Scalability & System Design for Developers

In this module, we’ll learn to work with the most fundamental services AWS offers, such as DynamoDB, S3, and EC2 to create reliable and scalable systems. Walk through getting a basic web application running in the cloud on AWS. You won’t find most of the knowledge that's shared here in the AWS docs.

The Good Parts of AWS: Cutting Through the Clutter

Fundamentally, you can think of ______ as a highly-durable hash table in the cloud. 

Fundamentally, you can think of ______ as a highly-durable hash table in the cloud.

______ abstracts away everything except for a function interface, which you get to fill in with the code you want to run.

______ abstracts away everything except for a function interface, which you get to fill in with the code you want to run.

______ doesn’t come with an API to resize an image after uploading it to a bucket, but with Lambda, you can add that capability.

______ doesn’t come with an API to resize an image after uploading it to a bucket, but with Lambda, you can add that capability.

The nice thing about EC2 is that the computer you get will be very similar to the computer you use to develop your software.

The nice thing about EC2 is that the computer you get will be very similar to the computer you use to develop your software.

The other nice thing that comes with ______ is the ability to simply add or remove instances just by updating the desired capacity setting. 

The other nice thing that comes with ______ is the ability to simply add or remove instances just by updating the desired capacity setting.

Application load balancers come with an API to respond with a fixed response for a given route, but they can’t respond with an image. ______ lets you make your load balancer do that.

Application load balancers come with an API to respond with a fixed response for a given route, but they can’t respond with an image. ______ lets you make your load balancer do that.

______ doesn’t support regex-based alerting on application logs.

______ doesn’t support regex-based alerting on application logs.

Lambda’s limitations are insidious hidden risks that typically reveal themselves once your application evolves into something bigger. 

Lambda’s limitations are insidious hidden risks that typically reveal themselves once your application evolves into something bigger.

Every Lambda invocation is stateless. If we need to access some state, we have to use something like S3 or DynamoDB.

Every Lambda invocation is stateless. If we need to access some state, we have to use something like S3 or DynamoDB.

If we have a small piece of code that will rarely need to be changed and that needs to run in response to something that happens in our AWS account, then ______ is a very good default choice.

If we have a small piece of code that will rarely need to be changed and that needs to run in response to something that happens in our AWS account, then ______ is a very good default choice.

______  is a legacy option and remains there only because it works with very old AWS accounts, where you can still run EC2 instances outside of a VPC. 

______ is a legacy option and remains there only because it works with very old AWS accounts, where you can still run EC2 instances outside of a VPC.

An ______ is more like a very sophisticated network router. 

An ______ is more like a very sophisticated network router.

The fact that ALBs and NLBs don’t validate certificates might seem concerning. However, since these load balancers run in a VPC, Amazon authenticates each network packet and guarantees that the packets go only to the hosts you configured in your load balancer.

The fact that ALBs and NLBs don’t validate certificates might seem concerning. However, since these load balancers run in a VPC, Amazon authenticates each network packet and guarantees that the packets go only to the hosts you configured in your load balancer.

NLB behaves like a single-tenant system. AWS keeps track of your request rates and then automatically scales your NLB up or down based on the demand it sees. 

NLB behaves like a single-tenant system. AWS keeps track of your request rates and then automatically scales your NLB up or down based on the demand it sees.

______ is a DNS service. It lets you translate domain names to IP addresses.

______ is a DNS service. It lets you translate domain names to IP addresses.

Check all AWS services that requires zero capacity management.

Check all AWS services that requires zero capacity management.

The number of messages stored in SQS (the backlog size) is limited.

The number of messages stored in SQS (the backlog size) is limited.

______ is a highly-durable queue in the cloud. You put messages on one end, and a consumer takes them out from the other side.

______ is a highly-durable queue in the cloud. You put messages on one end, and a consumer takes them out from the other side.

______ is made up of slices of capacity called shards, and it’s up to you to figure out how many shards you need, monitor shard utilization, and add them.

______ is made up of slices of capacity called shards, and it’s up to you to figure out how many shards you need, monitor shard utilization, and add them.

Unlike SQS, records in a Kinesis stream don’t get deleted when consumed, so it’s a pure append-only data structure behind the scenes.

Unlike SQS, records in a Kinesis stream don’t get deleted when consumed, so it’s a pure append-only data structure behind the scenes.

To wrap up part 1 of this course, let's check your understanding of AWS services that you have studied so far.

Part 1: The Good Parts

Part 2: The Bootstrap Guide

Quiz - Basic AWS Services