Module 4 - Going Global

Question 1

In AWS, what is an edge location?

Answer 1

Strategically placed AWS sites with smaller footprints (than AZs) which cache items so that users can access content with lower latency.

Question 2

What is infrastructure as code (IaC)?

Answer 2

Infrastructure configurations defined in a declarative way and stored in a source control system.

See Infrastructure as code

Question 3

A fundamental principle of DevOps is to treat infrastructure the same way developers treat _________.

Answer 3

Code

See Infrastructure as code

Question 4

What is a benefit of infrastructure as code (IaC)?

Answer 4

consistent deployments

Question 5

What is CloudFormation?

Answer 5

An IaC service that you can use to define a wide variety of AWS resources in a declarative way by creating text-based documents called CloudFormation templates.

See What is CloudFormation? and AWS CloudFormation Documentation

Question 6

What does CloudFormation do with a template?

Answer 6

Parses the template and then provisions the resources it defines, calling the needed AWS APIs in the background.

See AWS CloudFormation Documentation

Question 7

What are 4 key considerations when choosing an AWS Region?

Answer 7

1. Compliance
2. Proximity to users
3. Feature/Service Availability
4. Pricing

Question 8

Why is Compliance a consideration in picking an AWS region?

Answer 8

Geographic regions may be subject to regulatory requirements and data protection laws defined by governments. This may mean deploying applications in a specific AWS region that meets those laws and requirements.

Question 9

Why is proximity to users a consideration in picking an AWS region?

Answer 9

Regions closer to your users minimizes data travel time, i.e. latency.

See also AWS Regions

Question 10

Why is Feature Availability a consideration in picking an AWS region?

Answer 10

AWS is constantly expanding features and services to multiple locations, but not all Regions contain all AWS offerings.

See AWS Services by Region

Question 11

Why is Pricing a consideration in picking an AWS region?

Answer 11

Some Regions have lower operational costs (tax laws, regulations) than others which affects AWS rates.

See Choose Regions based on cost

Question 12

What is a redundant architecture?

Answer 12

One that enables you to move processing from a failed environment to a working environment with minimal downtime.

Question 13

How can AWS’ Global Infrastructure be leveraged to build redundant architectures?

Answer 13

By deploying to multiple Availability Zones within a Region AND by deploying to multiple Regions.

Question 14

What is high availability?

Answer 14

The capability of a system to operate continuously without failing, i.e.applications can handle the failure of individual components without significant downtime.

Question 15

In the context of commercial software deployments, what is agility?

Answer 15

The ability to quickly adapt software products to changing requirements or market conditions.

Question 16

What is Elasticity?

Answer 16

The ability of a system to scale resources up or down automatically in response to changes in demand.

Question 17

How does AWS’ Global Infrastructure facilitate high availability?

Answer 17

By providing geographically dispersed Regions, and multiple Availability Zones within each Region. The AWS cloud spans 120 Availability Zones within 38 Geographic Regions.

As of Nov 26, 2025.

See AWS Global Infrastructure

Question 18

What is the AWS Global Edge Network?

Answer 18

AWS infrastructure, called edge locations, deployed in population centers outside of AWS regions for the purpose of providing low-latency access to AWS services and content delivery (for users close to the edge location.)

See Edge networking with AWS

Question 19

What is a Content Delivery Network (CDN)?

Answer 19

A geographically distributed system of servers that speeds up the delivery of web content to users by caching it closer to their physical location.

Question 20

What is Amazon CloudFront?

Answer 20

A Content Deliver Network (CDN) and caching system that speeds up distribution of static and dynamic web content, such as .html, .css, .js, and image files. CloudFront delivers content through a worldwide network of data centers called edge locations.

See What is Amazon CloudFront?

Question 21

What happens when a user requests content being served from CloudFront?

Answer 21

The request is routed to the edge location that provides the lowest latency (time delay), so that content is delivered with the best possible performance.

See What is Amazon CloudFront?

Question 22

What are some other AWS services hosted on edge locations?

Answer 22

AWS Global Accelerator and Amazon Route 53

Question 23

What is AWS Global Accelerator?

Answer 23

AWS Global Accelerator is a network layer service in which you create accelerators to improve the performance of your applications for local and global users. Traffic travels over the well-monitored, congestion-free, redundant AWS global network to the endpoint. By maximizing the time that traffic is on the AWS network, Global Accelerator ensures that traffic is always routed over the optimum network path.

What is AWS Global Accelerator

Question 24

in AWS Global Accelerator

How does a “standard accelerator” work?

Answer 24

Global Accelerator directs traffic over the AWS global network to endpoints in the nearest Region to the client.

Question 25

What is Amazon Route 53?

Answer 25

A highly available and scalable Domain Name System (DNS) web service. ## Footnote [What is Amazon Route 53?](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/Route53/latest/DeveloperGuide/Welcome.html)