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Amazon Web Services (AWS) Introduction

Amazon Web Services (AWS) - An Introductory Guide For Beginner

By Rudhra Sivam
Published: Last Updated on 1K views

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the world's most popular public cloud computing platform and a forerunner of on-demand computing. AWS was founded in 2006, and since then it has grown to be a multibillion-dollar company.

AWS offers more than 100 services to customers all over the world, including database management, serverless computing, data warehousing, virtual ground stations for satellite communications and many. 

In this article, we are going to discuss about AWS account creation, AWS Management Console and AWS Pricing & Budgeting.

1. Create AWS Account

You can create your AWS free tier account in the link below by providing your basic information like Email Address, password, AWS account name, contact information.

AWS Sign Up Page
AWS Sign In/Sign Up Page

These free tier offerings are only available to new AWS users, and they last for 12 months after you join up. You just pay regular, pay-as-you-go service fees after your 12-month free usage period expires or if your application usage exceeds the tiers.

You will be asked for a payment method in the billing information page.

Billing Information
AWS Billing Information

Once you entered your valid card details, the account will be verified by OTP sent to your registered Mobile number.

Payment Verification
AWS Payment Verification

In the next page, you will be asked to select the support plan. By default, you will be provided Basic plan.

Support Plans
AWS Support Plans

A confirmation screen appears when you select a Support plan, indicating that your account is being authorized. Accounts are normally authorized in a matter of minutes, but it might take up to 24 hours to activate fully.

You will get a confirmation email once your account has been completely activated. The confirmation email should be found in your inbox and/or spam folder. You have full access to all AWS services once you receive this email.

2. AWS Management Console

The AWS Management Console is a web application that encompasses and relates to a wide range of service consoles for AWS Cloud. The console home screen appears when you initially log in.

The main page includes links to each service console as well as an easy-to-navigate user interface for learning about AWS and obtaining useful hints.

Individual service consoles, on the other hand, provide access to a variety of cloud computing capabilities as well as account and payment information.

AWS Management Console
AWS Management Console

Apps for Android and iOS are also available for the AWS Management Console. This app offers mobile-friendly tasks that work well with the full online experience.

You may, for example, use your phone to monitor and control your existing Amazon EC2 instances and Amazon CloudWatch alerts.

In Google Play Store, you can search "AWS Console" and install it.

AWS Console Mobile APP
AWS Console Mobile APP

You can login with your same username and password created for the web console.

AWS Console Mobile APP Dashboard
AWS Console Mobile APP Dashboard

3. AWS Pricing

Despite the fact that AWS service pricing appears to be a little puzzling at first look, it follows the finest Software as a Service pricing principles.

The Amazon Web Services business strategy is based on the SaaS business model, which means you may utilize pre-built cloud solutions and only pay for the storage and capabilities you really need and use to achieve your business goals.

There are three main pricing plans available in AWS.

3.1. Pay-as-you-go

You only pay for what you use, allowing your company to stay flexible, responsive, and scale-able at all times.

Pay-as-you-go pricing enables you to readily adjust to changing company demands without overcommitting budgets, allowing you to be more responsive to change.

You may change your business based on demand rather than projections with a pay as you go strategy, avoiding the risk of overprovisioning or missing capacity.

3.2. Save when you commit (Savings Plans)

Savings Plans is a flexible pricing plan that allows you to save money on your AWS consumption. AWS Compute and AWS Machine Learning are both cheaper under this pricing scheme.

Savings Plans provide cost savings over On-Demand in return for a one- or three-year commitment to utilize a particular amount (measured in $/hour) of an AWS service or a group of services.

You may sign up for Savings Plans for one or three years and manage them effortlessly using the AWS Cost Explorer's suggestions, performance statistics, and budget alerts.

3.3. Pay less by using more

You can take advantage of volume-based discounts and save a lot of money as your consumption grows. Pricing is tiered for services like S3 and data transmission OUT from EC2, meaning the more you use, the less you pay per GB.

Inbound data transfer is free of charge across all services in all Regions. Consequently, as your AWS consumption grows, you benefit from economies of scale, allowing you to expand adoption while keeping prices down.

AWS also provides you the flexibility to buy services that assist you meet your business needs as your company grows. Choose the correct storage options that help you save money while maintaining performance, security, and durability to maximize your savings.

You can get into your billing dashboard which is available under your account tab.

Billing Dashboard
AWS Billing Dashboard

You can view your detailed billing information in the Billing Dashboard.

Billing and Cost Management Dashboard
Billing and Cost Management Dashboard

4. Creating a Budget

You can use budgets to keep track of your spending and use, accordingly you can act. You may also use budgets to keep track of your overall Reserved Instance (RI) and Savings Plan usage and coverage.

In your Billing Dashboard, navigate to Budget and click "Create Budget".

Create Budget
AWS Budget - Create Budget

There are four types of Budgets you can create.

  1. Cost Budget: Determine the amount of money you wish to spend on a service.
  2. Usage Budget: Prepare a budget for how much you want to spend on one or more services.
  3. Savings Plans Budget: Select what you want the budget to monitor.
  4. Reservation Budget: Set reservation and monitor how much your instance usage is covered by reservation
AWS Budget Types
AWS Budget Types

Cost budget is recommended one and budget type is always depending on your organization plan and design.

To keep track of all expenditures linked with your account, create a monthly cost budget with a predetermined goal amount. You have the option of receiving alerts for both actual and predicted expenditures.

I have created a cost budget 10$ for January 2022 with the name "Jan_2022".

AWS Budget - Set Cost Budget
AWS Budget - Set Cost Budget

In the next page, you can create an alert mechanism where you will be getting alert mail when the usage crosses the threshold value.

Here, I am setting 80% as the threshold value so that I will be getting alert mail when my cost usage crosses 80%.

AWS Budget - Set Mail Alert
AWS Budget - Set Mail Alert

Once the alert is set, review the Budget setting, and confirm it.

AWS Budget - Confirm Budget
AWS Budget - Confirm Budget

You can view the Budget in the Billing dashboard under "Budgets".

AWS Budget - Dashboard
AWS Budget - Dashboard

So, you have created a new AWS account, now what? Refer the following guide to learn how to create a new virtual machine from Amazon EC2.

Conclusion

In this article, we have gone through the basic understanding about AWS portal and pricing & budgeting. Amazon Web Services provides a diverse range of cloud-based services throughout the world, including Compute, Storage, Networking, Analytics, Mobile, IoT, Machine Learning, AI etc., We will learn about all of each service in the upcoming articles.

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