Domain 3 of 4 · Chapter 2 of 8

Global Infrastructure

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Included in this chapter:

  • Regions, AZs, and edge locations explained
  • High availability with multiple AZs
  • When to use multiple Regions
  • Edge benefits: CloudFront and Global Accelerator

Region vs Availability Zone vs edge location

AspectRegionAvailability ZoneEdge location
What it isGeographic cluster of data centersOne or more discrete data centersCache/entry site near users
ContainsThree or more AZs (minimum)Independent power, cooling, networkingCloudFront cache, Route 53
Primary purposeIsolation, data residency, DR targetHigh availability within a RegionLow-latency content delivery
Failure scopeIsolated from other RegionsIsolated from other AZsNot a compute/storage host
Typical countTens of Regions worldwideAt least three per RegionHundreds, far more than Regions
Choose forDR, latency, sovereigntyFault tolerance, HACaching, global acceleration

Decision tree

Goal: deliver content fastto a global audience?YesNoEdge locations:CloudFront (cache)or Global AcceleratorMust survive a whole-Region event / data law?YesNoMultiple AWS Regions(DR, low latency,data sovereignty)Must survive a data-center (AZ) failure?YesNoMultiple AvailabilityZones (HA in one Region)ELB / RDS Multi-AZSingle AZ(no HA — singlepoint of failure)
Cheat sheet

Cheat sheet

  • A Region is a cluster of data centers in one geography
  • Each Region has a minimum of three AZs
  • An AZ is one or more discrete data centers
  • AZs don't share a single point of failure
  • AZs are connected by low-latency redundant fiber
  • Multiple AZs = high availability within a Region
  • A single AZ is not highly available
  • Multi-AZ protects against data-center loss, not Region loss
  • Use multiple Regions for disaster recovery
  • Use multiple Regions for low global latency
  • Region choice controls data residency
  • Multi-Region is for specific drivers, not default HA
  • Edge locations sit closer to users than Regions
  • There are many more edge locations than Regions
  • Route 53 also runs from the edge network
  • Edge benefit = lower latency near the user
  • Local Zones extend a Region into a metro area
  • Choose a Region by latency, cost, compliance, and service availability

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References

  1. https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure/regions_az/
  2. https://aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/faqs/
  3. https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/global-infrastructure/
  4. https://aws.amazon.com/global-accelerator/faqs/