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AWS Service Overview by Layer

An e-commerce application running on AWS typically consists of several architectural layers that work together to provide a robust, scalable, and secure environment. Here are the main layers of such an application:

1. Presentation Layer​

  • Components: User interfaces (web or mobile apps).
  • Services: Hosted using Amazon S3 (for static content) and Amazon CloudFront (for content delivery). Dynamic content may use Amazon API Gateway or Application Load Balancer (ALB) to route requests to backend services.
  • Authentication: Amazon Cognito for user management and authentication.

2. Application Layer​

  • Components: Microservices or monolithic application components (e.g., product catalog, user management, shopping cart, checkout).
  • Services:
    • AWS Elastic Beanstalk or Amazon ECS/Fargate for deploying and managing Docker containers.
    • AWS Lambda for serverless execution of specific application logic.
    • Amazon API Gateway to expose RESTful APIs and interact with backend services.
    • Amazon EC2 for hosting custom backend services (if not using containers or serverless).

3. Business Logic Layer​

  • Components: Core business processes and rules (e.g., product recommendations, order processing).
  • Services:
    • AWS Lambda functions for executing business logic in a serverless manner.
    • Amazon ECS or AWS Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) for microservices implementing business logic.
    • Step Functions for managing workflows like order fulfillment and payment processing.

4. Data Layer​

  • Components: Databases and storage for application data, including products, user information, orders, and more.
  • Services:
    • Amazon RDS (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL) for structured data storage (e.g., user and order information).
    • Amazon DynamoDB for NoSQL storage (e.g., product catalog, shopping cart).
    • Amazon S3 for storing files like product images and user-uploaded content.
    • Amazon ElastiCache (Redis/Memcached) for caching frequently accessed data to improve performance.
    • Amazon OpenSearch Service for search capabilities.

5. Integration Layer​

  • Components: Handles integration with external services (e.g., payment gateways, shipping providers).
  • Services:
    • Amazon API Gateway and AWS Lambda for building and managing APIs to interact with external systems.
    • Amazon SNS/SQS for messaging and event-driven communication between services.
    • AWS AppFlow or AWS Glue for integrating with third-party applications and data sources.

6. Security Layer​

  • Components: Ensures secure access to the application, data, and services.
  • Services:
    • AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) for access control and permissions.
    • Amazon Cognito for user authentication and authorization.
    • AWS WAF (Web Application Firewall) and AWS Shield for protecting against DDoS attacks.
    • AWS Key Management Service (KMS) for data encryption.
    • AWS Security Hub for centralized security management and compliance monitoring.

7. Monitoring and Logging Layer​

  • Components: Monitors application health, performance, and security.
  • Services:
    • Amazon CloudWatch for monitoring and alerting on system performance and application logs.
    • AWS X-Ray for distributed tracing to diagnose performance issues.
    • AWS CloudTrail for auditing API calls and actions in the environment.

8. Delivery Layer​

  • Components: Continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) of application updates.
  • Services:
    • AWS CodePipeline, CodeBuild, CodeDeploy, and CodeCommit for automating build, test, and deployment processes.
    • Amazon ECR (Elastic Container Registry) for managing Docker images.

These layers work together to create a flexible, scalable, and secure e-commerce platform.