An AWS devop is an IT specialist who knows and can use the options and implementations of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. A devop has a holistic approach to application and infrastructure:
- Systems thinking: Avoid focusing on only one piece (application or infrastructure).
- Feedback: Keeping production healty is everyone’s job.
- Continual experimentation and learning with the system.
Due to historic reasons, an AWS devop comes either from system administration or from the developer side. An AWS devop ensures that applications are made available in a highly available manner. In particular, this also includes systems that should not be accessible to the public at all on the Internet.
At best, highly available web applications survive a number of scenarios, such as
- Flooding of servers through DDOS attacks on OSI layers 3, 4 and 7
- Fast loading times thanks to content distribution
- Reliability through redundant systems
- etc.
“AWS is a thing for admins,” I sometimes hear from people who work in marketing. There is nothing wrong with this statement, but it is imperfect. If you are familiar with AWS, you know that there are now more than 1,000 cloud services at AWS, and many of them are particularly relevant for developers. In 2020, applications should be provided by the hierarchy that is also responsible for their operability. And that also includes provision on the Internet. This is not only done by large tech companies like Google or AWS itself, but also by smaller companies thanks to systems like the AWS Cloud and Docker.