Part 1. Getting started

Have you watched a blockbuster on Netflix, bought a gadget on Amazon.com, or synced files with Dropbox today? If so, you’ve used Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the background. As of December 2014, AWS operated 1.4 million servers and therefore is a big player in the cloud computing market. The data centers of AWS are distributed throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and South America. But the cloud doesn’t consist of hardware and computing power alone. Software is part of every cloud platform and makes the difference for you as a customer. The information technology research firm Gartner has classified AWS as a leader in the Magic Quadrant for Cloud Infrastructure as a Service in 2015 for the fourth time. The speed and quality of innovation on the AWS platform is extremely high.

The first part of this book will guide you through your first steps with AWS and give you an idea of how you can use AWS to improve your IT infrastructure. Chapter 1 introduces cloud computing and AWS; you’ll learn about key concepts and basics. Chapter 2 brings Amazon Web Service into action; you’ll dive into a complex cloud infrastructure with ease.