Cloud (AWS / GCP / Azure)

Compute: VMs, Containers, Serverless

Pick the right compute primitive for the job.

35 min read beginner 3 objectives

Status

Not started

What you will learn

  • Compare VMs, containers, functions
  • Understand managed container services
  • Know serverless tradeoffs

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The basics, in plain English

Compute just means the part of the cloud that actually runs your code and does work. There are a few flavors: a full virtual computer you control, a lightweight container, or serverless where you only hand over code and the cloud runs it for you.

Compute
The cloud resources that run your programs and do the processing.
Virtual Machine (VM)
A whole computer that exists as software, which you rent and manage like your own PC.
Container
A small, fast package that holds an app and everything it needs to run.
Serverless
You upload only your code and the cloud runs it on demand, with no machine to manage.
Instance
One running copy of a virtual machine.
Autoscaling
Automatically adding or removing machines as traffic goes up or down.
01

Spectrum

From always-on VMs to event-driven functions, compute trades control for convenience. Managed Kubernetes (EKS/GKE/AKS) sits in the middle.

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