AWS

AWS (Amazon Web Services) is Amazon’s cloud computing platform that provides compute resources, data storage, databases, networking services, and other IT capabilities over the Internet. Instead of purchasing and operating their own physical infrastructure, organizations can provision AWS resources on demand and scale them according to current workloads.

AWS is one of the world’s largest public cloud platforms and is used to host web applications, enterprise systems, databases, backups, analytics platforms, AI/ML workloads, and other IT systems.

The platform operates on a cloud computing model: customers provision the resources they need within AWS infrastructure and, depending on the service and pricing model selected, pay for actual or reserved usage.

How Is AWS Infrastructure Organized?

AWS global infrastructure is divided into Regions. Each Region is a separate geographic area where AWS operates its infrastructure.

Regions consist of multiple Availability Zones (AZs). An Availability Zone is an isolated infrastructure location within a Region, consisting of one or more data centers with independent power, cooling, and physical security. Availability Zones within a Region are interconnected through high-speed networks.

This architecture enables organizations to design fault-tolerant systems. For example, an application can be distributed across multiple Availability Zones so that an infrastructure failure in one zone does not necessarily make the entire service unavailable.

In addition to Regions and Availability Zones, AWS uses other types of infrastructure locations, including Edge Locations, which support services that need to operate closer to end users.

Key AWS Services

AWS provides hundreds of cloud services. They differ in how responsibilities are divided between the customer and AWS: with some services, customers manage a significant part of the infrastructure themselves, while with others, AWS handles most operational tasks.

Some of the best-known AWS services include:

• Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) — virtual compute resources;
• Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) — object storage;
• Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store) — block storage for EC2;
• Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service) — managed relational databases;
• AWS Lambda — serverless code execution;
• Amazon VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) — logically isolated virtual networks;
• Amazon CloudFront — a content delivery network (CDN);
• Amazon EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service) — a managed Kubernetes service.

For example, a web application can run on EC2 instances, store images and files in S3, and deliver them to end users through CloudFront.

The platform also includes services and tools for analytics, cybersecurity, monitoring, migration, IoT, machine learning, and generative AI.

Cloud Service Models in AWS

AWS cannot be classified under a single cloud service model. The platform provides solutions with different levels of infrastructure management.

With IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), customers receive fundamental compute, networking, and storage resources while managing a significant portion of the software environment themselves. EC2 virtual servers are a typical example.

Managed services allow customers to transfer more operational responsibilities to AWS. For example, with Amazon RDS, AWS handles a range of tasks related to maintaining the underlying database infrastructure.

Serverless services such as AWS Lambda allow applications or individual functions to run without customers having to manage virtual servers themselves. The physical infrastructure and servers still exist, but AWS is responsible for provisioning and maintaining them.

Where Is AWS Used?

AWS is used by organizations ranging from startups and individual developers to large enterprises. The cloud model makes it possible to build infrastructure without first deploying a private data center and to quickly add resources as workloads change.

Typical AWS use cases include:

• hosting websites, APIs, and web applications;
• running virtual servers;
• data storage and backup;
• hosting enterprise applications and databases;
• software development and testing;
• processing large datasets;
• building machine learning and AI systems;
• disaster recovery and backup infrastructure.

For example, an online store can run its storefront on AWS resources and keep backups in a second Region so they remain available if an incident occurs.

AWS is also used in hybrid cloud and multi-cloud architectures, where public cloud resources operate alongside an organization’s own infrastructure or services from other cloud providers.

How Are AWS Resources Priced?

AWS uses several pricing models. Many services follow a pay-as-you-go model, where customers pay for the resources they actually consume without having to purchase physical hardware in advance.

Depending on the service, charges may be based on compute time, storage capacity, number of requests, data operations, or network data transfer. Some resources also offer reservation or usage commitment models that provide lower prices in exchange for committing to a certain level of consumption.

As a result, AWS costs depend on more than the number of servers or amount of stored data. Infrastructure planning must also take into account application architecture, deployment Region, network traffic, storage class, resource utilization patterns, and other parameters.

AWS and On-Premises IT Infrastructure

When using AWS, an organization does not need to purchase and maintain physical servers for resources hosted in the cloud. AWS is responsible for the physical cloud infrastructure, while responsibility for the overall IT environment is divided between AWS and the customer.

This principle is known as the Shared Responsibility Model. AWS is responsible for security of the cloud, while customers are responsible for the components and configurations that fall within their area of responsibility. Depending on the service, these may include access management, operating system configuration, data protection, and application settings.

The boundary of responsibility varies between services. For example, when using an EC2 virtual server, the customer manages a larger portion of the software stack than when using a fully managed cloud service.

FAQ

🠔 Back to glossary