Concepts
========

Learn about some of the key concepts for working with Aiven platform:

* :doc:`Authentication tokens </docs/platform/concepts/authentication-tokens>`.

  Learn about authentication tokens and how to use them to programmatically access Aiven resources.

* :doc:`Billing </docs/platform/concepts/list-billing>`.

  Understand how to set up and manage billing profiles.

* :doc:`Beta services </docs/platform/concepts/beta_services>`.

  What to expect from the early versions of our new services and upgrades.

* :doc:`Cloud security </docs/platform/concepts/cloud-security>`.

  Learn about Aiven's access control, encryption, network security, data privacy and operator access.

* :doc:`Backups at Aiven </docs/platform/concepts/service_backups>`.

  Learn about how Aiven manages backup for each service and its retention policies.

* :doc:`Service power cycle </docs/platform/concepts/service-power-cycle>`.

  Learn about how Aiven manages service power off and power on.

* :doc:`Service forking </docs/platform/concepts/service-forking>`.

  Quickly and safely make a copy of your database or other service for testing, dry run upgrades, or anything else, without affecting your existing service.

* :doc:`Service memory limits </docs/platform/concepts/service-memory-limits>`.

  Understanding memory overhead and limits applied to services.

* :doc:`Out of memory conditions </docs/platform/concepts/out-of-memory-conditions>`.

  How Aiven protects your service from the Out Of Memory Killer when memory is overcommitted.

* :doc:`Organizations, projects, and managing access </docs/platform/concepts/projects_accounts_access>`.

  Understand organizations, organizational units, access management, and best practices for structuring your Aiven projects.

* :doc:`TLS/SSL certificates </docs/platform/concepts/tls-ssl-certificates>`.

  Securing connections to Aiven services with certificates.

* :doc:`Dynamic Disk Sizing (DDS) </docs/platform/concepts/dynamic-disk-sizing>`.

  Add (and remove) storage on the fly without upgrading your plan.

* :doc:`Bring your own account (BYOA) </docs/platform/concepts/byoa>`.

  BYOA is an optional setup feature that allows you to purchase your Aiven services through your existing Cloud Provider.

* :doc:`Enhanced Compliance Environments (ECE) </docs/platform/concepts/enhanced-compliance-env>`.

  Enhanced Compliance Environments are an optional setup feature that allows you to deploy Aiven services within an environment that satisfies compliance beyond those of a standard environment.

* :doc:`Disaster Recovery (DR) testing scenarios </docs/platform/concepts/disaster-recovery-test-scenarios>`.
  
  DR testing scenarios are simulations of disaster scenarios run for enterprise support customers by Aiven operators.

* `Choosing a time series database`_.
  
  Choosing a time series database in Aiven Console.
* :doc:`Service resources </docs/platform/concepts/service-resources>`
  
  Learn about why services in Aiven have different resources than the VM it is running on.

* :doc:`Availability zones </docs/platform/concepts/availability-zones>`.

  Find out what availability zones are and how they can be used to improve data security and availability.

.. We would like to use a :doc: role for this, but at 2022-08, vale will
   spell-check the URL if we do so, and complain about 'timeseries'
.. _`Choosing a time series database`: https://docs.aiven.io/docs/platform/concepts/choosing-timeseries-database