This is the third and final post on the introduction to Amazon Web Services. In my first post I attempted to provide an overview of AWS covering some of the basic concepts involved and the various storage options available there in. The second post dealth with the various computing services and networking options available within AWS. In this last post the focus is mainly on the database services available within AWS and the different identity management services which provide applications hosted on AWS with the necessary level of security.
Database Services
Amazon Relational Database Service is a RDBMS-as-a-service which provides a cost efficient and resize-able capacity RDMBS option. Amazon RDS is having access to full capabilities of MySQL, PostgreSQL, ORacle, SQL Server, Amazon Aurora and other RDBMS systems. It also provides the added advantage of having fully managed DB admin capabilities.
Ideally RDS instances are expected to be be launched as part of the VPC; it can also be launched otherwise. There is no additional cost of running the DB instance in a VPC. Basic functionality of RDS is the same whether or not it is running in a VPC. RDS manages backups, software patching, automatic failure detection and recovery
Amazon Dynamo DB is suited for requirements where large amount of DB is to be stored with low latency requirement but no requirement fo complex queries to be executed. Its a fully managed No SQL database. The major advantages of this service are:
1> It can store any amount of data with no limits
2> Fast predicatble performance using SSDs
3> It can be easily provisioned and subsequent changes in capacity can also be easily processed
Amazon ElasticCache is a Memcached compliant and Redis compliant cache cluster on demand. AWS manages patching, cache node failure detection and recovery.
Caches can be in front of DB instances and thus the resultant output of any DB query can be cached.
Amazon Redshift is a Petabyte scale service that manages all the work needed to setup, operate and scale a datawarehouse cluster. It also continuously monitors health of the cluster and replaces any component as needed based on demand and/or performance. It provides OLAP service capabilities.
Identity Management Services
AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)
This service is used to create and manage AWS users and groups. It provides fine grained access control to AWS resource and also enables identity federation between corporate directory and AWS Services
Amazon Cloud Watch
This service provides visibility to resource utilization, operational performance and overall demand patterns. This is a customized application where specific metrics as needed based on users personal needs can be monitored or looked at. This service is accessible via AWS Management Console, APIs, SDK or CLI
It also has the facility tp setup alarms which can trigger based on predefined conditions such as over utilization of the environment, environment being down etc.
AWS Cloud Formation
This service helps to create templates of stack of resources which are added while provisioning an environment. These templates can later be reused to create infrastructures in future.The stacks can be deployed from templates by specifying run time parameters.
AWS Elastic Beanstalk is an easy to use service for deploying and scaling web application and services. It automatically handles the deployment details and retains full control over the AWS resources powering applications. Its useful for deploying and scaling web applications developed with java, .net, PHP, python etc.
This service helps developers to manage the complexities associated with infrastructure while concentrating wholly on the coding part which forms crux of the applications.
AWS OpsWorks
Thus is an application management solution similar to Amazon Cloud Formation. This one also has got sample templates which can be leveraged while provisioning infrastructure or new ones can be built.
Database Services
Amazon Relational Database Service is a RDBMS-as-a-service which provides a cost efficient and resize-able capacity RDMBS option. Amazon RDS is having access to full capabilities of MySQL, PostgreSQL, ORacle, SQL Server, Amazon Aurora and other RDBMS systems. It also provides the added advantage of having fully managed DB admin capabilities.
Ideally RDS instances are expected to be be launched as part of the VPC; it can also be launched otherwise. There is no additional cost of running the DB instance in a VPC. Basic functionality of RDS is the same whether or not it is running in a VPC. RDS manages backups, software patching, automatic failure detection and recovery
Amazon Dynamo DB is suited for requirements where large amount of DB is to be stored with low latency requirement but no requirement fo complex queries to be executed. Its a fully managed No SQL database. The major advantages of this service are:
1> It can store any amount of data with no limits
2> Fast predicatble performance using SSDs
3> It can be easily provisioned and subsequent changes in capacity can also be easily processed
Amazon ElasticCache is a Memcached compliant and Redis compliant cache cluster on demand. AWS manages patching, cache node failure detection and recovery.
Caches can be in front of DB instances and thus the resultant output of any DB query can be cached.
Amazon Redshift is a Petabyte scale service that manages all the work needed to setup, operate and scale a datawarehouse cluster. It also continuously monitors health of the cluster and replaces any component as needed based on demand and/or performance. It provides OLAP service capabilities.
Identity Management Services
AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM)
This service is used to create and manage AWS users and groups. It provides fine grained access control to AWS resource and also enables identity federation between corporate directory and AWS Services
Amazon Cloud Watch
This service provides visibility to resource utilization, operational performance and overall demand patterns. This is a customized application where specific metrics as needed based on users personal needs can be monitored or looked at. This service is accessible via AWS Management Console, APIs, SDK or CLI
It also has the facility tp setup alarms which can trigger based on predefined conditions such as over utilization of the environment, environment being down etc.
AWS Cloud Formation
This service helps to create templates of stack of resources which are added while provisioning an environment. These templates can later be reused to create infrastructures in future.The stacks can be deployed from templates by specifying run time parameters.
AWS Elastic Beanstalk is an easy to use service for deploying and scaling web application and services. It automatically handles the deployment details and retains full control over the AWS resources powering applications. Its useful for deploying and scaling web applications developed with java, .net, PHP, python etc.
This service helps developers to manage the complexities associated with infrastructure while concentrating wholly on the coding part which forms crux of the applications.
AWS OpsWorks
Thus is an application management solution similar to Amazon Cloud Formation. This one also has got sample templates which can be leveraged while provisioning infrastructure or new ones can be built.
