What Is AWS?
Amazon Web Services at a Glance
What is AWS? AWS, or Amazon Web Services, is the cloud computing platform run by Amazon. It provides on-demand computing power, storage, databases, networking and many other services over the internet, billed according to use. Organisations can rent these services instead of buying and running their own servers.
AWS is organised into regions, which are geographic areas, and each region contains several availability zones, which are separate groups of data centers. Customers choose where their resources run. The platform serves a wide range of users, from small websites to large enterprises. As one of the hyperscalers, it operates at very large scale.
Its virtual servers and storage fall under the model called infrastructure as a service, in which the customer manages the operating system and applications on top of the rented infrastructure.
The Core Building Blocks You Will Hear About
AWS has a very large number of services, but a few appear in most introductions. Each is a building block with a clear role:
- EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud): virtual servers, called instances, that you can start, stop and resize.
- S3 (Simple Storage Service): object storage for files, backups and media, accessed through web requests.
- RDS (Relational Database Service): managed relational databases, where AWS takes care of many routine maintenance tasks.
- Lambda: serverless functions that run code in response to events, without you managing a server.
Other common services include VPC for private networks, Route 53 for domain name lookups, and CloudFront for delivering content from locations close to users.
How a Small Online Shop Might Use AWS
An online shop might store product photos in S3, run its website on EC2 servers and keep order records in a managed RDS database. During a seasonal sale, it can add more servers to handle the extra visitors and remove them once traffic falls. The owner pays for storage and computing by usage rather than buying servers outright.
Frequently asked questions
Is AWS only for large companies?
No. AWS is used by individual developers, startups, charities and large enterprises alike. Pay-as-you-go pricing means small projects can start with little upfront commitment. A small team still needs to learn the platform's basic concepts, such as accounts, permissions and billing alerts, in order to use it safely.
Do I need programming skills to use AWS?
Not always. Many AWS services can be set up through a web console without writing code, and some hosting arrangements run on AWS behind the scenes. Building custom applications or automating infrastructure usually requires programming or scripting skills. To compare AWS with other large providers, see AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud.