Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Definition

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a comprehensive cloud computing platform provided by Amazon, offering a wide range of services including computing power, storage options, and databases. AWS enables organizations to scale and manage their applications efficiently while benefiting from features like on-demand resource provisioning, cost-effectiveness, and global reach. This flexibility allows businesses to adapt quickly to changing demands, embodying the principles of scalability and elasticity in the cloud.

5 Must Know Facts For Your Next Test

1. AWS offers over 200 fully featured services ranging from computing and storage to machine learning and artificial intelligence.
2. The pay-as-you-go pricing model of AWS allows businesses to only pay for the resources they use, which can lead to significant cost savings.
3. AWS provides global infrastructure with data centers located in multiple regions around the world, allowing for low latency and redundancy.
4. Scalability in AWS means that you can seamlessly add or remove resources according to your application's needs without downtime.
5. Elasticity allows AWS users to automatically increase or decrease resources in response to real-time demand changes, enhancing efficiency.

Review Questions

• How does AWS facilitate scalability and elasticity for businesses using its services?
  • AWS supports scalability by allowing businesses to quickly add or remove resources as needed, ensuring applications can handle varying loads without any disruption. Elasticity is achieved through services like Auto Scaling, which automatically adjusts the number of instances based on real-time demand. This combination helps organizations optimize their performance while minimizing costs, as they only utilize the resources necessary for current operations.
• Discuss the importance of Elastic Load Balancing in maintaining application availability on AWS.
  • Elastic Load Balancing plays a crucial role in maintaining application availability on AWS by distributing incoming traffic across multiple resources. This ensures that no single instance becomes overwhelmed, reducing the risk of downtime due to server overload. Furthermore, it enhances fault tolerance since if one instance fails, the load balancer can redirect traffic to healthy instances, thereby keeping the application operational and responsive.
• Evaluate how AWS's global infrastructure impacts businesses' ability to scale and remain elastic in a competitive market.
  • AWS's extensive global infrastructure provides businesses with a unique advantage in scaling and elasticity by enabling them to deploy applications closer to their end-users. This reduces latency and improves user experience, crucial factors in a competitive market. Additionally, having access to multiple regions allows businesses to handle traffic spikes more effectively and ensure data redundancy and disaster recovery capabilities. Consequently, companies leveraging AWS can respond swiftly to market demands while maintaining operational resilience.

Related terms

Elastic Load Balancing: A service that automatically distributes incoming application traffic across multiple targets, such as Amazon EC2 instances, to ensure fault tolerance and optimal performance.

Auto Scaling: A feature that automatically adjusts the number of Amazon EC2 instances in response to changing traffic patterns, ensuring that applications have the right amount of resources at all times.

CloudFormation: A service that allows users to define and provision AWS infrastructure using code, enabling consistent and repeatable deployments for applications.