Welcome to the ultimate AWS glossary, designed for those preparing for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CCP) exam and anyone looking to understand key AWS concepts. This page covers fundamental AWS terms to help you navigate the cloud ecosystem.
A
Availability Zone (AZ)
A distinct physical location within an AWS region, consisting of one or more data centers. AZs provide redundancy and fault tolerance.
Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud)
A web service that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud.
Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service)
Object storage service that allows for scalable data storage and retrieval.
AWS Auto Scaling
A service that automatically adjusts the number of EC2 instances based on demand.
B
Billing Dashboard
The AWS console section where users can view billing details, set budgets, and track usage.
Block Storage
A type of storage (e.g., Amazon EBS) that provides low-latency access to data, often used for databases and applications.
C
CloudFormation
Infrastructure as Code (IaC) service that allows you to define and provision AWS infrastructure using templates.
CloudFront
AWS's global Content Delivery Network (CDN) that delivers data with low latency.
CloudWatch
A monitoring and observability service for AWS resources, including logs, metrics, and alarms.
Compliance Programs
AWS adheres to multiple compliance standards like ISO 27001, HIPAA, and PCI DSS to ensure security and compliance.
D
DynamoDB
A fully managed NoSQL database service known for low-latency, high-speed performance.
Direct Connect
A service that establishes a dedicated network connection between your data center and AWS.
E
Elastic Load Balancing (ELB)
Distributes incoming traffic across multiple targets to enhance application availability.
Elastic Beanstalk
A PaaS (Platform as a Service) offering that automatically manages deployment, scaling, and monitoring of applications.
F
Fault Tolerance
The ability of AWS services to continue running smoothly despite failures.
Federated Access
Authentication method allowing users to sign in using existing credentials from external identity providers.
G
Glacier
A low-cost archive storage solution in Amazon S3, designed for long-term data retention.
Global Accelerator
A networking service that routes traffic through AWS's global infrastructure for improved availability and performance.
H
High Availability (HA)
The design of AWS services to minimize downtime and ensure operational continuity.
Hybrid Cloud
A mix of on-premises and AWS cloud services to optimize workload performance.
I
IAM (Identity and Access Management)
A service that enables users to control access to AWS resources securely.
Instance
A virtual server running on AWS EC2.
Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
A method of managing and provisioning AWS infrastructure using code-based automation (e.g., CloudFormation, Terraform).
J
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation)
A lightweight data-interchange format often used in AWS configurations and API responses.
K
Kinesis
A real-time data streaming service that collects, processes, and analyzes data in real time.
Key Management Service (KMS)
AWS's managed service for creating and controlling encryption keys.
L
Lambda
A serverless computing service that executes code in response to events without managing infrastructure.
Lightsail
A simplified cloud service that provides virtual private servers, databases, and networking.
M
Multi-AZ Deployment
A high-availability solution that replicates databases across multiple availability zones.
Machine Learning (ML)
AWS provides AI/ML services like SageMaker to develop and deploy machine learning models.
N
NAT Gateway
A service that allows instances in a private subnet to access the internet securely.
Network ACL (NACL)
A security feature that acts as a firewall at the subnet level.
O
Object Storage
A storage format used by Amazon S3 to store data as objects rather than blocks or files.
On-Demand Pricing
A pricing model where customers pay for AWS services as they use them without long-term commitments.
P
PrivateLink
Enables private connectivity between AWS services and on-premises applications.
Public Subnet
A subnet that is directly accessible from the internet via a public IP address.
Q
QuickSight
AWS's business intelligence tool for visualizing and analyzing data.
Query Performance
Optimizing SQL queries in services like Redshift for better database efficiency.
R
RDS (Relational Database Service)
A managed database service supporting MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, and more.
Route 53
AWS's scalable domain name system (DNS) web service for routing end-user traffic.
S
S3 Glacier
Low-cost, long-term data storage for archiving.
Security Groups
Virtual firewalls that control inbound and outbound traffic for AWS resources.
Serverless
A cloud-native model where infrastructure is managed automatically (e.g., AWS Lambda).
T
Terraform
An open-source infrastructure as code tool for provisioning AWS resources.
Transit Gateway
A networking service that connects multiple VPCs and on-premises networks via a central hub.
U
Universal Naming Convention (UNC)
A naming format used for file shares in AWS storage services.
User Pools
A feature in Amazon Cognito that provides user authentication and identity management.
V
VPC (Virtual Private Cloud)
A private cloud environment within AWS for networking and security configurations.
VPN (Virtual Private Network)
A secure tunnel for encrypting network traffic between on-premises and AWS environments.
W
WAF (Web Application Firewall)
A security service that protects web applications from common threats like SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS).
Well-Architected Framework
AWS's best practices guide for designing secure, high-performing cloud architectures.
X
X-Ray
AWS's distributed tracing tool for monitoring and debugging applications.
Z
Zonal Shift
A feature that allows rerouting traffic from one Availability Zone to another during outages.
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