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What are the core categories of AWS services that every cloud beginner should understand before diving into any specific service? How do compute, storage, database, and networking services typically work together in a simple three tier web application architecture? How does understanding the AWS shared responsibility model help clarify which security and operational tasks are AWS's responsibility versus the customer's responsibility? What role does the AWS Well-Architected Framework play in guiding decisions across all of these core services as an application grows in complexity? How do experienced architects approach selecting the right combination of core AWS services when designing a new, complex system from scratch? How does a mature organization's use of core AWS services typically evolve from an initial simple deployment toward a more sophisticated, resilient, multi account architecture over time?
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How should a beginner decide between using a serverless service like Lambda versus a traditional compute service like EC2 for a new application?

Intermediate

Answer

The decision typically depends on factors such as how predictable and consistent your workload is, with Lambda being well suited for event driven, intermittent, or unpredictable workloads since you only pay for actual execution time, while EC2 makes more sense for long running, steady state applications, workloads requiring specific operating system level control, or applications that need to maintain persistent in memory state across requests that a stateless Lambda function cannot easily provide.
// Lambda: good fit for infrequent, event driven processing
// EC2: good fit for a continuously running web server with steady traffic
Real-world example A developer building an infrequently used image processing function that only runs when a new file is uploaded chooses Lambda for its pay per use pricing, while choosing EC2 for their continuously running, steady traffic main web application.

Common follow-ups: What are the cost tradeoffs between Lambda and EC2 for a workload with steady, predictable traffic?;Are there workloads that genuinely cannot run on Lambda at all?

Lambda & Serverless;EC2 & Compute
All 7 Core Services Overview questions