What is AWS? - An Introduction to AWS

What is AWS? - An Introduction to AWS

A beginner guide to getting started with AWS

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4 min read

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a cloud computing platform. It provides various services such as computing power, storage, and databases. It allows users to pay for only what they use without having to maintain the underlying infrastructure.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides on-demand computing resources and services in the cloud, with pay-as-you-go pricing. For example, you can run a server on AWS that you can log on to, configure, secure, and run just as you would a server that's sitting in front of you.

The services provided by AWS are intended to be used together to create sophisticated and scalable applications. AWS offers a wide range of on-demand services, with new services being added frequently.

Why makes AWS the best CSP?

  • Security and durability – AWS encrypts the data, giving end-to-end privacy and storage.

  • Developers may rely on Amazon's established procedures because of their experience. Their methods, strategies, and recommended best practices are the result of years of expertise.

  • Developers may rely on Amazon's established procedures because of their experience. Their methods, strategies, and recommended best practices are the result of years of expertise.

  • Utilization — AWS is simple to use. Developers can quickly host and deploy new or existing apps as well as create new ones.

  • Scalable applications may be readily scaled up or down to meet user needs.

  • Cost savings: Businesses just pay for the processing power, storage, and resources they really utilize, without making any long-term obligations.

AWS Products

Compute and Networking Services - Represents core services of AWS

  • EC2 on Amazon (Provides virtual servers in the AWS cloud)

  • VPC on Amazon (Provides an isolated virtual network for your virtual servers)

  • Balancing with Elasticity (Distributes network traffic across your set of virtual servers)

  • Automatic Sizing (Automatically scales your set of virtual servers based on changes in demand)

  • Google Route 53 (Routes traffic to your domain name to a resource, such as a virtual server or a load balancer)

  • Lambda on AWS (Runs your code on virtual servers from Amazon EC2 in response to events)

  • Kindle ECS (Provides Docker containers on virtual servers from Amazon EC2)

AWS Global Services

  • AWS has a global infrastructure that includes regions and availability zones in multiple countries, which allows for low latency and high performance, as well as the ability to comply with data sovereignty and compliance requirements.

    AWS also offers a wide range of storage services, including

  • Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) and Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS). These services allow businesses to store and retrieve data, such as files, videos, and images, in the cloud.

  • This is a cost-effective and highly available option for businesses looking to store large amounts of data.

Services in AWS

Compute services

  • Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2): A web service that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud.

  • AWS Lambda: A serverless compute service that allows users to run code without provisioning or managing servers

Storage Services

These services allow users to store and retrieve data in the cloud. Some of the storage services offered by AWS include:

  • Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3): A scalable, high-performance, and low-cost object storage service.

  • Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS): A persistent block storage service for use with Amazon EC2 instances.

  • Amazon Glacier: A secure and durable archival storage service.

Database Services

  • Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS): A web service that makes it easy to set up, operate, and scale a relational database in the cloud.

  • Amazon DynamoDB: A fast and flexible NoSQL database service for all applications that need consistent, single-digit millisecond latency at any scale

Networking Services

These services allow users to create and manage virtual networks in the cloud. Some of the networking services offered by AWS include:

  • Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC): A service that enables users to launch Amazon Web Services resources into a virtual network.

  • AWS Direct Connect: A service that allows users to establish a dedicated network connection from their on-premises data centers to AWS.

How do I use it?

  • AWS can be accessed through:

    • AWS Management Console

    • AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI)

    • Command Line Tools

    • AWS Software Development Kits (SDK)

    • Query APIs

There is a detailed guide on how to install and use each of these options in the official documentation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a powerful and versatile cloud computing platform that offers a wide range of services to help businesses and organizations build, deploy, and scale their applications and services. From storage, networking, and databases to machine learning, analytics, and security, AWS provides a comprehensive set of tools and services that can be easily integrated and customized to meet the unique needs of any organization.

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