Amazon web services

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a platform that allows the development of flexible applications by
providing solutions for elastic infrastructure scalability, messaging, and data storage. The platform is
accessible through SOAP or RESTful Web service interfaces and provides a Web-based console where
users can handle administration and monitoring of the resources required, as well as their expenses
computed on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Compute services

EC2 instances (Important)

EC2 instances represent virtual machines. They are created using AMI as templates, which are
specialized by selecting the number of cores, their computing power, and the installed memory.

We can identify six major categories:

• Standard instances. This class offers a set of configurations that are suitable for most applications. EC2
provides three different categories of increasing computing power, storage, and memory.
• Micro instances. This class is suitable for those applications that consume a limited amount of
computing power and memory and occasionally need bursts in CPU cycles to process surges in the
workload. Micro instances can be used for small Web applications with limited traffic.

• High-memory instances. This class targets applications that need to process huge workloads and
require large amounts of memory. Three-tier Web applications characterized by high traffic are the
target profile. Three categories of increasing memory and CPU are available, with memory
proportionally larger than computing power.

• High-CPU instances. This class targets compute-intensive applications. Two configurations are
available where computing power proportionally increases more than memory.

• Cluster Compute instances. This class is used to provide virtual cluster services. Instances in this
category are characterized by high CPU compute power and large memory and an extremely high I/O
and network performance, which makes it suitable for HPC applications.

• Cluster GPU instances. This class provides instances featuring graphic processing units (GPUs) and
high compute power, large memory, and extremely high I/O and network performance. This class is
particularly suited for cluster applications that perform heavy graphic computations, such as rendering
clusters. Since GPU can be used for general-purpose computing, users of such instances can benefit
from additional computing power, which makes this class suitable for HPC applications.

EC2 Environment:

 EC2 instances operate within a virtual environment that handles tasks such as allocating
addresses, attaching storage volumes, and configuring security.
 Instances are assigned internal IP addresses by default, allowing communication within the EC2
network and access to the internet. Elastic IPs can be associated with instances for internet
access and failover capabilities.
 Instances are given domain names in the form of [Link],
representing the external IP address and availability zone.
 Instances can be deployed in different availability zones, allowing users to control deployment
location for redundancy and performance optimization.
 Users can associate key pairs with instances for remote access, and control access through basic
firewall configuration and security groups.

Advanced Compute Services:

AWS CloudFormation:

 Introduces templates (JSON formatted text files) to describe resources needed for an application
or service in EC2.
 Allows linking EC2 instances and defining dependencies between resources.
  Integrates with other AWS services like S3, SimpleDB, SQS, etc.

AWS Elastic Beanstalk:

 Simplifies packaging and deployment of web applications on AWS Cloud.

 Currently supports Java/Tomcat technology stack.
 Automates provisioning instances and deploying application code while providing access to
them.

Amazon Elastic MapReduce (EMR):

 Provides a cloud computing platform for MapReduce applications using Hadoop.

 Utilizes EC2 instances and Amazon S3 for storage.
 Offers elasticity to dynamically size the Hadoop cluster and select instance configurations.
 Supports Hadoop ecosystem tools like Pig, Hive, etc.

Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3):

 S3 is a distributed object store allowing users to store information in various formats. It consists
of buckets and objects. Buckets are virtual containers for objects, while objects represent the
actual stored content. Objects can be enriched with metadata for additional information.
 S3 organizes storage into buckets, which cannot be further partitioned.
 Objects stored in S3 are immutable and cannot be manipulated like standard files.
 S3 provides an eventually consistent data store, meaning changes are not immediately reflected
globally.
 Requests may occasionally fail due to the large distributed infrastructure.
 Access is provided through RESTful Web services, using HTTP requests like GET, PUT, DELETE,
HEAD, and POST.
 Buckets, objects, and metadata are accessed via URIs under the [Link] domain.
 Access to buckets and objects is controlled via Access Control Policies (ACPs), defining
permissions for users and groups.
 Server access logging allows detailed information about requests made to buckets and objects.
S3 objects can be exposed to the BitTorrent network.

Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS):

 Provides persistent storage volumes for EC2 instances, accessible via block device interface.
 Volumes accommodate up to 1 TB of space.
 Survives instance life cycle and is persisted into S3.
 Can be cloned, used as boot partitions, and snapshots can be taken incrementally.

Amazon ElastiCache:
  Provides elastic in-memory caching based on a cluster of EC2 instances, compatible with
Memcached protocol.
 Allows dynamic resizing of clusters according to demand.
 Automatic patch management and failure detection.
 Priced according to EC2 model.

Structured Storage Solutions:

 Templates featuring installations of various database management systems, allowing users to

configure EC2 instances with persistent storage.
 Managed relational database service based on EC2 infrastructure, offering features like multi-AZ
deployment and read replicas.
 Lightweight, highly scalable, and flexible data storage solution for applications not requiring a
fully relational model, based on domains, items, and attributes.

Amazon CloudFront:

 Content delivery network leveraging Amazon's distributed infrastructure to serve static and
streaming content with reduced transfer time.
 Simple API for managing distributions.
 Supports static and streaming content delivery.
 Can restrict access and invalidate content.
 Origin server can be S3 bucket, EC2 instance, or external server.

Communication services

Communication services Amazon provides facilities to structure and facilitate the communication among
existing applications and services residing within the AWS infrastructure. These facilities can be
organized into two major categories: virtual networking and messaging.

Virtual Networking

Virtual networking services offered by Amazon include:

Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC):

 Allows users to create virtual private networks within AWS infrastructure and beyond.
 Provides flexibility with templates for common scenarios or fully customizable network setups.
 Offers features like public subnets, isolated networks, private networks with NAT, and hybrid
networks.
 Cost in 2011 was $0.50 per connection hour.

Amazon Direct Connect:

  Creates dedicated networks between user private networks and Amazon Direct Connect
locations.
 Provides consistent performance for high bandwidth scenarios between user premises and
AWS.
 Compatible with services like EC2, S3, and Amazon VPC.
 Offers two bandwidth options: 1 Gbps ($0.30 per hour) and 10 Gbps ($2.25 per hour).
 Inbound traffic is free, outbound traffic is priced at $0.02 per GB.

Amazon Route 53:

 Implements dynamic DNS services allowing AWS resources to be reached through user-owned
domain names.
 Allows EC2 instances and S3 buckets to be exposed under user-controlled domains.
 Supports dynamically mapping names to resources.
 Costing model includes a fixed amount ($1 per zone per month) and a dynamic component
based on the number of queries resolved.

Messaging

Messaging services provided by Amazon AWS include:

Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS):

 Allows exchange of messages between applications through message queues hosted within
AWS.
 Messages are securely stored for a limited time.
 Applications can send messages to any queue they have access to.
 Offers an unlimited number of message queues.

Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS):

 Provides a publish-subscribe method for connecting heterogeneous applications.

 Allows applications to be notified when new content of interest is available.
 Supports different notification models like HTTP/HTTPS, email, and SQS.
 Users can create topics and subscribe to them.

Amazon Simple Email Service (SES):

 Offers scalable email service leveraging AWS infrastructure.

 Users can send SMTP-compliant or raw emails.
 Emails are queued for delivery, and users are notified of any failed delivery.
 Provides statistics to improve email campaigns.
 Pay-as-you-go model without a minimum commitment.