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AWS Global Infrastructure Overview

Now that you understand the basic cloud concepts, let's explore how AWS structures its global infrastructure. Understanding this foundation will help you design resilient, low-latency applications and prepare for real-world deployment scenarios.

Learning Goals

  • Understand AWS Regions, Availability Zones, and Edge Locations
  • Learn how to choose the right Region for your workloads
  • Explore AWS infrastructure services like Local Zones and Wavelength
  • Practice retrieving infrastructure information using AWS CLI

AWS Global Infrastructure Components​

https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure/

AWS operates the world's most comprehensive cloud infrastructure, organized into three main layers:

Regions​

Regions are geographic areas that contain multiple, isolated locations called Availability Zones. Each Region is a separate geographic area with its own set of AWS services.

List available AWS Regions
aws ec2 describe-regions
note

Not all AWS services are available in every Region. Always check the AWS Regional Services List before designing your architecture.

Availability Zones (AZs)​

Each Region consists of multiple, physically separated Availability Zones that are connected through low-latency networks. AZs are designed for fault isolation—a failure in one AZ shouldn't affect others in the same Region.

Check Availability Zones in us-east-1
aws ec2 describe-availability-zones --region us-east-1 --query 'AvailabilityZones[].ZoneName' --output table

Edge Locations and Regional Edge Caches​

Edge Locations are sites deployed in major cities worldwide that cache content for Amazon CloudFront (CDN) and Route 53 (DNS). Regional Edge Caches sit between your origin server and Edge Locations, providing larger cache durations.

Choosing the Right Region​

Selecting the appropriate Region involves balancing multiple factors:

1. Data sovereignty and compliance requirements
2. Latency to your target users
3. Service availability (not all services in all Regions)
4. Cost (pricing varies by Region)
5. Feature availability (new features often launch in specific Regions first)

Extended Infrastructure Services​

Local Zones​

Local Zones place AWS compute, storage, and other services closer to large population and industry centers, enabling single-digit millisecond latency.

List Local Zones
aws ec2 describe-availability-zones --region us-west-2 \
  --query 'AvailabilityZones[?OptInStatus==`opt-in-not-required` || OptInStatus==`opted-in`]' \
  --output table

AWS Wavelength​

Wavelength Zones embed AWS services within telecommunications providers' data centers at the edge of 5G networks, bringing AWS services to mobile devices and end users.

AWS Outposts​

AWS infrastructure deployed on-premises

AWS Wavelength Zones​

AWS infrastructure integrated with telecom 5G networks

Datacenters​

Physical hardware facilities forming the base layer of AWS infrastructure

tip

Use Local Zones for latency-sensitive applications like gaming and media processing. Use Wavelength for 5G-optimized mobile applications.

Infrastructure as Code Example​

Here's how you might specify Regions and Availability Zones in your infrastructure code:

cloudformation-template.yml
Resources:
  MyEC2Instance:
    Type: AWS::EC2::Instance
    Properties:
      InstanceType: t3.micro
      AvailabilityZone: us-east-1a
      ImageId: ami-0c02fb55956c7d316
      
  MyS3Bucket:
    Type: AWS::S3::Bucket
    Properties:
      BucketName: my-global-app-data
      # S3 is global, but you can configure Region-specific settings

Common Pitfalls​

  • Assuming all services are available everywhere: Always verify service availability in your chosen Region
  • Ignoring data residency requirements: Some countries require data to stay within geographic boundaries
  • Underestimating cross-Region data transfer costs: Data transfer between Regions incurs additional charges
  • Single-AZ deployments: For production workloads, always distribute across multiple AZs for resilience
  • Forgetting about Edge Locations: Not leveraging CloudFront can significantly impact global application performance

Summary​

AWS Global Infrastructure provides a hierarchical structure of Regions, Availability Zones, and Edge Locations that enable you to deploy applications with high availability, low latency, and geographic compliance. Remember that Regions contain multiple AZs, AZs are physically separate data centers, and Edge Locations cache content globally. Your choice of infrastructure components should align with your application's latency, compliance, and resilience requirements.

Quiz​

AWS Global Infrastructure – Quick Check

What is the relationship between AWS Regions and Availability Zones?

Question 1/5