AWS Services Overview
⚡ Fast Recall Summary
Instance Purchasing Options
On-Demand Instances
Description: Pay per hour/second; no commitment; maximum flexibility for compute.
When to use: Spiky, unpredictable workloads; apps that cannot be interrupted.
Reserved Instances (RIs)
Description: Significant discount for 1 or 3-year compute usage commitment.
When to use: Steady-state, predictable usage; specific instance type needs fixed.
Savings Plans
Description: Lower compute prices for 1/3-year spend commitment; flexible across instances/regions.
When to use: Need to reduce costs with flexibility across compute services.
Spot Instances
Description: Up to 90% off; uses spare EC2 capacity; can be interrupted.
When to use: Fault-tolerant, flexible workloads; significant cost savings desired.
S3 Storage Classes
S3 Standard
Description: General-purpose; high durability/availability for frequently accessed data.
When to use: Websites, content delivery, mobile apps, big data analytics.
S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (IA)
Description: For less frequent access, rapid retrieval. Lower storage cost, higher retrieval.
When to use: Long-term backups, disaster recovery data not often retrieved.
S3 One Zone-Infrequent Access
Description: Like Standard-IA, but single AZ; 20% cheaper. Data not resilient to AZ failure.
When to use: Recreatable data, secondary backups; cost-saving for non-critical.
S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval
Description: Archive storage with millisecond access; faster than other Glaciers.
When to use: Long-lived archives needing immediate access (e.g., medical images).
S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval
Description: Low-cost archive; retrieval from minutes to hours. For rarely accessed data.
When to use: Backup, disaster recovery, where varied retrieval times are fine.
S3 Glacier Deep Archive
Description: Lowest AWS cost; data accessed rarely. Retrieval within 12 hours.
When to use: Long-term data retention, compliance archives, digital preservation.
S3 Intelligent-Tiering
Description: Auto-moves data between tiers based on access, optimizing costs. No retrieval fees.
When to use: Data with unknown or changing access patterns; simplify S3 lifecycle.
Support Plans
Basic Support
Description: Included for all AWS customers. Access to customer service for account/billing, documentation, whitepapers, and support forums. Limited access to AWS Trusted Advisor (core checks).
Use Case: Personal accounts, exploring AWS, or non-critical workloads where self-service is sufficient.
Developer Support
Description: Business hours email access to Cloud Support Associates. Unlimited cases. General guidance response within 24 business hours. System impaired response within 12 business hours.
Use Case: Early development, testing, or experimenting with AWS. For users who need technical support during business hours.
Business Support
Description: 24x7 phone, email, and chat access to Cloud Support Engineers. Unlimited cases. Full set of Trusted Advisor checks. Support API. Contextual guidance based on your use-case. Faster response times (e.g., <1 hour for production system down).
Use Case: Production workloads, businesses relying on AWS for critical applications that require fast support and proactive guidance.
Enterprise On-Ramp Support
Description: Access to a pool of Technical Account Managers (TAMs), concierge support team, infrastructure event management, well-architected reviews. Response times as fast as <30 minutes for business-critical systems down).
Use Case: Production or business-critical workloads needing proactive support, architectural reviews, and operational assistance. A step towards full Enterprise support.
Enterprise Support
Description: All features of Business Support plus a designated Technical Account Manager (TAM), concierge support team, white-glove account onboarding, infrastructure event management, well-architected reviews, and operational reviews. Response times as fast as <15 minutes for business-critical systems down).
Use Case: Mission-critical workloads, large enterprises with significant AWS deployments requiring dedicated proactive support and strategic guidance.
Well-Architected Framework Pillars
1. Operational Excellence
Focuses on running and monitoring systems to deliver business value and continually improve supporting processes and procedures. Key topics include automating changes, responding to events, and defining standards to manage daily operations.
2. Security
Focuses on protecting information, systems, and assets while delivering business value through risk assessments and mitigation strategies. Key topics include identity and access management, detective controls, infrastructure protection, data protection, and incident response.
3. Reliability
Focuses on the ability of a workload to perform its intended function correctly and consistently when it’s expected to. This includes the ability to operate and test the workload through its total lifecycle. Key topics include foundations, change management, and failure management.
4. Performance Efficiency
Focuses on using IT and computing resources efficiently. Key topics include selecting the right resource types and sizes based on workload requirements, monitoring performance, and making informed decisions to maintain efficiency as business needs evolve.
5. Cost Optimization
Focuses on avoiding unneeded costs. Key topics include understanding and controlling where money is being spent, selecting the most appropriate and right number of resource types, analyzing spend over time, and scaling to meet business needs without overspending.
6. Sustainability
Focuses on minimizing the environmental impacts of running cloud workloads. Key topics include understanding your impact, establishing sustainability goals, maximizing utilization, adopting new, more efficient hardware and software offerings, and using managed services.