Introduction to AWS for Backend

AWS is the most widely adopted cloud platform, with 200+ services. This lesson covers the core ones you'll lean on to build scalable backends.

Cloud computing is on-demand IT over the internet with pay-as-you-go pricing — rent compute, storage, and databases instead of owning data centers.

AWS wins for backends on four fronts: scalability to millions of users, built-in reliability, pay-for-what-you-use cost, and strong security tooling.

Four services anchor most backends: EC2 for servers, S3 for storage, RDS for databases, and Lambda for serverless functions.

EC2 gives you resizable virtual servers in the cloud. Pick the OS, CPU, memory, and storage you need — it's the workhorse for running backend code.

S3 is object storage that scales endlessly. Store any amount of data in buckets as objects — perfect for uploads, backups, logs, and static assets.

RDS runs managed relational databases — MySQL, Postgres, Aurora, and more. It handles patching, backups, and replication so you focus on the app.

Lambda runs your code with no servers to manage — you pay only for compute time used. It's the core of serverless, ideal for event-driven functions.

It all fits together: code runs on EC2 or Lambda, uploads land in S3, and app data lives in RDS — a scalable, resilient backend.

Which AWS service would you primarily use to host your backend application's code if you want full control over the server environment?

Recap: cloud computing's pay-as-you-go model, plus EC2 for servers, S3 for storage, RDS for databases, and Lambda for serverless — your AWS starting kit.