book

AWS for Solutions Architects

by Alberto Artasanchez

February 2021

Intermediate to advanced

454 pages

10h 42m

English

Packt Publishing

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What is cloud computing?Cloud elasticityCloud virtualizationDefinition of the cloudPrivate versus public clouds What is AWS cloud computing?The market share, influence, and adoption of AWSBasic cloud and AWS terminologyWhy is cloud computing so popular?ElasticitySecurityAvailabilityFaster hardware cyclesSystem administration staffThe five pillars of a well-architected frameworkFirst pillar – securitySecond pillar – reliabilityThird pillar – performance efficiencyFourth pillar – cost optimizationFifth pillar – operational excellenceBuilding credibility and getting certifiedAWS Certified Cloud Practitioner – FoundationalAWS Certified Solutions Architect – AssociateAWS Certified Developer – AssociateAWS Certified SysOps Administrator – AssociateAWS Certified Solutions Architect – ProfessionalAWS Certified DevOps Engineer – ProfessionalAWS Certified Advanced Networking – SpecialtyAWS Certified Security – SpecialtyAWS Certified Machine Learning – SpecialtyAWS Certified Alexa Skill Builder – SpecialtyAWS Certified Database – SpecialtyAWS Certified Data Analytics – SpecialtyLearning tips and tricks to obtain AWS certificationsFocus on one cloud providerFocus on the Associate-level certificationsGet experience wherever you canSome frequently asked questions about the AWS certificationsWhat is the best way to get certified?How long will it take to get certified?What are some last-minute tips for the days of the exam?Summary
Learning about the AWS Global InfrastructureRegions, Availability Zones, and Local ZonesImplementing a digital transformation programCloud migrationMigration assessment toolsWhat exactly is a digital transformation?Digital transformation driversDigital transformation examplesDigital transformation tipsDigital transformation pitfallsSummary
Understanding Amazon Elastic Block StoreGeneral-purpose Solid State Devices (SSDs)Provisioned IOPS SSDThroughput Optimized HDDCold HDDAmazon EBS snapshotsInvestigating Amazon Elastic File System (EFS)Learning about Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)S3 StandardAmazon S3 Intelligent-TieringAmazon S3 Standard-IAAmazon S3 One Zone-IAAmazon S3 GlacierAmazon S3 Glacier Deep ArchiveUnderstanding the diﬀerence between block storage and object storageVersioning in Amazon S3Exploring Amazon S3 best practicesEnhancing Amazon S3 performanceProtecting your data in Amazon S3Summary
Brief introduction to cloud computingComparing PaaS, IaaS, and SaaSUnderstanding IaaSAdvantages of IaaSDisadvantages of IaaS Use cases for IaaSExamples of AWS IaaS services Examples of non-AWS IaaS computing and storage servicesUnderstanding PaaSAdvantages of PaaSDisadvantages of PaaSPaaS use casesExamples of AWS PaaS servicesExamples of non-AWS PaaSUnderstanding SaaS Characteristics of SaaS Advantages of SaaS Disadvantages of SaaSExamples of AWS SaaS solutionsExamples of third-party SaaS solutions Selection by use case of SaaS, PaaS, or IaaS Learning about Amazon EC2EC2 instance types Amazon Machine Images Reviewing Amazon EC2 best practicesSecurityStorageResource managementLimit managementBackup, snapshots, and recoveryLearning about Amazon storage services S3 StandardS3 Intelligent-TieringS3 Standard-Infrequent Access S3 One Zone-Infrequent Access S3 Glacier S3 Glacier Deep Archive Summary
A brief history of databases Different methods to classify databasesClassifying databases by contentClassifying databases by usageClassifying databases by transaction data consistencyClassifying databases by use caseIntroducing different types of databasesRelational databasesDocument and key-value databasesWide-column store databasesIndexing and search servicesIn-memory databasesGraph databasesTime-series databasesLedger databasesOLAP and business intelligence databasesChoosing the right tool for the jobSummary
Introduction to Amazon AthenaDeep diving into Amazon AthenaCSV filesJSON filesORC filesApache Avro filesApache Parquet filesUnderstanding how Amazon Athena worksUsing Amazon Athena Federated QueryData source connectorsLearning about Amazon Athena workgroupsReviewing Amazon Athena's APIsOptimizing Amazon AthenaOptimization of data partitionsData bucketingFile compressionFile size optimizationColumnar data store generation optimizationColumn selectionPredicate pushdownORDER BY clause optimizationJoin optimizationGROUP BY clause optimizationApproximate function useSummary

Why is AWS Glue a cornerstone service?Introduction to AWS GlueOperating the AWS Glue consoleCataloging with the AWS Glue Data CatalogCrawling with AWS Glue crawlersCategorizing with AWS Glue classifiersGenerating code with AWS Glue code generatorsAWS Glue serverless streaming ETLPutting it all togetherAWS Glue best practicesChoosing the right worker typeOptimizing file splittingExceeding Yarn's memory overhead allocationLeveraging the Apache Spark UIProcessing many small filesData partitioning and predicate pushdownPartitioning data while writing to Amazon S3Summary
Understanding the importance of security, identity, and compliance on AWS Understanding the shared responsibility modelGetting familiar with IAMManaging resources, permissions, and identities using IAMUsersGroupsRolesPoliciesPermissionsLearning about other AWS security servicesAWS OrganizationsAWS Control TowerAmazon GuardDutyAWS ShieldAWS Web Application Firewall (WAF)AWS Firewall ManagerAmazon Cloud DirectoryAmazon InspectorAmazon MacieAWS Artifact ReportsAWS Certificate ManagerAWS CloudHSMAWS Directory ServiceAWS Key Management ServiceAWS Secrets ManagerAWS Single Sign-OnAWS Security HubSummary
Understanding containerizationAdvantages of containersDisadvantages of containersVirtual machines and virtualizationContainers versus VMsLearning about DockerDocker componentsLearning about KubernetesKubernetes advantagesAmazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS)Learning about AWS FargateLearning about AWS BatchAWS Batch componentsFeatures of AWS BatchAWS Batch best practicesSummary
Understanding microservicesMicroservice architecture patternsLayered architectureEvent-driven architectureEvent-driven architecture modelsBenefits of event-driven architecture No more pollingDisadvantages of event-driven architectureEvent-driven architectures are not a silver bulletWhen things go wrongLearning about microkernel architectureMicroservices best practicesBest practice #1: Decide whether microservices are the right toolBest practice #2: Clearly define the requirements and design of the microserviceBest practice #3: Leverage Domain-Driven Design (DDD) to create microservicesBest practice #4: Ensure buy-in from all stakeholdersBest practice #5: Leverage logging and tracing toolsBest practice #6: Think microservices firstBest practice #7: Minimize the number of languages and technologiesBest practice #8: Leverage RESTful APIsBest practice #9: Implement microservice communication asynchronouslyBest practice #10: Implement clear separation between microservice frontends and backendsBest practice #11: Organize your team around microservicesBest practice #12: Provision individual data stores for each individual microserviceBest practice #13: Self-documentation and full documentationBest practice #14: Use a DevOps toolsetBest practice #15: Invest in monitoringBest practice #16: Two pizzas should be enough to feed your teamBest practice #17: Twelve-factor designSummary
Domain-driven design History of domain-driven design Definition of a domainReasons to use domain-driven designChallenges with domain-driven designMicroservicesMicroservices and serverless technologiesMonolithic architecture versus microservices architectureAdvantages of microservicesDDD and microservicesCommunication between microservicesMicroservices in AWSFundamental services for creating microservices in AWSMicroservice examplesUsing microservices to transform media filesText-to-speech microserviceSummary
Definition of a data lakeWhat is a data lake?Purpose of a data lakeComponents of a data lakeLanding or transient data zoneRaw data zoneOrganized or trusted data zoneCurated or refined data zoneSandboxesCharacteristics of a data lake Google – the gold standardData and metadata curationWeb content homogeneityEnhancing document relevance based on document relationshipsVeracity and validity of dataLocating documents across the enterprise using faceted searchSecurityMaturityData lake best practicesMachine learningNatural language processing and natural language understandingEntity extractionSecurityThe silo mentalityData governance Relevant metadataKey metrics in a data lakeMetrics to gauge the success of your data lake Summary
Availability in cloud computingReliability in cloud computing Scalability in cloud computingArchitectures to provide high availability, reliability, and scalability Active architecture Active/passive architecture Sharding architecture Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Recovery Time Objective (RTO) RTORPORPA and RTA Chaos engineering Scaling in and scaling out versus scaling up and scaling downScaling up or vertical scalingScaling out or horizontal scalingAdvantages of cloud scalabilityAvailability in AWS Availability for Amazon EC2 instancesAWS high availability for Amazon RDSAWS high availability for storage servicesAmazon Elastic Load BalancingELB rulesHost-based routingPath-based routingElastic load balancer typesClassic Load Balancers Application load balancers Network load balancers CLB versus ALB versus NLB comparisonCLB and ALB commonalitiesThe best choice of elastic load balancer by use caseSummary
An introduction to the use casesReviewing the list of available AWS programming languagesInterpretive versus compiled languagesJavaPythonC++.NETJavaScriptNode.jsRubyGoPHPSwaggerDeciding which is the best languageUnderstanding the serverless AWS microservice architecture Setting up servicesAWS Command-Line Interface AWS CloudFormationAWS Cloud Development KitAWS CodeDeployAWS ConfigAWS Elastic BeanstalkAWS Service CatalogLearning about frontend user interfacesAuthenticating, authorizing, and managing usersAWS Identity and Access ManagementGrasping CDN conceptsUnderstanding the asynchronous communication serviceAmazon EventBridgeLearning about file uploadsUploading to an AWS service via the AWS consoleUploading with signed URLsUploading files using the File Transfer ProtocolUploading to an AWS service via the CLI Uploading files to AWS via the AWS SDKUploading files to AWS using RESTUploading files using AWS SnowballCovering Amazon API GatewayReviewing business APIsBusiness rules engineUnderstanding state-machine servicesExploring backend persistence servicesSummary
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Content preview from AWS for Solutions Architects

Chapter 4: Harnessing the Power of Cloud Computing

In this chapter, we explore another aspect of the cloud that makes it so powerful. In some senses, the entire concept of the cloud boils down to a data center that is managed by a third party. Why is it that there is such a massive shift by companies now to embrace the cloud? By the end of this chapter, you will be armed with the answer to that question, and you will have the necessary ammunition to explain to skeptics why the cloud is so powerful and why it represents a paradigm shift in computing.

We will be covering some of the basic compute services available in AWS, as well as how these services came to be. In addition, we will learn the differences between Software as a Service (SaaS