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    The AWS Console

    Adam ElmoreAdam Elmore

    This lesson is a guide about using the AWS Console:

    • The AWS Console is a dashboard with multiple configurable widgets. This is the first view upon logging into your AWS account.
    • The console offers helpful information related to cost and usage data, as well as health reports.
    • A key feature is a search bar at the top that helps you directly access a specific service page.
    • You can pin frequently used services to the top bar for quick access and view pages you recently visited.
    • Services are neatly categorized and can also be filtered by region for geographic data management.
    • Other features include access to your account ID, service quotas, and billing and cost management data.
    • While it's pointed out that a majority of your time will be spent in the code editor building applications and not in the console, this tool remains useful.
    • Use the AWS Console for tasks such as checking logs and billing information or exploring the 200+ services it provides.
    • Despite some inconsistencies due to the vast scope of services, the AWS Console is designed to optimize and streamline your work with AWS.The AWS console can be overwhelming at first glance, with its vast array of services and features. However, it's important to understand how to navigate it effectively, as you'll occasionally need to check logs, billing information, and other details.

    The Homepage

    The default homepage you land on after logging in is a configurable dashboard. You can add widgets (although the term "widgets" may be a bit outdated) to display useful information like cost and usage data, health reports, and any outages or scheduled maintenance. While this dashboard can be handy, you can largely ignore it when you're just getting started.

    The Search Bar

    The search bar at the top of the console is a powerful tool for navigating to specific services or features. Simply type in the name of the service you're looking for, and the search results will display not only the service itself but also related services, features, blog posts, documentation links, and support articles.

    Favorites and Recently Visited

    To save time navigating to frequently used services, you can "star" them to pin them to the top bar. This "favorites" system allows you to rearrange the pinned services for easy access. Additionally, the console keeps track of your recently visited pages, which can also be a handy shortcut.

    Service Categories

    If you prefer to browse services by category, the console provides a categorized list on the left-hand side. This can be useful for exploring related services, such as database services or storage services.

    Regions

    One crucial aspect to keep in mind when working with AWS is the concept of regions. AWS is made up of several data centers located in different geographic regions around the world. Most services are regional, meaning that when you deploy a service like Lambda (for running code on-demand), you're deploying it to a specific region. If you can't find your deployed resources in the console, double-check that you're looking in the correct region.

    Additional Console Features

    The console also provides access to other useful information and features, such as your account ID (which may be needed for support tickets), service quotas, and billing and cost management. The billing and cost management section will become increasingly important as you start accruing costs from running real-world projects on AWS.

    Spending Time in the Editor

    While the AWS console is a necessary tool, you'll spend the majority of your time working in your code editor, building and deploying your applications. The console's inconsistencies and complexities can be largely ignored, as you won't be spending a significant amount of time navigating it directly.

    Conclusion

    The AWS console may seem daunting at first, but with a basic understanding of its navigation and features, you'll be able to efficiently access the information and services you need. Remember, the console is just one part of the AWS ecosystem, and your primary focus will be on writing and deploying code in your editor.This lesson is a guide about using the AWS Console:

    • The AWS Console is a dashboard with multiple configurable widgets. This is the first view upon logging into your AWS account.
    • The console offers helpful information related to cost and usage data, as well as health reports.
    • A key feature is a search bar at the top that helps you directly access a specific service page.
    • You can pin frequently used services to the top bar for quick access and view pages you recently visited.
    • Services are neatly categorized and can also be filtered by region for geographic data management.
    • Other features include access to your account ID, service quotas, and billing and cost management data.
    • While it's pointed out that a majority of your time will be spent in the code editor building applications and not in the console, this tool remains useful.
    • Use the AWS Console for tasks such as checking logs and billing information or exploring the 200+ services it provides.
    • Despite some inconsistencies due to the vast scope of services, the AWS Console is designed to optimize and streamline your work with AWS.

    Transcript

    All right, now that we have an AWS account, it's time to dig into the AWS console. Now, Amazon takes a ton of flack for the console, and I get it. It can be inconsistent at times and difficult to navigate, to put it very kindly. But ultimately, we're not gonna spend much time here. It doesn't matter that much because we're going to spend most of our time in our code editor, building our application, just like we would with any modern web framework.

    We just need to understand how to navigate the console and get the most out of it, because you will pop in here on occasion to check logs, maybe billing, things like that. All right, so let's take a look. The default homepage that you land on in the console after you've logged in is this sort of configurable dashboard. And you can add widgets and move them around. I hate the word widgets.

    Does anybody else hate the word widgets? Just takes me back to like the early 2000s. I don't know. But you've got some useful information here. There's like cost and usage data can be really great to see this just at a glance as you have a bunch of AWS usage.

    Maybe it's at a startup or a small company. When you've actually got Spinned, you're going beyond the free tier, this is a really great snapshot. You've got health reports, so if there's any outages or scheduled maintenance, things like that. There's some useful information here, but when you're getting started, you can largely ignore the homepage. You should notice at the top, you've got this search bar, and this is super helpful.

    This is primarily how I navigate the console. So generally, when I hop into the console, I'm trying to go to a specific service page. You search for a service name, you can see there's listed services, obviously, Lambda is there and then other related services, But also features. So if there's any features with Lambda in it, you'll see those. There's blog posts, documentation links.

    You've got support articles, and all kinds of stuff. So this this is actually a really great feature. I get a lot of value out of the search bar and it generally works. They're all categories categorized here on the left. You can see lambda also is starred.

    This is this favorite system, and that'll just pin services to the top bar, which is super handy. You can move these around. And for frequently asked services, like I said, AWS is made up of over 200 services. And we're going to use like a handful of them a lot. So just having your favorite services pinned up here can save you a lot of time navigating.

    Also as you visit pages you're gonna see the recently visited get populated. This is also super helpful. I use this all the time. But you've also got this like categorized list of services you can see where they break down by category all the different services. So if you want to look at database services of which there are a ton, You've got a list there.

    Again, don't get overwhelmed by the number of services. Like I said, we're going to use like 10 of them, something like that. Here, this is an important note. You've got your region. So anytime you're working with AWS, AWS is made up of several regions all over the world.

    So big data centers that live in specific geographic locations. Anytime you're working with a service that's regional, so most services are regional, you're going to be looking at the whole console from that region's perspective. So if you deploy a Lambda function, code that you want to execute on demand, you're deploying it into a specific region. And sometimes you might come in here and the region has changed, or you've changed the region, and you're not looking at the right region. So if you go to the Lambda console and you can't find your function, there's nothing there.

    Just make sure you're looking at the right region. So I've said the word region about 55 times now. We can move off of that one, but that's a common occurrence where you're just looking at the wrong one. I'm trying not to say region. You're looking at the wrong one and your code is actually deployed into a different region.

    And then you've got like your account ID can be copied from here. Sometimes you'll need that if you're filing a support ticket or whatever. Organization we're going to get into soon. You got service quotas, which we'll talk about at some point. Billing and cost management.

    This is super helpful. This is where, as you are spending on AWS, again, you won't be up front, but as you do start to accrue costs because you're building projects that have real usage, you'll spend a lot of time in the billing and cost and management just trying to understand where are those costs being accrued and how can you optimize that. So that's the basics of the console. You're mostly, like I said, going to spend time in here looking at logs and CloudWatch or checking your billing information, but we're going to spend way more time in our editor. So all the horror stories you've heard about the console, you can largely ignore.

    It's not a huge deal. We don't spend time here and the console, it's a huge undertaking. You can think how vast AWS is to have 200 plus services represented in the console. Of course, there's going to be inconsistencies, but at the end of the day, it's not a big deal.