AWS Service Cheat Sheet for Developers
Security, Identity & Compliance
Secure access and protection for your AWS environment and data.
Service | Description |
---|---|
IAM | Manage access to AWS resources with fine-grained permissions. |
Cognito | User sign-up, sign-in, and access control with OAuth support. |
GuardDuty | Detects threats using machine learning. |
Inspector | Scans EC2 for vulnerabilities and misconfigurations. |
Certificate Manager | Issue and manage SSL/TLS certificates for websites. |
Directory Service | Connect AWS with Microsoft Active Directory. |
WAF | Web Application Firewall for protecting from malicious traffic. |
Shield & Shield Advanced | DDoS protection service built into AWS. |
Artifact | Provides access to compliance and audit reports. |
Most used service is IAM. Used in every AWS project for user/role management - e.g., creating permission to access database to developers.
Compute Services
Run applications on virtual servers, containers, or serverless environments.
Service | Description |
---|---|
EC2 | Fully configurable virtual machines. |
Lambda | Run event-driven functions with automatic scaling. |
ECS | Container orchestration for Docker workloads. |
Fargate | Run containers without managing servers. |
LightSail | Simple VPS hosting ideal for small projects. |
Batch | Process large volumes of jobs efficiently. |
Most used is EC2 which is backbone for traditional applications - e.g., hosting web servers, application servers. Lambda is popular for event-driven tasks - e.g., image processing when uploaded to S3
Storage Services
Store and retrieve data reliably and at scale.
Service | Description |
---|---|
S3 | Object storage for files, media, and backups. |
EBS | Block storage for use with EC2 instances. |
EFS | Shared file system storage for multiple instances. |
Glacier | Low-cost storage for long-term archives. |
Snowball | Physical device to move large data into/out of AWS. |
Storage Gateway | Hybrid storage between on-prem and AWS. |
Object Storage vs Block Storage
- Object Storage (S3): Stores data with metadata and a unique ID. Ideal for unstructured data like images.
- Block Storage (EBS): Raw block-level storage, great for databases and OS-level file systems.
Databases
Managed services for structured, unstructured, and analytical workloads.
Service | Description |
---|---|
RDS | Managed relational DBs (MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.). |
Aurora | High-performance cloud-native SQL database. |
DynamoDB | NoSQL key-value and document store. |
Neptune | Graph database for highly connected data. |
Redshift | Analytics and OLAP at scale using columnar storage. |
ElastiCache | In-memory caching for fast performance. |
OLTP vs OLAP
- **OLTP (**Online transaction processing) - Handles day-to-day transactions. Ex - RDS, DynamoDB
- OLAP (Online analytical processing) - For analytics and reporting Ex - Redshift
Networking & Routing
Connect your services securely and reliably across the cloud.
Service | Description |
---|---|
CloudFront | Content Delivery Network (CDN). |
VPC | Isolated virtual network to launch AWS resources. |
Route 53 | DNS service with traffic routing capabilities. |
Direct Connect | Dedicated network line to AWS from on-prem. |
NAT Gateway | Enable internet access for private subnets. |
NACL | Stateless firewall rules for subnets. |
Bastion Host | Jump server to access private EC2 instances. |
VPC Peering | Privately connect two VPCs. |
VPC is most commonly used service. It is foundation of AWS network architecture - e.g., isolating production and development environments
Routing Policies
- Simple: Direct to one resource.
- Weighted: A/B test across resources.
- Latency-based: Route to the lowest-latency region.
- Geolocation / Geoproximity: Based on user or resource location.
Developer Tools & DevOps
Tools for building, testing, and deploying applications.
Service | Description |
---|---|
CodeBuild | Cloud-native build service. |
CodeStar | Manage your CI/CD toolchain in one place. |
CodeCommit | Git-based source control. |
CodeDeploy | Automate code deployments. |
CodePipeline is commonly used in CI/CD workflows e.g., automating deployment from GitHub to production
Application Integration
Decouple application components using messaging and orchestration.
Service | Description |
---|---|
SQS | Simple queue for message buffering. |
SNS | Pub/sub system for notifications. |
Step Functions | Coordinate workflows using visual states. |
Amazon MQ | Managed message broker using popular standards. |
SWF | Older workflow orchestration tool. |
Many a times, SNS, SQS and Lambda are used together to create decoupled apps. Often called a fan-out pattern where an event notification (SNS) triggers messages to be placed in multiple queues (SQS) which are then processed by different Lambda functions - for example, when a new user signs up, one Lambda could send a welcome email, another could update analytics, and a third could process user preferences.
Management & Monitoring
Monitor and automate your AWS environment.
Service | Description |
---|---|
CloudWatch | Logs, metrics, and dashboards for monitoring. |
CloudTrail | Track all API calls across your AWS account. |
CloudFormation | Infrastructure as Code using templates. |
Cloudwatch is essential for monitoring, can also set up alerts in it.
AI/ML & Analytics Services
Build intelligent applications and analyze data at scale.
Service | Description |
---|---|
SageMaker | Train and deploy ML models. |
Rekognition | Analyze images and videos for labels and faces. |
Polly | Convert text to lifelike speech. |
Comprehend | Natural Language Processing (NLP). |
Athena | Query S3 data with SQL. |
Glue | Serverless ETL service. |
QuickSight | Business intelligence and dashboards. |
EMR | Managed Hadoop/Spark clusters. |
As developers, cant see using Sagemaker but Athena is quite interesting, can be used in many places e.g., analyzing logs stored in S3, business intelligence queries.
Media Services
Tools to process, stream, and manage video content.
Service | Description |
---|---|
Elastic Transcoder | Convert media files to different formats. |
MediaConvert | High-quality media transcoding. |
Kinesis Video Streams | Stream video from connected devices. |
MediaLive, MediaTailor, MediaPackage | End-to-end pipeline for live video broadcasting. |