8 Reasons for Choosing Amazon Web Services as a Cloud Platform

When owning a significant web resource one shall require a powerful cloud solution to ensure the website operates at the appropriate level preventing possible malfunctions. We have 8 reasons to convince you that Amazon AWS services are exactly what you’ll need to achieve such objectives.

No time to waste. Let’s dive straight in.

#1. Convenient monitoring

To ensure round-the-clock service functioning platform owners shall continuously monitor their program performance. Amazon has designed AWS CloudWatch and SNS solutions to provide the monitoring required.

AWS CloudWatch

The technology can only run jointly with Amazon EC2 which is Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, and we’d like to mention a few words on it.

Amazon EC2 represents a solution providing computation web instruments. Such a tool is to keep under review various computing operations with no excessive spendings. And its interface is user-oriented as well.

Regarding AWS CloudWatch, it supplies statistical info and graphics reflecting workloads of platforms. Amazon EC2 takes those details for carrying out diverse calculations.

AWS CloudWatch responsibilities:

• AWS CloudWatch Alarm system serves to track certain indicators and notify staff in charge whenever needed;
• AWS CloudWatch systems shall react to any changes in the performance, for instance, in case the web resource loading would unexpectedly rise, CloudWatch shall trigger auto-scaling.

SNS

That would be one more solution working with AWS CloudWatch. Standing for the Amazon Simple Notification Service, the technology assists with organizing in-house business and mobile messaging schemes. SNS serves to send texts “in bulk” by means of SMS or email tools.

AWS CloudWatch in collaboration with SNS

Those two make a great team when working together. The first one is defining specific activities to be undertaken, and SNS, in turn, is figuring out the appropriate notification means, say, emails, SMS-messages, webhooks, push notifications, and the like.

Hence, Amazon AWS services certainly guarantee proper monitoring.

#2. DNS records managing

DNS records reflect a congruence of a domain name with an IP-address, and AWS Route 53 represents an instrument to manage such records. The Route 53 technology offers great tools, say:

• services to register domain names;
• control panel to manage the records;
• DNS name server.

AWS Route 53 can manage DNS records of all domains, not only those bought via Amazon. So, you can simply delegate such responsibility to the technology.

#3.  Adequate mailing solutions

Every web resource requires a trustworthy mailing system. We’d like to distinguish the salient points regarding the subject.

AWS Simple Email Service

The mentioned solution is exactly what you need to carry out email campaigns. AWS SES sends messages – both, usual and mass – and you don’t have to build a separate mailing server to arrange the process. The technology shall prevent the sender’s letters from being blacklisted.

AWS SES tasks:

• the solution delivers certain digital commerce services, say, orders status updates, notifications on successful delivery, activities confirmations;
• AWS SES pursues marketing objectives, for example, product/service promotion and advertising.

The AWS Simple Email Service is definitely great for arranging the mass mailing system. Its specialized tools do the magic to avoid spam-looking letters, like advertising ones, getting into the junk mailbox of recipients. Therefore, the SES technique improves the so-called “open rate messages” performance. The technology could be successfully integrated with, let’s say, Amazon WorkMail. We shall take a closer look at it.

Amazon WorkMail

Being among highly-demanded AWS services, the solution reminds Gmail due to having the same functionalities. Amazon WorkMail delivers the possibility of sending and receiving mails without unnecessary complications. The framework allows determining parameters for letters sorting.

Amazon WorkMail characteristics:

• the possibility to take advantage of the webmail version, as well as email clients supporting the IMAP protocol, say, Mozilla Thunderbird and the like;
• the advantage of impressive mailbox size allowed for every user – which is 50 GB – and one letter could be up to 25MB;
• spam and virus filtering protecting against unwelcome and dangerous emails;
• the easy and fast domain registration process with the possibility to apply your own domain. The implementation of the mentioned parameter requires the ability to administer DNS records of a specific domain;
• information encryption by means of regular SSL.

#4. Auto-scaling possibilities

Amazon AutoScaling works perfectly in cooperation with Load Balancing. Let’s review a specific case of such a collaboration, which could be AWS EC2/AWS LightSail server web resource.

Activities of visitors might increase, and, understandably, site loadings will grow respectively. It’s critical to prevent potential malfunctioning of the server. Thus, AWS AutoScaling and Load Balancing will automatically take care of troubleshooting by themselves. The involvement of system admins won’t be necessary.

#5. AWS Cloud Storage without any limits

Amazon has come up with AWS S3 to store any possible quantity of files on the cloud. Another AWS S3’s great advantage is that it could be enjoyed through any server, not only those from the AWS infrastructure.

What AWS S3 offers

• regular AWS cloud storing allows files to be accessed at any time;
• the technology is applied for backups, and together with AWS EC2 ensures more reliable data storing;
• Glacier storage provides long term storing services. However, the speed here gets lower, so it takes some time to extract a specific file.

#6. Docker storing of images

It might happen that a web or mobile application functions perfectly at the developer’s computer, but doesn’t run on users’ gadgets. That’s when dockers shall assist, and Amazon Elastic Container Registry technology is applied. AWS ECR stores Docker container images in a special location to access them from any part of the world having an Internet connection.

Some of AWS ECR functionalities

• the storing is carried out via docker push commands;
• docker pull commands shall remove images out of the Registry;
• regular docker login commands ensure authentication procedures;
• the technology is integrated with AWS ECS, meaning, the Docker register could be applied together with containerization services operated via EC2.

#7. Data accessibility from any part of the world

OpenVPN is a tool ensuring data accessibility together with its protection against the unauthorized application. It works great with AWS EC2.

The Amazon technologies help to revive some of topologies, and here are few of them:

• Site-to-site topology. It establishes VPN connections to join routers of company’s offices located in various countries. Such connection is permanent, reliable, and doesn’t demand any activities of users. OpenVPN is applied on a certain router or a particular network itself.
• Remote access VPN topology. It provides access to the resource from any country and protects against unauthorized entries. Such solution connects various people into a specific network. It’s perfect for businesses having staff who need remote access to company resources.

Both topologies apply encrypted channels for data exchanges.

#8. Fast-track content delivery

Content Delivery Network is to ensure faster process. CDN simply separates the content by geographical constituencies dividing them between multiple servers located in various countries. Then, users in, let’s say, California shall receive content from close-by servers in Arizona or Nevada, and not from Paris.

The Cloud Front technology is to implement AWS CDN. It enables distributions of the following kinds:

• uploading of static materials, say, pictures;
• streaming audios and videos with the possibilities to pause or rewind the content, and add advertisement.

Summing up we’d like to emphasize that when applying Amazon AWS platforms you take advantage of trustworthy, multi-function, secured cloud solution that corresponds to all the needs of the modern society.