AWS

 Getting Started with AWS

Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides on-demand computing resources and services in the cloud, with pay-as-you-go pricing. For example, you can run a server on AWS that you can log on to, configure, secure, and run just as you would a server that's sitting in front of you. For more information, see What is Cloud Computing?

What Can I Do with AWS?

You can use AWS to make it easier to build and manage your websites and applications. The following are some common uses for AWS:

• Store public or private data.

• Host a static website. These websites use client-side technologies (such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) to display content that doesn't change frequently. A static website doesn't require serverside technologies (such as PHP and ASP.NET).

• Host a dynamic website, or web app. These websites include classic three-tier applications, with

web, application, and database tiers.

• Support students or online training programs.

• Process business and scientific data.

• Handle peak loads.

How Do I Access AWS?

AWS provides several ways to create and manage resources.

AWS Management Console

A web interface. To get started, see the Getting Started with the AWS Management Console.

AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI)

Commands for a broad set of AWS products. To get started, see AWS Command Line Interface User Guide.

Command Line Tools

Commands for individual AWS products. For more information, see Command Line Tools.

AWS Software Development Kits (SDK)

APIs that are specific to your programming language or platform. For more information, see

SDKs.

Query APIs

Low-level APIs that you access using HTTP requests. For more information, see the API

documentation for each service.

AWS Overview

AWS offers a broad set of services that help you move faster, lower your costs, and scale your applications. The following documentation provides a high-level overview of the concepts that you should understand before you get started with AWS.

Contents

• Regions and Availability Zones (p. 3)
• Security (p. 4)
• AWS Product Categories (p. 4)

Regions and Availability Zones

Amazon has data centers in different areas of the world (for example, North America, Europe, and Asia). Correspondingly, AWS products are available to use in different regions. By placing resources in separate regions, you can design your website or app to be closer to specific customers or to meet legal or other requirements. Note that prices for AWS usage vary by region.

Each region contains multiple distinct locations called Availability Zones. Each Availability Zone is engineered to be isolated from failures in other Availability Zones, and to provide inexpensive, lowlatency network connectivity to other zones in the same region. By placing resources in separate Availability Zones, you can protect your website or app from the failure of a single location.

AWS resources can be tied to a region or tied to an Availability Zone. Not every region or Availability Zone supports every AWS resource. When you view your resources, you'll only see the resources tied to the region you've specified. This is because regions are isolated from each other, and we don't replicate resources across regions automatically.

The following table lists the AWS regions.

Name                                                                                     Region Code

Asia Pacific (Seoul)                                                             ap-northeast-2

Asia Pacific (Singapore)                                                     ap-southeast-1

Asia Pacific (Sydney)                                                          ap-southeast-2

Asia Pacific (Tokyo)                                                             ap-northeast-1

EU (Frankfurt)                                                                        eu-central-1

EU (Ireland)                                                                             eu-west-1

South America (São Paulo)                                                     sa-east-1

US East (N. Virginia)                                                                 us-east-1

US West (N. California)                                                             us-west-1

US West (Oregon)                                                                     us-west-2

Security

AWS provides a secure global infrastructure, plus a range of features that you can use to secure your data in the cloud. The following are highlights:

• Physical access to AWS data centers is strictly controlled, monitored, and audited
• Access to the AWS network is strictly controlled, monitored, and audited.
• You can manage the security credentials that enable users to access your AWS account using AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM). You can create fine-grained permissions to AWS resources and apply them to users or groups of users.
• You can apply ACL-type permissions on your data and can also use encryption of data at rest.
• You can set up a virtual private cloud (VPC), which is a virtual network that is logically isolated from other virtual networks in the AWS cloud. You can control whether the network is directly routable to the Internet.
• You control and configure the operating system on your virtual server