.py
+++ b/example-projects/counter-demo/aws-lambda/invoke-function.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
-import boto3
+from datetime import date
 import json
+import boto3
 
 ################################################################################################
 #
@@ -31,7 +32,7 @@ try:
         Payload='{ "input": "1" }'
     )
 except lClient.exceptions.ResourceNotFoundException:
-    print('Function not available. No need to delete it.')
+    print('Function not available.')
 
 streamingBody = response['Payload']
 result = streamingBody.read()
diff --git a/example-projects/counter-demo/aws-lambda/lambda_function.py b/example-projects/counter-demo/aws-lambda/lambda_function.py
index 52c31d7317bf68a5fa95fa589aaa9a995e8dccd2..a017758d74a998b32d7c900b08e85961f3ac6fb6 100644
--- a/example-projects/counter-demo/aws-lambda/lambda_function.py
+++ b/example-projects/counter-demo/aws-lambda/lambda_function.py
@@ -1,11 +1,20 @@
 # import json
 import base64
+import os
 import boto3
 
 
 def lambda_handler(event, context):
+    print('## ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES')
+    print(os.environ)
+    print('## EVENT')
+    print(event)
+
+    globally_unique_s3_group_bucket_name = os.environ.get("bucketName")
+    print('Trying to access bucket: ' + globally_unique_s3_group_bucket_name)
+
     s3_client = boto3.client('s3')
-    response = s3_client.get_object(Bucket='cloudcomp-counter', Key='us-east-1')
+    response = s3_client.get_object(Bucket=globally_unique_s3_group_bucket_name, Key='us-east-1')
 
     counter = int(response['Body'].read().decode('utf-8'))
 
@@ -20,11 +29,11 @@ def lambda_handler(event, context):
 
     if incr is not 0:
         counter = counter + incr
-        response = s3_client.put_object(Bucket='cloudcomp-counter', Key='us-east-1', Body=str(counter))
+        response = s3_client.put_object(Bucket=globally_unique_s3_group_bucket_name, Key='us-east-1', Body=str(counter))
 
-    output = ('<html><head><title>TCPTimeCounter REST Service</title>\n'
-              '<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="5"/></head><body>\n'
-              '<h2>HS Fulda - TCPTimeCounter REST Service</h2>\n'
+    output = ('<html><head><title>Counter Demo</title>\n'
+              # '<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="5"/></head><body>\n'
+              '<h2>HS Fulda Cloud Computing - Counter Demo</h2>\n'
               '<p><b>HTML-Output:</b> ' + str(counter) + '</p></body>\n'
               '<form method=POST action="">\n'
               '<input type="hidden" name="input" value="1">\n'
diff --git a/example-projects/counter-demo/aws-lambda/start.py b/example-projects/counter-demo/aws-lambda/start.py
index d43dffb665163f871e2027aa14b3f9dbf2651c85..06c7e77a4c0049ef8e6a7dd3c362f1392c3fbcc7 100644
--- a/example-projects/counter-demo/aws-lambda/start.py
+++ b/example-projects/counter-demo/aws-lambda/start.py
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
-import boto3
+from datetime import date
 import zipfile
+import boto3
+from botocore.exceptions import ClientError
 
 ################################################################################################
 #
@@ -11,11 +13,21 @@ import zipfile
 # bucket names need to be world wide unique ;) The demo looks for a file that is named
 # "us-east-1" (same as our default region) in the bucket and expects a number in it to increase
 
+groupNr = 22
+currentYear = date.today().year
+
+globallyUniqueS3GroupBucketName = "cloudcomp-counter-" + str(currentYear) + "-group" + str(groupNr)
+
 # region = 'eu-central-1'
 region = 'us-east-1'
 functionName = 'cloudcomp-counter-lambda-demo'
+
+# see ARN for AWS Academy LabRole function here:
+# https://us-east-1.console.aws.amazon.com/iamv2/home?region=us-east-1#/roles/details/LabRole?section=permissions
+
 # roleName = 'arn:aws:iam::309000625112:role/service-role/cloudcomp-counter-demo-role-6rs7pah3'
-roleName = 'arn:aws:iam::919927306708:role/cloudcomp-s3-access'
+# roleName = 'arn:aws:iam::919927306708:role/cloudcomp-s3-access'
+roleName = 'arn:aws:iam::488766701848:role/LabRole'
 
 ################################################################################################
 #
@@ -23,12 +35,21 @@ roleName = 'arn:aws:iam::919927306708:role/cloudcomp-s3-access'
 #
 ################################################################################################
 
+def cleanup_s3_bucket(s3_bucket):
+    # Deleting objects
+    for s3_object in s3_bucket.objects.all():
+        s3_object.delete()
+    # Deleting objects versions if S3 versioning enabled
+    for s3_object_ver in s3_bucket.object_versions.all():
+        s3_object_ver.delete()
+
 
 client = boto3.setup_default_session(region_name=region)
+s3Client = boto3.client('s3')
+s3Resource = boto3.resource('s3')
 lClient = boto3.client('lambda')
 apiClient = boto3.client("apigatewayv2")
 
-
 print("Deleting old function...")
 print("------------------------------------")
 try:
@@ -38,6 +59,24 @@ try:
 except lClient.exceptions.ResourceNotFoundException:
     print('Function not available. No need to delete it.')
 
+print("Deleting old bucket...")
+print("------------------------------------")
+
+try:
+    currentBucket = s3Resource.Bucket(globallyUniqueS3GroupBucketName)
+    cleanup_s3_bucket(currentBucket)
+    currentBucket.delete()
+except ClientError as e:
+    print(e)
+
+print("creating S3 bucket (must be globally unique)...")
+print("------------------------------------")
+
+try:
+    response = s3Client.create_bucket(Bucket=globallyUniqueS3GroupBucketName)
+    response = s3Client.put_object(Bucket=globallyUniqueS3GroupBucketName, Key='us-east-1', Body=str(0))
+except ClientError as e:
+    print(e)
 
 print("creating new function...")
 print("------------------------------------")
@@ -52,27 +91,53 @@ with open('lambda-deployment-archive.zip', mode='rb') as file:
 
     response = lClient.create_function(
         FunctionName=functionName,
-        Runtime='python3.8',
+        Runtime='python3.9',
         Role=roleName,
         Code={
             'ZipFile': zipfileContent
         },
         Handler='lambda_function.lambda_handler',
         Publish=True,
+        Environment={
+            'Variables': {
+                'bucketName': globallyUniqueS3GroupBucketName
+            }
+        }
     )
     lambdaFunctionARN = response['FunctionArn']
 
-print("creating API gateway...")
-print("------------------------------------")
+print("Lambda Function and S3 Bucket to store the counter are available. Sadly, AWS Academy labs do not allow\n"
+      "creating an API gateway to be able to access the Lambda function directly via HTTP from the browser, as\n"
+      "shown in https://348yxdily0.execute-api.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/default/cloudcomp-counter-demo.\n"
+      "\n"
+      "However you can now run invoke-function.py to view an increment the counter. You can also use \n"
+      "the test button in the Lambda AWS console. In this case you need to send the content\n"
+      "\n"
+      "{\n"
+      "  \"input\": \"1\"\n"
+      "}\n"
+      "\n"
+      "to increment the counter by 1.\n"
+      "Try to understand how Lambda can be used to cut costs regarding cloud services and what its pros\n"
+      "and cons are.\n")
+
+# sadly, AWS Academy Labs don't allow API gateways
+# API gateway would allow getting an HTTP endpoint that we could access directly in the browser,
+# that would call our function, as in the provided demo:
+#
+# https://348yxdily0.execute-api.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/default/cloudcomp-counter-demo
 
-#apiArn = ""
-response = apiClient.create_api(
-    Name=functionName + '-api',
-    ProtocolType='HTTP',
-    Target=lambdaFunctionARN
-)
-#apiArn=response['']
-
-#response = lClient.create_event_source_mapping(
-#    EventSourceArn=apiArn,
-#)
\ No newline at end of file
+# print("creating API gateway...")
+# print("------------------------------------")
+#
+# #apiArn = ""
+# response = apiClient.create_api(
+#     Name=functionName + '-api',
+#     ProtocolType='HTTP',
+#     Target=lambdaFunctionARN
+# )
+# #apiArn=response['']
+#
+# #response = lClient.create_event_source_mapping(
+# #    EventSourceArn=apiArn,
+# #)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/example-projects/counter-demo/aws-lambda/stop.py b/example-projects/counter-demo/aws-lambda/stop.py
index ba478017933c2b3e0eb78505a5d171fed12a2232..576954fc7681754045cc0c3e804494effd457a2d 100644
--- a/example-projects/counter-demo/aws-lambda/stop.py
+++ b/example-projects/counter-demo/aws-lambda/stop.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import boto3
-import zipfile
 
 ################################################################################################
 #