AWS (Amazon Web Services)

Complete guide to AWS documentation, services, and best practices for cloud computing.

Overview

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world's most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform, offering over 200 fully-featured services from data centers globally.

Getting Started with AWS

Prerequisites

• AWS Account (sign up at aws.amazon.com)
• Basic understanding of cloud computing
• AWS CLI installed (optional but recommended)

AWS Account Setup

1. Create AWS Account

1. Visit aws.amazon.com
2. Click "Create an AWS Account"
3. Provide email and password
4. Add payment information
5. Verify identity

2. Set Up MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication)

# Install AWS CLI
pip install awscli

# Configure AWS credentials
aws configure

3. Create IAM User

• Navigate to IAM Console
• Create new user
• Attach policies
• Download access keys

Core AWS Services

Compute Services

EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud)

Virtual servers in the cloud for running applications.

Key Features:

• Scalable computing capacity
• Multiple instance types
• Pay-as-you-go pricing
• Auto Scaling

Launch EC2 Instance

# Using AWS CLI
aws ec2 run-instances \
  --image-id ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0 \
  --instance-type t2.micro \
  --key-name MyKeyPair \
  --security-group-ids sg-xxxxxxxx \
  --subnet-id subnet-xxxxxxxx

Instance Types:

Type	Use Case	vCPU	Memory
t2.micro	Development	1	1 GB
t2.small	Small apps	1	2 GB
m5.large	General purpose	2	8 GB
c5.xlarge	Compute optimized	4	8 GB

Lambda

Serverless compute service for running code without managing servers.

Create Lambda Function

# lambda_function.py
def lambda_handler(event, context):
    return {
        'statusCode': 200,
        'body': 'Hello from Lambda!'
    }

Deploy with AWS CLI

# Create deployment package
zip function.zip lambda_function.py

# Create Lambda function
aws lambda create-function \
  --function-name my-function \
  --runtime python3.9 \
  --role arn:aws:iam::account-id:role/lambda-role \
  --handler lambda_function.lambda_handler \
  --zip-file fileb://function.zip

ECS (Elastic Container Service)

Container orchestration service for Docker containers.

Task Definition

{
  "family": "my-app",
  "containerDefinitions": [
    {
      "name": "web",
      "image": "nginx:latest",
      "cpu": 256,
      "memory": 512,
      "portMappings": [
        {
          "containerPort": 80,
          "protocol": "tcp"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Storage Services

S3 (Simple Storage Service)

Object storage service for storing and retrieving any amount of data.

Create S3 Bucket

# Create bucket
aws s3 mb s3://my-bucket-name

# Upload file
aws s3 cp file.txt s3://my-bucket-name/

# Download file
aws s3 cp s3://my-bucket-name/file.txt ./

# List bucket contents
aws s3 ls s3://my-bucket-name/

S3 Bucket Policy

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "PublicReadGetObject",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Principal": "*",
      "Action": "s3:GetObject",
      "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket-name/*"
    }
  ]
}

EBS (Elastic Block Store)

Block storage volumes for EC2 instances.

Create EBS Volume

aws ec2 create-volume \
  --availability-zone us-east-1a \
  --size 100 \
  --volume-type gp3

Database Services

RDS (Relational Database Service)

Managed relational database service.

Supported Databases:

• MySQL
• PostgreSQL
• Oracle
• SQL Server
• MariaDB
• Amazon Aurora

Create RDS Instance

aws rds create-db-instance \
  --db-instance-identifier mydbinstance \
  --db-instance-class db.t3.micro \
  --engine mysql \
  --master-username admin \
  --master-user-password mypassword \
  --allocated-storage 20

DynamoDB

NoSQL database service for single-digit millisecond performance.

Create Table

aws dynamodb create-table \
  --table-name Users \
  --attribute-definitions \
    AttributeName=UserId,AttributeType=S \
  --key-schema \
    AttributeName=UserId,KeyType=HASH \
  --billing-mode PAY_PER_REQUEST

Put Item

aws dynamodb put-item \
  --table-name Users \
  --item '{
    "UserId": {"S": "user123"},
    "Name": {"S": "John Doe"},
    "Email": {"S": "john@example.com"}
  }'

Networking Services

VPC (Virtual Private Cloud)

Isolated cloud resources in a virtual network.

Create VPC

aws ec2 create-vpc \
  --cidr-block 10.0.0.0/16 \
  --tag-specifications 'ResourceType=vpc,Tags=[{Key=Name,Value=MyVPC}]'

VPC Architecture:

VPC (10.0.0.0/16)
├── Public Subnet (10.0.1.0/24)
│   ├── Internet Gateway
│   └── NAT Gateway
├── Private Subnet (10.0.2.0/24)
│   └── Application Servers
└── Database Subnet (10.0.3.0/24)
    └── RDS Instances

CloudFront

Content delivery network (CDN) service.

Create Distribution

aws cloudfront create-distribution \
  --origin-domain-name my-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com \
  --default-root-object index.html

Security Services

IAM (Identity and Access Management)

Manage access to AWS services and resources.

IAM Policy Example

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "s3:GetObject",
        "s3:PutObject"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::my-bucket/*"
    }
  ]
}

Create IAM User

# Create user
aws iam create-user --user-name developer

# Attach policy
aws iam attach-user-policy \
  --user-name developer \
  --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/ReadOnlyAccess

AWS WAF (Web Application Firewall)

Protect web applications from common exploits.

DevOps Services

CodePipeline

Continuous delivery service for fast and reliable updates.

Pipeline Structure:

Source (GitHub) → Build (CodeBuild) → Test → Deploy (ECS)

CodeBuild

Fully managed build service.

buildspec.yml

version: 0.2
phases:
  install:
    commands:
      - npm install
  build:
    commands:
      - npm run build
artifacts:
  files:
    - '**/*'
  base-directory: build

CloudFormation

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) service.

Template Example

AWSTemplateFormatVersion: '2010-09-09'
Resources:
  MyBucket:
    Type: AWS::S3::Bucket
    Properties:
      BucketName: my-unique-bucket-name
      PublicAccessBlockConfiguration:
        BlockPublicAcls: true

Deploy Stack

aws cloudformation create-stack \
  --stack-name my-stack \
  --template-body file://template.yaml

AWS Best Practices

Cost Optimization

• Use Reserved Instances for predictable workloads
• Implement Auto Scaling
• Delete unused resources
• Use S3 lifecycle policies
• Monitor with AWS Cost Explorer

Security Best Practices

• Enable MFA for all users
• Use IAM roles instead of access keys
• Encrypt data at rest and in transit
• Regular security audits
• Implement least privilege access

Reliability

• Deploy across multiple Availability Zones
• Implement backup and disaster recovery
• Use Auto Scaling and Load Balancing
• Monitor with CloudWatch
• Regular testing of failover procedures

Performance

• Use CloudFront for content delivery
• Implement caching strategies
• Choose appropriate instance types
• Optimize database queries
• Monitor performance metrics

AWS CLI Cheat Sheet

# Configure AWS CLI
aws configure

# EC2 Commands
aws ec2 describe-instances
aws ec2 start-instances --instance-ids i-xxxxxxxx
aws ec2 stop-instances --instance-ids i-xxxxxxxx

# S3 Commands
aws s3 ls
aws s3 sync ./local s3://bucket/
aws s3 rm s3://bucket/file.txt

# Lambda Commands
aws lambda list-functions
aws lambda invoke --function-name my-function output.txt

# CloudFormation Commands
aws cloudformation list-stacks
aws cloudformation describe-stacks --stack-name my-stack

Monitoring & Logging

CloudWatch

Monitor AWS resources and applications.

Create Alarm

aws cloudwatch put-metric-alarm \
  --alarm-name high-cpu \
  --alarm-description "Alert when CPU exceeds 80%" \
  --metric-name CPUUtilization \
  --namespace AWS/EC2 \
  --statistic Average \
  --period 300 \
  --threshold 80 \
  --comparison-operator GreaterThanThreshold

CloudTrail

Log and monitor account activity.

Cost Management

AWS Pricing Models

• On-Demand - Pay by the hour
• Reserved - 1 or 3-year commitment (up to 72% savings)
• Spot - Bid for unused capacity (up to 90% savings)
• Savings Plans - Flexible pricing model

Cost Estimation

Use AWS Pricing Calculator to estimate costs.

Certification Paths

Associate Level

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate
• AWS Certified Developer – Associate
• AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate

Professional Level

• AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional
• AWS Certified DevOps Engineer – Professional

Resources

Official Documentation

• AWS Documentation
• AWS Well-Architected Framework
• AWS Whitepapers

Learning Resources

• AWS Training
• AWS Workshops
• AWS Builder Labs

Support

• AWS Support Plans
• AWS Forums
• AWS re:Post

Next Steps

• Azure Documentation
• GCP Documentation
• DevOps Guides