AWS has a lot of services, but most cloud architecture conversations start with a small core set.
Compute
| Service | One-Line Summary |
|---|---|
| EC2 | Virtual machines that give you configurable compute capacity in AWS. |
| Lambda | Serverless functions that run code in response to events without managing servers. |
| ECS | AWS-managed container orchestration for running Docker containers. |
| Fargate | Serverless compute for containers, commonly used with ECS or EKS. |
| EKS | Managed Kubernetes for running containerized workloads on AWS. |
Networking
| Service | One-Line Summary |
|---|---|
| VPC | Isolated virtual network where AWS resources are placed and connected. |
| Route 53 | Managed DNS and domain routing service. |
| CloudFront | Content delivery network that caches and serves content from edge locations. |
| ELB / ALB | Load balancing services that distribute traffic across targets. |
| API Gateway | Managed front door for creating, publishing, securing, and monitoring APIs. |
Databases
| Service | One-Line Summary |
|---|---|
| RDS | Managed relational databases such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, Oracle, and SQL Server. |
| DynamoDB | Serverless NoSQL key-value and document database. |
| ElastiCache | Managed in-memory caching with Redis OSS, Valkey, or Memcached-compatible engines. |
Storage
| Service | One-Line Summary |
|---|---|
| S3 | Object storage for files, logs, backups, static assets, and data lakes. |
| EBS | Block storage volumes attached to EC2 instances. |
| S3 Glacier | Low-cost archival storage classes for long-term retention. |
Security and Identity
| Service | One-Line Summary |
|---|---|
| IAM | Identity and access management for AWS users, roles, groups, and permissions. |
| Cognito | Managed user sign-up, sign-in, and identity federation for applications. |
| KMS | Key management service for creating and controlling encryption keys. |
| Secrets Manager | Managed storage, rotation, and retrieval of application secrets. |
| WAF | Web application firewall for filtering HTTP and HTTPS requests. |
Management and Monitoring
| Service | One-Line Summary |
|---|---|
| CloudWatch | Metrics, logs, alarms, dashboards, and operational monitoring. |
| CloudTrail | Audit log of AWS API activity across accounts and services. |
| Config | Resource inventory, configuration history, and compliance evaluation. |
| CloudFormation | Infrastructure-as-code service for provisioning AWS resources from templates. |
| CodePipeline | Managed continuous delivery pipeline service. |
Events and Workflows
| Service | One-Line Summary |
|---|---|
| SQS | Managed message queue for decoupling producers and consumers. |
| SNS | Pub/sub messaging service for fanout notifications. |
| EventBridge | Event bus for routing events between AWS services, applications, and SaaS providers. |
| Step Functions | Serverless workflow orchestration for coordinating distributed application steps. |
Quick Mental Model
- Compute runs workloads.
- Networking connects and exposes workloads.
- Databases store structured application state.
- Storage holds objects, files, archives, and block volumes.
- Security and identity decide who can do what and how secrets and keys are protected.
- Management and monitoring show what exists, what changed, and what happened.
- Events and workflows decouple systems and coordinate multi-step processes.