Introducing Amazon Web Services (AWS) + Benefits

During my web development learning experience, I stumbled very often over Amazon Web Services but never really understood what its capabilities are. The following article contains a starting point on what I have learned from my research.

What is AWS?

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. It includes a mixture of infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and packaged software as a service (SaaS) offerings. AWS services can offer an organization tools such as compute power, database storage, and content delivery services.

Services

· EC2

· Elastic Beanstalk

· AWS Lambda

· S3

· VPC

· Route 53

1. EC2

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) forms a central part of Amazon.com’s cloud-computing platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS), by allowing users to rent virtual computers on which to run their own computer applications. EC2 encourages the scalable deployment of applications by providing a web service through which a user can boot an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) to configure a virtual machine, which Amazon calls an instance, containing any software desired. A user can create, launch, and terminate server instances as needed, paying by the hour for active servers — hence the term “elastic”. EC2 provides users with control over the geographical location of instances that allows for latency optimization and high levels of redundancy.

2. Elastic Beanstalk

AWS Elastic Beanstalk is an orchestration service offered from Amazon Web Services for deploying infrastructure which orchestrates various AWS services, including

· EC2, S3, Simple Notification Service (SNS), Cloud Watch, auto-scaling, Elastic Load Balancers.

Deployment requires a number of components to be defined: an ‘application’ as a logical container for the project, a ‘version’ which is a deployable build of the application executable, and a ‘configuration template’ that contains configuration information for both the Beanstalk environment and for the product.

Finally, an ‘environment’ combines a ‘version’ with a ‘configuration’ and deploys them. Executables themselves are uploaded as archive files to S3 beforehand and the ‘version’ is just a pointer to this. Supported software include:

· PHP, Java.NET, Node.JS, Python, Ruby, Docker, Go

3. AWS Lambda

AWS Lambda is an event-driven, serverless computing platform provided by Amazon as a part of Amazon Web Services. Therefore you don’t need to worry about which AWS resources to launch, or how well you manage them. Instead, you need to put the code on Lambda, and it runs.

In AWS Lambda the code is executed based on the response of events in AWS services such as add/delete files in S3 bucket, HTTP request from Amazon API gateway, etc. However, Amazon Lambda can only be used to execute background tasks.

AWS Lambda function helps you to focus on your core product and business logic instead of managing operating system (OS) access control, OS patching, right-sizing, provisioning, scaling, etc.

In this AWS Lambda tutorial for beginners, you will learn:

4. S3

Amazon S3 is a storage for the Internet. It is designed to make web-scale computing easier for developers. It is synonymous with Google Drive. It’s a simple web service that can be used to store and retrieve any amount of data anywhere from the web.

It gives any developer access to the same highly scalable, reliable, fast, inexpensive data storage infrastructure and adopts the ‘Pay-as-you-go’ model. Any file can be uploaded in the S3 which means that any static content can be shared.

Amazon S3 is an object store while Elastic Block Storage (EBS) is a file system with the operating system and hard disk. Performance-wise EBS is faster since its over the internal data center. EBS is zone-specific which means that whenever a user makes EBS volume, the data is replicated for the backup within the zone, while in S3 the data is replicated across the regions and multiple zones such that it survives 2 zone availability failure. EBS can be accessed from EC2 and S3 is accessed from the internet based on access policy. S3 is for static content alone and EBS is for a file system.

Suppose the user has a lot of image files in the web application. If the image is uploaded to the webserver it would take time for the webserver to process and deliver. But if done through S3, it would be faster.

Amazon basically started its cloud service with S3 in 2006. By 2013, there were over 2 Trillion objects in S3.

5. VPC

Amazon’s Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) is a foundational AWS service in both the Compute and Network AWS categories. Being foundational means that other AWS services, such as Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), cannot be accessed without an underlying VPC network.

Each VPC creates an isolated virtual network environment in the AWS cloud, dedicated to your AWS account. Other AWS resources and services operate inside of VPC networks to provide cloud services.

6. Route 53

It is a scalable (DNS) service that provides a reliable way to redirect traffic to applications. To achieve these domain names are translated to IP addresses to help computers connect better. It is possible to connect queries to entities like Elastic Load Balancers in AWS using Amazon Route 53. Hence developers can map domain names to S3 buckets or other resources. With Amazon, Route 53 businesses can monitor and route global data traffic with ease. In simple words, Route 53 is mainly used for 3 purposes:-

· DNS Registration

· Route Internet Traffic

· Check Health Status

7 Best Benefits of AWS (Amazon Web Services)

1. Comprehensive

Changing from on-location stockpiling to the cloud is very easy with AWS because of the contribution they have made in training and education. The cloud powerhouse offers an abundance of information on their site, including documentation and instructional videos to begin working with AWS, their different facilities, etc.

2. Cost-Effective

Regardless of whether you are a start-up or a huge venture organization, you can economize only when you can leverage the services that your business needs. AWS offers economical pricing that is very much affordable in comparison to other on-premises services cost.

3. Adaptable

Regardless of whether this is the first time that you are moving into the cloud, or moving from another cloud service platform, AWS has every asset you require to enhance your IT framework.

Their model helps in scaling assets up or down, which means your business doesn’t have to face any apprehension when volume is an issue or when necessities keep varying. You do not have to make any wild guess or invest in some scientific investigation to recognize the requirements of your framework.

4. Security

Safe-guarding your business from potential information leaks and the risk of hacks is of supreme significance for AWS. They have some well-perceived compliance affirmations and stick to security laws from around the globe.

5. Improved Productivity

Having AWS to back your cloud computing shows excluding the obligations and dangers related to containing interior IT framework. It additionally lessens the requirement for IT support staff and spares your organization the time and expenses in the long haul.

6. Innovation

Many experts around the world say that it is not only Amazon Web Service’s competitive pricing but its commitment to innovation that eventually enable it to boast about having the names of many of the leading corporate brands in its clients’ list.

AWS might have competitors like Microsoft and Google when it comes to prices, but when it comes to dedication and innovation, there is no other cloud service provider in the market who can effectively compete with Amazon Web Services.

7. Global Leader

Amazon Web Services has its network in almost 190 nations across the world and supports over a million active clients. They have as their customers some the major as well as smallest organizations. And the endeavor does not stop there, AWS has been providing services to even to the public sectors.

As organizations keep moving to the cloud, alternatives for cloud-based services keep multiplying. However, only a handful of options meet as wide a scope of business needs as Amazon Web Services (AWS).

So, running your applications on AWS can enable you to move quicker, work more safely,
save significant amounts of money, and scaling your business.

I do not consider myself an expert. If you have the feeling that I am missing important steps or neglected something, consider pointing it out in the comment section or get in touch with me.

Thank you!