1. IAM (Identity and Access Management)
What it is:
IAM controls who can access AWS and what they can do.
Example:
- Create users for employees.
- Give Admin access to managers.
- Give Read-Only access to interns.
Use Case:
A company allows developers to manage EC2 servers but prevents them from deleting S3 files.
2. EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud)
What it is:
EC2 provides virtual servers in the cloud to run applications.
Example:
- Host a website.
- Run a web application.
- Create a Linux server for DevOps practice.
Use Case:
You launch an Ubuntu EC2 instance and deploy your portfolio website.
3. S3 (Simple Storage Service)
What it is:
S3 stores files, images, videos, backups, and documents securely.
Example:
- Store website images.
- Save database backups.
- Host a static website.
Use Case:
Upload your portfolio website files to an S3 bucket and make it publicly accessible.
4. VPC (Virtual Private Cloud)
What it is:
VPC creates your own private network inside AWS.
Example:
- Public subnet for web servers.
- Private subnet for databases.
Use Case:
Users can access your website, but the database remains hidden from the internet.
5. Security Groups
What it is:
Security Groups act like a firewall for AWS resources.
Example Rules:
- Allow HTTP (80)
- Allow HTTPS (443)
- Allow SSH (22)
Use Case:
Allow website visitors on port 80 and 443 while only administrators can access port 22.
6. Load Balancer
What it is:
Distributes incoming traffic across multiple servers.
Benefits:
- High availability
- Better performance
- No single point of failure
Use Case:
10,000 users visit your website. The Load Balancer shares traffic between multiple EC2 servers.
7. Auto Scaling
What it is:
Automatically adds or removes EC2 servers based on demand.
Example:
- High traffic → Add servers
- Low traffic → Remove servers
Use Case:
During a festival sale, Auto Scaling launches extra servers automatically.
8. RDS (Relational Database Service)
What it is:
Managed database service for MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, etc.
Benefits:
- Automatic backups
- Easy maintenance
- High availability
Use Case:
Store customer information for an e-commerce website without managing database servers manually.
9. Lambda
What it is:
Runs code without managing servers.
How it works:
Event → Lambda Function → Output
Use Case:
When a user uploads an image to S3, Lambda automatically resizes it.
10. CloudWatch
What it is:
Monitors AWS resources and applications.
Monitors:
- CPU usage
- Memory usage
- Logs
- Alarms
Use Case:
Send an alert when EC2 CPU usage exceeds 80%.
11. Route 53
What it is:
AWS DNS service that connects domain names to AWS resources.
Example:
- google.com → IP Address
- mywebsite.com → EC2 Server
Use Case:
Connect your purchased domain name to your website hosted on AWS.
12. CloudFront
What it is:
Content Delivery Network (CDN) that delivers content faster worldwide.
Benefits:
- Faster website loading
- Lower latency
- Global caching
Use Case:
Visitors from India, USA, and Europe receive website content from the nearest AWS edge location.
Remember:
IAM → VPC → Security Groups → EC2 → Load Balancer → Auto Scaling → RDS → S3 → Lambda → CloudWatch → Route 53 → CloudFront
These are the most important AWS services every AWS Cloud/DevOps beginner should understand first.
