In Chapter 2, we discussed the mechanisms Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) systems such as Amazon Route53 use to determine the geographic location of a client’s IP address on the internet. Amazon CloudFront makes use of these same facilities to determine which edge location is closest to a given user so that it can steer […]
HTTP request headers and URL query strings – Utilizing the Capabilities of the AWS Global Network at the Near Edge
When a client on the internet uses their browser to make a request for a URL to a server, more information that the URL itself is passed in the form of HTTP request headers. This includes information such as the name and version of the web browser (user-agent), the language the client prefers (accept-language), and […]
Content distribution – Utilizing the Capabilities of the AWS Global Network at the Near Edge
Amazon CloudFront uses a construct known as distributions to establish and govern this behavior. When a new distribution is created, it is pointed at an origin – this is the server or service that holds the content we want to cache in our POPs. Amazon CloudFront supports several types of origins – including S3 buckets, […]
AWS regional edge – Utilizing the Capabilities of the AWS Global Network at the Near Edge
When you create a VPC and attach an internet gateway or NAT gateway, the AZs in the associated region need a mechanism to connect to the internet or other regions: Figure 8.2 – AWS regional transit centers This is why, in addition to the direct interconnects AZs have with each other, each region also has […]
Availability Zones (AZs) – Utilizing the Capabilities of the AWS Global Network at the Near Edge
To understand the full benefits of utilizing the AWS global backbone, we must first start at the foundational units that make up the AWS cloud – AZs. CLOS (leaf/spine) topology The physical network fabric in AZs is a fully Layer 3 CLOS architecture, also known as a leaf/spine design. To simulate Layer-2 adjacency between EC2 […]
Overview of the AWS Global Network – Utilizing the Capabilities of the AWS Global Network at the Near Edge
The AWS Global Network is the cornerstone of everything AWS does. It represents an expansive and cutting-edge infrastructure designed to offer unparalleled performance, reliability, and security. It’s more than just a network; it’s a testament to AWS’s commitment to delivering a seamless cloud experience to businesses and end users across the world. By understanding and […]
AWS Cloud WAN – Utilizing the Capabilities of the AWS Global Network at the Near Edge
For relatively simple, static situations like what we’ve described so far, AWS Direct Connect SiteLink is sufficient. But let’s say we want to build a SaaS offering on top of AWS that connects to physical elements at the edge. Some of these are in true data centers, with AWS Direct Connect links set up to […]
Traffic dials for endpoint groups/regions – Utilizing the Capabilities of the AWS Global Network at the Near Edge
By default, these are set to 100% for all endpoint groups attached to a listener. This results in the default behavior where connections always go to the closest region. When these values are altered, things can get a little tricky to understand, so let’s walk through some examples: Figure 8.20 – AWS Global Accelerator traffic […]
TCP termination – Utilizing the Capabilities of the AWS Global Network at the Near Edge
It is important to remember that while AWS Global Accelerator uses IP Anycast to steer clients into the nearest edge POP, it is much more than that. In a similar way to Amazon CloudFront, when customer connections enter an edge POP, they are terminated on a proxy server. This means that the three-way handshake – […]
Amazon CloudFront functions – Utilizing the Capabilities of the AWS Global Network at the Near Edge
As noted previously, AWS Lambda@Edge functions execute inside the RECs. That’s better than having to run them in the core regions – but what can we do inside the edge POPs themselves? That is where we must use Amazon CloudFront functions: Figure 8.13 – Visualization of where Amazon CloudFront functions and AWS Lambda@Edge run These […]