5.2.2. Key Concepts Review: Core AWS Services

💡 First Principle: AWS provides a vast array of specialized services across compute, storage, networking, and databases, enabling users to build scalable, reliable, and cost-effective applications.

This review consolidates the basic purpose and common use cases of essential AWS services.

Core AWS Services:

• Compute:
  • Amazon EC2: Virtual servers (instances).
  • AWS Lambda: Serverless functions, runs code on-demand.
  • Amazon ECS/AWS Fargate: Run Docker containers.
• Storage:
  • Amazon S3: Object storage for files, highly durable.
  • Amazon EBS: Block storage for EC2 instances.
  • Amazon EFS: Shared file storage for multiple EC2 instances.
  • Amazon S3 Glacier: Low-cost archival storage.
• Networking & Content Delivery:
  • Amazon VPC: Isolated virtual network.
  • Amazon Route 53: DNS service, domain registration.
  • Elastic Load Balancing (ELB): Distributes traffic across servers.
  • Amazon CloudFront: CDN, caches content at Edge Locations.
• Databases:
  • Amazon RDS: Managed relational databases.
  • Amazon DynamoDB: Managed NoSQL database.
  • Amazon Aurora: High-performance relational database (part of RDS).
• Security, Management & Monitoring:
  • AWS IAM: Manages access to AWS resources.
  • Amazon CloudWatch: Monitors resources and applications (metrics, logs).
  • AWS CloudTrail: Records API activity for auditing.
  • AWS Config: Monitors resource configurations for compliance.
  • AWS Trusted Advisor: Provides optimization recommendations.

Scenario: You need to explain the basic purpose of a few core AWS services to someone unfamiliar with cloud computing.

Reflection Question: How does understanding the primary function of core AWS services across compute, storage, networking, and databases fundamentally enable you to recognize which service to use for basic cloud application requirements?