Back to results for “Resources”
AWS › AWS Global Infrastructure (Regions, AZs & Edge Locations)

What is an AWS Region, and how do you choose the right region for deploying your resources?

Beginner

Answer

An AWS Region is a physically separate geographic area containing multiple isolated data centers, and choosing the right region typically depends on factors such as proximity to your end users for lower latency, compliance and data residency requirements that may legally require data to stay within a specific country or geographic area, and the availability of specific AWS services, since not every service is available in every region.
aws ec2 describe-regions
Real-world example A European company serving primarily European customers deploys its application in an EU based region both to reduce latency for those users and to comply with data residency regulations requiring customer data to remain within the European Union.

Common follow-ups: How many AWS regions currently exist worldwide?;What happens if a service you need is not available in your preferred region?