AWS (Amazon Web Services) is a comprehensive cloud computing platform provided by Amazon that offers over 200 fully featured services from data centers globally. It provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to individuals, companies, and governments on a metered pay-as-you-go basis.

Key AWS Services

AWS offers a vast array of services across different categories:

Core Services:

  • EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud): Virtual servers in the cloud
  • S3 (Simple Storage Service): Object storage service
  • RDS (Relational Database Service): Managed database service
  • Lambda: Serverless computing service
  • VPC (Virtual Private Cloud): Isolated cloud resources 
# Example: Creating an S3 bucket using AWS CLI
aws s3 mb s3://my-unique-bucket-name

# Upload a file to S3
aws s3 cp myfile.txt s3://my-unique-bucket-name/

# List S3 buckets
aws s3 ls

AWS Benefits

  • Scalability: Scale up or down based on demand
  • Cost-Effective: Pay only for what you use
  • Reliability: 99.99% uptime SLA for many services
  • Security: Enterprise-grade security features
  • Global Reach: Data centers in multiple regions worldwide
  • Innovation: Continuous addition of new services and features

Common Use Cases

  • Web Applications: Host scalable web applications
  • Data Backup: Secure and reliable data storage
  • Big Data Analytics: Process and analyze large datasets
  • Machine Learning: Build and deploy ML models
  • Content Delivery: Global content distribution via CloudFront
  • Disaster Recovery: Business continuity solutions

Learning Path

  1. AWS Fundamentals: Understand cloud computing basics
  2. Core Services: Master EC2, S3, RDS, and VPC
  3. Security & IAM: Learn identity and access management
  4. Networking: Understand VPC, subnets, and routing
  5. Monitoring: Use CloudWatch for monitoring and logging
  6. Automation: Infrastructure as Code with CloudFormation
  7. Certification: Pursue AWS certifications