Amazon Web Services offers wide varieties of cloud-based services like compute, storage, databases, DevOps tools, management tools, analytics, networking, IoT, security and lot more attractive services. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the biggest player in the cloud computing industries; so it is obvious to have a long list of products.
So, I listed out some of the topmost AWS cloud computing services used by cloud engineers. A cloud engineer mostly uses these tools to build an infrastructure and develop applications.
The most commonly used Amazon web services domains are following…
- Compute
AWS compute domain to provide the virtual machines with multiple instances in the cloud to develop and execute the applications and software.
- Storage
Amazon introduces many attractive and easy to use services to store the data in the AWS cloud. According to the requirement you can choose among those storage services.
- Database
By using AWS database you can access any type of database either it is a relational or no-relational database with low latency.
- Security
Every company want to secure their database. To secure the data; AWS introduce authentication and identity mechanism to deny or allow the undefined users from the access of cloud web services.
- Networking
AWS provides multiple networking features, which is easy to configure. Using networking tools you can connect the cloud resources according to your organisation infrastructure environment suitability and need.
- Management Tools
Amazon gives a variety of monitoring tools to watch the logs of your cloud machines. By using management tools a user can troubleshoot the issues.
- Application Services
AWS messaging application services provide the feature like emailing, notifications and queuing.
Amazon roll down multiple of services in each above domains. Ok, let’s discuss the popular and topmost AWS cloud computing services used by a Cloud Engineer in each domain.
Covered In This Article
AWS Compute Domain
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)
Amazon EC2 is a web service that provides secure and re-sizable compute services on the cloud. In computing domain, EC2 is the most important and most usable computing method. EC2 gives you a raw server, which you can configure a complete environment according to your need.
re-sizable: With the help of EC2 re-sizable feature you can scale up and scale down the number of instances according to your traffic requirements.
What is meant by Instance?
An Instance is a virtual server installed on a physical server by the time of creating an EC2 service in the cloud. In an actual server, there might be lots of instances to run an application.
Amazon provides different types of instances. So according to your work (traffic) load, you can choose any of the following instances…
- General Instances (For the moderate use)
- Compute Instances (High processing power): Select this if you require more CPU to run your application
- Memory Instances (High usability of RAM)
- Storage Instances (For the huge storage)
- Accelerated Computing – GPU Instances (Use for high Graphic requirements)
AWS Lambda (λ)
Lambda is a “Serverless” computing service. Unlike EC2 you don’t have to concern about the computing resources. You just have to put the trigger to open the function.
For the developer community, lambda is a helpful computing tool because now they only have to concentrate on their product. Lambda used to execute the backend task by defined condition (trigger).
AWS Elastic Beanstalk
Using this computing service you can quickly deploy the configuration environment by just uploading the source code.
Elastic Beanstalk is an advanced version of EC2. Because beanstalk automatically handles the deployment, load balancing distribution, auto-scaling and health monitoring of an application.
Beanstalk support languages (pre-configured by AWS) Java, PHP, Node.js, Python, .NET, Ruby, Go, and Docker with some useful and popular servers such as Apache, Passenger, Nginx and IIS.
AWS Auto Scaling
Use for scale up or down the capacity of EC2 instances. Auto Scaling activate automatically based on the user pre-defined conditions.
AWS Storage Domain
Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)
S3 use to store and retrieve the data on cloud computing infrastructure in the form of objects.
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS)
Provides block-level storage volumes, which is used with EC2 web services.
(EC2 Block Storage Volumes)
Amazon Glacier
Amazon Glacier is the best option for that organisation, who don’t access their data more frequently. Therefore it is used in the long-term backup.
AWS Storage Gateway
Storage Gateway is used to interconnect your on-premises software and applications to the AWS cloud stage securely.
AWS Migration Domain
AWS Snowball
Amazon Snowball is a petabyte-scale data transport solution from the companies end to the AWS cloud headquarter. To transport a large amount of data Amazon provide a physical box to the clients. After loading your data into the Amazon snowball (the data you want to be on a cloud), client has to send back to the Amazon headquarter.
Watch this video to know how Amazon Snowball is successfully shipping from anyplace to AWS cloud centre.
AWS Database Domain
Amazon Aurora
It is a SQL compatible relational database built for the cloud environment, which combines the speed and availability of high-end commercial databases with easy to use and cost-effectiveness of open source databases.
Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS)
RDS makes easy to set up, operate, and scale a relational database in the cloud platform.
Relational Database Service Perform routine database tasks in six familiar databases like Amazon Aurora, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, MariaDB, Oracle.
Amazon DynamoDB
Amazon DynamoDB is a fully managed and fast No-SQL database service. It is known for extremely low latencies and scalability. It is mostly used for mobile, web, gaming, IoT etc. because of DynamoDB throughput capacity
Amazon RedShift
AWS Redshift is a fast and fully managed petabyte-scale of structured data warehouse service in the cloud infrastructure.
Amazon ElasticCache
It helps to improve the web application by allowing you to retrieve the data from the cache database.
AWS Security Domain
AWS Identity & Access Management (IAM)
AWS IAM gives authority to manage access to AWS resources for your users. to AWS services and resources securely. Using IAM you can create and delete users, and also assign the roles and permission of users (what the user can access ….or not?).
AWS Key Management Service (KMS)
KMS is a managed service that helps you to create a security key (encryption keys) to encrypt the valuable information. It uses Hardware Security Modules to protect the security of your keys.
AWS Networking Domain
Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)
Amazon VPC lets you build a virtual and secure path between two cloud services. Using virtual private cloud you can define the IP address range and create and modify routing table based on your preference.
AWS Direct Connect
Direct Connect makes it easy to establish a private connection from the client data centre or office premises to AWS cloud.
Amazon Route 53
Amazon Route 53 is a Domain Name System (DNS) web service. It resolves the IP address of the web server domain name.
Amazon Cloud Front
It is a global content delivery network (CDN) service of the AWS that securely delivers data with high transfer speeds.
AWS Elastic Load Balancing (ELB)
Elastic load balancer automatically shared the incoming application traffic over to the multiple EC2 instances. ELB detects unhealthy instances and automatically re-route the traffic until the error is not fixed.
AWS Management and Monitoring Tools
Amazon CloudWatch
It is a monitoring tool for AWS cloud services. You can use Amazon CloudWatch to keep track of the logs generated by different cloud services, on the AWS resources and the applications you run on Amazon AWS.
It is linked to other AWS resources like Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon EC2 instances and Amazon RDS. Or you can also monitor the logs, which is generated by your custom applications.
AWS CloudFormation
Amazon CloudFormation guide you to configure the AWS resources with easy to understand language.
AWS CloudTrail
CloudTrail is a logging tool which continuously monitors, and retains the account activity, and suggests the suitable actions across AWS cloud infrastructure.
AWS OpsWorks
It is a configuration management service that helps to configure codes in the application. AWS OpsWorks helps to operate applications of all size and shapes using Chef and puppet concept.
Trusted Advisor
Trusted Advisor helps you to optimize your whole cloud infrastructure. Like an advisor, it scans the errors in services and gives the best-suited advice to optimize the overall performance.
Messaging application services
Amazon Simple Email Service (SES)
It is a cloud-based email sending service, which helps users to send a notification, marketing related offers and other types of transactional emails.
Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS)
Amazon SQS is a reliable and easy to scalable messaging service. SQS can send, receive and store the messages in the queue that means my message always delivered to the application without any loss.
Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS)
Amazon SNS is a flexible and fully managed notifications service for the subscribing endpoints or clients.
I hope the list of topmost AWS cloud computing services helps you to start your career in cloud computing. Because to learn all cloud services take too much time.
However, the services I listed, is more than sufficient to make your career in AWS cloud computing. By using the above popular AWS product services; you can build a stable infrastructure, develops cost-efficient and reliable web services.
Check out the AWS website for more detailed information about Amazon Web Services products.
