11 Tips For AWS Practitioners

Don’t Worry About Servers

One of the biggest reasons people use AWS is because you don’t need to be concerned with servers anymore. Once your data and systems are in the cloud, all you care about is the AWS service overall.

When you had physical servers, you had to spend time and money making sure no server ever went down.

With AWS, worry over servers is gone because the auto-scale creature provides a fresh instance when you need it.

Servers always fail sooner or later, but it won’t matter for your AWS application.

Use Real-Time Insights

BI or business intelligence is a vital part of modern cloud solutions. However, to get the most insights from app and service users, you’ll need to establish a data analysis and monitoring routine.

Amazon grasps this, which is why they offer QuickSight. This is a simple way to integrate apps and web services, and is extremely comprehensive. There’s also a pricing structure per session for the most efficient cost structure.

Automate As Much As Possible

AWS features tremendous flexibility, but this can be an issue until you get accustomed to it. Also, until you know how to get around the AWS world, the configuration of new tasks and using the correct services are complex.

Fortunately, the AWS interface is relatively intuitive, and you will get familiar with it after spending a few hours.

Use Auto Scaling

If you want an efficient way to manage EC2 pricing in AWS, auto-scaling is the way to go.

This feature constantly monitors the application’s memory and capacity requirements. It will adjust the resources according to real-time usage requirements.

Autoscaling lets users set up scaling for several resources across several services in just a few minutes. However, you need a set of reserved instances and savings plans to get the best pricing.

Always Use Multifactor Authentication For The Root Account

Remember that the root account has complete access to every AWS resource in your environment. Multifactor authentication provides robust protection and security to eliminate any chance of unauthorized access.

A recommended security practice is to use a highly secure device to get all of your one-time passwords. Don’t link this functionality to a cell phone.

You must have this dedicated device in a limited and secure environment with automatic alerts to know if someone tries to steal it.

If you use a cell phone for your one-time passwords, there’s a chance of device theft. And that puts the root account at risk.

Also, consider boosting AWS security even higher by establishing multifactor authentication to eliminate CloudTrail buckets. This will ensure that anyone who can access your company AWS account cannot use CloudTrail logs to obscure their operations.

Provide Permissions To Groups

Managing individual system users is tiresome and time-consuming, but you can more easily manage permissions by only giving them to groups.

It’s faster to change permissions for groups than going user by user to see the permissions assigned.

Use CloudFront

Even if you don’t think you need a content delivery network (CDN), there are excellent reasons to use CloudFront.

First, CloudFront boasts a compression algorithm that helps with content distribution and storage. Further, it optimizes your Edge Locations and caches content for users by location.

The benefit is speedier data transfer and superior user experience. Also, compressed data lets you save money on transfer costs.

Track Service Usage

Several monitoring and tracking tools on the market will track the AWS services you use and how often. These tools can make a big difference in determining the resources you use most.

Never Share The Root Account

Your AWS root account has total access to every component of the company's AWS infrastructure. The root user is started when you initially set up the account. It helps you configure IAM permissions and users.

But if an unauthorized user gets the root user credentials, they can access any part of the infrastructure. No one should have this access.

For safety’s sake, never use the root user for routine operations. Instead, make new IAM users with only the necessary permissions. Always keep the root user credential information secure and off-site. Never share this information with employees unless you must.

Disable Credentials That Are Not Used

AWS lets you manage who can access various AWS resources. It’s a vital tool that gives you precise controls and views of who can access your firm’s cloud services and infrastructure.

As your organization constructs its AWS, you will have identity and access management users and groups that can be given access as needed.

But veteran AWS practitioners say that usage patterns change, workers leave the organization, and authentication steps evolve.

Many companies forget to update their permissions and users. So, you can wind up with a mess of new and old accounts, permissions, and groups. When there is chaos and disorder, security risks arise.

Think about what might occur if a fired worker accesses the system with an outdated account and knocks your servers offline for several hours.

AWS professionals should regularly check their users, permissions, and groups. Eliminate outdated accounts to improve your system security.

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