Compute Services
Compute is the foundation of cloud computing — it's where your code runs. Cloud providers offer multiple compute options, from virtual machines to containers to serverless functions.
Compute Options
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ COMPUTE SPECTRUM │
│ │
│ More Control More Abstraction │
│ ◄─────────────────────────────────────────► │
│ │
│ Bare Metal → VMs → Containers → Serverless │
│ ┌────────┐ ┌────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ │
│ │Physical│ │EC2 │ │ ECS/EKS │ │ Lambda │ │
│ │Servers │ │VMs │ │ Docker │ │ Functions│ │
│ └────────┘ └────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ │
│ │
│ You manage more ◄────► Provider manages more │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Virtual Machines (IaaS)
Virtual machines are the most common compute option. You get a full operating system running on virtualized hardware. Great for applications that need full OS control or specific software configurations.
AWS: EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) — dozens of instance types for different workloads.
Azure: Virtual Machines — tight integration with Windows Server and Active Directory.
GCP: Compute Engine — custom machine types and sustained-use discounts.
Containers
Containers package your application and its dependencies into a lightweight, portable unit. They start faster than VMs and use fewer resources, making them ideal for microservices.
AWS: ECS (Elastic Container Service), EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service)
Azure: Azure Container Instances, AKS (Azure Kubernetes Service)
GCP: GKE (Google Kubernetes Engine) — the most mature managed Kubernetes
Serverless
With serverless, you deploy functions or event-driven code without managing any servers. The provider handles scaling, patching, and availability. You pay only when your code runs.
AWS: Lambda — up to 15 minutes execution, supports most languages.
Azure: Azure Functions — integrates deeply with the Microsoft ecosystem.
GCP: Cloud Functions — simple event-driven functions with HTTP triggers.
Choosing the Right Option
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Question: What do you need? │
├─────────────────┬──────────────────────────────┤
│ Full OS control│ → Virtual Machine (EC2) │
│ Microservices │ → Containers (ECS/GKE) │
│ Event-driven │ → Serverless (Lambda) │
│ Quick experiments│ → Managed Platform (Beanstalk)│
└─────────────────┴──────────────────────────────┘