What is AWS?

Updated:

September 5, 2022

⏱️ 5 minutes

Are you curious to know everything about the AWS platform and looking to build a career in AWS? You have landed on the right platform, as this guide will help you understand the dynamics of the AWS platform, how it works, and what it has to offer for you.

If you are a beginner, learn what AWS is for a beginner and start your AWS journey accordingly.

AWS is a comprehensive and popular cloud computing platform provided by Amazon. It offers cloud computing services like Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), Product as a service (PaaS), and Service as a Service (SaaS).

AWS services provide tools for companies and organizations to manage their data, storage, and content delivery services.

If we go back to the history and establishment of AWS, you’d be surprised to know that the AWS platform has impacted the cloud computing industry since 2006.

The Pay-as-you-go cloud computing model is the most exciting feature of the AWS platform. It offers solutions and tools to organizations in the cloud computing market in more than 180 countries.

Organizations like education institutes, government agencies, and NGOs use and benefit from the AWS platform.

How does AWS work?

The AWS platform provides two different types of services, and each can be customized and configured per the user’s requirements. Users can choose between multiple configuration options, and the individual server leads them to an AWS service suitable for their business needs.

Amazon Web Services portfolio offers more than 100 services. It includes assistance in storage, computing, security, application, and infrastructure development.

Consider the following list to know the significant services provided by the AWS platform:-

Storage Databases
Compute
Migration
Data Management
Hybrid Cloud
Networking
Monitoring
Governance
Security
Artificial Intelligence
Analytics
Big Data Management
Mobile Development
Notifications and Messages

Explore the information about the most crucial AWS services in detail by going through the points mentioned below.

Use Coupon Code BLOG20 to avail flat 20% discount on saasguru Programs.

Amazon Availability Zones

Even though it is well-known that the AWS platform offers its services worldwide, you must also know about the Amazon Availability Zones to understand the platform’s working.

Amazon Web Services offers its services in different world zones based on its network of data centers.

An Amazon Availability Zone is an area that offers various physical data centers. The Amazon region is a collection of Availability Zones closely connected via low-latency network lines.

An organization can pick one or multiple AZs for different reasons like proximity to the users and compliance.

AWS also provides a service called Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) that provides compute capacity to virtual servers. It offers multiple instance types with numerous sizes and capacities designed for a particular workload and applications. For example, accelerated computing and memory-intensive jobs.

AWS also offers an Auto Scaling tool for dynamically scale capacity to handle the instance performance and health.

Storage

For Storage Databases, AWS offers Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3). It provides scalable object storage for collection, analytics, and data backup. Organizations can store their files and data as S3 objects, which range up to 5 GB inside S3 buckets. Companies and Organizations can save their revenue with S3 by using Amazon Glacier and Infrequent Access Storage tier.

For block-level storage, Amazon provides Amazon Elastic Block Store. So, organizations can store their data persistently when using EC2 instances.

Organizations can also transfer their data to the cloud using storage transport devices like Snowmobile and AWS Snowball. To enable on-premises data for accessing cloud storage, you can also use Amazon Storage Gateway.

Databases & Data management

The Amazon Relational Database Service offers database management services to its users. It also provides this option for SQL Server, Oracle, MariaDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and a high-performance database of Amazon called Amazon Aurora. Through Amazon DynamoDB, AWS also provides managed NoSQL databases.

As an AWS customer, you can use Amazon DynamoDB accelerator and Amazon ElasticCache as real-time and in-memory data caches for apps and services. AWS also offers a data warehouse in a service called Amazon Redshift. The business intelligence task of data analysts has become more manageable because of Amazon Redshift.

Migration, hybrid cloud

AWS offers multiple services and tools to help customers migrate databases, applications, data, and servers onto its public cloud. It does so by offering a tool called AWS Migration Hub. It provides a space to supervise and handle migrations from on-premises to the public cloud. EC2 Systems Manager assists IT professionals in configuring on-premises AWS instances and servers.

Amazon also partners with various technology vendors to make hybrid cloud deployments easier.

Networking

The administrator can control the virtual network for accessing a separate section of the AWS cloud. Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) provides this networking.

Within a VPC, AWS offers new resources for stricter security and protection.

Admins can handle the network traffic through the Elastic Load Balancing (ELB) service. It also includes the Network Load Balancer and Application Load Balancer.

Developer tools

AWS also offers various tools and services to simplify developers’ tasks. It gives AWS command-line tools and software development kits (SDKs). These tools are helpful in the management and deployment of services and applications. AWS SDKs are available for various platforms like coding languages like Python, Java, etc.

If you wish to kick-start your career in AWS, you must explore your options by learning about AWS certifications.

What is an AWS Certification?

An AWS certification is a credential provided by AWS to candidates who have AWS-specific skills, knowledge, and expertise. The AWS credential showcases that the candidate has proven skills in cloud computing.

The certification is designed to allow AWS to meet the specific requirements in cloud job roles and technical areas. You can prove that you can meet these requirements by obtaining the AWS credential.

Use Coupon Code BLOG20 to avail flat 20% discount on saasguru Programs.

Obtaining the AWS certification will propel your career, whether you want to showcase your skills to hunt a new project, look for a new job, or want to switch careers. AWS experts in specific fields create the certifications; passing one of the exams builds the in-demand skills and is recognized by the experts in those fields. So, explore which AWS certification is in demand and prepare for it.

If you are wondering how the AWS certification makes a difference, consider the following points:-

Many organizations believe that recruiting AWS-certified professionals increases the innovation level in the organization.
IT leaders stated that having AWS-certified professionals in their organization increased productivity and troubleshooting.
Jobs that need cloud computing expertise are growing in popularity and demand.

Summing Up

You can attempt the certification exam by preparing for it with the help of White papers and an online training course. If you’re looking for a secure place to begin your certification preparation, saasguru is the place to go.