Overview of AWS Products and Services

Sep 19, 2024

Overview of AWS Products

Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched in 2006 with three core products: storage buckets, compute instances, and a messaging queue. Now, AWS offers over 200 services, creating a complex ecosystem for developers.

Products for Specialized Use Cases

  • RoboMaker: Simulates and tests robots at scale.
  • IoT Core: Collects data and manages robots remotely.
  • Ground Station Service: Connects satellites to data through Amazon's antennas.
  • Bracket: Interacts with quantum computers for research and experimentation.

Compute Services

  1. Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2): Fundamental building block for creating virtual computers in the cloud. Commonly used for web applications.

    • Elastic Load Balancing (2009): Distributes traffic across multiple EC2 instances.
    • CloudWatch: Collects logs and metrics from EC2 instances.
    • Auto Scaling: Creates new instances based on traffic and usage.

  2. Elastic Beanstalk (2011): Simplifies app deployment by providing an abstraction layer on top of EC2 for easier application management.

  3. LightSail: Easy deployment of applications (e.g., WordPress) without worrying about infrastructure.

  4. Lambda (2014): Introduces serverless computing. Allows developers to upload code and run it based on events. Only pay for usage.

    • Serverless Application Repository: Pre-built functions for quick deployment.

  5. Outposts: Runs AWS APIs on local infrastructure for enterprises with existing servers.

  6. Snow Devices: Mini data centers for remote or extreme environments without internet.

Container Services

  • Elastic Container Registry (ECR): Stores Docker images for applications.
  • Elastic Container Service (ECS): Manages Docker containers and integrates with load balancers.
  • Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS): Runs Kubernetes for more control over scaling.
  • Fargate: Makes containers behave like serverless functions, eliminating the need for dedicated EC2 instances.
  • AppRunner (2021): Simplifies deployment of containerized applications.

Storage Solutions

  1. Simple Storage Service (S3): Initial AWS product for storing any type of file.
    • Glacier: Archive storage with higher latency but lower cost.
    • Elastic Block Store (EBS): Fast storage for data-intensive applications.
    • Elastic File System (EFS): Fully managed file storage with higher performance but at a steeper cost.

Database Services

  • SimpleDB: Early NoSQL database, too simple for most needs.
  • DynamoDB: Document database with easy horizontal scaling and fast read performance.
  • Amazon DocumentDB: MongoDB-compatible document database.
  • Amazon RDS: Fully managed relational SQL database supporting various SQL flavors.
  • Aurora: Proprietary SQL database with better performance and a serverless option.
  • Neptune: Graph database for highly connected datasets.
  • Elastic Cache: Fully managed in-memory database (Redis).
  • Timestream: Time-series database for time-based data.
  • Quantum Ledger Database: Immutable transactions similar to blockchain.

Analytics Services

  • Redshift: Data warehouse for analysis of structured data.
  • AWS Lake Formation: Creates data lakes for unstructured data.
  • Kinesis: Captures real-time data streams.
  • Elastic MapReduce: Processes large datasets with Apache Spark.
  • Amazon MSK: Managed service for Apache Kafka.
  • Glue: Serverless ETL service to simplify data integration.

Machine Learning Tools

  • Data Exchange: Source for high-quality third-party data.
  • SageMaker: Managed service for building and deploying machine learning models.
  • Recognition API: Image and object classification.
  • Lex: Builds conversational bots.
  • DeepRacer: A race car device to learn machine learning.

Security and Management Tools

  • Identity and Access Management (IAM): Controls access to AWS services.
  • Cognito: User authentication and session management.
  • SNS: Sends push notifications.
  • SES: Sends emails to users.
  • CloudFormation: Templates for provisioning infrastructure.
  • Amplify: SDKs to connect front-end applications to AWS services.

Cost Management

  • AWS Cost Explorer: Helps track and manage costs associated with AWS services.

Conclusion

AWS has evolved to offer a vast array of products, providing tools for various needs—from specialized applications to general compute and storage solutions. Understanding the right services is crucial for effective cloud usage.