Amazon Web Services

(AWS) Technology Consultant

Central processing unit (CPU)

The CPU is commonly referred to as the brain of the
computer. The CPU executes instructions and performs
calculations for the computer to complete tasks. There
are multiple types of CPUs that have different
specifications—including clock speed, number of cores,
and cache size—which all affect performance. The
performance of the CPU has a major impact on how
quickly programs load and how smoothly they run.
Clock speed measures the number of cycles your CPU
executes per second. Clock speed is measured in
gigahertz, or GHz.Modern computers also have
multicore CPUs. Multicore processors are a type of CPU
that contain multiple independent processing units
(also known as cores) on a single physical chip. Each
core can execute instructions independently, which
means that a multicore CPU can process multiple tasks
in parallel (also known as parallel processing).
Random access memory (RAM)
RAM is temporary memory where data and instructions
are stored for quick access by the CPU. The amount of
RAM in a computer directly affects the computer's
multitasking capabilities and overall performance.The
capacity of RAM is measured in gigabytes (GB). When
you power off your computer, anything that was written
to RAM will disappear. RAM is also known as volatile
storage or ephemeral storage because of its temporary
nature.
Hard disk drive (HDD) and Solid-state drive (SSD)
HDDs are traditional storage devices that use spinning
disks and mechanical read/write heads that move
around the disk. These drives are usually less
performant and more prone to failure than SSD
drives.SSDs are newer, faster storage devices that use
a technique called flash memory. SSDs have no moving
parts, which makes them more durable and faster than
HDDs. SSDs are preferred for most use cases. However,
HDDs are preferred for mass storage because of their
larger storage capacities and lower cost per gigabyte.
Motherboard
The motherboard is the main circuit board of the
computer, and it connects all the hardware
components. It houses the CPU, RAM slots, expansion
slots, and other essential connectors.When choosing
components, it's important to ensure compatibility with
the motherboard, such as socket type for the CPU, or
the type and speed of the RAM.
Networking hardware
Networking hardware includes devices such as routers,
modems, and network interface cards (which are
commonly called network cards). Network cards are
inside a computer, and they make it possible for a
computer to connect to a network. Network cards
provide the physical interface between the computer
and the network so that data can be transmitted over
network connections.Routers are like the central hub or
manager of a network, and they connect different
devices to each other and to the internet. A router acts
as a type of traffic controller, directing small pieces of
information (also known as data packets) between
these devices.A modem is a device that connects your
computer or local network to the internet. It translates
digital signals from your computer into a format that
can be transmitted over a specific communication
network, such as cable or telephone lines. The modem
acts as a bridge between your local network and the
wider internet.
[ Some of these computers have redundant power supplies
and provide abilities to make changes,
like adding or removing storage capacity
without having to power off the motherboard.
This feature is called hot swap. ]

VPN : Virtual Private Network

Network connections and VPN: The corporate connections
Before you read about virtual private network (VPN) connections in the
corporate environment, it’s important to highlight the purpose of using
them. You might be familiar with VPN services that mask your privacy by
encapsulating connections from your endpoint to a VPN server. In
corporate scenarios, the purpose of a VPN is not to anonymize. Instead, a
corporate VPN restricts the network perimeter, isolates networks, provides
secure remote access, is designed to meet compliance standards, and
encrypts traffic between two networks.In today's world, VPN connections
have emerged as a powerful tool for safeguarding corporate
environments. By securely extending a private network across the vast
expanse of the internet, VPNs offer many benefits that bolster
environment isolation, security, and compliance within corporate
settings.There are two main types of VPN connections: site-to-site and
client-to-site. In the corporate IT world, companies sometimes use both
kinds of connections.
Client-to-site VPN
The client-to-site VPN is also known as the remote access VPN.A client-to-
site VPN allows individual users (clients) to securely connect to a
company's private network (site) from anywhere on the internet. The
user's device acts as the client, and it connects to the company's site
through a VPN service or VPN server. With this type of VPN, remote
workers or employees who need secure access to company resources can
work from outside the office. The client-to-site VPN provides individual
users with secure and encrypted access to the company's internal
network.AWS offers a solution called AWS Client VPN. It is a fully managed
remote access VPN solution that a remote workforce can use to securely
access resources within both AWS and the company’s on-premises
network. The AWS Client VPN is designed to be fully elastic. It can
automatically scale up or down, based on demand. When a company
migrates applications to AWS, their users can access these applications in
the same way before, during, and after the move. AWS Client VPN,
including the software client, supports the OpenVPN protocol.For more
information, see AWS Client VPN

Site-to-site VPN
This modality is also known as the router-to-router VPN. A site-to-site VPN
establishes a secure connection between two or more physical locations
(sites) over the internet. The VPN connection is typically established
between the routers or firewalls at each site, instead of between individual
devices.A site-to-site VPN is designed to connect entire networks of
different offices, data centers, or branches to create a unified and secure
network. This type of VPN makes it possible to share resources and data
between connected sites, like they were on the same local network.AWS
offers a solution called AWS Site-to-Site VPN. It is is a fully managed
service that’s designed to create a secure connection between a
company’s data center (or branch office) and their AWS resources by
using IP Security (IPSec) tunnels. When a company uses AWS Site-to-Site
VPN, they can connect to both their virtual private clouds (VPCs) and AWS
Transit Gateway. In addition, they can use two tunnels per connection for
increased redundancy.For more information, see AWS Site-to-Site VPN.
Summary
VPNs are an entire world in themselves!In summary, a client-to-site VPN
connects individual users to a company's network. In contrast, a site-to-
site VPN connects entire networks of different physical locations, and it
allows the sites to communicate securely like they were part of the same
network.In the corporate world, a VPN helps with environment isolation
regardless of the type of VPN you choose. Companies use VPNs to create
isolated virtual tunnels that link remote employees or third-party offices to
the central network. This isolation is designed to confine data and
communications within the designated network, and to minimize the risk
of unauthorized access or data leaks.
Operating systems and software
Operating systems (OS) power the devices that you use every day, from
smartphones and laptops to servers. Operating systems are software that
manages the computer hardware and software resources, and provides
common services for computer programs. When you use your devices,
several different programs or applications are running in parallel, and they
all need access to your computer's resources. Resources—such as the
central processing unit (CPU), memory, and storage—must be shared
across application. The operating system coordinates this sharing to make
sure that each program gets what it needs.
Common examples of operating systems include Windows, macOS, Linux,
and Ubuntu.
Key components of an operating system
The kernel
An operating system is made up of multiple parts, and one major part is
responsible for the essential functions of the OS: the kernel. The kernel
interacts directly with the underlying hardware. It provides essential
services and functionality that enable both software applications to run,
and system resources to be managed efficiently.
The kernel is responsible for various essential functions that the operating
system needs to work effectively. The kernel performs the following key
functions:
 Memory management: The kernel manages system memory. It
allocates and deallocates memory space for processes, and is
designed to use memory efficiently.
 Process scheduling: The kernel handles the scheduling and
execution of processes. It enables multiple processes to run
concurrently on a single processor, or across multiple processors.
 Device drivers: The kernel provides the necessary drivers to
facilitate communication between the operating system and
hardware devices. The operating system uses these drivers to
interact with peripherals, such as printers, network adapters, and
storage devices.
 Interrupt handling: The kernel handles hardware interrupts, which
are signals that devices send to get the attention of the operating
system. It manages the response to interrupts and coordinates the
execution of appropriate interrupt service routines.
To learn more about the kernel for Linux operation systems, see What Is
the Linux Kernel?
File systems
An operating system helps store and manage files on your computer.
Programs are made up of files, and you work with files of all types when
you use your devices. A file system is a storage mechanism that an
operating system uses to store, organize, and retrieve files and data. The
type of file system that the operating system uses defines the structure
and rules for naming, organizing, and accessing files in storage.
File management is a general term that covers various operations,
including creating, opening, closing, reading, writing, and deleting files.
The file system makes it possible to perform these operations efficiently. It
also provides organization to make it easier to navigate and retrieve files.
File systems typically adopt a hierarchical structure, which means that it
organizes files and directories in a tree-like arrangement. This structure
helps users categorize and manage their data effectively.
The following key terms describe parts of a file system:
 Directories: Also known as folders, directories serve as containers
for files and subdirectories. They make it possible to organize files
into logical groups by providing a hierarchical structure to access
and manage data.
 Files: Files are containers for storing data, and files are saved within
directories. They represent documents, programs, media files, or
any other type of information.
Processes and threads
In this course, you learned about processes and what they are. A process
represents an instance of a running program. Though the videos didn’t
cover the concept of threads, you should be aware of threads when you
work in IT.
Threads are individual units of execution within a process. They share the
same memory space and resources, and they enable concurrent
execution. You can think of threads as lightweight processes that enable
multitasking within a single program. You might come across the term
multithreaded, which refers to a program where processes can run
multiple threads at the same time.
With most types of computers, multiple programs and threads will run
concurrently. This situation requires process scheduling, which is another
core piece of operating systems. Process scheduling makes it possible to
have capabilities for multiprogramming and multitasking. It facilitates the
simultaneous coexistence of multiple processes in memory that execute
concurrently. Scheduling determines the processes that get access to the
CPU, which makes multitasking possible.
To learn more about processes and threads, see Difference between
Processes and Threads.
The command line
You briefly learned about how to use a command line interface (CLI). The
CLI provides a text-based way to interact with a computer. CLIs take in
commands as input, and the commands are then run by the computer. You
can do many different tasks by using the CLI, but the types of commands
you construct depend on the operating system that you use. If you run an
operating system like Linux, you could use Bash on the command line. In
contrast, if you use Windows, it’s common to use PowerShell.
To learn more about the command line in general, see Command Line
Crash Course.
Bash
Bash is one of the most common and popular command-line interfaces. It
stands for Bourne Again SHell. It's essentially a program that you use to
give instructions to your computer by entering text commands. Bash can
perform various tasks based on those commands.
When you open the terminal, you see a blank screen with a symbol-based
prompt, such as $ or >. When you see the prompt, Bash is waiting for you
to tell it what to do and you can start entering Bash commands.
For example, if you want to see the file that are in a folder, you can enter
ls (which stands for list) and press Enter. Then, Bash will show you a list of
files in the current directory. If you want to change the directory, you can
use cd (which stands for change directory), followed by the folder's name.
For example, cd Documents will take you into the Documents folder
To back out of a directory and go one level up in the hierarchy, you can
use the following command: cd ../
Bash can do more than navigate your files. It can also help you create,
copy, move, and delete files and directories. You can open and edit text
files by using Bash, search for specific text in files, and perform other
useful tasks.
Additionally, you can use Bash to run other programs and scripts by
entering their names and passing any necessary arguments. For example,
say that you have a program called my_program, and it needs some input
to run. You can run it by entering the following command, and pressing
Enter:
./my_program argument1 argument2
Bash can also be used for scripting tasks. Scripting can become complex,
and it’s out of scope for this course. However, it’s good to know the use
cases for bash.
To learn more about Bash, see the Bash Reference Manual.
PowerShell
PowerShell is also a command-line interface that you can use to interact
with your computer. However, PowerShell is specifically designed for
Windows operating systems.
When you open PowerShell, you see a window with a command prompt,
which looks like the following example:
PS C:\Users\YourUsername>
The PS stands for PowerShell. The text after PS shows your current
location in the file system, which is typically the user's home directory.
PowerShell commands are called cmdlets (which is pronounced like
“command-lets”). These cmdlets are designed to work together and
perform various tasks, and can function like building blocks. They use a
consistent verb-noun naming convention to make them easier to
remember. Consider the following examples:
 To list the files in a directory, you can use the Get-ChildItem cmdlet.
 To change the directory, you can use the Set-Location cmdlet.
PowerShell can perform many tasks, such as creating, copying, moving,
and deleting files and folders. You can also use it to interact with the
Windows Registry and manage processes, services, and network
configurations.
PowerShell also supports scripting, which means that you can write and
save sequences of commands into scripts that have the .ps1 extension.
This way, you can automate tasks and run complex operations with a
single command.
To learn more about PowerShell, see Windows PowerShell Reference.
AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI)
Beyond CLIs such as Bash and PowerShell, you can also use specialized
CLIs that are designed to interact with various services and platforms on
the internet. The AWS Command Line Interface (AWS) is one such
example.
The AWS CLI is a tool that AWS provides so you can manage and interact
with AWS services directly from your command line. With the AWS CLI, you
don’t need to use the AWS Management Console, which is a browser-
based interface.
To learn more about the AWS CLI, see AWS Command Line Interface.

The OS that provides the virtualization

is known as the hypervisor,
and the OSs that is the analog of the rooms
are called guest OS.
Different types of virtualization
Virtualization is creating a virtual version of something real. In
the context of computers, it's about creating virtual machines
(VMs), which are like mini computers that run inside your main
computer. Each VM acts as if it's a completely independent
computer with its own operating system, applications, and
resources.
Virtualization software, often called a hypervisor, manages these
virtual machines. It sits between the physical hardware (your
actual computer) and the virtual machines. The hypervisor makes
sure each VM gets the resources it needs without interfering with
the others. This way, you can run different operating systems and
applications on the same physical hardware without conflicts.
Computer virtualization is about making the most out of your
computer's resources by creating virtual machines that act like
separate computers, even though they're all sharing the same
underlying hardware.

In the Virtualization video, you learned that virtualization makes it

possible to isolate and manage multiple workloads on a single physical
server. Among the diverse types of virtualization, server virtualization and
containers stand out as two prominent methodologies that have
revolutionized applications.
However, other methods are also present for another usage. Because of
the complexity of operations, these other methods are less exposed to
end users in the form of infrastructure components, and are available
more in the form of services, for example. Though people are more likely
to use virtualization and containers in your laptop, people are lesss likely
so to run storage, network, and desktop virtualization, which are
commonly provided by cloud services such as Amazon Simple Storage
Service (Amazon S3), Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC), and
Amazon AppStream.
Virtual software mimics the functions of physical hardware so that it can
run multiple virtual machines simultaneously on a single physical
machine. Businesses use virtualization to use their hardware resources
efficiently and get greater returns from their investment. Virtualization
also powers cloud computing services that help organizations manage
infrastructure more efficiently.
Additionally, virtualization comes in other forms—such as network and
storage virtualization—which can further optimize IT infrastructure and
drive innovation in the digital era.
What are the different types of virtualization?
You can use virtualization technology to get the functions of many
different types of physical infrastructure with all the benefits of a
virtualized environment. You can go beyond virtual machines to create a
collection of virtual resources in your virtual environment.
Server virtualization
Server virtualization is a process that partitions a physical server into
multiple virtual servers. It’s an efficient and cost-effective way to use
server resources and deploy IT services in an organization. Without server
virtualization, physical servers use only a small amount of their processing
capacities, which leaves devices idle.
How is server virtualization different from containerization?
Containerization is a way to deploy application code to run on any
physical or virtual environment without changes. Developers bundle
application code with related libraries, configuration files, and other
dependencies that the code needs to run. This single package of the
software, called a container, can run independently on any platform.
Containerization is a type of application virtualization.You can think of
server virtualization like building a road to connect two places. You need
to re-create an entire virtual environment and then run your application
on it. By comparison, containerization is like building a helicopter that can
fly to either of those places. Your application is inside a container and can
run on all types of physical or virtual environments.
Storage virtualization
Storage virtualization combines the functions of physical storage devices,
such as network-attached storage (NAS) and storage area network (SAN).
A company can pool the storage hardware in their data center, even if it
comes from different vendors or they are of different types. Storage
virtualization uses all the physical data storage and creates a large unit of
virtual storage that can be assigned and controledl by using management
software. IT administrators can streamline storage activities (such as
archiving, backup, and recovery) because they can combine multiple
network storage devices virtually into a single storage device.
Network virtualization
Any computer network has hardware elements, such as switches, routers,
and firewalls. An organization with offices in multiple geographic locations
can have several different network technologies working together to
create its enterprise network. Network virtualization is a process that
combines all of these network resources to centralize administrative tasks.
Administrators can adjust and control these elements virtually, without
touching the physical components, which simplifies network
management.Network virtualization includes the following two
approaches:
 Software-defined networking: Software-defined networking
(SDN) controls traffic routing by taking over routing management
from data routing in the physical environment. As an example,
consider a company that wants to provide consistent call quality in
all online meetings. The company can program their system to
prioritize video-call traffic over application traffic.
 Network function virtualization: Network function virtualization
technology is designed to improve network performance by
combining the functions of network appliances—such as firewalls,
load balancers, and traffic analyzers—that work together.
Data virtualization
Modern organizations collect data from several sources and store it in
different formats. They might also store data in different places, such as in
a cloud infrastructure and an on-premises data center. Data virtualization
creates a software layer between this data and the applications that need
it. Data virtualization tools process an application’s data request and
return results in a suitable format. Thus, organizations use data
virtualization solutions to increase flexibility for data integration and
support cross-functional data analysis.
Application virtualization
Application virtualization pulls out the functions of applications to run on
operating systems other than the operating systems that they were
designed for. For example, users can run a Windows application on a Linux
machine without changing the machine configuration.
Desktop virtualization
Most organizations have nontechnical staff that use desktop operating
systems to run common business applications. For instance, consider the
following scenarios:
  A customer service team requires a desktop computer with Windows
10 and customer-relationship management (CRM) software.
 A marketing team requires Windows 11 for sales applications.
A company can use desktop virtualization to run these different desktop
operating systems on virtual machines, which their teams can then access
remotely. This type of virtualization is designed to make desktop
management efficient and secure, and to save money on desktop
hardware.
 MODULE 2
Web servers and components of a website
The videos covered two different topics that are related: web servers and
web applications. Understanding the differences between these
components—and the various building blocks that make up a website—is
fundamental to understanding how the World Wide Web works.
Web Servers
Every website needs a web server. A web server is specialized software
that’s designed to respond to incoming Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
requests from clients. Clients are typically web browsers, but they can also
be other types of frontends. The primary function of a web server is to
store, process, and deliver webpages and other resources to users on
request. When you enter a website's URL into your browser, it sends a
request to the web server that hosts that website.
The web server processes this request, retrieves the requested resources
(such as HTML documents, images, CSS files, and JavaScript files), and
sends them back to the client's browser to be rendered and displayed as a
complete webpage.
Web Applications
Unlike web servers, web applications are dynamic and interactive
programs that live on the server side and are accessed through a web
browser. Web applications are responsible for processing user inputs,
performing various operations, performing business logic, and generating
dynamic content that is sent back to the user's browser for display.
One example of dynamic content is this: say that you’re visiting a social
media website. When you load the homepage, it pulls up content posted
by other users who you follow. If somebody else logs in, they will get
different data because you are both follow different people. This is an
example of dynamic content, and the dynamic nature of a website is
handled by a backend web application.
Web applications use server-side programming languages like Python,
Java, .NET, Ruby, PHP, or JavaScript (Node.js) to handle user requests and
interact with databases or other data sources. These applications can be
as simple as a contact form or as complex as a social media platform or
online shopping portal.
HyperText Markup Language (HTML)
HTML forms the structural components of a website. It defines the layout
and organization of content, such as headings, paragraphs, images, links,
and other elements. HTML provides the essential structure so that web
browsers can interpret and render webpages correctly.
HTML elements are defined by using tags. The following list includes
examples of HTML tags and their uses:
 <html>: Is the root element of an HTML document. All other
elements are nested within this tag.
 <head>: Contains meta-information about the document, such as
the page title, links to CSS stylesheets, and other metadata.
 <title>: Sets the title of the webpage, which appears in the
browser's title bar or tab.
 <body>: Encloses the visible content of the webpage, including
text, images, multimedia, and other elements.
 <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, <h4>, <h5>, <h6>: Format headings of
varying levels, from the most important <h1> to the least important
<h6>. Use these tags to structure content hierarchically.
 <p>: Represents a paragraph of text, and creates clear divisions
between blocks of content.
 <a>: Creates hyperlinks to other webpages, files, or specific
sections within the same page.
 <img>: Embeds an image on the webpage, and makes it possible
to include visual elements.
 <ul> and <ol>: Create unordered and ordered lists, respectively.
Items within the list are represented using <li> tags.
 <div>: Is a generic container that’s used for grouping and styling
content blocks.
 <span>: Similar to <div>, but is used for inline styling and
grouping of text elements.
 <br>: Inserts a line break, causing text to move to the next line
without creating a new paragraph.
 <form>: Defines a form that collects user input. It can contain
various form elements, such as text inputs, check boxes, radio
buttons, and buttons.
 <input>: Creates an input field within a form, allowing users to
enter data.
 <textarea>: Creates a multi-line text input area within a form.
 <button>: Generates a clickable button, often used to submit
forms or initiate actions.
  <label>: Associates a text label with a form element, which makes
the form more accessible and user-friendly.
 <table>: Defines a data table. It contains rows (<tr>), table
headers (<th>), and table data cells (<td>).
 <iframe>: Embeds another webpage or external content within the
current page.
This list includes only a subset of HTML tags as examples so you can gain
a deeper understanding of how web development works on a theoretical
level. If you choose to dive deeper into web development, you'll encounter
many more tags and elements that you can use to create complicated and
interactive webpages.
For more information about HTML and the various tags, see HTML
reference.
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
CSS brings aesthetics to the web by providing style and layout instructions
to HTML elements. It controls the presentation and visual appearance of
webpages, including fonts, colors, margins, and positioning. CSS styles
websites so that they look visually appealing and consistent across
different devices.
Exploring CSS is beyond the scope of this course. For now, you should
understand what CSS is, and be able to explain its use case.
For more information about CSS, see this CSS Tutorial.
JavaScript (JS)
JavaScript, or JS, is a client-side scripting language that adds interactivity
and dynamic behavior to webpages. Developers use JS to create
interactive elements, handle user events, validate forms, and perform
actions without requiring a page reload. It's a crucial component for
building responsive and interactive web applications, and most webpages
you interact with use JavaScript and JavaScript frameworks.
For more information about JS, see this JavaScript Tutorial.
Backend Programming Languages
Web applications rely on server-side programming languages to handle
requests, process data, perform business logic, and interact with
databases. Popular backend languages include Python, Ruby, PHP, and
JavaScript (Node.js), among others. Web applications are written by using
backend programming languages.
Databases
Databases store and manage the website's data, such as user information,
product catalogs, and content. Common databases used in web
development include MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and Microsoft SQL
Server. AWS offers many different database services to host database in
the cloud, such as Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS).
For more information about databases on AWS, see AWS Cloud Databases.
Web Frameworks
Web frameworks provide a structured and organized way to build web
applications. They offer prebuilt components, libraries, and tools that
simplify development tasks when building web applications. Examples of
web frameworks include Django (Python), Ruby on Rails, and Express.js
(Node.js).
Web application architectures
Technology and architectural design come together to shape the digital
experiences that you encounter every day. In this reading, you learn about
two crucial concepts for web applications: layered architectures and
microservices. These approaches have significantly impacted how web
applications are developed, deployed, and scaled because they offer
efficient solutions to complex challenges.
Layered architectures help organize web applications into distinct and
manageable layers, which facilitates better maintenance and separation
of concerns. In contrast, microservices revolutionized the way applications
are built. Microservices break applications down into small, independent
services that can be developed, deployed, and scaled individually.
As usual, there is no better option between the two except for the option
that best suits your needs. In this reading, you explore the typical layers in
a layered architecture, in addition to microservices. You also learn how
you can use various AWS services at each layer or in microservices.
Layered architectures
Layered architectures are also known as N-tier architectures. They are
usually found in monolithic applications. (Monolithic applications are
described later in this reading.) The monolithic approach to designing
software systems is commonly used for web applications. The concept
involves dividing the application into distinct layers. Each layer is
responsible for specific functionalities, and each layer promotes a clear
separation of tasks. This architectural style is simpler to begin with, and
can suit a variety of workloads, from blogs to ecommerce.
1. Frontend layer
The frontend layer is also known as the presentation layer. It’s responsible
for user interfaces and interactions. The frontend handles user inputs,
displays data, and communicates with the underlying layers. AWS offers
several services that facilitate the presentation layer, including the
following:
 Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2): Can run many
different kinds of resources, including your application frontend
 Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3): Is primarily a
storage service, but offers a feature to host highly scalable static
HTML websites
 Elastic Load Balancing: Automatically distributes incoming
application traffic across multiple targets and virtual appliances in
one or more Availability Zones
 Amazon CloudFront: Is a content delivery network (CDN) service
that’s designed to deliver web content (including static and dynamic
components) with low latency and high transfer speeds
 Amazon API Gateway: Helps build and manage APIs to expose
backend services to frontend applications
2. Application layer
The application layer is also known as the middle tier. It contains the core
business logic of the web application. This layer processes user requests
from the frontend layer, orchestrates data flow, and manages application-
specific rules. AWS services that you can use for the application layer
include the following:
 Amazon EC2: Can run many different kinds of resources, including
your application logic
 AWS Lambda: Is a serverless computing service you can use to run
code without managing servers; works well for executing discrete
application logic
 AWS Step Functions: Enables the coordination and sequencing of
Lambda functions to build scalable and robust workflows
3. Database layer
The database layer manages data storage and retrieval. It stores and
retrieves information from data that belongs to users, applications,
caches, or other data sources. AWS provides various services for the data
layer, including the following:
 Amazon EC2: Can run many different kinds of resources, including
your application database
  Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS): Offers
managed database services for popular relational databases such as
MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Oracle.
 Amazon DynamoDB: Is a fully managed NoSQL database service
that’s designed to provide scalability and low-latency access for
large-scale applications
Amazon EC2 and its role
Did you notice that Amazon EC2 is included in every layer? Depending on
how you architect your application, you might need to run an operating
system that you can control. Though managing the operating system
gives you more control, it provides less convenience. (Again, no one
solution is better than another because what matters is meeting your
needs.) However, more control over the operating systems means more
responsibility. When you manage the operating system, you also need to
configure the operating system (including security patches) for every
step.
You can think of Amazon EC2 as a cloud wildcard because it has many
uses, and you can use it as a component in different layers.
Understanding how to use Amazon EC2 for the basic stack of compute,
network, and storage is a powerful tool for cloud consultants and
technologists in the industry.
Microservices
Microservices are an architectural and organizational approach to software
development where software is composed of small independent services
that communicate over well-defined APIs. These services are owned by
small, self-contained teams.
Microservices architectures can make applications easier to scale and
faster to develop, which in turn can foster innovation and accelerate time-
to-market for new features.
Monolithic architectures compared to microservices architectures
With monolithic architectures, all processes are tightly coupled and run as
a single service. If one process of the application experiences a spike in
demand, the entire architecture must be scaled. Adding or improving a
monolithic application’s features becomes more complex as the code base
grows. This complexity can limit experimentation and make it difficult to
implement new ideas. Monolithic architectures add risk for application
availability because many dependent and tightly coupled processes
increase the impact of a single process failure.
With a microservices architecture, an application is built as independent
components that run each application process as a service. These services
communicate through a well-defined interface by using lightweight APIs.
Services are built for business capabilities, and each service performs a
single function. Because they run independently, each service can be
updated, deployed, and scaled to meet demand for specific functions of
an application.

Characteristics of microservices
Microservices often have the following characteristics.
Autonomous
Each component service in a microservices architecture can be developed,
deployed, operated, and scaled without affecting the functioning of other
services. Services don’t need to share any of their code or implementation
with other services. Any communication between individual components
happens through well-defined APIs.
Specialized
Each service is designed for a set of capabilities and focuses on solving a
specific problem. If developers contribute more code to a service over
time, and the service becomes complex, it can be broken out into smaller
services.
Agile
Microservices foster an organization of small, independent teams that take
ownership of their services. Teams act within a small and well-understood
context, and they are empowered to work more independently and more
quickly. This model shortens development cycle times. You can benefit
significantly from the aggregate throughput of the organization.
Flexible scaling
With microservices, each service can be independently scaled to meet
demand for the application feature that it supports. Teams can thus right-
size infrastructure needs, accurately measure the cost of a feature, and
maintain availability if a service experiences a spike in demand.
Easy deployment
Microservices enable continuous integration and continuous delivery
(CI/CD), which can make it easier to try out new ideas or roll back if
something doesn’t work. The low cost of failure facilitates
experimentation, makes it easier to update code, and accelerates time-to-
market for new features.
Technological freedom
Microservices architectures don’t follow a one-size-fits-all approach. Teams
have the freedom to choose the best tool to solve their specific problems.
As a consequence, teams that build microservices can choose the best
tool for each job.
Reusable code
By dividing software into small, well-defined modules, teams can use
functions for multiple purposes. A service that’s written for a certain
function can also be used as a building block for another feature. This
structure means that an application can bootstrap off itself because
developers can create new capabilities without writing code from scratch.
Resilient
Service independence increases an application’s resistance to failure. In a
monolithic architecture, the entire application can fail if a single
component fails. With microservices, applications handle total service
failure by degrading functionality but not crashing the entire application.
AWS services and microservices
You can use the following AWS services in microservices architectures.
Compute
 Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2): Can run many
different kinds of resources, including your application computing
 Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS): Is a highly
scalable, high-performance container management service that
 supports Docker containers; runs applications on a managed cluster
of EC2 instances
 AWS Lambda: Is a serverless computing service that you can use
to run code without managing servers; works well for microservices
components
Storage and Databases
 Amazon EC2: Can run many different kinds of resources, including
your application database
 Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS): Offers
managed database services for popular relational databases, such
as MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Oracle
 Amazon DynamoDB: Is a fully managed NoSQL database service
that provides scalability and low-latency access for large-scale
applications
Networking
 Application Load Balancer: Load-balances HTTP and HTTPS traffic
at the application layer (level 7); provides advanced request routing
that’s targeted at the delivery of modern application architectures
(including microservices and containers)
 Amazon API Gateway: Can process hundreds of thousands of
concurrent API calls; handles traffic management, authorization and
access control, monitoring, and API version management
 Amazon Route 53: Provides internal Domain Name System (DNS)
names for APIs
Messaging
 Amazon SNS: Is a fully managed publish/subscribe (pub/sub)
messaging service that you can use to decouple and scale
microservices, distributed systems, and serverless applications
 Amazon SQS: Is a fully managed message-queuing service that
you can use to decouple and scale microservices, distributed
systems, and serverless applications
Logging and monitoring
 Amazon CloudWatch: Collects and tracks metrics, collects and
monitors log files, sets alarms, and can automatically react to
changes across your running services and AWS resources
 AWS X-Ray: Provides an end-to-end view of requests as they travel
through your application through a map of your application’s
underlying components; can also provide a centralized view of logs
 so you can monitor and troubleshoot complex interactions as
microservices work together to handle a request
All computers on the internet—from your smart phone or laptop to the
servers that serve content for massive retail websites—find and
communicate with one another by using numbers. These numbers are
known as IP addresses. When you open a web browser and go to a
website, you don't need to remember and enter a long number. Instead,
you can enter a domain name, such as example.com, and still end up in
the right place.
The Domain Name System (DNS) translates human-readable domain
names (for example, www.amazon.com) into the machine-readable,
numeric IP addresses (for example, 192.0.2.44) that computers use to
connect to each other.
The internet’s DNS system works much like a phone book by managing
the mapping between names and numbers. DNS servers translate
requests for domain names into IP addresses. They control which server
an end user will reach when the user enters a domain name into their web
browser. These requests are called queries.
A DNS service, such as Amazon Route 53, is a globally distributed service
for translating domain names (such as www.example.com) into IP
addresses (such as 192.0.2.1). For more information, see Amazon Route
53.
The following diagram gives an overview of how recursive and
authoritative DNS services work together to route an end user to a
website or application. This process is usually done in milliseconds!
1. A user opens a web browser, enters www.example.com in the
address bar, and presses Enter.
2. The request for www.example.com is routed to a DNS resolver,
which is typically managed by the user's internet service provider
(ISP). Examples of ISPs include cable internet providers, DSL
broadband providers, or corporate networks.
3. The DNS resolver for the ISP forwards the request for
www.example.com to a DNS root name server.
4. The DNS resolver for the ISP forwards the request for
www.example.com again, this time to one of the top-level domain
(TLD) name servers for .com domains. The name server for .com
domains responds to the request with the names of the four Amazon
Route 53 name servers that are associated with the example.com
domain.
5. The DNS resolver for the ISP chooses an Amazon Route 53 name
server and forwards the request for www.example.com to that name
server.
6. The Amazon Route 53 name server looks in the example.com hosted
zone for the www.example.com record and gets the associated
value (for example, the IP address for a web server, such as
 192.0.2.44). The Amazon Route 53 name server then returns the IP
address to the DNS resolver.
7. The DNS resolver for the ISP finally has the IP address that the
user’s web browser needs. The resolver returns that value to the
web browser. The DNS resolver also caches (stores) the IP address
for example.com for an amount of time that you specify so that it
can respond more quickly the next time someone browses to
example.com.
8. The web browser sends a request for www.example.com to the IP
address that it got from the DNS resolver. The requested webpage
content can be reached through this IP address. For example, the
content could be on a web server that runs on an Amazon Elastic
Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instance or an Amazon Simple
Storage Service (Amazon S3) bucket that's configured as a website
endpoint.
9. The web server (or other resource at 192.0.2.44) returns the
webpage content for www.example.com to the web browser, and
the web browser displays the page.
10. Morgan] It's time to put all the pieces together.
11. Let's trace what happens
12. when you load a website in your browser.
13. First, you enter the domain name into the URL bar,
14. and we know that the domain name maps
15. to an IP address somewhere behind the scenes,
16. and that DNS is managing this record.
17. So, your computer needs to make a call
18. to the DNS server that is configured
19. for the network you are on,
20. to look up the IP address
21. it should be talking to for this domain.
22. DNS will respond with the IP address,
23. and then it's time for your computer
24. to create a TCP/IP connection with the server.
25. So, your computer makes this connection with the server.
26. A handshake has happened and we can now begin communicating.
27. Your browser can send an HTTP request
28. for the desired webpage,
29. but we want to ensure that this request is secure,
30. so it will use HTTPS.
31. To do that, it will use an encryption protocol,
32. like Transport Layer Security, otherwise known as TLS.
33. This is used to encrypt the data
34. that will be sent over the internet.
35. So, you make your HTTPS request to the server,
36. but you won't be communicating directly
37. with the backend server, most likely.
38. Most websites that you visit
39. require more than one server to power them.
40. There is a fleet of servers answering requests.
41. The request you sent
 42. will be routed to the load balancer,
43. which acts as a sort-of a point of presence for the website.
44. It will accept the requests from the public internet,
45. then route them to the appropriate backend server.
46. Which server to send the request to
47. is usually done using some sort of algorithm
48. to determine which server has the capacity
49. to take on the request.
50. Then, the server receives the request,
51. does the work it needs to do,
52. and returns the assets like the HTML, CSS, and JS.
53. The server responds to the load balancer,
54. which then, in turn, responds back to the client
55. with the data the browser needs.
56. Then, all that is left,
57. is for the browser to render the page.
58. The HTML defines the elements on the page,
59. the CSS defines the style,
60. and the JavaScript is there to add any interactions
61. or make requests to backend servers as needed
62. to load dynamic data.
63. Then, you have your website loaded up in the browser.
64. So that's it, that's the process end to end.

Internet basics
The video about putting all the pieces together gave you a high-level idea
of what happens when you follow a request that’s being responded to by a
web server. You gained the information that’s needed for you to get
started on the topic and perhaps be able to navigate through that type of
question if it appears in a job interview. Today, things in IT have many—
even thousands—of small components under the hood, and this world of
requests and responses is no different.
In this reading, you explore some of the concepts that you learned in the
videos at a deeper level to help you expand your understanding.
DNS caching
Consider what happens when your computer makes a call to the Domain
Name System (DNS). The first request for a domain goes to DNS, and DNS
returns the IP address or data that’s associated with the record. However,
if you make a second request on the same domain, it will check something
called the DNS cache.
A cache is a temporary storage location that stores frequently accessed
data or information closer to the point of use. If you need to find
information from a database or service somewhere, you can first check to
see if the data you need is in the cache instead of traveling the entire way
back to the source.
The cache speeds things up because you can access that data quickly
without going all the way back to the original source each time you need
something.
However, data in caches can become stale, which means that the source
has changed, but the copy in the cache still has the old value. This
situation is where a concept called time to live (TTL) comes in. When you
use a cache, you typically give each piece of data a time to live, or a
configurable amount of time that the data’s valid in the cache before it’s
deleted.Caches are used in many places in IT, and DNS is one of those
places.
Think about this scenario: say that you go to amazon.com in your browser,
and you accidentally close the window. You open another window and
enter amazon.com in the browser again. When you attempt to access the
website again, does the browser need to send a new request to the DNS
server?
Most of the time, operating systems store things like IP addresses and
other DNS records in a local cache, which results in the faster retrieval of
future requests. This cache, known as the DNS cache, reduces the need
for browsers to make new requests for redundant data. The DNS cache
essentially eliminates a network call that would otherwise be made to
DNS, which helps the page load faster.
In general, caching is used to reduce latency when data is retrieved. You
will see caches used with databases and other data storage systems as
you begin your work in IT.
A cache is one example of how the components that you are learning
become more complex up as you take a closer look at them and see their
details. For now, don’t worry too much about completely grasping these
details. This course is focused on getting you to a place where you can
begin to work hands-on and expand your knowledge of the details for
each component you learn about. As an entry-level IT employee, it’s more
important for you to understand the concepts and use cases; you will build
your knowledge of the details as you work with these systems.
TCP/IP
Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is a set of
communication protocols that internet-connected devices use to
communicate with each other.
As covered earlier in the course, data that’s sent between two networked
devices is broken down into small units called packets. Packets contain
data and information about where they came from and where they need
to go. These packets travel separately, and can take different paths to
reach their destination. TCP/IP requires that packets contain information so
that the message can be put back together in order. After all the packets
arrive at the destination, they are put back together to form the complete
message.
When requests are made between computers, this process happens
extremely fast under the hood. If you explore this topic further, you’ll see
that TCP/IP has a whole process and a world of concepts. It’s another
example of how you can define something from a high level, but if you
take a closer look, it can have complex details that make it work. Again,
you should focus on gaining concept-level understanding at this point.
HTTP and HTTPS
Both Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Hypertext Transfer Protocol
Secure (HTTPS) are topics that include a lot of information that this course
hasn’t covered. The difference between the two involves security. When
you see HTTPS in the web address, it means that the connection between
your browser and the website is encrypted, which means that it’s more
difficult for someone to gain unauthorized access to your data. In contrast,
HTTP doesn't have that additional layer of security.
Under the hood, many things happen that make it possible to have a
secure HTTPS connection.
HTTPS works by using an extra layer of security called Secure Sockets
Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS). This layer encrypts the data
that’s exchanged between your browser and the website's server, which
makes it more difficult for anyone to intercept and understand that data.
It's similar to putting your message in a secret code that only the intended
recipient can decipher.
The following list describes a simplified breakdown of how HTTPS works:
1. When you connect to a website with HTTPS, your browser requests a
secure connection.
 2. The website's server responds by sending its SSL/TLS certificate,
which contains a public key.
3. Your browser checks if the certificate is valid and trustworthy, and
that the website is what it claims to be.
4. If the certificate is valid, your browser generates a random
encryption key and encrypts it by using the server's public key. Only
the server can decrypt this by using its private key.
5. At this point, your browser and the server share a secret encryption
key, which is known as a session key. All the data that’s exchanged
between your browser and the server is encrypted by using this
session key.
6. Encrypted data is sent back and forth securely, which protects your
information from being intercepted or tampered with. Encrypted
data is not human readable, and only someone with the session key
can decrypt the data to read it.
7. The browser receives the encrypted data and uses the session key
to decrypt it, so that the website's content can be rendered and be
made human readable.
Now, you take a closer look at HTTP in general. For the following section,
remember that these concepts apply to both HTTP and HTTPS.Before you
learn more detailed information about HTTP, it’s helpful to know some
common terms that people use when they discuss HTTP.
For example, HTTP methods is one term that you’ll hear. HTTP methods
are the defined ways that your browser can talk to a web server. That is,
you have a set of actions that you can take, and these actions are defined
through these HTTP methods.Methods refer to the actions that can be
performed on a resource. They indicate what the browser or client wants
to do with a particular web page or resource.
A resource refers to information that can be accessed through a Uniform
Resource Locator (URL). A resource in this context can be a webpage, an
image, a document, or any other digital content that can be requested or
manipulated through HTTP.
The most common HTTP methods are GET and POST. When you choose a
link or enter a web address, your browser uses the GET method to ask the
website for a specific page or resource. It's similar to saying, "Hi, I want to
see this resource!" The POST method is used when you submit a form on a
website, such as when you fill out a registration form. POST sends the
information that you entered in the form to the website's server. Thus,
GET is for retrieving resources, and POST is for sending resources.
The following table lists HTTP methods and their use cases:
HTTP Method Use Case

GET Retrieve information or resources

POST Send data to the server for processing

PUT Update or replace an existing resource

DELETE Remove or delete a resource

PATCH Partially modify or update a resource

HEAD Retrieve only the headers of a resource

OPTIONS Check the available methods for a resource

Headers is another HTTP-related vocabulary word that you should
know.Headers are additional pieces of information that accompany an
HTTP request or response. They provide details about the request or
response, such as the type of content that’s being sent, the length of the
content, the encoding, caching instructions, authentication credentials,
and more. Headers make it possible for browsers and servers to
understand and process requests and responses properly.
You will hear about headers more as you use HTTP and work with web
solutions. However, for now, you only need to understand that headers
define certain aspects of your request, and that systems use them to
interpret how to handle requests or pass data.
Ports
When a connection is established between two hosts, the connection uses
a port on both network devices. Ports are usually identified with a number
that’s been assigned to it. The port number uniquely identifies a
connection endpoint with a specific service. For example, in the Internet
Protocol (IP), each IP address can handle 65,535 ports, but not all of them
are used.
Web connections have a list of commonly used ports. By default, HTTP
uses port 80, and HTTPS uses port 443. Most (not to say all) browsers can
use the default ports by observing the protocol that’s being used.
Port numbers are defined with a colon (:). For example, if you enter
https://amazon.com:443 in your browser, you’re indicating that you
want to access that endpoint by using HTTPS. If you test this process and
access the previous URL in your browser, you will notice that the browser
removes the :443 from the request because HTTPS is the default port for
that protocol. However, if you configure your own web servers, you can
use a custom port number to differentiate one website from another.
Say that you point your browser to https://amazon.com:444. If you test
whether you can access this URL, you will see an error called
ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED. This message means that the server is
not listening to the HTTPS protocol in the port 444 (which is what you
should expect!).Because of this, it’s good to become familiar with the
following phrase: “server listening on a port.”
Both 8080 or 8000 are common port numbers for development
environments.
High and low port numbers
Most operating system kernels protect the usage of low ports and restrict
them to power users. This practice provides an extra layer of protection on
the server side because only authorized OS users should be allowed to
use ports that are default ports for services. Well-known ports (also called
system ports) are ports in the range of 0-1023. The following list of ports
includes several well-known examples of port numbers and their
protocols:
 21: File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
 22: Secure Shell (SSH); used for remote connections through the
Linux command line
 53: Domain Name System (DNS)
 80: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
 443: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS)
Most experienced cloud consultants and technologists know some low
ports that map to services, and they have memorized this information by
working with networks in practice. You will develop this knowledge after
you start working with networks, and the information will become
automatic to you as you gain more experience.
Firewalls
A firewall is a network security component that can filter incoming and
outgoing requests. It can be a hardware appliance, software, or a cloud
service.
It’s important to understand the concept of ports because firewalls use
ports when they make a decision to allow or block a request. As a network
administrator, you should be able to determine which ports you want to
open or close, given a service or an endpoint. For example, when you
configure a web server in the AWS Cloud, you should perform additional
configuration to open port 80.
AWS Cloud basics
What is cloud computing?
Cloud computing is the on-demand delivery of compute power, database,
storage, applications, and other IT resources from a cloud services
provider, through the internet, with pay-as-you-go pricing. Whether you
are running applications that share photos to millions of mobile users or
you’re supporting the critical operations of your business, a cloud services
provider can offer rapid access to flexible and low-cost IT resources.
With cloud computing, you don’t need to make large, upfront investments
in hardware and spend a lot of time managing that hardware. Instead, you
can provision the right type and size of computing resources you need to
power your newest idea or operate your IT department. You can access as
many resources as you need, almost instantly, and only pay for what you
use.
Cloud computing provides a way to access servers, storage, databases
and a broad set of application services over the internet. A cloud services
platform, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), owns and maintains the
network-connected hardware required for these application services. You
provision and use what you need through a web application.
For more general information about AWS, see Overview of Amazon Web
Services.
History of AWS
In 2006, AWS began offering IT infrastructure services to businesses as
web services—these services are now commonly known as cloud
computing. One of the key benefits of cloud computing is the opportunity
to replace upfront capital infrastructure expenses with low variable costs
that scale with your business. With the cloud, businesses don’t need to
plan for and procure servers and other IT infrastructure weeks or months
in advance. Instead, they can instantly spin up hundreds or thousands of
servers in minutes, and deliver results faster.
Today, AWS provides a highly reliable, scalable, low-cost infrastructure
platform in the cloud that powers hundreds of thousands of businesses in
190 countries around the world.
Six advantages of cloud computing
Cloud computing offers the following advantages:
 Trade fixed expense for variable expense: With cloud
computing, you don’t need to invest heavily in data centers and
servers before you know how you’ll use them. Instead, you can pay
only when you consume computing resources, and pay only for how
much you consume.
 Benefit from massive economies of scale: By using cloud
computing, you can achieve a lower variable cost than you can get
on your own. Because usage from hundreds of thousands of
customers is aggregated in the cloud, providers such as AWS can
achieve higher economies of scale, which translates into lower pay
as-you-go prices.
 Stop guessing capacity: You can eliminate guessing on your
infrastructure capacity needs. When you make a capacity decision
before you deploy an application, you can end up with either
expensive idle resources or dealing with limited capacity. With cloud
computing, you can access as much or as little capacity as you
need, and scale up and down as required with only a few minutes’
notice.
 Increase speed and agility: In a cloud computing environment,
new IT resources are a click away, which means that you reduce the
time you can make those resources available to developers from
weeks to minutes. This can result in a dramatic increase in agility for
the organization, because the cost and time it takes to experiment
and develop is significantly lower.
 Stop spending money running and maintaining data centers:
With the cloud, you can focus on projects that differentiate your
business—not on infrastructure. By using cloud computing, you can
focus on your own customers, instead of focusing on the heavy
lifting of racking, stacking, and powering servers.
  Go global in minutes: With cloud computing, you can deploy your
application in multiple regions around the world with a few clicks.
This means you can provide lower latency and a better experience
for your customers at minimal cost.
Types of cloud computing
Cloud computing provides developers and IT departments with the ability
to focus on what matters most and avoid undifferentiated work, such as
procurement, maintenance, and capacity planning. As cloud computing
has grown in popularity, several different models and deployment
strategies have emerged to help meet the specific needs of different
users. Each type of cloud service and deployment method provides you
with different levels of control, flexibility, and management.
Understanding the differences between infrastructure as a service (IaaS),
platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS)—in addition
to the deployment strategies you can use—can help you decide what set
of services is right for your needs.
Cloud computing models
Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
IaaS contains the basic building blocks for cloud IT, and typically provides
access to networking features, computers (either virtual or on dedicated
hardware), and data storage space. IaaS provides you with the highest
level of flexibility and management control over your IT resources. It’s also
the most similar model to existing IT resources that many IT departments
and developers are familiar with today.
Platform as a service (PaaS)
PaaS reduces the need for your organization to manage the underlying
infrastructure (usually hardware and operating systems). With PaaS, you
can focus on the deployment and management of your applications. PaaS
can help you be more efficient because you don’t need to worry about
resource procurement, capacity planning, software maintenance,
patching, or any of the other undifferentiated heavy lifting involved in
running your application.
Software as a service (SaaS)
SaaS provides you with a completed product that is run and managed by
the service provider. In most cases, people who refer to SaaS are referring
to end-user applications. With a SaaS offering, you don’t need to think
about how the service is maintained or how the underlying infrastructure
is managed. Instead, you need to think about only how you will use that
particular piece of software. A common example of a SaaS application is a
web-based email client. You can use a web-based email client to send and
receive email without managing feature additions to the email product, or
maintaining the servers and operating systems that the email program
runs on.
Cloud computing deployment models
Cloud
A cloud-based application is fully deployed in the cloud and all parts of the
application run in the cloud. Applications in the cloud have either been
created in the cloud or have been migrated from an existing infrastructure
to take advantage of the benefits of cloud computing. Cloud-based
applications can be built on low-level infrastructure pieces, or they can
use higher-level services that provide abstraction from the management,
architecting, and scaling requirements of core infrastructure.
Hybrid
A hybrid deployment is a way to connect infrastructure and applications
between cloud-based resources and existing resources that are not
located in the cloud. The most common method of hybrid deployment is
between the cloud and existing on-premises infrastructure. This type of
hybrid deployment means that the organization can extend and grow their
infrastructure into the cloud while also connecting cloud resources to their
internal system.
On-premises
The deployment of resources on premises—using virtualization and
resource management tools—is sometimes called the private cloud. On-
premises deployment doesn’t provide many of the benefits of cloud
computing, but it’s sometimes used for its ability to provide dedicated
resources. In most cases, this deployment model is the same as using
legacy IT infrastructure while also using application management and
virtualization technologies to try and increase resource utilization.
Global infrastructure
The AWS Cloud infrastructure is built around AWS Regions and Availability
Zones. An AWS Region is a physical location in the world that includes
multiple Availability Zones. Availability Zones consist of one or more
discrete data centers. Each data center is housed in separate facilities
with redundant power, networking, and connectivity. You can use different
Availability Zones to operate production applications and databases that
are more highly available, fault tolerant, and scalable than would be
possible from a single data center.
For the latest information about the Availability Zones and AWS Regions in
the AWS Cloud, see AWS Global Infrastructure.
For more information about AWS topics in general, see the AWS
Documentation.