Skip to main content

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world’s most widely adopted public cloud platform, offering a comprehensive set of on‑demand computing resources and managed services. It provides the foundational building blocks for modern application architectures—compute, storage, networking, databases, and a broad ecosystem of higher‑level services—all accessible through a unified API.

This section of CloudComputingDevPro organises AWS knowledge for engineers and architects. It is designed as a documentation hub: you can quickly locate platform concepts, service families, architecture patterns, and operational best practices. The content builds on the vendor‑neutral Cloud Foundations and assumes you already understand concepts like regions, availability zones, and the shared responsibility model.

Learning Structure​

To build a durable understanding of AWS, follow this progression.

Cloud Foundations
↓
**AWS Concepts** – the platform’s own organisational model and core building blocks
↓
**AWS Services** – the individual capabilities you compose into solutions
↓
**AWS Architecture** – patterns and frameworks that shape production‑ready systems
↓
**AWS Best Practices** – operational, security, and cost guidance

Learning concepts before services prevents memorisation of features without context. You will recognise how each service fits into the broader platform and make better design decisions.

AWS Concepts​

Concepts describe the foundational infrastructure, identity, networking, and governance models of AWS. They are the platform‑specific counterparts to the universal cloud foundations.

Global Infrastructure​

  • Regions
  • Availability Zones
  • Edge Locations
  • Local Zones
  • Wavelength
  • Outposts

Identity & Organization​

  • AWS Account
  • AWS Organizations
  • IAM
  • IAM Identity Center
  • Resource Access Manager

Networking Concepts​

  • VPC
  • Subnet
  • Route Table
  • Internet Gateway
  • NAT Gateway
  • Transit Gateway

Governance​

  • Shared Responsibility Model
  • Landing Zone
  • Control Tower
  • Multi-Account Strategy
  • Tagging Strategy

Browse AWS Concepts →

AWS Services​

AWS offers more than 200 services. They are grouped here into functional families to help you navigate the platform quickly.

Compute​

Virtual machines, serverless runtimes, and managed application environments.

  • EC2
  • Lambda
  • Elastic Beanstalk
  • Auto Scaling
  • Batch
  • Lightsail
  • App Runner

Networking​

Private networks, content delivery, and hybrid connectivity.

  • VPC
  • Route 53
  • CloudFront
  • Elastic Load Balancing
  • Transit Gateway
  • VPN
  • Direct Connect
  • Global Accelerator

Storage​

Object, block, and file storage for every access pattern.

  • S3
  • EBS
  • EFS
  • FSx
  • Storage Gateway
  • Backup

Databases​

Managed relational, NoSQL, caching, and analytics databases.

  • RDS
  • Aurora
  • DynamoDB
  • Redshift
  • DocumentDB
  • Neptune
  • ElastiCache

Security & Identity​

Access control, encryption, threat detection, and compliance.

  • IAM
  • Organizations
  • KMS
  • Secrets Manager
  • Certificate Manager
  • WAF & Shield
  • GuardDuty
  • Inspector
  • Macie

Containers​

Orchestration and runtime for containerised workloads.

  • ECS
  • EKS
  • ECR
  • Fargate

Serverless​

Event‑driven compute and integration with no server management.

  • Lambda
  • API Gateway
  • Step Functions
  • EventBridge
  • AppSync

Analytics​

Data processing, querying, and real‑time streaming.

  • Athena
  • EMR
  • Glue
  • Kinesis
  • QuickSight
  • OpenSearch Service

AI & Machine Learning​

Managed AI services and model‑building platforms.

  • SageMaker
  • Bedrock
  • Rekognition
  • Comprehend
  • Textract
  • Transcribe
  • Polly

Developer Tools​

CI/CD, source control, and infrastructure as code.

  • CodeCommit
  • CodeBuild
  • CodeDeploy
  • CodePipeline
  • CloudFormation
  • CDK

Management & Governance​

Operations, compliance, and cost management.

  • CloudWatch
  • CloudTrail
  • AWS Config
  • Systems Manager
  • Service Catalog
  • Budgets
  • Cost Explorer

Migration​

Tools and services for moving workloads to AWS.

  • Migration Hub
  • Application Migration Service
  • Database Migration Service
  • Server Migration Service

Explore AWS Services →

AWS Architecture​

Architecture patterns and frameworks that guide how you combine AWS services into secure, resilient, and scalable systems.

  • AWS Well-Architected Framework – a structured approach for evaluating and improving workloads across six pillars
  • High Availability – designing systems that remain operational through component failures
  • Fault Tolerance – eliminating single points of failure so that a failure causes no interruption
  • Disaster Recovery – preparing for large‑scale outages with backup, pilot light, warm standby, or active‑active strategies
  • Multi-AZ Design – spreading resources across availability zones within a region
  • Multi-Region Design – extending an architecture across multiple geographic regions for resilience and latency optimisation
  • Cloud-Native Architecture – building applications specifically for the cloud with loose coupling, elasticity, and managed services
  • Hybrid Cloud – integrating on‑premises data centres with AWS through networking and unified management
  • Landing Zone Design – multi‑account foundations for security, governance, and operational consistency
  • Security Architecture – defence in depth, identity‑driven controls, and data protection across the platform
  • Scalability – patterns for handling variable load with auto scaling, event‑driven scaling, and distributed design
  • Cost Optimization – architectural choices that align spending with business value
  • Reference Architectures – proven, documented designs for common workload types

Learn AWS Architecture →

AWS Best Practices​

Operational and engineering guidance that helps you apply AWS services effectively and securely.

  • Security – IAM principles, encryption at rest and in transit, network segmentation
  • Networking – VPC design, subnet planning, DNS strategy, and connectivity patterns
  • Compute – instance selection, rightsizing, and balancing instance‑based vs. serverless compute
  • Storage – data lifecycle management, backup policies, and storage class optimisation
  • Databases – high availability configurations, failover testing, and schema design for managed databases
  • Containers – ECS/EKS cluster design, logging, and container security
  • Kubernetes – node management, workload isolation, and observability on EKS
  • Serverless – function design, cold start mitigation, and distributed tracing
  • Infrastructure as Code – declarative templates, drift detection, and deployment automation
  • DevOps – CI/CD pipeline architecture, environment strategy, and release management
  • Observability – metrics, logs, traces, and alerting with CloudWatch and X‑Ray
  • Cost Optimization – reservation strategies, right‑sizing, and architectural cost‑aware design
  • Performance Optimization – instance tuning, caching, and data access optimisation
  • Operational Excellence – runbooks, incident response, and operations automation

Discover AWS Best Practices →

  1. Learn Cloud Foundations.
  2. Understand AWS Concepts.
  3. Learn Core AWS Services.
  4. Study AWS Architecture Patterns.
  5. Apply AWS Best Practices.
  6. Build real‑world cloud solutions.

Continue Learning​

  • Cloud Foundations – The vendor‑neutral principles that underpin all AWS services.
  • Microsoft Azure – A major enterprise cloud platform with complementary strengths.
  • Google Cloud – A provider with unique strengths in networking, data, and AI.
  • Cloud Resources – Curated tools, cheat sheets, and reference materials.

If you are preparing for an AWS certification, you can test your knowledge with focused, exam‑style practice on CloudCertPro. CloudComputingDevPro builds your conceptual understanding; CloudCertPro assesses your readiness.