Advantages of AWS
AWS has numerous advantages. Some of them are listed below.
Flexible
AWS allows you to select the OS, programming language, web application platform, database, and other services that you may need. It creates a virtual environment for you to load the software and services that your application might require. This reduces the complexity in the migration process for existing applications while providing the availability to build new solutions.
Cost-Effective
You only have to pay for the services or computing power while using AWS. There are no long-term contracts or up-front charges in AWS. In comparison to traditional IT infrastructure, AWS can save you a fortune.
Scalable and high-performance
The applications can be easily scaled up or down based on the demand using AWS tools, auto-scaling, and elastic load balancing. Thanks to the massive infrastructure of AWS, you can have uninterrupted access to computer and storage resources. The scalability offered by AWS is very helpful in handling unpredictable high loads.
Reliable
AWS began providing IT infrastructures in the year 2006. Since then, it has proved to be very reliable for the enterprises that depend on it. Some famous companies like Netflix also use AWS for their IT infrastructure needs which is a token of its reliability.
Secure
AWS provides end-to-end security to its customers. It offers complete privacy and isolation of their operations. Amazon has several years of experience designing, developing, and maintaining large-scale IT operation centres. So, it can provide a high level of physical, operational, and software security. AWS ensures three aspects of security, i.e., Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability of user's data.
Easy to use
AWS is designed to allow enterprises to quickly and securely host their applications, whether existing applications or new ones. AWS management console provides access to AWS's application hosting platform, which is user-friendly.
Disadvantage of AWS
AWS has some limitations in addition to its numerous advantages. Some of its disadvantages are discussed below.
Lack of Experts
AWS is a complex infrastructure, and the companies using AWS as their cloud computing platform face difficulty hiring the right professionals to work on the cloud infrastructure as only a few professionals are skilled in it. Companies are ready to invest in individuals who can lead the organization to better performance but are facing difficulties in identifying them.
Price Variations
The prices of the services offered by AWS can vary due to the variables such as the cost of land, fiber, electricity, and taxes from region to region. Prices also change when the customers need additional tech support. Prices will vary depending on the package that one opts for. These price variations can impact the monthly bill. But there are certain services available to monitor the service consumption and the price of the services region-wise.
General issues
Amazon is a company with a large customer base. So, it might face some temporary issues in cloud computing from time to time. Users sometimes may face server-down problems due to power loss or network connectivity issues. But these issues can be rectified eventually.
Use of AWS
So far, we have discussed how AWS helps enterprises build sophisticated applications. Now, let us look at some of the use cases of AWS to understand its real-life applications.
Storage and Backup
AWS can be used to store large and critical data sets. It offers multiple types of storage to choose from, allowing enterprises to make their own decisions based on their needs. It can be used for file indexing and archiving for an extended time. It offers high-performance reading and writing capabilities essential in running critical businesses.
Big Data
The scalable storage offered by AWS helps run analytics at higher frequencies. The data stored in AWS is easy to index too. The AWS and big data work together to provide the infrastructure required by sophisticated high-end applications.
Gaming
The online gaming business has become very popular. AWS has a significant role to play in this. It provides the internet and computing power needed to run the global gaming network to provide the best gaming experience to the online gamers community.
Websites
Organizations host their web applications on the AWS cloud. It is also helpful in hosting CDNs, DNS, and domains.
Enterprise IT
The speed at which any business develops a project is essential in creating a competitive edge. The flexibility of AWS provides businesses with a solution to launch quickly. AWS allows enterprises to build, test, and run secondary operations in the cloud, making them launch projects at a much faster pace.
Accessing AWS
The first thing you need to do if you want to use AWS services is creating an account on the AWS website. Once you have created an account, that account becomes the root account. It is advisable to create a group to enable access and use of the other accounts for daily uses. Services on AWS can be managed in three ways.
- AWS console
- AWS CLI (Command Line Interface)
- AWS SDK (Software Development Kit)
AWS console is the easiest one to use, and it's a Graphical User Interface(GUI). The users are authenticated with the AWS CLI, and the AWS SDK allows them to manage the services on AWS programmatically. AWS provides SDK for several programming languages. One should be familiar with all the ways to manage AWS resources, especially with AWS SDK.
FAQs
What is AWS?
AWS is a subsidiary of Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing platforms on a pay-as-you-go basis.
What are the cloud computing models available on AWS?
There are three cloud computing models available on AWS.
- Infrastrucutre as a Service (IaaS)
- Platform as a Service (PaaS)
- Software as a Service (SaaS)
Which pricing model is followed by AWS?
AWS follows a pay-as-you-go pricing model.
What are the advantages of AWS?
AWS has many advantages like flexibility, reliability, security, ease to use, scalable, high performance, and cost-effectiveness.
How to manage the AWS?
There are three ways to manage AWS. AWS console, AWS CLI, and AWS SDK. A person should be familiar with all three methods to manage AWS.
Conclusion
We have extensively discussed AWS in this article. We hope that this blog has helped you understand AWS. You can refer to AWS Lambda Foundations - Part 1 article to understand lambda foundations in AWS.
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