Selecting an AWS Storage Service
AWS presents an embarrassment of riches to its users for deciding which storage service to use as part of their applications. With such a broad range of offerings and functionality, it may seem hard to know where to begin as you choose whether to use these items:
✓ S3, the highly scalable object store: S3’s URL object addressing allows data to be accessed from within AWS as well as externally from the Internet. Though S3 objects are regionally scoped, you can access them from anywhere.                          

✓ EBS, the volume storage offering: EBS allows highly persistent volumes to be attached (and detached) from running EC instances, but keep in mind that EBS volumes are accessible only within the availability zone in which they’re created — and you can access them only by the EC2 instance to which they’re attached.

✓ DynamoDB, the highly scalable key-value service: DynamoDB provides flexible, high-performance, and robust storage for webscale applications.

✓ Glacier, the inexpensive and highly durable archiving service: Glacier’s job is to ensure that critical data is never lost, and it does its job well.

 

In the time-honored (and infuriating!) words associated with most IT topics, the question “which service should I use?” typically requires a response of “It depends.” Many technology folks get familiar with a given technology, and become comfortable using it, and then seek to apply it to nearly every situation— even ones to which the technology isn’t well suited. It’s the classic story: If you only have a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.