AWS Compute Services Cheat Sheet
AWS offers a variety of compute services that cater to different workload requirements, scalability needs, and pricing models. This cheat sheet provides an overview of key AWS compute services, their use cases, and important features.
Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud)
Description: Virtual servers in the cloud for running applications.
Use Cases:
Hosting websites and web applications
Running backend servers for mobile and enterprise applications
Big data processing and analytics
Testing and development environments
Key Features:
Scalable compute capacity
Choice of instance types (e.g., general purpose, memory optimized, GPU instances)
Customizable security settings (Security Groups, IAM roles)
Integration with other AWS services (EBS, S3, RDS)
Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling
Description: Automatically adjusts capacity to maintain steady and predictable performance.
Use Cases:
Handling variable workloads
Scaling in and out based on demand
Ensuring fault tolerance and high availability
Key Features:
Automatic scaling policies based on metrics (CPU utilization, network traffic)
Integration with Elastic Load Balancing (ELB)
Lifecycle hooks for customizing scaling behavior
AWS Lambda
Description: Serverless computing service, runs code in response to events.
Use Cases:
Real-time file processing
Backend services for mobile and web applications
IoT device data processing
Scheduled tasks and automation
Key Features:
Pay-per-use pricing model (billed for compute time)
Support for multiple programming languages (Node.js, Python, Java, etc.)
Integrated with other AWS services (S3, DynamoDB, SQS)
Built-in monitoring and logging through AWS CloudWatch
AWS Elastic Beanstalk
Description: Platform as a Service (PaaS) for deploying and managing applications.
Use Cases:
Web application hosting
Microservices architecture deployment
Container-based applications (Docker)
Key Features:
Automated environment provisioning
Load balancing and auto-scaling
Integrated with AWS services (RDS, DynamoDB, S3)
Supports multiple programming languages (Java, .NET, PHP, Python, Node.js, Ruby)
Amazon Lightsail
Description: Virtual private servers (VPS) that include everything needed to deploy applications.
Use Cases:
Simple web hosting
Development and testing environments
Small-scale applications
Key Features:
Fixed monthly pricing (includes compute, storage, and data transfer)
Easy management through AWS Management Console
Integrated with AWS services (RDS, S3)
AWS Batch
Description: Fully managed batch processing at any scale.
Use Cases:
Big data processing
Data warehousing
ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) jobs
Key Features:
Efficiently run hundreds to thousands of batch computing jobs
Dynamically scale based on computing needs
Integrated with AWS services (S3, DynamoDB, etc.)
Amazon EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service)
Description: Managed Kubernetes service for container orchestration.
Use Cases:
Containerized application deployment
Microservices architecture
Hybrid cloud deployments
Key Features:
Kubernetes control plane management
Integration with AWS services (EBS, IAM, VPC)
Automatic scaling and updates
Amazon ECS (Elastic Container Service)
Description: Fully managed container orchestration service for Docker containers.
Use Cases:
Containerized application deployment
Microservices architecture
Highly scalable and fault-tolerant applications
Key Features:
Integration with AWS services (ELB, IAM, CloudWatch)
Seamless scaling and load balancing
Supports Docker container management
Amazon EC2 Spot Instances
Description: Purchase spare EC2 compute capacity at reduced rates.
Use Cases:
Batch processing
Fault-tolerant applications
Test and development workloads
Key Features:
Significant cost savings compared to On-Demand instances
Flexible pricing model (bid for instance capacity)
Integration with Auto Scaling for fault tolerance
Amazon EC2 Dedicated Hosts
Description: Physical EC2 server dedicated for your use.
Use Cases:
Compliance requirements
Licensing implications
Workloads needing a specific hardware configuration
Key Features:
Full control over instance placement
Visibility into underlying infrastructure
Ability to use existing server-bound software licenses
Amazon EC2 Image Builder
Description: Automated image creation for EC2 instances.
Use Cases:
Standardize OS configurations
Create golden images for deployment
Continuous integration and delivery pipelines
Key Features:
Simplifies image management
Supports custom configurations and scripts
Integration with AWS services (S3, EC2, CloudFormation)
Amazon EC2 Instance Types
Description: Various configurations of virtual machines to meet different workload needs.
Use Cases:
Compute-optimized instances for CPU-intensive applications
Memory-optimized instances for large-scale databases
GPU instances for machine learning and graphic-intensive workloads
Key Features:
Diverse selection of instance types (e.g., T3, M5, C5, P3)
Options for storage, memory, and network performance
Choice of purchasing options (On-Demand, Reserved, Spot)
This cheat sheet provides a quick reference to AWS compute services, highlighting their use cases, key features, and integration capabilities. For detailed information and updates, refer to the AWS documentation.