AWS Glossary
Clear, accurate definitions of every AWS service and concept. From EC2 and S3 to IAM and the Well-Architected Framework — no jargon, just answers.
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SageMaker JumpStart: Accelerate ML with Pre-trained Models
Amazon SageMaker JumpStart is an ML hub for one-click access to pre-trained models & solutions. Accelerate your ML journey. Learn how to deploy & fine-tune models.
SageMaker Pipelines: Automate ML Workflows
Amazon SageMaker Pipelines is a serverless service for building, automating, and managing end-to-end ML workflows. Streamline your CI/CD for ML. Learn when to use it.
SageMaker Endpoint: Deploy ML Models & Get Predictions
A SageMaker Endpoint deploys ML models for predictions via HTTPS API. Learn how it works, its benefits, and when to use it for real-time inference.
SageMaker Studio: Your ML IDE for Productivity
Amazon SageMaker Studio is a web-based IDE for ML, unifying all development steps. Boost data science team productivity. Learn when to use it.
Amazon Q Business: How It Works & When to Use It
Amazon Q Business is a generative AI assistant for enterprises. Connects to your data to answer questions, summarize info, and automate tasks. Learn its use cases.
Amazon Kendra: Intelligent Search for Your Data
Amazon Kendra is an ML-powered enterprise search service that finds answers in your data. Learn its definition, use cases, and when to implement it.
Amazon Forecast: What It Is & When to Use It
Amazon Forecast is a managed time-series forecasting service using ML. Learn about its features, use cases, and current status as AWS recommends SageMaker Canvas.
Amazon Personalize: How It Works & When to Use It
Amazon Personalize is a fully managed ML service for building recommendation tech apps. Deliver personalized experiences to boost engagement. Learn when to use it.
Amazon Textract: Extract Text & Data from Docs
Amazon Textract extracts text, handwriting, and data from documents. Automate workflows by identifying form fields and table data. Learn when to use it.
Amazon Lex: Build Conversational AI with Voice & Text
Amazon Lex is an AI service for building voice & text conversational interfaces. Leverage Alexa tech for chatbots & voice assistants. Learn when to use it.
Frequently Asked Questions
QWhat is Amazon EC2?
Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) is AWS's core service for renting virtual servers in the cloud. You pick an instance type (CPU, memory, network), an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) that contains the OS and software, and EC2 launches the server in minutes. You pay per second for compute capacity, with discounts available through Savings Plans, Reserved Instances, or Spot Instances.
QWhat is the difference between S3 and EBS?
Amazon S3 is object storage for files, backups, and static websites — accessed over HTTPS, not mounted as a disk. Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store) provides block-level storage volumes that attach to EC2 instances like a hard drive. Use S3 for unstructured data and shared access; use EBS when an application needs a regular filesystem attached to a single EC2 instance.
QWhat is an IAM role vs an IAM user?
An IAM user represents a specific human or service with long-term credentials (password, access keys). An IAM role is an identity with permissions that is assumed temporarily — typically by an AWS service (like EC2 or Lambda) or by federated users. Best practice is to use roles for workloads and IAM Identity Center (SSO) for humans, instead of long-lived user credentials.
QWhich AWS certification should I start with?
Most people start with AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner (CLF-C02) for a foundational overview, then move to AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate (SAA-C03) — the most popular associate-level certification. If you already have cloud or development experience, you can skip CLF-C02 and start with SAA-C03 or Developer Associate (DVA-C02) directly.