The Frugal Networker

There are thousands of “How to’s”, and “Basics 101” guides for programmers out there who are interested in learning code and developing skill sets. However, from a business perspective, you don’t want to know the algorithms, and blocks of code. All you want to know is…

Does this help my business become more profitable, right?

Which is perhaps why you are reading up on Amazon Web Services. You know all about the delays between your Developer and Operation teams. You are tired of customers waiting, and the project line falling behind.

Well, the good news is that is exactly what Amazon Web Services is designed to fix. Through this article, we will be going over all the basics you need to know moving forward with your interest in AWS, and Cloud Computing.

What Is AWS In Laymen’s Terms?

To keep things simple, think of AWS as a platform where you can utilize the various services, tools, and advantages the cloud is famous for.

In other words, it’s really just a gigantic bundle of cloud computing services readily available on an easy to use platform.

So, why is it so great? What’s the catch…

Well, some of the major advantages of AWS are:

• Easy to use
• Limitless Capacity
• Provides Speed And Agility For Your Services
• Secure and reliable platform to work on.

But of course, if there were no downfalls of using AWS it would be to good to be true. If you are seriously considering investing in AWS, it’s important to mention some of the downfalls to be on the lookout for. Including:

• Limitations of Amazon EC2
• There is a fee for technical support.
• General issues known in Cloud Computing
• There are some limitations on what you can do security wise.

AWS Services Available To Implement

So, Cloud Computing has several elements that can individually be broken down. So, let’s get into it.

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)

Basically, when we break it down this is the technology/computer that we use to host our data. Of course, there are different types available in terms of size and performance. Think of it as renting a server from Amazon on an hourly basis. The two big benefits of investing in this include Auto Scaling to prevent overloads and Elastic Load Balancing.

What Is Auto Scaling?

Every business/service is different. Some may need a ton of space and RAM available to deal with large quantities of traffic. Whereas others will need lower performance computing. Auto Scaling is basically the ability to increase the capacity either up or down depending on your needs.

This helps reduce spikes in performance due to higher traffic while still keeping everything budget friendly to maximize your businesses triple bottom line.

What Is AWS Elastic Load Balancing

When you are trapped under a mountain of work, oftentimes you reach out for help to ensure that everything gets done by the deadline, right?

Well, Elastic Load Shedding is basically the same principle. If one server is overloaded with the traffic coming in, another server will be implemented to keep services running seamlessly.

AWS Identity And Access Management (IAM)

It’s all good to have a secure server where users can do what they want. However, it would be a bit redundant, if not darn right dangerous to not be able to control and set limitations for these users.

Which is where IAM comes into the picture. Think of this as the bodyguard to the entire platform. Using this, you can set levels of permissions. Control different blocks of resources, and so forth.

AWS S3

This service is pretty straightforward. It’s the media center for AWS. Using this tool, we can store images and other similar data. This can also be used to manage and transfer data files between different platforms.

AWS Glacier

AWS Glacier and AWS S3 work in conjunction. Do you know how we always rant on to customers, friends, and even family members about how darn important it is to keep backups of everything? Well, business is no different. Glacier serves as a backup service for all of your data, images, and other business-critical information.

AWS Lambda

Ever wished you had a singular computer for running scripts and a completely different one to see the results and make any necessary tweaks? I bet you have, I know I have.

Well, that’s exactly what Lambda is for. It was designed to solely run scripts and nothing else.

And there you have it. Of course, there are plenty of other tools to list that you get through signing up on AWS. However, these are some of the most critical tools for you to know when looking to invest.

Contributed by Tom English of CloudConformity