AWS Global Infrastructure

AWS Regions

Each region is in a specific geographical location
Each geographical location has a cluster of data centers
AWS has currently 27 launched regions each with multiple availability zones (AZs)

For up-to-date region map click here

Availability Zones

An availability zone comprises of one or more data centers
Each AWS region has multiple (at least two) availability zones
They are located within the geographical area of the AWS region
They ensure redundant power, networking and connectivity
There are currently 87 availability zones globally

More details on AWS AZs can be found here

Availability

Extent to which an application is fulfilling its intended business purpose. Applications that are highly-available are built in a manner where a single failure won’t lessen the application’s ability to be fully operational.

Region and AZ naming convention

Region availability for AWS Directory Service

AWS Edge Locations

Edge locations are additional nodes set up to deliver content to the users with low latency
They are utilized by Amazon CloudFront and Amazon Route 53
It allows AWS to serve content from locations closest to users
Currently, there are 410+ points of presence across the globe