Category: amazon Web Services

AWS – Elastic Compute Cloud ”; Previous Next Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) is a web service interface that provides resizable compute capacity in the AWS cloud. It is designed for developers to have complete control over web-scaling and computing resources. EC2 instances can be resized and the number of instances scaled up or down as per our requirement. These instances can be launched in one or more geographical locations or regions, and Availability Zones (AZs). Each region comprises of several AZs at distinct locations, connected by low latency networks in the same region. EC2 Components In AWS EC2, the users must be aware about the EC2 components, their operating systems support, security measures, pricing structures, etc. Operating System Support Amazon EC2 supports multiple OS in which we need to pay additional licensing fees like: Red Hat Enterprise, SUSE Enterprise and Oracle Enterprise Linux, UNIX, Windows Server, etc. These OS needs to be implemented in conjunction with Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). Security Users have complete control over the visibility of their AWS account. In AWS EC2, the security systems allow create groups and place running instances into it as per the requirement. You can specify the groups with which other groups may communicate, as well as the groups with which IP subnets on the Internet may talk. Pricing AWS offers a variety of pricing options, depending on the type of resources, types of applications and database. It allows the users to configure their resources and compute the charges accordingly. Fault tolerance Amazon EC2 allows the users to access its resources to design fault-tolerant applications. EC2 also comprises geographic regions and isolated locations known as availability zones for fault tolerance and stability. It doesn’t share the exact locations of regional data centers for security reasons. When the users launch an instance, they must select an AMI that”s in the same region where the instance will run. Instances are distributed across multiple availability zones to provide continuous services in failures, and Elastic IP (EIPs) addresses are used to quickly map failed instance addresses to concurrent running instances in other zones to avoid delay in services. Migration This service allows the users to move existing applications into EC2. It costs $80.00 per storage device and $2.49 per hour for data loading. This service suits those users having large amount of data to move. Features of EC2 Here is a list of some of the prominent features of EC2 − Reliable − Amazon EC2 offers a highly reliable environment where replacement of instances is rapidly possible. Service Level Agreement commitment is 99.9% availability for each Amazon EC2 region. Designed for Amazon Web Services − Amazon EC2 works fine with Amazon services like Amazon S3, Amazon RDS, Amazon DynamoDB, and Amazon SQS. It provides a complete solution for computing, query processing, and storage across a wide range of applications. Secure − Amazon EC2 works in Amazon Virtual Private Cloud to provide a secure and robust network to resources. Flexible Tools − Amazon EC2 provides the tools for developers and system administrators to build failure applications and isolate themselves from common failure situations. Inexpensive − Amazon EC2 wants us to pay only for the resources that we use. It includes multiple purchase plans such as On-Demand Instances, Reserved Instances, Spot Instances, etc. which we can choose as per our requirement. How to Use AWS EC2 Step 1 − Sign-in to AWS account and open IAM console by using the following link https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/. Step 2 − In the navigation Panel, create/view groups and follow the instructions. Step 3 − Create IAM user. Choose users in the navigation pane. Then create new users and add users to the groups. Step 4 − Create a Virtual Private Cloud using the following instructions. Open the Amazon VPC console by using the following link − https://console.aws.amazon.com/vpc/ Select VPC from the navigation panel. Then select the same region in which we have created key-pair. Select start VPC wizard on VPC dashboard. Select VPC configuration page and make sure that VPC with single subnet is selected. The choose Select. VPC with a single public subnet page will open. Enter the VPC name in the name field and leave other configurations as default. Select create VPC, then select Ok. Step 5 − Create WebServerSG security groups and add rules using the following instructions. On the VPC console, select Security groups in the navigation panel. Select create security group and fill the required details like group name, name tag, etc. Select your VPC ID from the menu. Then select yes, create button. Now a group is created. Select the edit option in the inbound rules tab to create rules. Step 6 − Launch EC2 instance into VPC using the following instructions. Open EC2 console by using the following link − https://console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/ Select launch instance option in the dashboard. A new page will open. Choose Instance Type and provide the configuration. Then select Next: Configure Instance Details. A new page will open. Select VPC from the network list. Select subnet from the subnet list and leave the other settings as default. Click Next until the Tag Instances page appears. Step 7 − On the Tag Instances page, provide a tag with a name to the instances. Select Next: Configure Security Group. Step 8 − On the Configure Security Group page, choose the Select an existing security group option. Select the WebServerSG group that we created previously, and then choose Review and Launch. Step 9 − Check Instance details on Review Instance Launch page then click the Launch button. Step 10 − A pop up dialog box will open. Select an existing key pair or create a new key pair. Then select the acknowledgement check box and click the Launch Instances button. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Amazon Web Services – WorkMail ”; Previous Next Amazon WorkMail was formerly known as Zocalo. It is a managed email and calendaring service that runs in Cloud. It provides security controls and is designed to work with your existing PC and Mac-based Outlook clients including the prepackaged Click-to-Run versions. It also works with mobile clients that speak the Exchange ActiveSync protocol. Its migration tool allows to move mailboxes from on-premises email servers to the service, and works with any device that supports the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol, such as Apple’s iPad and iPhone, Google Android, and Windows Phone. How to Use Amazon WorkMail? Step 1 − Sign in to AWS account and open the Amazon WorkMail console using the following link − https://console.aws.amazon.com/workmail/ Step 2 − Click the Get Started button. Step 3 − Select the desired option and choose the Region from the top right side of the navigation bar. Step 4 − Fill the required details and proceed to the next step to configure an account. Follow the instructions. Finally, the mailbox will look like as shown in the following screenshot. Features of Amazon WorkMail Secure − Amazon WorkMail automatically encrypts entire data with the encryption keys using the AWS Key Management Service. Managed − Amazon WorkMail offers complete control over email and there is no need to worry about installing a software, maintaining and managing hardware. Amazon WorkMail automatically handles all these needs. Accessibility − Amazon WorkMail supports Microsoft Outlook on both Windows and Mac OS X. Hence, users can use the existing email client without any additional requirements. Availability − Users can synchronize emails, contacts and calendars with iOS, Android, Windows Phone, etc. using the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol anywhere. Cost-efficient − Amazon WorkMail charges 4$ per user per month up to 50GB of storage. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Amazon Web Services – Quick Guide ”; Previous Next Amazon Web Services – Cloud Computing In 2006, Amazon Web Services (AWS) started to offer IT services to the market in the form of web services, which is nowadays known as cloud computing. With this cloud, we need not plan for servers and other IT infrastructure which takes up much of time in advance. Instead, these services can instantly spin up hundreds or thousands of servers in minutes and deliver results faster. We pay only for what we use with no up-front expenses and no long-term commitments, which makes AWS cost efficient. Today, AWS provides a highly reliable, scalable, low-cost infrastructure platform in the cloud that powers multitude of businesses in 190 countries around the world. What is Cloud Computing? Cloud computing is an internet-based computing service in which large groups of remote servers are networked to allow centralized data storage, and online access to computer services or resources. Using cloud computing, organizations can use shared computing and storage resources rather than building, operating, and improving infrastructure on their own. Cloud computing is a model that enables the following features. Users can provision and release resources on-demand. Resources can be scaled up or down automatically, depending on the load. Resources are accessible over a network with proper security. Cloud service providers can enable a pay-as-you-go model, where customers are charged based on the type of resources and per usage. Types of Clouds There are three types of clouds − Public, Private, and Hybrid cloud. Public Cloud In public cloud, the third-party service providers make resources and services available to their customers via Internet. Customer’s data and related security is with the service providers’ owned infrastructure. Private Cloud A private cloud also provides almost similar features as public cloud, but the data and services are managed by the organization or by the third party only for the customer’s organization. In this type of cloud, major control is over the infrastructure so security related issues are minimized. Hybrid Cloud A hybrid cloud is the combination of both private and public cloud. The decision to run on private or public cloud usually depends on various parameters like sensitivity of data and applications, industry certifications and required standards, regulations, etc. Cloud Service Models There are three types of service models in cloud − IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. IaaS IaaS stands for Infrastructure as a Service. It provides users with the capability to provision processing, storage, and network connectivity on demand. Using this service model, the customers can develop their own applications on these resources. PaaS PaaS stands for Platform as a Service. Here, the service provider provides various services like databases, queues, workflow engines, e-mails, etc. to their customers. The customer can then use these components for building their own applications. The services, availability of resources and data backup are handled by the service provider that helps the customers to focus more on their application”s functionality. SaaS SaaS stands for Software as a Service. As the name suggests, here the third-party providers provide end-user applications to their customers with some administrative capability at the application level, such as the ability to create and manage their users. Also some level of customizability is possible such as the customers can use their own corporate logos, colors, etc. Advantages of Cloud Computing Here is a list of some of the most important advantages that Cloud Computing has to offer − Cost-Efficient − Building our own servers and tools is time-consuming as well as expensive as we need to order, pay for, install, and configure expensive hardware, long before we need it. However, using cloud computing, we only pay for the amount we use and when we use the computing resources. In this manner, cloud computing is cost efficient. Reliability − A cloud computing platform provides much more managed, reliable and consistent service than an in-house IT infrastructure. It guarantees 24×7 and 365 days of service. If any of the server fails, then hosted applications and services can easily be transited to any of the available servers. Unlimited Storage − Cloud computing provides almost unlimited storage capacity, i.e., we need not worry about running out of storage space or increasing our current storage space availability. We can access as much or as little as we need. Backup & Recovery − Storing data in the cloud, backing it up and restoring the same is relatively easier than storing it on a physical device. The cloud service providers also have enough technology to recover our data, so there is the convenience of recovering our data anytime. Easy Access to Information − Once you register yourself in cloud, you can access your account from anywhere in the world provided there is internet connection at that point. There are various storage and security facilities that vary with the account type chosen. Disadvantages of Cloud Computing Although Cloud Computing provides a wonderful set of advantages, it has some drawbacks as well that often raise questions about its efficiency. Security issues Security is the major issue in cloud computing. The cloud service providers implement the best security standards and industry certifications, however, storing data and important files on external service providers always bears a risk. AWS cloud infrastructure is designed to be the most flexible and secured cloud network. It provides scalable and highly reliable platform that enables customers to deploy applications and data quickly and securely. Technical issues As cloud service providers offer services to number of clients each day, sometimes the system can have some serious issues leading to business processes temporarily being suspended. Additionally, if the internet connection is offline then we will not be able to access any of the applications, server, or data from the cloud. Not easy to switch service providers Cloud service providers promises vendors that the cloud will be flexible to use and integrate, however switching cloud services is not easy. Most organizations may find it difficult to host and integrate current cloud

Amazon Web Services – Machine Learning ”; Previous Next Amazon Machine Learning is a service that allows to develop predictive applications by using algorithms, mathematical models based on the user’s data. Amazon Machine Learning reads data through Amazon S3, Redshift and RDS, then visualizes the data through the AWS Management Console and the Amazon Machine Learning API. This data can be imported or exported to other AWS services via S3 buckets. It uses “industry-standard logistic regression” algorithm to generate models. Types of Tasks Performed by Amazon Machine Learning Three different types of tasks can be performed by Amazon Machine learning service − A binary classification model can predict one of the two possible results, i.e. either yes or no. A multi-class classification model can predict multiple conditions. For example, it can track a customer”s online orders. A regression model results in an exact value. Regression models can predict the best-selling price for a product or the number of units that will sell. How to Use Amazon Machine Learning? Step 1 − Sign in to AWS account and select Machine Learning. Click the Get Started button. Step 2 − Select Standard Setup and then click Launch. Step 3 − In the Input data section, fill the required details and select the choice for data storage, either S3 or Redshift. Click the Verify button. Step 4 − After S3 location verification is completed, Schema section opens. Fill the fields as per requirement and proceed to the next step. Step 5 − In Target section, reselect the variables selected in Schema section and proceed to the next step. Step 6 − Leave the values as default in Row ID section and proceed to the Review section. Verify the details and click the Continue button. Following are some screenshots of Machine Learning services. Data Set Created by Machine Learning Summary Made by Machine Learning Exploring Performance Using Machine Learning Features of Amazon Machine Learning Easy to create machine learning models − It is easy to create ML models from data stored in Amazon S3, Amazon Redshift, Amazon RDS and query these models for predictions by using Amazon ML APIs and wizards. High performance − Amazon ML prediction APIs can be used further to generate billions of predictions for the applications. We can use them within interactive web, mobile, or desktop applications. Cost-efficient − Pay only for what we use without any setup charges and no upfront commitments. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Amazon Web Services – Useful Resources ”; Previous Next The following resources contain additional information on Amazon Web Services. Please use them to get more in-depth knowledge on this topic. Useful Video Courses Java Web Services Course: Restful API Best Seller 72 Lectures 10 hours Chaand Sheikh More Detail Develop RESTful Java Web Services using JAX-RS and Jersey 28 Lectures 2 hours Vinod Kumar Kayartaya More Detail Machine Learning with IBM Watson & Amazon Web Services 73 Lectures 6.5 hours Pranjal Srivastava More Detail Amazon Cognito with AWS Cloud: Fundamentals Course 16 Lectures 1.5 hours Harshit Srivastava More Detail Complete Amazon Web Services Course Bundle 146 Lectures 13.5 hours Pranjal Srivastava, Harshit Srivastava More Detail Amazon Web Services – LAMP Setup: Step By Step Course Featured 18 Lectures 1 hours Skillbakery More Detail Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Amazon Web Services – CloudFront ”; Previous Next CloudFront is a CDN (Content Delivery Network). It retrieves data from Amazon S3 bucket and distributes it to multiple datacenter locations. It delivers the data through a network of data centers called edge locations. The nearest edge location is routed when the user requests for data, resulting in lowest latency, low network traffic, fast access to data, etc. How AWS CloudFront Delivers the Content? AWS CloudFront delivers the content in the following steps. Step 1 − The user accesses a website and requests an object to download like an image file. Step 2 − DNS routes your request to the nearest CloudFront edge location to serve the user request. Step 3 − At edge location, CloudFront checks its cache for the requested files. If found, then returns it to the user otherwise does the following − First CloudFront compares the request with the specifications and forwards it to the applicable origin server for the corresponding file type. The origin servers send the files back to the CloudFront edge location. As soon as the first byte arrives from the origin, CloudFront starts forwarding it to the user and adds the files to the cache in the edge location for the next time when someone again requests for the same file. Step 4 − The object is now in an edge cache for 24 hours or for the provided duration in file headers. CloudFront does the following − CloudFront forwards the next request for the object to the user’s origin to check the edge location version is updated or not. If the edge location version is updated, then CloudFront delivers it to the user. If the edge location version is not updated, then origin sends the latest version to CloudFront. CloudFront delivers the object to the user and stores the latest version in the cache at that edge location. Features of CloudFront Fast − The broad network of edge locations and CloudFront caches copies of content close to the end users that results in lowering latency, high data transfer rates and low network traffic. All these make CloudFront fast. Simple − It is easy to use. Can be used with other AWS Services − Amazon CloudFront is designed in such a way that it can be easily integrated with other AWS services, like Amazon S3, Amazon EC2. Cost-effective − Using Amazon CloudFront, we pay only for the content that you deliver through the network, without any hidden charges and no up-front fees. Elastic − Using Amazon CloudFront, we need not worry about maintenance. The service automatically responds if any action is needed, in case the demand increases or decreases. Reliable − Amazon CloudFront is built on Amazon’s highly reliable infrastructure, i.e. its edge locations will automatically re-route the end users to the next nearest location, if required in some situations. Global − Amazon CloudFront uses a global network of edge locations located in most of the regions. How to Set Up AWS CloudFront? AWS CloudFront can be set up using the following steps. Step 1 − Sign in to AWS management console using the following link − https://console.aws.amazon.com/ Step 2 − Upload Amazon S3 and choose every permission public. (How to upload content to S3 bucket is discussed in chapter 14) Step 3 − Create a CloudFront Web Distribution using the following steps. Open CloudFront console using the following link − https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/ Click the Get Started button in the web section of Select a delivery method for your content page. Create Distribution page opens. Choose the Amazon S3 bucket created in the Origin Domain Name and leave the remaining fields as default. Default Cache Behavior Settings page opens. Keep the values as default and move to the next page. A Distribution settings page opens. Fill the details as per your requirement and click the Create Distribution button. The Status column changes from In Progress to Deployed. Enable your distribution by selecting the Enable option. It will take around 15 minutes for the domain name to be available in the Distributions list. Test the Links After creating distribution, CloudFront knows the location of Amazon S3 server and the user knows the domain name associated with the distribution. However, we can also create a link to Amazon S3 bucket content with that domain name and have CloudFront serve it. This helps save a lot of time. Following are the steps to link an object − Step 1 − Copy the following HTML code to a new file and write the domain-name that CloudFront assigned to the distribution in the place of domain name. Write a file name of Amazon S3 bucket in the place of object-name. <html> <head>CloudFront Testing link</head> <body> <p>My Cludfront.</p> <p><img src = “http://domain-name/object-name” alt = “test image”/> </body> </html> Step 2 − Save the text in a file with .html extension. Step 3 − Open the web page in a browser to test the links to see if they are working correctly. If not, then crosscheck the settings. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

Amazon Web Services – Route 53 ”; Previous Next Amazon Route 53 is a highly available and scalable Domain Name System (DNS) web service. It is designed for developers and corporates to route the end users to Internet applications by translating human readable names like www.mydomain.com, into the numeric IP addresses like 192.0.2.1 that computers use to connect to each other. How to Configure Amazon Route 53? Following are the steps to configure Route 53. Step 1 − Open the Amazon Route 53 console using this link − https://console.aws.amazon.com/route53/. Step 2 − Click create hosted zone option on the top left corner of the navigation bar. Step 3 − A form page opens. Provide the required details such as domain name and comments, then click the Create button. Step 4 − Hosted zone for the domain will be created. There will be four DNS endpoints called delegation set and these endpoints must be updated in the domain names Nameserver settings. Step 5 − If it is godaddy.com then select domain’s control panel and update the Route 53 DNS endpoints. Delete the rest default values. It will take 2-3 minutes to update. Step 6 − Go back to Route 53 console and select the go to record sets option. This will show you the list of record sets. By default, there are two record sets of type NS & SOA. Step 7 − To create your record set, select the create record set option. Fill the required details such as: Name, Type, Alias, TTL seconds, Value, Routing policy, etc. Click the Save record set button. Step 8 − Create one more record set for some other region so that there are two record sets with the same domain name pointing to different IP addresses with your selected routing policy. Once completed, the user requests will be routed based on the network policy. Features of Route 53 Easy to register your domain − We can purchase all level of domains like .com, .net, .org, etc. directly from Route 53. Highly reliable − Route 53 is built using AWS infrastructure. Its distributed nature towards DNS servers help to ensure a consistent ability to route applications of end users. Scalable − Route 53 is designed in such a way that it automatically handles large volume queries without the user’s interaction. Can be used with other AWS Services − Route 53 also works with other AWS services. It can be used to map domain names to our Amazon EC2 instances, Amazon S3 buckets, Amazon and other AWS resources. Easy to use − It is easy to sign-up, easy to configure DNS settings, and provides quick response to DNS queries. Health Check: Route 53 monitors the health of the application. If an outage is detected, then it automatically redirects the users to a healthy resource. Cost-Effective − Pay only for the domain service and the number of queries that the service answers for each domain. Secure − By integrating Route 53 with AWS (IAM), there is complete control over every user within the AWS account, such as deciding which user can access which part of Route 53. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;

AWS – Management Console ”; Previous Next AWS Management Console is a web application for managing Amazon Web Services. AWS Management Console consists of list of various services to choose from. It also provides all information related to our account like billing. This console provides an inbuilt user interface to perform AWS tasks like working with Amazon S3 buckets, launching and connecting to Amazon EC2 instances, setting Amazon CloudWatch alarms, etc. Following is the screenshot of AWS management console for Amazon EC2 service. How to Access AWS? Step 1 − Click on services. We get a list of various services. Step 2 − Select the choice from the list of categories and we get their sub-categories such as Computer and Database category is selected in the following screenshots. Step 3 − Select the service of your choice and the console of that service will open. Customizing the Dashboard Creating Services Shortcuts Click the Edit menu on the navigation bar and a list of services appears. We can create their shortcuts by simply dragging them from the menu bar to the navigation bar. Adding Services Shortcuts When we drag the service from the menu bar to the navigation bar, the shortcut will be created and added. We can also arrange them in any order. In the following screenshot we have created shortcut for S3, EMR and DynamoDB services. Deleting Services Shortcuts To delete the shortcut, click the edit menu and drag the shortcut from the navigation bar to the service menu. The shortcut will be removed. In the following screenshot, we have removed the shortcut for EMR services. Selecting a Region Many of the services are region specific and we need to select a region so that resources can be managed. Some of the services do not require a region to be selected like AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM). To select a region, first we need to select a service. Click the Oregon menu (on the left side of the console) and then select a region Changing the Password We can change password of our AWS account. To change the password, following are the steps. Step 1 − Click the account name on the left side of the navigation bar. Step 2 − Choose Security Credentials and a new page will open having various options. Select the password option to change the password and follow the instructions. Step 3 − After signing-in, a page opens again having certain options to change the password and follow the instructions. When successful, we will receive a confirmation message. Know Your Billing Information Click the account name in the navigation bar and select the ”Billing & Cost Management” option. Now a new page will open having all the information related to money section. Using this service, we can pay AWS bills, monitor our usage and budget estimation. Print Page Previous Next Advertisements ”;