Where are AWS EC2 Availability Zones exactly?

Question

I am trying to create a server with the lowest possible latency for my target audience. I get the difference between regions and Availability Zones (I think). It sounds like the Availability Zones are in different cities. Where are they exactly?

I imagine Amazon are quite keen for you not to know the exact postcodes of their datacenters. You can guess why. — Chris Huang-Leaver, Feb 18 '13 at 20:20
@ChrisHuang-Leaver yea haha, but if someone really wanted to figure it out I guess they could try to lookup public records about what properties amazon bought potentially. Security through obfuscation? — Parris, Feb 18 '13 at 20:34

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 18 '13 at 20:16

The best that Amazon provide in terms of public information is on their EC2 FAQ. If you want the lowest possible latency can you not just ping servers in each availability zone from your target location and find the lowest latency that way? There's no guarantee that physical proximity == lowest latency anyway.

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 19 '13 at 06:50

3

You can assume that all availability zones in the same region have the similar latency. (as they are all very close). Also as far as I know not necessary the availability zones are the same for all users. (i.e. us-east-1a can be different datacenter for different users)

answered Feb 19 '13 at 06:50

nnahum

364
6
12

Ohhhh so they have more than data centers than availability zones. Ok that's interesting! Thanks! – Parris Feb 19 '13 at 18:27
@Parris the notes from the outage in US East from July 2012 mention that the region has 10 datacenters total http://aws.amazon.com/message/67457/ – matt b Oct 15 '13 at 21:03

Pavel · Answer 3 · 2019-10-23T09:26:00.230

To achieve the optimum experience for your users, you should pick the region that's geographically closest to your users. EC2 Availability Zones within an AWS Region should offer effectively the same latency to external users (as opposed to other services deployed within the same region or AZ as your own service). All AZs are highly interconnected to the Internet infrastructure in their geographic region. Within that region, you ideally want to architect your application so that its components are replicated across multiple AZs to achieve the best possible availability.

As the name suggests, Availability Zones are primarily an availability/reliability construct: by deploying your application across multiple AZs, you can protect yourself against certain failure modes. The promise that AWS EC2 makes to customers is that no two AZs should fail at the same time for related reasons.

Availability Zones comprise of one or more data centres within close proximity such that the latency is low enough for highly distributed applications to operate effectively at "local network" speeds. A region is a collection of such AZs in close enough proximity to one another. However, since they need to be meaningfully separated from one another by distance, the speed of light implies a higher minimum latency across AZs. Peter DeSantis breaks it down very well in his re:Invent 2018 keynote.

This is technically inaccurate but may be a helpful simplified model: you can think of AZs as "logical data centres" and regions as "groups of data centres within the same metro area". Features like synchronous replication might work great within an AZ, but you should probably be more careful creating topologies that span across AZs for example. Conversely, for cluster applications that are extremely latency-sensitive, such as message-passing compute grids, you can optionally use EC2 Placement Groups to ensure the best possible locality inside an AZ's internal topology. The exact latency numbers will vary between regions and you should do your own measurements to inform your architecture decisions.

grenade · Answer 4 · 2021-09-27T14:58:37.240

if you query an ip address to location mapping service for a bunch of instances started in different availability zones, you will end up with a mapping similar to this:

- az: af-south-1c
  longitude: 18.424100875854492
  latitude: -33.92490005493164
  continent:
    code: AF
    name: Africa
  country:
    code: ZA
    name: South Africa
    flag: "\U0001F1FF\U0001F1E6"
  region:
    code: WC
    name: Western Cape
  city:
    name: Cape Town
  postcode: 8001
- az: ap-northeast-1a
  longitude: 139.73855590820312
  latitude: 35.69628143310547
  continent:
    code: AS
    name: Asia
  country:
    code: JP
    name: Japan
    flag: "\U0001F1EF\U0001F1F5"
  region:
    code: 13
    name: Tokyo
  city:
    name: Tokyo
  postcode: 162-0843
- az: ap-northeast-1c
  longitude: 139.73855590820312
  latitude: 35.69628143310547
  continent:
    code: AS
    name: Asia
  country:
    code: JP
    name: Japan
    flag: "\U0001F1EF\U0001F1F5"
  region:
    code: 13
    name: Tokyo
  city:
    name: Tokyo
  postcode: 162-0843
- az: ap-northeast-1d
  longitude: 139.73855590820312
  latitude: 35.69628143310547
  continent:
    code: AS
    name: Asia
  country:
    code: JP
    name: Japan
    flag: "\U0001F1EF\U0001F1F5"
  region:
    code: 13
    name: Tokyo
  city:
    name: Tokyo
  postcode: 162-0843
- az: ap-northeast-2a
  longitude: 126.620361328125
  latitude: 37.473548889160156
  continent:
    code: AS
    name: Asia
  country:
    code: KR
    name: South Korea
    flag: "\U0001F1F0\U0001F1F7"
  region:
    code: 28
    name: Incheon
  city:
    name: Incheon
  postcode: 400-011
- az: ap-northeast-3c
  longitude: 135.50750732421875
  latitude: 34.67094039916992
  continent:
    code: AS
    name: Asia
  country:
    code: JP
    name: Japan
    flag: "\U0001F1EF\U0001F1F5"
  region:
    code: 27
    name: Ōsaka
  city:
    name: Osaka
  postcode: 542-0082
- az: ap-southeast-1a
  longitude: 103.8517837524414
  latitude: 1.287950038909912
  continent:
    code: AS
    name: Asia
  country:
    code: SG
    name: Singapore
    flag: "\U0001F1F8\U0001F1EC"
  region:
    code: 1
    name: Central Singapore
  city:
    name: Singapore
  postcode: null
- az: ap-southeast-1c
  longitude: -73.44097137451172
  latitude: 41.126861572265625
  continent:
    code: NA
    name: North America
  country:
    code: US
    name: United States
    flag: "\U0001F1FA\U0001F1F8"
  region:
    code: CT
    name: Connecticut
  city:
    name: East Norwalk
  postcode: 06850
- az: ap-southeast-2a
  longitude: 151.2071075439453
  latitude: -33.86714172363281
  continent:
    code: OC
    name: Oceania
  country:
    code: AU
    name: Australia
    flag: "\U0001F1E6\U0001F1FA"
  region:
    code: NSW
    name: New South Wales
  city:
    name: Sydney
  postcode: 2000
- az: ap-southeast-2b
  longitude: 151.2071075439453
  latitude: -33.86714172363281
  continent:
    code: OC
    name: Oceania
  country:
    code: AU
    name: Australia
    flag: "\U0001F1E6\U0001F1FA"
  region:
    code: NSW
    name: New South Wales
  city:
    name: Sydney
  postcode: 2000
- az: ca-central-1a
  longitude: -73.56201171875
  latitude: 45.502079010009766
  continent:
    code: NA
    name: North America
  country:
    code: CA
    name: Canada
    flag: "\U0001F1E8\U0001F1E6"
  region:
    code: QC
    name: Quebec
  city:
    name: Montréal
  postcode: H2Y 2J7
- az: ca-central-1b
  longitude: -73.56201171875
  latitude: 45.502079010009766
  continent:
    code: NA
    name: North America
  country:
    code: CA
    name: Canada
    flag: "\U0001F1E8\U0001F1E6"
  region:
    code: QC
    name: Quebec
  city:
    name: Montréal
  postcode: H2Y 2J7
- az: eu-central-1c
  longitude: 8.682100296020508
  latitude: 50.11090087890625
  continent:
    code: EU
    name: Europe
  country:
    code: DE
    name: Germany
    flag: "\U0001F1E9\U0001F1EA"
  region:
    code: HE
    name: Hesse
  city:
    name: Frankfurt am Main
  postcode: 60311
- az: eu-north-1a
  longitude: 18.051319122314453
  latitude: 59.315120697021484
  continent:
    code: EU
    name: Europe
  country:
    code: SE
    name: Sweden
    flag: "\U0001F1F8\U0001F1EA"
  region:
    code: AB
    name: Stockholm
  city:
    name: Stockholm
  postcode: 118 58
- az: eu-north-1b
  longitude: 18.051319122314453
  latitude: 59.315120697021484
  continent:
    code: EU
    name: Europe
  country:
    code: SE
    name: Sweden
    flag: "\U0001F1F8\U0001F1EA"
  region:
    code: AB
    name: Stockholm
  city:
    name: Stockholm
  postcode: 118 58
- az: eu-north-1c
  longitude: 18.051319122314453
  latitude: 59.315120697021484
  continent:
    code: EU
    name: Europe
  country:
    code: SE
    name: Sweden
    flag: "\U0001F1F8\U0001F1EA"
  region:
    code: AB
    name: Stockholm
  city:
    name: Stockholm
  postcode: 118 58
- az: eu-south-1a
  longitude: 9.192000389099121
  latitude: 45.47200012207031
  continent:
    code: EU
    name: Europe
  country:
    code: IT
    name: Italy
    flag: "\U0001F1EE\U0001F1F9"
  region:
    code: 25
    name: Lombardy
  city:
    name: Milan
  postcode: 20121
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  longitude: 9.192000389099121
  latitude: 45.47200012207031
  continent:
    code: EU
    name: Europe
  country:
    code: IT
    name: Italy
    flag: "\U0001F1EE\U0001F1F9"
  region:
    code: 25
    name: Lombardy
  city:
    name: Milan
  postcode: 20121
- az: eu-south-1b
  longitude: 9.192899703979492
  latitude: 45.48379898071289
  continent:
    code: EU
    name: Europe
  country:
    code: IT
    name: Italy
    flag: "\U0001F1EE\U0001F1F9"
  region:
    code: 25
    name: Lombardy
  city:
    name: Milan
  postcode: 20124
- az: eu-south-1c
  longitude: 9.192000389099121
  latitude: 45.47200012207031
  continent:
    code: EU
    name: Europe
  country:
    code: IT
    name: Italy
    flag: "\U0001F1EE\U0001F1F9"
  region:
    code: 25
    name: Lombardy
  city:
    name: Milan
  postcode: 20121
- az: eu-west-1a
  longitude: -6.243330001831055
  latitude: 53.35388946533203
  continent:
    code: EU
    name: Europe
  country:
    code: IE
    name: Ireland
    flag: "\U0001F1EE\U0001F1EA"
  region:
    code: L
    name: Leinster
  city:
    name: Dublin
  postcode: null
- az: eu-west-1b
  longitude: -6.243330001831055
  latitude: 53.35388946533203
  continent:
    code: EU
    name: Europe
  country:
    code: IE
    name: Ireland
    flag: "\U0001F1EE\U0001F1EA"
  region:
    code: L
    name: Leinster
  city:
    name: Dublin
  postcode: null
- az: eu-west-1c
  longitude: -6.243330001831055
  latitude: 53.35388946533203
  continent:
    code: EU
    name: Europe
  country:
    code: IE
    name: Ireland
    flag: "\U0001F1EE\U0001F1EA"
  region:
    code: L
    name: Leinster
  city:
    name: Dublin
  postcode: null
- az: eu-west-2c
  longitude: -0.12574
  latitude: 51.5122184753418
  continent:
    code: EU
    name: Europe
  country:
    code: GB
    name: United Kingdom
    flag: "\U0001F1EC\U0001F1E7"
  region:
    code: ENG
    name: England
  city:
    name: Blackheath
  postcode: EC1M
- az: eu-west-2c
  longitude: 0
  latitude: 51.5122184753418
  continent:
    code: EU
    name: Europe
  country:
    code: GB
    name: United Kingdom
    flag: "\U0001F1EC\U0001F1E7"
  region:
    code: ENG
    name: England
  city:
    name: Blackheath
  postcode: EC1M
- az: eu-west-3a
  longitude: 2.3410699367523193
  latitude: 48.8602294921875
  continent:
    code: EU
    name: Europe
  country:
    code: FR
    name: France
    flag: "\U0001F1EB\U0001F1F7"
  region:
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  city:
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  postcode: 75001
- az: eu-west-3c
  longitude: 2.3410699367523193
  latitude: 48.8602294921875
  continent:
    code: EU
    name: Europe
  country:
    code: FR
    name: France
    flag: "\U0001F1EB\U0001F1F7"
  region:
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    name: Île-de-France
  city:
    name: Saint-Ouen
  postcode: 75001
- az: us-east-1b
  longitude: -77.47419738769531
  latitude: 39.043701171875
  continent:
    code: NA
    name: North America
  country:
    code: US
    name: United States
    flag: "\U0001F1FA\U0001F1F8"
  region:
    code: VA
    name: Virginia
  city:
    name: Ashburn
  postcode: 20147
- az: us-east-1c
  longitude: -77.47419738769531
  latitude: 39.043701171875
  continent:
    code: NA
    name: North America
  country:
    code: US
    name: United States
    flag: "\U0001F1FA\U0001F1F8"
  region:
    code: VA
    name: Virginia
  city:
    name: Ashburn
  postcode: 20147
- az: us-east-1d
  longitude: -77.47419738769531
  latitude: 39.043701171875
  continent:
    code: NA
    name: North America
  country:
    code: US
    name: United States
    flag: "\U0001F1FA\U0001F1F8"
  region:
    code: VA
    name: Virginia
  city:
    name: Ashburn
  postcode: 20147
- az: us-east-1f
  longitude: -77.47419738769531
  latitude: 39.043701171875
  continent:
    code: NA
    name: North America
  country:
    code: US
    name: United States
    flag: "\U0001F1FA\U0001F1F8"
  region:
    code: VA
    name: Virginia
  city:
    name: Ashburn
  postcode: 20147
- az: us-east-2b
  longitude: -82.99945831298828
  latitude: 39.99557876586914
  continent:
    code: NA
    name: North America
  country:
    code: US
    name: United States
    flag: "\U0001F1FA\U0001F1F8"
  region:
    code: OH
    name: Ohio
  city:
    name: Columbus
  postcode: 43201
- az: us-east-2c
  longitude: -82.99945831298828
  latitude: 39.99557876586914
  continent:
    code: NA
    name: North America
  country:
    code: US
    name: United States
    flag: "\U0001F1FA\U0001F1F8"
  region:
    code: OH
    name: Ohio
  city:
    name: Columbus
  postcode: 43201
- az: us-west-1a
  longitude: -121.83822631835938
  latitude: 37.330528259277344
  continent:
    code: NA
    name: North America
  country:
    code: US
    name: United States
    flag: "\U0001F1FA\U0001F1F8"
  region:
    code: CA
    name: California
  city:
    name: San Jose
  postcode: 95122
- az: us-west-1b
  longitude: -121.83822631835938
  latitude: 37.330528259277344
  continent:
    code: NA
    name: North America
  country:
    code: US
    name: United States
    flag: "\U0001F1FA\U0001F1F8"
  region:
    code: CA
    name: California
  city:
    name: San Jose
  postcode: 95122
- az: us-west-2d
  longitude: -119.81143188476562
  latitude: 45.73722839355469
  continent:
    code: NA
    name: North America
  country:
    code: US
    name: United States
    flag: "\U0001F1FA\U0001F1F8"
  region:
    code: OR
    name: Oregon
  city:
    name: Boardman
  postcode: 97818

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    "country": {
      "code": "SE",
      "name": "Sweden",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": "AB",
      "name": "Stockholm"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "Stockholm"
    },
    "postcode": "118 58"
  },
  {
    "az": "eu-north-1b",
    "longitude": 18.051319122314453,
    "latitude": 59.315120697021484,
    "continent": {
      "code": "EU",
      "name": "Europe"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "SE",
      "name": "Sweden",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": "AB",
      "name": "Stockholm"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "Stockholm"
    },
    "postcode": "118 58"
  },
  {
    "az": "eu-north-1c",
    "longitude": 18.051319122314453,
    "latitude": 59.315120697021484,
    "continent": {
      "code": "EU",
      "name": "Europe"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "SE",
      "name": "Sweden",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": "AB",
      "name": "Stockholm"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "Stockholm"
    },
    "postcode": "118 58"
  },
  {
    "az": "eu-south-1a",
    "longitude": 9.192000389099121,
    "latitude": 45.47200012207031,
    "continent": {
      "code": "EU",
      "name": "Europe"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "IT",
      "name": "Italy",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": 25,
      "name": "Lombardy"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "Milan"
    },
    "postcode": 20121
  },
  {
    "az": "eu-south-1b",
    "longitude": 9.192000389099121,
    "latitude": 45.47200012207031,
    "continent": {
      "code": "EU",
      "name": "Europe"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "IT",
      "name": "Italy",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": 25,
      "name": "Lombardy"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "Milan"
    },
    "postcode": 20121
  },
  {
    "az": "eu-south-1b",
    "longitude": 9.192899703979492,
    "latitude": 45.48379898071289,
    "continent": {
      "code": "EU",
      "name": "Europe"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "IT",
      "name": "Italy",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": 25,
      "name": "Lombardy"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "Milan"
    },
    "postcode": 20124
  },
  {
    "az": "eu-south-1c",
    "longitude": 9.192000389099121,
    "latitude": 45.47200012207031,
    "continent": {
      "code": "EU",
      "name": "Europe"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "IT",
      "name": "Italy",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": 25,
      "name": "Lombardy"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "Milan"
    },
    "postcode": 20121
  },
  {
    "az": "eu-west-1a",
    "longitude": -6.243330001831055,
    "latitude": 53.35388946533203,
    "continent": {
      "code": "EU",
      "name": "Europe"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "IE",
      "name": "Ireland",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": "L",
      "name": "Leinster"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "Dublin"
    },
    "postcode": null
  },
  {
    "az": "eu-west-1b",
    "longitude": -6.243330001831055,
    "latitude": 53.35388946533203,
    "continent": {
      "code": "EU",
      "name": "Europe"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "IE",
      "name": "Ireland",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": "L",
      "name": "Leinster"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "Dublin"
    },
    "postcode": null
  },
  {
    "az": "eu-west-1c",
    "longitude": -6.243330001831055,
    "latitude": 53.35388946533203,
    "continent": {
      "code": "EU",
      "name": "Europe"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "IE",
      "name": "Ireland",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": "L",
      "name": "Leinster"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "Dublin"
    },
    "postcode": null
  },
  {
    "az": "eu-west-2c",
    "longitude": -0.12574,
    "latitude": 51.5122184753418,
    "continent": {
      "code": "EU",
      "name": "Europe"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "GB",
      "name": "United Kingdom",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": "ENG",
      "name": "England"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "Blackheath"
    },
    "postcode": "EC1M"
  },
  {
    "az": "eu-west-2c",
    "longitude": 0,
    "latitude": 51.5122184753418,
    "continent": {
      "code": "EU",
      "name": "Europe"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "GB",
      "name": "United Kingdom",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": "ENG",
      "name": "England"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "Blackheath"
    },
    "postcode": "EC1M"
  },
  {
    "az": "eu-west-3a",
    "longitude": 2.3410699367523193,
    "latitude": 48.8602294921875,
    "continent": {
      "code": "EU",
      "name": "Europe"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "FR",
      "name": "France",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": "IDF",
      "name": "Île-de-France"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "Saint-Ouen"
    },
    "postcode": 75001
  },
  {
    "az": "eu-west-3c",
    "longitude": 2.3410699367523193,
    "latitude": 48.8602294921875,
    "continent": {
      "code": "EU",
      "name": "Europe"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "FR",
      "name": "France",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": "IDF",
      "name": "Île-de-France"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "Saint-Ouen"
    },
    "postcode": 75001
  },
  {
    "az": "us-east-1b",
    "longitude": -77.47419738769531,
    "latitude": 39.043701171875,
    "continent": {
      "code": "NA",
      "name": "North America"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "US",
      "name": "United States",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": "VA",
      "name": "Virginia"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "Ashburn"
    },
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  },
  {
    "az": "us-east-1c",
    "longitude": -77.47419738769531,
    "latitude": 39.043701171875,
    "continent": {
      "code": "NA",
      "name": "North America"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "US",
      "name": "United States",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": "VA",
      "name": "Virginia"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "Ashburn"
    },
    "postcode": 20147
  },
  {
    "az": "us-east-1d",
    "longitude": -77.47419738769531,
    "latitude": 39.043701171875,
    "continent": {
      "code": "NA",
      "name": "North America"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "US",
      "name": "United States",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": "VA",
      "name": "Virginia"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "Ashburn"
    },
    "postcode": 20147
  },
  {
    "az": "us-east-1f",
    "longitude": -77.47419738769531,
    "latitude": 39.043701171875,
    "continent": {
      "code": "NA",
      "name": "North America"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "US",
      "name": "United States",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": "VA",
      "name": "Virginia"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "Ashburn"
    },
    "postcode": 20147
  },
  {
    "az": "us-east-2b",
    "longitude": -82.99945831298828,
    "latitude": 39.99557876586914,
    "continent": {
      "code": "NA",
      "name": "North America"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "US",
      "name": "United States",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": "OH",
      "name": "Ohio"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "Columbus"
    },
    "postcode": 43201
  },
  {
    "az": "us-east-2c",
    "longitude": -82.99945831298828,
    "latitude": 39.99557876586914,
    "continent": {
      "code": "NA",
      "name": "North America"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "US",
      "name": "United States",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": "OH",
      "name": "Ohio"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "Columbus"
    },
    "postcode": 43201
  },
  {
    "az": "us-west-1a",
    "longitude": -121.83822631835938,
    "latitude": 37.330528259277344,
    "continent": {
      "code": "NA",
      "name": "North America"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "US",
      "name": "United States",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": "CA",
      "name": "California"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "San Jose"
    },
    "postcode": 95122
  },
  {
    "az": "us-west-1b",
    "longitude": -121.83822631835938,
    "latitude": 37.330528259277344,
    "continent": {
      "code": "NA",
      "name": "North America"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "US",
      "name": "United States",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": "CA",
      "name": "California"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "San Jose"
    },
    "postcode": 95122
  },
  {
    "az": "us-west-2d",
    "longitude": -119.81143188476562,
    "latitude": 45.73722839355469,
    "continent": {
      "code": "NA",
      "name": "North America"
    },
    "country": {
      "code": "US",
      "name": "United States",
      "flag": ""
    },
    "region": {
      "code": "OR",
      "name": "Oregon"
    },
    "city": {
      "name": "Boardman"
    },
    "postcode": 97818
  }
]

note that this is not an accurate representation of az locations. it's just the result of running geolocation queries against the public ip addresses of multiple ec2 instances.

score 0 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

0

You can read on this Amazon doc page that Availability Zones are not map to a specific place :

To ensure that resources are distributed across the Availability Zones for a region, we independently map Availability Zones to identifiers for each account. For example, your Availability Zone us-east-1a might not be the same location as us-east-1a for another account. Note that there's no way for you to coordinate Availability Zones between accounts.

UPADTE : according to Pavel comment below, please note that now you can use unique identifier for availability zone AZ ID : To coordinate Availability Zones across accounts, you must use the AZ ID, which is a unique and consistent identifier for an Availability Zone. For example, use1-az1 is an AZ ID for the us-east-1 Region and it has the same location in every AWS account. Source aws documentation

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

1
1

answered Nov 22 '13 at 17:47

rebe100x

1,473
15
18

1

That documentation says that the names of availability zones are not necessarily consistent between accounts. It does not imply that availability zones don't map to a specific place; only that the mapping may differ between accounts. So it is still possible that all servers in zone A (for me) are in the same data center, while all servers in zone B (for you) are also in that same data center. – Carl G Nov 03 '16 at 03:07
Indeed but, for me, it also means Amazon can change your Availability Zones without warning. So it sounds quite dangerous to play with this parameter. Caching and compression is a better option to optimize speed. – rebe100x Nov 03 '16 at 15:10
1

I think for that there are [placement groups](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/placement-groups.html): "A placement group is a logical grouping of instances within a single Availability Zone. Placement groups are recommended for applications that benefit from low network latency, high network throughput, or both." – Carl G Nov 03 '16 at 16:15
This answer is no longer accurate; AWS EC2 nowadays exposes AZ IDs which are universal and not randomized between accounts. Moreover newly created accounts no longer get their AZ mappings randomised. Please refer to the latest [AWS EC2 User Guide](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/en_pv/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/using-regions-availability-zones#concepts-regions-availability-zones). – Pavel Oct 22 '19 at 15:17

Where are AWS EC2 Availability Zones exactly?

5 Answers5