As a CTO I am responsible for making technology-related decisions, taking into consideration the specific business objectives. My goal is to facilitate the working process within a company by shaping a strategic plan tailored to the company culture. I closely cooperate with Product Owers and developers utilizing my expertise in narrow technical domains. 

Bartłomiej Wójtowicz

Selleo Developers

\[TOC\]

Jeff Bezos’ Amazon is the biggest company in the world, and a part of that empire is Amazon Web Services, or AWS for short - but **what is AWS**?

The beginning of AWS dates in the early 2000s when in July of 2002 Amazon.com Web Services was launched. 4 years later, in 2006, Amazon S3 cloud storage launched to help developers stop worrying about where they are going to store their app data. AWS has gone on to become the world’s most comprehensive cloud platform, rising as competition to the likes of Microsoft Azure.

AWS is now one of the most significant areas of profit for Amazon as a whole company. It’s also one of the biggest names in the whole of big data right now and it’s not going anywhere.

So, they must be doing something right over there at Amazon. But what exactly do we mean by ‘cloud platform’? Read on to find out everything there’s to know about Amazon Web Services.

## What is cloud computing?

If you find yourself wondering ‘what is cloud computing?’ then we really recommend getting to know all about it! It could have a massive impact on the success of your latest project, or the success of your company as a whole.

Cloud computing is effectively just the delivery of computer services through ‘the cloud’, or online. These services can include the likes of intelligence, networking, storage, servers, software and so many more areas.

### Benefits of Cloud Computing

![Img](https://a.storyblok.com/f/86602/1500x1038/21e6addbf0/benefits-of-cloud-computing.jpg)

Cloud computing is a relatively new technology and as such, a lot of people and companies have not managed to recognise its true potential yet. You can get ahead of the curve yourself if you can see what it can do for you, so let’s take a look at some of the key benefits that cloud computing has to offer to your business right now:

* **Cost:** instead of having to invest in new technology (or even more expensive, development teams to help you put together new technology), cloud computing users will just pay for the pre-built services they use in a subscription model.
* **Scale:** no matter the size of your project, you’ll be able to bring in the right amount of resources as and when you need it, anywhere in the world. On top of this, the AWS storage service can be as big or as small as you want it to be, another example of the excellent scalability that AWS has to offer.
* **Speed:** there will be no need for capacity planning anymore, as you’ll be able to bring in those resources within a few clicks of a mouse as most of the cloud computing services are self-service and available on demand. Take [Terraform](https://selleo.com/blog/why-choose-terraform-over-chef-puppet-ansible-saltstack-and-cloudformation) as an example.
* **Performance:** AWS is run on a worldwide network of data centers that can get data out to you as quickly as you need it. You will notice a significant reduction in network latency that can have a serious positive impact on the performance you receive.
* **Reliability:** cloud computing providers, such as Amazon, are super reliable companies and this reliability will translate into your own usage of the systems as well. You can be confident that content delivery from your own product is going to be at the best level it can be, which is, of course, going to satisfy your customers.
* **Productivity:** physical data centers, based on site, tend to require plenty of setup, patching etc. which simply does not need to be done with the likes of AWS.
* **Security:** the best cloud providers will ensure that the security they provide are second-to-none. Everything will be secure here.

<Baner name={devops} />

## What is AWS?

If you’ve not come across Amazon Web Services (or AWS) before, let us explain. This is a branch of the almighty Amazon organisation that deals with cloud computing.

AWS is one of the most popular examples of a cloud computing platform, in the United States and worldwide. It has quickly caught up with the likes of Microsoft Azure, and we fail to see how it will not stay at the top of the game for many years to come. In fact, AWS is widely recognised to be the most comprehensive cloud computing platform out there, a huge claim to fame!

Incredibly, the market share of cloud computing platforms that AWS currently represents is at 32,4% according to [Investopedia](https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/011316/what-amazon-web-services-and-why-it-so-successful.asp). When we consider all the amazing competition that AWS is up against (we’ll talk about which companies they are a little later on), this is truly an astonishing figure.

The AWS platform contains all of the most important cloud services you could need, so let’s take a look at a few of them.

<ReadMore> Read also: [Terraform Vs Ansible - Friends Or Foes? Which Should I Choose?](https://selleo.com/blog/terraform-vs-ansible) </ReadMore>

### Key features of AWS

* **Security and reliability:** Amazon as a company prides itself in security. After all, you don’t get to the top of the game in the way that they have if you have any chinks in your armour whatsoever. You can be confident in the fact that this security will trickle down to the experience you receive as you use the platform.
* **Scalability and adaptability:** AWS is perhaps the most powerful cloud computing platform you can use. Not only does this make things an awful lot faster, but it allows you to scale your usage of the platform to your own needs. Plus, no matter where you are in the world, you will be able to get the maximum potential of AWS.

![Img](https://a.storyblok.com/f/86602/1500x927/da955f8297/key-features-of-aws.jpg)

These are just a couple of many benefits of AWS. They are, however, the two areas that are considered to be the strongest points of the platform.

## AWS Top Services

We mentioned a couple of times that AWS is the most comprehensive cloud computing platform out there, and a big part of that claim is the sheer volume of services it has to offer - over 100 of them, no less!

But what are the main services to look out for? Of course, it really depends on what you want from your own project using the platform, but here are some of our favourites. We recommend that you check most of these out regardless of what you are looking to use the platform for!

* **Compute:** referred to as Amazon EC2, this is a web service that provides computer capacity within the cloud. It’s secure, reliable and scalable. That’s probably why it’s so popular - potentially the most popular of web services.
* **Storage:** enjoy all the best cloud storage, computing storage, database storage you can find from any cloud computing platform, courtesy of AWS. Store data as easily as you like with the AWS storage service.
* **Databases:** Amazon RDS supports three open-source cloud computing databases, which means that any developer tools, code or applications you use right now can be configured within AWS. This will save you a lot of time as you transfer to the platform. This is a hugely important part of any infrastructure services, so we are glad to see Amazon nail it on this front.
* **Analytics:** imagine being able to see in almost real-time who is interacting with your project and what they are doing? An essential part of the feedback loop, AWS excels with its use of analytics. Its data warehouse is also particularly useful on the analytical side of things.
* **Networking:** Amazon’s Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) allows for a set administrator to have control over an isolated section of the cloud. This has the benefit of more flexibility. Networking speed within AWS couldn’t be much quicker, either. It’s some of the fastest in the world and is likely to only get faster as time goes by.
* **Mobile:** mobile app development could not be more popular right now, so for a cloud computing platform to excel in mobile development, things are going to look good. And that’s exactly what AWS does. The AWS mobile application service is one of the finest out there - don’t miss out on that one!
* **Developer tools:** no matter what your team’s programming language of choice is, they will be able to find a wide range of development tools that will suit all kinds of software projects. AWS gives a huge degree of flexibility, and delivers the finest results that any developers are going to love.
* **Management tools:** when you set up AWS for the first time, you will be able to select a number of administrators and other levels of management that will have defined privileges and controls over the project.
* **IoT:** have you ever come across the phrase ‘if that, then this?’ Amazon has. The Internet of Things is the future, and it can deliver spectacular results for your users.
* **Security:** AWS is one of the most secure platforms online, so you can be confident that any confidential information is going to be protected as well as it possibly can be when you use the service.
* **Enterprise applications:** there are a huge amount of enterprise applications within AWS that can be used in over 190 countries at the time of writing. No matter where you are in the world, or what you are trying to do with your next project, AWS has you covered.
* **Machine learning:** Amazon itself claims that AWS has the ‘broadest and deepest set of machine learning services’ that one can find. It is currently supporting over 1000 customers with their own machine learning experiences, and this is, of course, likely to rise substantially in the coming months and years. If machine learning is something you are interested in, AWS could be the one to help with that.

## Companies Using AWS

![Img](https://a.storyblok.com/f/86602/720x408/2c6a72074c/companies-using-aws.jpg)

By now, we imagine that you are starting to see the benefits of AWS, including what it might be able to do for your company. But, we understand if you feel like you might need a little more convincing. Perhaps one way to do that is to show you some of the companies that are using AWS right now.

This list of companies includes some of the biggest names in the world, so if you were unsure as to whether AWS would work out for you before, we’re pretty sure that you will be when you read this list!

 1. **Netflix -** Netflix uses AWS for almost everything, from video transcoding, recommendation engines to analytics. It allows them to respond to issues faster and deliver a better user experience.
 2. **Disney -** the House of Mouse deals with a lot of data: for streaming and running its parks and resorts. AWS allowed Disney to create a universe of information.
 3. **Pinterest -** Pinterest invested in Amazon Web Services to help them with the growth of users, computing and storage.
 4. **McDonald’s -** AWS helped this fast-food giant through a digital transformation to become more progressive and profitable.
 5. **Epic Games -** a great example of the implementation of AWS into Epic Games was Fortnite. AWS allowed to build new data centres, connect players across the globe and create a lightning-fast gaming experience.
 6. **Reddit -** Reddit uses AWS to host and organise thousands of discussion categories. Amazon services also make room for scaling up cloud usage for the future growth of Reddit users.
 7. **Adobe -** Adobe products like Photoshop or Illustrator are closely integrated with AWS as it helps them to offer multi-terabyte operating environments for their users.
 8. **Airbnb -** being in the ned of fast-scaling cloud services, Airbnb went straight to AWS because of its ease of use and flexibility.
 9. **Samsung -** in 2020, Samsung presented a new communication technology for first responders in emergencies powered by the AWS cloud platform.
10. **Unilever -** migration to AWS helped Unilevel to standarise their processes as they are all now stored in the cloud.

Think about it: if these guys are using AWS for their own benefits, there is no reason that you couldn’t!

<ReadMore> Read also: [The Beginner’s Guide To DevOps | Definition, Principles And The Role Of A DevOps Engineer ](https://selleo.com/blog/the-beginners-guide-to-devops)</ReadMore>

## Top AWS competitors

It’s time to level the playing field. So far, this article has been all about Amazon Web Services, but we haven’t given any time of day to its competitors. We’re not sure if you have come across these companies before, but they may work out better for you than AWS does!

* Google Cloud
* Microsoft Azure
* IBM Cloud
* Oracle Cloud
* VMware Cloud
* Alibaba Cloud
* [Rackspace](https://techmonitor.ai/what-is/what-is-rackspace#:\~:text=Rackspace%20is%20a%20managed%20cloud,Microsoft%20cloud%2F%20Azure%20and%20OpenStack.)
* [DigitalOcean](https://www.cloudways.com/blog/what-is-digital-ocean/)

Google Cloud has been going for quite a few years now, and Microsoft Azure did not come too long after. These companies probably can do a great job for you in a similar way to how AWS can. On top of this, there are also Alibaba Cloud and IMB Cloud - both recognised and loved across the cloud computing world.

That being said, AWS established itself as one of the most comprehensive (if not *the* most comprehensive) cloud computing platforms out there. It goes without saying, therefore, that AWS is only going to get bigger and better, which means that it could be the undisputable champion of cloud computing in a very short space of time!

<Baner name={contact-us} />

## Summary

By reading this article, you’ve put yourself in the driving seat when it comes to software development and other forms of web projects in the future. Cloud computing is all the rage right now, and it goes without saying that it is only going to get more and more popular.

Believe it or not, there are a lot of companies out there who aren’t using it yet, but this can only be to their own deficit in most cases! Just look at the list of the companies that *are* using it (check back a couple of sections in this article), and you’ll see the kinds of titans who are using the platform.

AWS, or cloud computing as a whole, could really make all the difference as you move your business forwards. And it’s just a couple of clicks away to get started!

Need some help with implementing AWS, or perhaps another cloud computing platform of your choice? Why not consider outsourcing your work on this front? Here at Selleo, we have a huge team of established web developers with plenty of experience in implementing cloud computing solutions, AWS included.

You can reach out to us today with a quick message, and we’ll get back to you to explain how we can help you get the best out of your next project, with the help of AWS. This can save you money, time and really get the best quality out of your work. We’ll speak to you soon!

AWS is now one of the most significant areas of profit for Amazon as a whole company. It’s also one of the biggest names in the whole of big data right now and it’s not going anywhere.

What Is AWS? An Introduction To Amazon Web Services In A Nutshell

\[TOC\]

**Cloud computing** can have two meanings: the most commonly-used one refers to running workloads remotely over the internet in a commercial provider’s data centre like Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure.

The second meaning mostly describes how it works - a virtual pool of resources available on demand.

Cloud computing has reached a point where all new applications will target cloud environments as the favoured deployment option. I am sure your business will not want to stay behind, so you start considering building a cloud-based application. **But how to go about it?** What are the possible types of cloud apps? Which technologies work best for such solutions? We have got the answers, read on.

## What is a cloud-based application - the types

A cloud-based application is an application, which **functionalities are provided by a network**. In the case of those apps, computing and storage are happening on external servers and users only get the results of those calculations. Cloud-based applications and their infrastructure are **used and managed over the internet** and usually offer a web interface. A great example of them are Google docs or Office 365 since to use them, you only need a machine capable of running a web browser and an internet connection.

![Img](https://a.storyblok.com/f/86602/720x492/96c78fb302/saas-paas-iaas.png)

Although there are many different cloud computing services available, most of them fall into one of the following types:

### SaaS

**Software as a Service** - software used via a web browser or API without the need to download, install and run it from a computer. The main advantages of this solution are **accessibility, compatibility and operational management**. What is more, users always have access to the freshest version of the software. On the other hand, SaaS software has to be constantly connected to the internet in order to be used, but with broadband connections being present almost everywhere this should not be a big issue.

More on SaaS solutions in [How To Design A SaaS Application? (2020 Update)](https://selleo.com/blog/how-to-design-a-saas-application).

### IaaS

**Infrastructure as a Service** - a form of cloud computing that delivers fundamental computer, network and storage resources to customers. It works on demand and over the internet on a **pay-as-you-go basis**. IaaS enables the end-users to scale resources up and down reducing the unnecessary infrastructure. In contrast to SaaS and PaaS, IaaS provides the lowest level control of resources in the cloud.

### PaaS

**Platform as a Service** - a cloud service that provides a complete solution to the client, enabling developing, running and managing a business application without the need for building and maintaining the infrastructure that would be required in a standard development process. PaaS solutions usually **charge only for computer, storage and network resources** consumed.

<Baner name={software-development} />

## Tech challenges connected to cloud-based applications

![Img](https://a.storyblok.com/f/86602/720x525/e8bf7b83f2/challenges-cloud-based.png)

[The Flexera State of the Cloud Report](https://info.flexera.com/SLO-CM-REPORT-State-of-the-Cloud-2020) provides information on the state of cloud computing services like trends, strategies or usage. In 2020, the survey asks 750 global cloud decision-makers and users what they think about the private, public and multi-cloud market. This year is special due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which is also taken into consideration in those responses.

The same survey from 2018 provided insight into what are the current cloud computing challenges and this is what we will focus on.

### Security

Security risks are the top concern in cloud computing. Luckily, the security capabilities of cloud services are improving each day. To ensure your organization’s privacy and security ensure your providers have secure user identity management, access control mechanisms as well as authentication. It is also important to check which database privacy and security laws they are subject to.

### Reliability

Cloud application infrastructure guarantees a high level of service time-up and availability for the users. If your service is crashing, it is not your responsibility to fix it - it is something that your providers should take care of.

### Performance

Performance is directly related to the number of data centres your cloud provider has. The more - the better performance can be expected. Global providers are locating their servers around the world to offer users the same page loading time despite their location. A common practice is to use Content Delivery Networks to speed up content delivery.

### Scalability

Scalability of your cloud solution is important since performance is one of the top priority for the end-users. A scalable solution will allow you to handle more users at the same time without the necessity to rebuild the infrastructure.

### Cost management

Most businesses notice that cloud computing is an amazing option for saving money that normally would be spent on hardware and software. Organizations can easily access extra processing capabilities using pay-as-you-go models. However, one of the disadvantages of the pay-as-you-go model can be the inability to precisely predict the costs of the used external services. To keep the costs in check, financial analytics and reporting are crucial to decrease the unexpected costs.

### Compliance

When moving your product to a cloud environment keep in mind laws and regulations like GDPR. Depending on the industry, there will also be some specific standards, you can read more about it in [How To Meet GDPR Requirements In Mobile And Web Applications](https://selleo.com/blog/how-to-meet-gdpr-requirements-in-mobile-and-web-applications).

## How to select an outsourcing company?

It should not be a surprise that many businesses decide to outsource the development of their cloud applications to external providers. You can read more about it in our post [Top SaaS Companies That Outsourced Software Development](https://selleo.com/blog/top-saas-companies-that-outsourced-software-development). But how to choose an outsourcing provider?

1. **Define a clear scope of work**

The first step to take before you start the collaboration is to declare what you need. Find the best solution that can be adjusted to your requirements and prepare the scope of the project. It may also be valuable to prepare a detailed description of the MVP (see: [Why MVP Development Should Be Outsourced](https://selleo.com/blog/why-mvp-development-should-be-outsourced))

1. **Establish industry experience**

When you are looking for the right partner, search for teams that have previous experience in developing a similar product to what you wish to create. Research also the technologies best-suited to your app.

1. **Check the market reputation**

Before signing the contract, check the reputation of your provider. Make use of public catalogues like GoodFirms or Clutch, which usually contain previous client’s reviews.

1. **Ask for client references and sample code**

Do not be afraid to ask for the company’s references and portfolio. You can also ask them for feedback on the presented project scope.

1. **Check the financial stability**

One last thing to remember when looking for an outsourcing partner is checking if the company is reliable and financially stable. Make sure the developers will be 100% available when you need them.

## What technology is worth using in a cloud-based application?

To create a cloud-based software, apart from a cloud provider, you obviously need the right technology. Each one will give you some unique benefits, so carefully analyze your requirements and decide which one fits you best.

### React

React is a JavaScript library created for writing user interfaces. It uses a Virtual DOM, which gives the application amazing performance. One of the advantages of React is also unidirectional data flow meaning that the components are nested within parents and it is easier to debug them if any problems occur. What is more, React offers reusable components, which significantly speeds up the development time. The library can be used for both web and mobile applications and with React Native you can reuse some parts of the code to build mobile solutions.

### Ember

A free JavaScript library released under the MIT licence. It comes with a Glimmer rendering engine, which greatly speeds up rendering. Ember is a giant ecosystem offering a big amount of addons that can be used out-of-the-box. Apart from that, it provided the Command Line Interface utility that integrates Ember patterns into the development process and focuses on developer productivity.

### Elixir

A relatively new programming language used mainly for heavily trafficked websites and highly scalable applications. Elixir offers concurrency, which means it allows running several processes at the same time - multiple requests can be handled simultaneously. As it runs on Erlang Virtual Machine it is able to run on many nodes, so it is easier to create larger networks, which in turn, positively influences the app performance. Elixir has high fault tolerance, so the applications work even if an error occurs. One of the most popular frameworks for Elixir is Phoenix, which allows real-time processing on the server-side with JavaScript.

### Ruby on Rails

Ruby on Rails utilizes the MVC pattern (Model-View-Controller), which is the most common architecture of applications. Thanks to the Active Record library it is easy to create database interaction queries (it is very rare to develop SQL queries in RoR). It is a convention over configuration language and does not have any XML configuration files. Ruby on Rails includes simple programming conventions that can be used to specify the configuration parameters. What is more, debugging is easy as detailed error logs are provided.

### Node.js

A super-fast server-side platform built on Google Chrome V8 JavaScript engine. In Node.js all APIs are asynchronous, so the execution of one command will not block the execution of the second one. There is no data buffering - applications written in Node will never buffer any data and will output it in chunks instead. Node.js is highly scalable as it uses a single thread with event looping. This solution can provide a better responsibility for standard servers like Apache.

## Cloud-based app - the road to follow

The process of creating a cloud application can be narrowed down to a few crucial steps and best practices. Here is how to build your own cloud-ready solution:

1. **Design it as a collection of services**

When building cloud-based software the best performance will be achieved when we build separate APIs or services. Create them to be able to work independently, without the data from other services. It is worth considering breaking down your application into tiny pieces that, in the future, can be reused by other solutions or by a new module of your service.

1. **Decoupled data**

One of the good practices is to not tighten the data to the application, but rather keep the data layer separate from the application login - this will allow easy processing in the cloud. Take care of your database operations performance since all the operations are going through the open internet, which in turn may cause some latencies. Consider using caching systems that will speed up your solution.

1. **Communication between the components**

When building your software consider the communication between each part of the application. When there is no need for constant communication, it may be worth sending a bigger amount of data rather than making requests on small changes in the solution

1. **Design for failure**

It happens that cloud applications can be unavailable for some time. That is why you should design your application in a redundant way, meaning that every part of your product is run in a paired topology. When one part is unavailable, the second one will be able to handle the entire traffic.

1. **Prepare for Load Variance**

In the process of gaining lots of users, you will produce a lot of traffic. The solutions should be designed in such a way to allow joining extra resources when needed and dropping them when the traffic reduces.

## How can we help you?

Selleo has many years of professional experience in building, improving and maintaining cloud-based services. We managed to create lots of amazing solutions and help clients from all over the world gain a competitive advantage on the market. You can find more information about our projects in the [portfolio ](https://selleo.com/portfolio)or [read articles](https://selleo.com/blog) to find out more on the hot topics like eCommerce, healthcare or LMS development.

Outsourcing the development of a cloud-based application is a perfect way to shorten the time-to-market, gain access to the international talent pool and increase efficiency while focusing on the core business activities.

## Conclusions

According to [Editor’s Choice](https://hostingtribunal.com/blog/cloud-computing-statistics/), the global public cloud computing market will exceed $330 billion in 2020 and nearly 90% of companies are on the cloud. **SaaS, IaaS and PaaS** are all types of cloud-based applications, which means they work and are managed remotely, over the internet.

Building a cloud-based solution is associated with challenges like security, performance and the ability to scale it up and down, so it is crucial to find a reliable cloud provider as well as development partner if you wish to outsource.

A good external service provider should have a good market reputation and established experience in creating such applications. Technologies like **React.js, Elixir or Node.js** are often used to build such robust software, however, each of them introduces different advantages for your business.

At Selleo, we have over 12 years of experience in building powerful solutions, also on the cloud. If you are looking for a strong outsourcing partner, [contact us to book a consultation](https://selleo.com/custom-software-development-company) to discuss your idea and turn it into reality. We also provide [DevOps and Cloud consulting](https://selleo.com/devops-cloud-services) services if you wish to improve your existing application.

Unsure of how to build a cloud-based application? Check out this guide for tips and advice on how to get started.

How To Build A Cloud-Based Application

This is a case study of how we managed to boost file uploads with Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration on one of our projects.

## Back story

First of all, let me start by introducing the problem we had. There’s an application where we **deploy PWAs for our clients from around the world**. Each PWA has the ability to take a picture and sent it to **Amazon S3** for further processing. Of course, while the image processes user has to wait for the response.

However, because we use **centralized S3** that is located in Europe (Ireland) our India-based users encountered some problems. They have to wait much longer for the upload to finish and this was our bottleneck.
After researching potential solutions we decided to use **Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration**.

## What is Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration?

**S3TA** allows its users to accelerate data or content uploads from all over the world to a **centralized S3 bucket**.

It accelerates transfers by automatically routing data to the closest AWS edge location by passing that data over AWS global backbone and by using Network Protocol Optimizations.

**S3 Transfer Acceleration** enables **fast, easy and secure transfers** of files over long distances between your client and S3 bucket. It can speed up content transfers by as much as 50-500%. The solution reduces the variability in Internet routing, speeds and congestion that affect the transfers.

## Common use cases:

S3 Transfer Acceleration can be used in various cases, but the most common use cases are:

* customers with web and mobile applications that have an international user base to **speed up content upload or downloads**
* applications that have a lot of **user-generated content** that create PUTs to the S3 bucket
* customers with globally distributed offices and IT infrastructure that work with files, content and images locally to have an **S3 integrated application** push that data to a centralized S3 bucket

<Baner name={software-development} />

## Implementing the solution

Let’s move on to the process of implementing the solution. First of all, in order to introduce the changes to the application, we have to **configure S3 to work with Transfer Acceleration**. We can then replace all generated upload links from a region-based URL to an accelerated one, and it’s extremely easy to do so.

1. we need to enable the acceleration status on S3; we use [Terraform](https://selleo.com/blog/terraform-vs-ansible) to manage our infrastructure so all we had to do was enable `acceleration_status` for our S3 resource: [https://www.terraform.io/docs/providers/aws/r/s3_bucket.html#acceleration_status](https://www.terraform.io/docs/providers/aws/r/s3_bucket.html#acceleration_status)
2. before we upload the file we ask our server for a presigned upload URL so the PWA can upload the file. The generated URL contains the S3 region we operate in, by default: `s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/...`.

   To actually use Transfer Acceleration we have to switch from a regional bucket to `s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com`

For a more detailed process look into the documentation: [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/dev/transfer-acceleration.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/dev/transfer-acceleration.html)

## Conclusions

The entire process of migration to the production environment took place the day of implementation. It was fast, easy and generally pain-free. All the changes were transparent to the end-users.

Thanks to **S3 Transfer Acceleration** we were able to decrease the upload time significantly, so with little to no effort, we achieved a great success.

If you too have a problem with slow uploads or need help with AWS, feel free to [contact us](https://selleo.com/devops)!

This is a case study of how we managed to boost file uploads with Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration on one of our projects.

Boosting File Uploads With Amazon S3 Transfer Acceleration

Managing servers and infrastructures manually is not a very complicated task, but when you start working with multiple servers, manual configuration is getting more complex and almost unachievable. This is where the notion of Infrastructure as a Code comes in.

### What is IaC?

Infrastructure as a Code is also known as Configuration Management and is an approach that allows management and configuration of physical and virtual machines programmatically. This way, we can define and control the configuration of all servers from one place.

### Pros of using IaC

The advantages of using such approach are, among others:

- no room for manual tasks - configuration of servers is done through a management tool that implements the changes for us whenever we need it

- no dependency on others - usually, any server changes are performed by the IT department since they require admin access. By using IaC it is possible to make changes on our own while the tools will ensure that the changes we make are properly applied to the servers and to our infrastructure

- automation - systems are built, managed and provisioned automatically through the code and the updates are made through changes in the code

- the infrastructure becomes: consistent, testable, maintainable, reusable and extensible

- fewer errors - manual updates can cause problems since they are prone to human error

- the code is also the documentation - there is no need to prepare separate documents with the documentation since all the necessary information is in the code

- source control - we acquire a central place where everybody can put their code, which allows versioning

- faster delivery - thanks to the reusability and flexibility



### Popular IaC tools

There are many tools that can be used to automate the deployments, the most popular being:

- Terraform - allows creating execution plans outlining what will happen when the code will be run, uses own domain-specific language Hashicorp Configuration Language that is JSON-compatible

- Pulumi - helps to define cloud apps and infrastructure in any language and deploy to any cloud

- Ansible - the tool describes how the system and the components relate to each other instead of managing systems independently

- Chef - uses Ruby-based DSL, follows a procedural approach to configuration management where it is necessary to describe the procedures that will result in getting to the desired state

- Puppet - the tool enforces the desired state automatically and fixes incorrect changes, the state of the infrastructure and what is expected of it to do have to be defined

- Docker - helps to create containers that pack the dependencies and the code together, therefore allowing the application to run in any environment

- Saltstack - takes an ‘infrastructure as data’ approach, its declarative configuration patterns are written in Python and are language-agnostic

- AWS CloudFormation - allows coding the infrastructure in order to automate the deployments, it can only be used with AWS

## Conclusions

Infrastructure as a Code is a beneficial approach that will help you manage servers and infrastructures more efficiently and most importantly, automatically. This means, you will experience fewer errors, will deliver faster and gain independence from the IT people. The code you write will become your documentation so you can dedicate the time saved to some other issues.

Managing servers and infrastructures manually is not a very complicated task, but when you start working with multiple servers, manual configuration is getting more complex and almost unachievable. This is where the notion of Infrastructure as a Code comes in.

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