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AWS basic interview questions

1. What are the various services offered by AWS?

There are four major components to AWS: Compute, Networking, Storage and Content Delivery, all of which are composed of what is called the Primary Plans. There are also three other planes that support these core components: Developer Tools, Management Tools and Security & Identity.

2. How do you choose between S3/SQS/SimpleDB services in AWS?

Generally speaking, SQS will be used when you have a requirement for asynchronous messaging between applications or processes while SimpleDB will be used when your data model is non-relational (or partially non-relational). S3 can simply be used as an object store with no additional processing required on your part.

3. How will you secure your AWS account?

The first line of defense for an AWS account is the use of Access Keys or credentials that allow you access to the AWS Management Console. This should be treated like a root password and kept confidential at all times. In addition, there are several options for adding an extra layer of security such as Multi Factor Authentication (MFA), Identity Access Management (IAM) policies and hardware tokens via Security Token Service (STS).

4. What do you understand by `elastic load balancing` in AWS?

Elastic Load Balancing enables applications deployed on Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling to achieve even greater availability and scalability in challenging application loads by dynamically distributing traffic across multiple Amazon EC2 instances.

5. What are the benefits of having a VPC?

Virtual Private Cloud allows you to create a logically isolated section within AWS and connect it to your existing network using either IPv4 or IPv6 address ranges. This enables users with existing IT infrastructure to use AWS as an extension of their datacenter by allowing them to extend their security topology, manage routing and control access from the ground up via IAM roles and policies.

6. Describe ELB?

Elastic Load Balancing automatically distributes incoming application traffic across multiple compute instances in order to maximize throughput and minimize response times for applications that are not stateful (or do not have session affinity). The service is extremely scalable and highly available, automatically distributing traffic in round-robin fashion among all the registered instances.

7. What are the metrics taken care of by ELB?

The main metrics for Elastic Load Balancing from a health standpoint include: connection count, request count, request error rate and request latency as well as backend instance states such as CPU Utilization Percentage and In Service / Out Of Service status.

8. How do you manage your VPCs?

To manage your VPCs you can use AWS Management Console, command line tools or API calls using one of the supported SDKs. You can also use a set of third party tools that allow you to visualize your network topology or automate common tasks like launching instances within your VPC.

9. What is the use of an elastic IP address?

The Elastic IP (EIP) address provides an easy way to map a public IPv4 address to any instance within your VPC, making it accessible on the Internet. This allows you to temporarily associate an EIP with an instance and continue to use it even after stopping or terminating that instance. Additionally, you can associate multiple EBS volumes with their own EIP, providing resiliency in the event of instance failure or termination.

10. How do you track IAM user actions using CloudTrail?

CloudTrail is a service provided by AWS that captures AWS API calls for your account and delivers log files to your Amazon S3 bucket. Using this information you can determine the actions taken and identify unauthorized or malicious activity.

11. Does AWS provide elastic load balancing?

Yes, aws provides a service called Elastic Load Balancing (ELB) which automatically distributes incoming application traffic across multiple compute instances in order to maximize throughput and minimize response times for applications that are not stateful (or do not have session affinity).

12. How does AWS provide scalability?

- When the processing capacity of the current EC2 instance type you're using is no longer sufficient, AWS offers several options including:

- Use more powerful EC2 instance types that are available within the same region as your running2 instance(s) via AWS Auto Scaling. AWS Auto scaling allows you to configure automatic scaling based on specified CloudWatch metrics, allowing your application to grow and shrink according to demand. AWS Auto Scaling groups can span multiple availability zones, ensuring that EC2 instances are spread across AZs in the unlikely event of an AZ outage.

- AWS Auto Scaling is completely user-configurable; you decide how many instances (and which instance type) run at any given time by setting minimum and maximum numbers of EC2 instances, the desired number of the running EC2 instances, and how long it should wait before launching or terminating more EC2 instances (adjusting the desired capacity). AWS Auto Scaling ensures there is always enough processing power available to handle sudden spikes in demand. AWS Auto Scaling is one of the simplest ways to enable fault tolerance in your applications, since you no longer need to overprovision resources to handle occasional spikes in demand. AWS Auto Scaling can also significantly reduce your EC2 costs by automatically shutting down instances when not in use.

- You have complete control over how AWS Auto Scaling will behave in your application environment. AWS does not anticipate or recommend specific thresholds for minimum/maximum number of running instances, nor do they dictate how many you should have at any given time. AWS recommends that you configure thresholds based on your specific requirements and application architecture. AWS provides a CloudFormation template that will launch an EC2 with associated IAM Role configured for AWS Auto Scaling AWS recommends that you modify it to meet your needs, including the instance type and the IAM role that should be associated with this Auto Scale group. AWS recommends using EC2 instances that support EBS optimization, particularly for production environments running on AWS . This can improve throughput by up to 2x, reduce provisioning time by 50%, and reduce cost by up to 30%. The other option is to configure autoscaling programmatically or through a third party tool such as RightScale which provides additional features not available in the AWS console.

- Puppet/ Chef

- AWS OpsWorks

- Elastic Beanstalk

- Opscode Chef Automate (Third party)

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How does cloud load balancing work?

Cloud load balancing is a technique used to distribute workloads and traffic among multiple cloud servers. By using cloud load balancing, you can improve the performance and reliability of your applications.

How does cloud load balancing work?

Cloud load balancers use a variety of techniques to determine which cloud server should receive a particular request. These techniques include round-robin DNS, weighted round-robin DNS, least connections, and random selection.

Round-robin DNS is the simplest load balancing technique. With round-robin DNS, the cloud load balancer cycles through the addresses of all of the cloud servers in its pool, sending requests to each one in turn. This technique is useful for applications that are able to handle requests from multiple cloud servers.

Weighted round-robin DNS is similar to round-robin DNS, but the cloud load balancer assigns a weight to each cloud server. This weight indicates how much traffic the cloud server should receive. The cloud load balancer uses the weight to determine which cloud server should receive a particular request.

Least connections is another simple load balancing technique. With least connections, the cloud load balancer sends requests to the cloud server with the fewest number of active connections.

Random selection is a more sophisticated load balancing technique that selects a cloud server at random from the pool of available cloud servers.

Cloud load balancers also use other techniques, such as health checks and session persistence, to ensure that requests are sent to healthy cloud servers and requests from a specific user always go to the same cloud server.

Cloud load balancing is particularly useful for cloud computing, cloud storage, cloud databases, Web sites, Internet of Things (IoT) applications, video game streaming, telemedicine applications (such as tele-video conference systems), software as a service (SaaS), and cloud-based virtual desktops.

Cloud load balancers distribute traffic among multiple cloud servers in real time. This allows you to scale your cloud infrastructure according to demand. It also provides high availability because if one cloud server goes down or becomes overloaded with requests, the cloud load balancer automatically reroutes requests to other cloud servers. Cloud load balancers can also improve the performance of your applications by distributing traffic evenly among cloud servers.

If you are using a public cloud, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), or Rackspace, you can use a cloud load balancer to distribute traffic among multiple cloud servers. If you are using a private cloud, you can use a cloud load balancer to distribute traffic among multiple cloud servers and on-premises servers.

Cloud load balancers are an important part of any cloud infrastructure. They help ensure that your applications are reliable and responsive and that your cloud infrastructure can scale according to demand. When you use cloud load balancing, you can focus on implementing new cloud applications rather than worrying about cloud infrastructure.

Are you looking for a cloud load balancer?

Cloud load balancer, cloud computing, cloud storage, cloud databases, Web sites, Internet of Things (IoT) applications, video game streaming, telemedicine applications (such as tele-video conference systems), software as a service (SaaS), cloud-based virtual desktops. Cloud load balancer, cloud computing, cloud storage cloud databases.

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Amazon IT  support engineer interview questions

When interviewing for an Amazon IT support engineer position, you can expect to be asked a range of questions about your technical abilities and experience. In order to help you prepare for your interview, we’ve compiled a list of some of the most common questions that are asked. 

1. What is your experience with Amazon Web Services?

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a cloud computing platform offered by Amazon. It is used by businesses all over the world to host websites and applications, store data, and more. If you have experience using AWS, be sure to mention it in your interview. If you don’t have any experience with AWS specifically, be sure to discuss your experience with similar cloud platforms.

2. What is your knowledge of Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs)?

A virtual private cloud is a method for providing a secure and stable connection between a company’s own computers and the AWS platform. If you have experience working with VPCs, it would be beneficial to mention this in your Amazon Web Services interview questions. However, if you haven’t worked with VPCs before, don’t worry - just explain that you are familiar with how they work as well as their benefits.

3. Have you ever been involved in an incident response team?

In order to support Amazon EC2 instances, Amazon has created an incident response team whose sole purpose is to provide support around the clock. If you have ever been involved in an incident response team, be sure to mention this in your interview. This will show the interviewer that you have experience working under pressure and are capable of handling difficult situations.

4. What is your experience with networking?

Networking is a critical part of Amazon Web Services support engineer job responsibilities. In order to provide effective support, you’ll need to be familiar with networking concepts such as IP addresses, ports, and routing tables. If you have experience with networking, be sure to mention it in your interview. If you don’t have any specific networking experience, don’t worry - just explain that you are familiar with the basics and are willing to learn more.

5. What experience do you have working with Amazon EC2 instances?

Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) is Amazon's version of virtual hosting. As the Amazon Web Services support engineer, you will be responsible for providing support around Amazon EC2 instances during their launch and while they are running. If you have previous experience supporting Amazon EC2s, be sure to mention this in your Amazon EC2 interview questions. If not, don’t worry - just explain that you are familiar with how they work as well as what is expected of Amazon Web Services support engineers when it comes to supporting them.

6. What tools do Amazon IT support engineers use on a regular basis?

Amazon IT support engineers have a wide range of tools at their disposal in order to perform Amazon Web Services support engineer job responsibilities. In Amazon IT interview questions, be sure to mention any of the following: 

Amazon AWS Support Tickets amazon AWS Documentation amazon EC2 Console amazon S3 Console amazon Route 53 amazon Cloud Watch amazon EBS Snapshots amacom Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) VPN Connection amcom Direct Connect amazon Web Services Command Line Interface amazon Web Services Support amazon CloudWatch Tools amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) amcom Virtual Private Cloud in a Box amcom Elastic Load Balancer amcom Regional Data Centers amcom Developer Forums.

7. How would you go about troubleshooting an issue with EC2 instances?

In order to resolve issues with Secure Shell (SSH) sessions, you’ll need to gather the following information: Date and time of connection Attempted command Connection status If the SSH session has timed out, enter the following command: ~# ps -ef | grep ec2-user Then, view response for clues as to why Amazon web services support engineer job responsibility is unavailable.

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Top reason to learn SQL for AWS

There are a few top reasons to learn SQL for AWS

The first and foremost benefit of learning how to use Amazon EC2 is the access it provides you with IT resources on demand. You have nothing more or nothing less than what you need at any given time so you won't have any issues about buying new hardware that will go unused because your needs change over time. This is probably one of the greatest benefits that you can take out of this service.

Secondly, Amazon EC2 provides you with the necessary tools and resources for creating a top of the line data center. If you're not expanding your customer base as fast as you would like to or if you don't have enough funding to do so, then this is one of the best ways to increase your business by using cloud computing solutions in order to create top quality data centers without having to spend an arm and a leg on it.

The third top reason why learning how to use Amazon EC2 is vital even if only in theory, is that it can help small companies become top competitors when thinking about web services. This means that even if you are just starting out and all you have right now is an idea back by some hard work and determination, Amazon EC2 can help you top the competition and get noticed.

And last but not least, Amazon EC2 is perhaps one of the most inexpensive choices out there meaning that even though this opportunity sounds too good to be true, it really isn't. It is relatively cheap if compared to other top cloud computing solutions, meaning that you can have access to top grade data centers at a very low cost which in return means more money saved on your part combined with top quality services.

The top reasons for learning how to use Amazon EC2 are useful regardless of what type of company or business you deal with so it's definitely advised for all entrepreneurs around the world.

Explore:- AWS cloud practitioner

Learn SQL For AWS

Amazon EC2 is vital for small companies to become top competitors. This means that even if you are just starting out and all you have right now is an idea back by some hard work and determination, Amazon EC2 can help you get noticed. And last but not least, Amazon EC2 is perhaps one of the most inexpensive choices out there meaning that even though this opportunity sounds too good to be true, it really isn't. It is relatively cheap if compared to other top cloud computing solutions, meaning that you can have access to top grade data centers at a very low cost which in return means more money saved on your part combined with top quality services.

How to use Amazon EC2 is vital even if only in theory, is that it can help small companies become top competitors when thinking about web services. This means that even if you are just starting out and all you have right now is an idea back by some hard work and determination, Amazon EC2 can help top the competition and get noticed. And last but not least, Amazon ECS2 is perhaps one of the most inexpensive choices out there meaning that even though this opportunity sounds too good to be true, it really isn't.

Read more:- AWS cloudfront

It is relatively cheap if compared to other top cloud computing solutions, meaning that you can have access to top grade data centers at a very low cost which in return means more money saved on your part combined with top quality services.

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How to use cloud technology to save your company money

Cloud-based technology has made huge advancements in recent years that have allowed cloud computing to become a viable option for businesses. With cloud technology you can quickly and easily store your data online, instead of using more traditional methods like storing it on physical devices, which can be costly.

Here are three ways cloud computing is cheaper than traditional options:

1. No Installation Fees

You will not be charged any installation fees when you use cloud storage or cloud software. You might be required to buy the necessary hardware up front, but the costs associated with the time and labor involved in setting up this equipment are eliminated through cloud technology.

2. Unlimited Space Capacity

Most cloud storage companies do not limit how much space you can take up within their cloud, making cloud storage a great option for businesses who have a lot of data. There are some cloud services that do limit how much space you can use, but these limits are generally very high and not conducive to actual business needs.

3. No Managed Infrastructure Costs

It is very rare that cloud computing providers charge extra for infrastructure maintenance, which means your cloud solution will cost exactly what was quoted at the start of the contract – no more and no less. With traditional computing solutions, you may be obligated to pay for new equipment or updated software as hardware ages or as technology changes over time. This can lead to higher costs from one year to the next, but cloud computing solutions are more stable so there aren't those same rising costs.

For businesses who need cloud storage and cloud computing services, cloud-based solutions offer the most cost effective options because of their low installation costs, unlimited capacity, and lack of managed infrastructure fees. Cloud technology also offers businesses a great deal more flexibility as far as sharing files go so you can work with employees from different locations much easier.

This cloud technology can even be used in tandem with traditional cloud services to create the best solution for any business. By using cloud technology, you can easily transform your company's old storage systems into cloud-based solutions, which saves both money and time plus makes it easier than ever to share data across different locations or employees.

Benefits of Cloud Storage

In this day and age, cloud storage is becoming increasingly popular as it offers numerous benefits which traditional methods lack. If you require additional space but have been putting off expanding due to high initial costs or complex installation requirements, cloud storage may offer the ideal solution for your business. The cloud is a popular choice amongst businesses because it can be accessed from anywhere, allowing you to transfer your data and files easily.

Low initial costs:- cloud storage typically requires no installation fee as the cloud provider takes care of all necessary maintenance and servicing. It also makes it easier for businesses to expand by eliminating the need to purchase additional equipment such as servers, hard drives and routers as space is increased within the cloud.

Flexible:- cloud solutions provide many benefits that traditional methods lack, such as flexibility and mobility where cloud data can easily be transferred between different locations or employees without having to move any actual physical hardware. This allows companies to work more efficiently especially if they have employees in different locations.

Reliability:- cloud providers often have multiple back-up systems protecting your data so cloud storage is typically more reliable than traditional methods which are susceptible to theft or damage to equipment, natural disasters and power failures. This also eliminates the need for downtime when expanding cloud space as the cloud continues to run even if hardware failure occurs on your end.

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Security risks in the public cloud

n the past few years, many companies have been turning to public cloud computing for a number of reasons. One reason is that it simplifies their infrastructure and makes it cheaper in the long run. However, with all these benefits come risks that need to be addressed before going into production with your workloads in a public cloud environment. In this blog post we'll cover some security risks that you should be aware of before making the switch to public cloud computing.

Lack of visibility

One of the major security risks in public clouds is lack of visibility. This means that a sysadmin or a system manager has to be aware of every single change which is done on the cloud infrastructure. In case he/she doesn't know about changes made by others, there will be no way to get informed about them and take necessary actions if remediation steps are required. In short terms: In the absence of complete control over your virtual servers, you cannot easily see how they work and what's going on with them.

The best option for dealing with this issue would probably be establishing log management procedures which make it possible to track any activity performed on the cloud infrastructure. This solution requires an increased budget for purchase and maintenance of the log management tool, which includes licenses for paid features like monitoring virtual servers.

Another option is to purchase professional services from the cloud vendor. It's often the case that cloud vendors do provide specialized technical assistance with configuring and managing their infrastructure, but this comes at a cost (e.g., per hour).

Insufficient network security

Security risks in the public cloud that arise from insufficient network security can be prevented by implementing proper virtual networking. It's important to configure user access according to their assigned roles and responsibilities, and keep it under their control. This helps you restrict access at different levels of services provided by Amazon EC2, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform and other cloud infrastructures.

For instance, you can set up a virtual network which includes your company's Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) and create subnets within it. This way, you can ensure that users only have access to the cloud resources they need with no possibility of compromising security policies.

Lack of isolation or segmentation between different tenants' workloads 

Another security risk in public clouds is lack of isolation or segmentation between different tenants' workloads. This means that if a bug in a tenant's application manages to get out of control it can easily bring down other applications running on the same physical server. In cases when one single physical server contains ten different customers' virtual machines, this brings all ten customers down by simply crashing one application.

 A similar problem happens when a server which is dedicated to one single customer gets compromised. In this case, an attacker can get access to all virtual machines and databases running on the same physical machine.

The best mitigation procedure against these problems would be configuring and maintaining security controls in accordance with NIST ( e.g. Virtualization Security Requirements Guide v2 ). This would require paying for specialized technical assistance from the cloud vendor, but it's still cheaper than requiring security experts for each customer who will be utilizing the infrastructure. Another option is using third party IaaS providers such as VMWare's vCloud or Red Hat's OpenShift , because they do provide customers with tools which can help establish proper security policies and procedures .

How to Secure your Public Cloud?

Does the public cloud offer you benefits but still make you uneasy? You are not alone. In a survey of 457 IT professionals from around the world, more than half cited security as a primary reason they have avoided moving major workloads to the public cloud.

In fact, 42% said they could not trust their organization's data with a public cloud provider and 46% were concerned that their applications would be less secure in the public cloud.

But if you're looking to reduce datacenter costs and improve operational efficiency, what's an IT decision-maker to do?

Security strategy

Take a closer look at your security strategy and see where it might better address both on-premises and off-premises threats. Security is no longer something you can bolt on to an existing datacenter. It must include the public cloud, and several new threats require a different approach.

For example, most enterprises so far have built security strategies around protecting servers inside their corporate networks. But with increasing cloud application deployment models , it's time to shift data protection tactics up another level, which means creating stricter rules for managing the permissions of users accessing applications. You also need to create stronger authentication practices that can encompass access to mobile devices and outside-the-network users who don't belong to your enterprise domain.

Encrypt all data at rest, end to end

Another common approach is encrypting all data at rest, end to end. This mitigates a lot of risks via a combination of strong encryption algorithms and well-managed key infrastructure overhead necessary for safeguarding encryption protocols. You will want to make sure that whatever you adopt for cloud-based data protection is fully compatible with your encryption application and key management structure.

Application Protections

Another approach is to protect all applications whether they are on-premises or in the public cloud by deploying an edge gateway proxy server. This way, you can continue enforcing policies and gain visibility into what's traversing the WAN and where traffic is headed (e.g., Microsoft Office 365).

Finally, ensure your datacenter security solution includes a strong user access policy enforcement mechanism – not only around access within your corporate network but also for mobile device users as well as those who may be outside your enterprise domain altogether. A high-performance identity management system such as Okta can help you do this.

Conclusion

The public cloud is the future of business, but it also presents some risks that need to be considered. Cloud security can take many forms and should always be a priority for any company looking at transitioning their data into the cloud environment. We want to help you make informed decisions about your plan by providing expert advice on managing risk in today's increasingly digital world.