The Benefits of the Global Infrastructure
Perhaps at the very core of AWS is what makes it all possible: the AWS global infrastructure (also termed the global architecture). This is what makes the incredible elasticity, scalability, and reliability possible across a vast number of IT services. The AWS global infrastructure is made up of many components, including these:
Regions: Regions are physical locations in geographically dispersed parts of the world. For example, there are US West Regions and US East Regions, and there are Regions in Europe and Asia. Inside each Region are multiple Availability Zones (AZs). The AZs house the data centers that actually contain the physical network resources and massive amounts of data. Figure 2-2 shows the Regions available in North America at this writing.
Figure 2-2 Regions in North America
Figure 2-3 demonstrates how easy it is to drop a menu at the top of the management console in order to select a new Region of the world for the initialization of localized resources for that Region.
- Availability Zones (AZs): An AZ is made up of one or more data centers. These data centers feature redundancy at every level, from network connections to physical devices. The data centers are also physically distant from one another in order to help mitigate the effects of localized disasters. They feature incredible high availability (HA) and fault tolerance (FT).
- Edge Locations: Edge Locations power the AWS CloudFront service. Edge Locations are strategically distributed data centers located in various cities and regions around the world. Their primary purpose is to cache and deliver content and services to end users with low latency and high availability through AWS CloudFront.
Figure 2-3 Selecting a Region in AWS
The AWS global infrastructure brings advantages to security and compliance. Thanks to the AWS global infrastructure, you maintain control of where your resources are stored geographically, and this makes it easier for you to comply with regional governance responsibilities. AWS permits you to achieve the strictest security requirements, and you can rest easy, knowing that AWS uses the most cutting-edge security-heavy data centers in the world.
High Availability, Elasticity, and Agility
There are some other reasons that many users are flocking to the AWS Cloud today. Mainly, they want to take advantage of the high availability, elasticity, and increased agility provided by the AWS Cloud. Many AWS customers might lack the technical expertise or the budget to make these desirable qualities a reality in their own on-premise facilities. Let’s break down each of these concepts and how AWS addresses them.