Global Infrastructure
AWS Global Infrastructure
Section titled “AWS Global Infrastructure”-
AWS Global Infrastructure designed for:
- Flexibility
- Reliability
- Scalability
- Security
- High-quality global network performance
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For current infrastructure information:
- AWS Global Infrastructure Map: aws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure
- Regions and Availability Zones: aws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure/regions_az/
Regions
Section titled “Regions”- AWS has 22 Regions worldwide
- Each Region:
- Physical geographical location
- Contains one or more Availability Zones
- Regions are isolated from one another
- Resources not automatically replicated across Regions
- “It is your responsibility to replicate data across Regions”
- Regions introduced after March 20, 2019 are disabled by default
- Some Regions have restricted access:
- Amazon AWS (China) - Beijing and Ningxia Regions only
- AWS GovCloud (US) - For US government agencies
Selecting a Region
Section titled “Selecting a Region”- Factors to consider:
- Data governance and legal requirements
- Local laws might require information kept within geographical boundaries
- Proximity to customers (latency)
- Run applications/store data close to users
- Can test latency using CloudPing (cloudping.info)
- Services available within Region
- Not all services available in all Regions
- Costs (vary by Region)
- Example: t3.medium EC2 instance
- US East (Ohio): $0.0416/hour
- Asia Pacific (Tokyo): $0.0544/hour
- Example: t3.medium EC2 instance
- Data governance and legal requirements
Availability Zones
Section titled “Availability Zones”- Each Region has multiple Availability Zones
- Each Availability Zone:
- Fully isolated partition of AWS infrastructure
- Consists of discrete data centers
- Designed for fault isolation
- Has own power infrastructure
- Physically separated (but within 100 km of other AZs)
- Interconnected with high-speed private networking
- High-bandwidth, low-latency
- Synchronous replication between zones
- You choose your Availability Zones
- AWS recommends replicating across zones for resiliency
Data Centers
Section titled “Data Centers”- Foundation for AWS infrastructure
- Customers don’t specify data centers (AZ is most granular specification)
- Features:
- Secure design
- Redundant design to tolerate failure
- Critical systems backed up across multiple AZs
- Continuous monitoring for capacity planning
- Locations not disclosed
- Automated processes move traffic away from affected areas
- Custom network equipment from multiple ODMs
- Each typically has 50,000 to 80,000 physical servers
Points of Presence
Section titled “Points of Presence”- Amazon CloudFront: content delivery network (CDN)
- Amazon Route 53: Domain Name System (DNS) service
- Edge locations:
- Requests routed to nearest edge location to lower latency
- Located in most major cities around the world
- Regional edge caches:
- Used by default with CloudFront
- For content not accessed frequently enough to remain in edge location
AWS Infrastructure Features
Section titled “AWS Infrastructure Features”- Elasticity and scalability
- Dynamic adaptation of capacity
- Adapts to accommodate growth
- Fault-tolerance
- Continues operating despite failed components
- Built-in redundancy
- High availability
- Minimal downtime
- Minimal to no human intervention
Key Takeaways
Section titled “Key Takeaways”- AWS Global Infrastructure consists of Regions and Availability Zones
- Region choice typically based on compliance requirements or to reduce latency
- Each Availability Zone physically separate with redundant power, networking, connectivity
- Edge locations and Regional edge caches improve performance by caching content closer to users
The AWS Global Infrastructure provides the foundation for AWS services, delivering a reliable, scalable, and secure environment with global reach and local presence.