AWS CHEATSHEET

Core AWS Services

• Compute:

o EC2: Virtual servers.

▪ EC2 Instance Types: General-purpose, Compute-optimized,

▪ Pricing Models: On-demand, Reserved, Spot, Dedicated.

o Lambda: Serverless compute, pay-per-execution.

o ECS/Fargate: Container orchestration.

o Elastic Beanstalk: Simplified application deployment.

• Storage:

o S3: Object storage.

▪ Storage Classes: Standard, Intelligent-Tiering, Glacier, Deep

▪ Key Features: Versioning, Lifecycle Policies, Cross-Region

o EBS: Block storage for EC2 instances.

o EFS: Scalable file storage for multiple EC2 instances.

o Storage Gateway: Hybrid cloud storage integration.

• Databases:

o RDS: Managed relational database (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL

o DynamoDB: NoSQL key-value database.

o Redshift: Data warehousing service.

o Aurora: High-performance database engine for MySQL/PostgreSQL.

• Networking:

Hemavathi.P
www.linkedin.com/in/hemavathi-p-2262631a7
 o VPC: Virtual Private Cloud.

▪ Components: Subnets, Route Tables, Internet Gateway, NAT

o Elastic Load Balancer (ELB): Distribute traffic.

o Route 53: DNS service.

o CloudFront: Content delivery network (CDN).

AWS Security and Identity

• IAM (Identity and Access Management):

o Components: Users, Groups, Roles, Policies.

o Best Practices: Least privilege, MFA, password policies.

• KMS: Key Management Service for encryption.

• Secrets Manager: Manage sensitive information (e.g., API keys).

• Cognito: User authentication and identity management.

Monitoring and Logging

• CloudWatch: Monitoring service for logs, metrics, alarms.

• CloudTrail: Tracks API calls and user activity.

• VPC Flow Logs: Captures IP traffic in your VPC.

• AWS Config: Monitors resource configurations for compliance.

DevOps and CI/CD

• CodePipeline: Automates software release workflows.

• CodeBuild: Builds and tests source code.

• CodeDeploy: Automates deployments to EC2, Lambda, or on-premises

• CloudFormation: Infrastructure as code using templates.

Hemavathi.P
www.linkedin.com/in/hemavathi-p-2262631a7
 • Elastic Beanstalk: Simplifies application deployment.

Serverless Architecture

• AWS Lambda: Serverless compute for event-driven applications.

o Common Triggers: S3, DynamoDB, API Gateway, CloudWatch.

o Runtime Support: Python, Node.js, Java, etc.

• API Gateway: Create, publish, and secure APIs.

• Step Functions: Orchestrate workflows between services.

• EventBridge: Event-driven integration across AWS services.

Common AWS Scenarios

• High Availability: Use Multi-AZ deployments and Load Balancers.

• Scalability:

o Horizontal Scaling: Add more instances (EC2 Auto Scaling).

o Vertical Scaling: Increase instance size.

• Disaster Recovery:

o Backup and Restore: S3, Glacier.

o Pilot Light: Minimal resources running, scaled when needed.

o Warm Standby: Smaller-scale replica of production.

o Multi-Site: Full replication across regions.

Key AWS Concepts

• Elasticity vs. Scalability:

o Elasticity adjusts resources automatically.

o Scalability grows resources to meet demand.

• Shared Responsibility Model:

o AWS: Security of the cloud.

Hemavathi.P
www.linkedin.com/in/hemavathi-p-2262631a7
 o Customer: Security in the cloud.

• Regions and AZs:

o Region: Geographical location.

o Availability Zone (AZ): Isolated data centers within a region.

Common Commands and Tools

• AWS CLI:

aws s3 ls # List S3 buckets

aws ec2 describe-instances # Describe EC2 instances

aws dynamodb scan --table-name my_table

• Boto3 (Python SDK):

import boto3

s3 = boto3.client('s3')

s3.create_bucket(Bucket='my-bucket')

Popular AWS Interview Questions

1. How does S3 differ from EBS and EFS?

o S3: Object storage for files.

o EBS: Block storage for EC2 instances.

o EFS: File storage for multiple EC2 instances.

2. Explain Auto Scaling.

o Automatically adjusts EC2 instances based on demand using

3. How does Route 53 support disaster recovery?

o Use failover routing to switch traffic between primary and backup

4. How is data secured in S3?

Hemavathi.P
www.linkedin.com/in/hemavathi-p-2262631a7
 o Encryption (Server-side: AES-256, KMS; Client-side).

o Bucket policies and ACLs for access control.

5. What is the difference between Security Groups and NACLs?

o Security Groups: Instance-level firewall, stateful.

o NACLs: Subnet-level firewall, stateless.

Hemavathi.P
www.linkedin.com/in/hemavathi-p-2262631a7