Amazon Web Services (AWS)
AWS is vast, and its decentralized nature means there isn't one "main dashboard". Understanding the AWS lingo and regional service distribution is key for effective management.
AWS Services
Think of AWS like a toolbox; each tool has its purpose and can be managed via the AWS Console. Here is a quick reference to the AWS services we are using, along with a brief description of what each one does:
| AWS Service | Description |
|---|---|
| Elastic Beanstalk | A PaaS platform for deploying web applications developed for example with Docker. |
| Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) | A service that provides IaaS computing, allowing to run and manage server instances. |
| Amazon VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) | A service that provides networking within AWS. |
| Route 53 | The Domain Name System (DNS) for managing and registering domains. |
| Amazon CloudFront | A content delivery network (CDN) service that securely delivers data globally with reverse proxy capabilities. |
| AWS ACM (Certificate Manager) | A service that lets you easily create SSL/TLS certificates. |
| Amazon WorkMail | Providing Mailbox functionality. |
| Amazon SES (Simple Email Service) | A cloud-based email sending service. |
| Amazon IAM (Identity and Access Management) | A service that enables you to manage user account access to AWS services. |
Regions
Resources must be managed in their designated regions. Switch to the appropriate region in the AWS Management Console to configure or manage them. Otherwise, you won't be able to modify the services correctly.
As of 2024, we utilize the following regional structure:
| Location | Region Code | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Frankfurt | eu-central-1 | The primary hosting location. |
| Ireland | eu-west-1 | For WorkMail and Amazon SES (region required by AWS). |
| North Virginia | us-east-1 | For CloudFront and Certificate Manager (region required by AWS). |
| Global | N/A | Route 53 and IAM are not bound by regional constraints and operate globally. |
AWS Guides
📄️ Domain and Networking Setup
Domains and DNS Configuration
📄️ E-Mail Sending and Receiving
All configurations are made in the AWS Ireland (eu-west-1) region!
📄️ Identities and Accounts
Access control and identity management are managed in AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM).
📄️ Application Management
Creating an Elastic Beanstalk Application
📄️ Instance Management
Be careful when shutting down EC2 instances. Their storage volumes will also be removed, which will cause data loss! Read more about data loss potential.
📄️ Data Management
Data Location and Recreation
📄️ Continuous Deployment
Each application has an automated deployment pipeline. This is a GitHub Action in the application's repository found in .github/workflows/deploy-AWS.yml. The pipeline is triggered when commits are pushed to the main branch.