(2)EC2

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) is a powerful web service provided by AWS that offers scalable computing capacity in the cloud. Designed to simplify cloud-based computing for developers, EC2 enables users to quickly deploy and manage virtual servers, known as instances. Through its intuitive web service interface, EC2 allows users to efficiently scale computing resources, ensuring flexibility and cost-effectiveness. With a variety of configurations available for CPU, memory, storage, and networking, EC2 empowers developers to tailor instances to their specific needs.

Instance Types

EC2 instances are categorized based on their intended workload and performance characteristics. AWS offers five primary categories of instance types:

• General Purpose: Balanced compute, memory, and networking for various applications.
• Compute Optimized: High-performance processors designed for compute-intensive workloads.
• Memory Optimized: Instances with large RAM capacity for memory-intensive applications.
• Storage Optimized: High-speed storage for applications requiring significant disk throughput.
• Accelerated Computing: GPU-based instances for high-performance computing tasks. Each category contains multiple instance types, such as t2.micro, each designed with specific configurations of CPU, memory, storage, and network capacity.

CPU Credits

EC2 instances using the T2 and T3 families operate on a CPU credit system. These instances accumulate CPU credits when idle and consume them when under load. Each CPU credit provides the performance of a full CPU core for one minute. For example, a t2.micro instance earns six CPU credits per hour. Unused credits can be stored for up to seven days, ensuring flexible performance scaling. AWS also offers an Unlimited Mode, which allows instances to exceed their baseline performance for extended periods at an additional cost.

Storage and Volumes

Amazon EC2 instances use Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) as their primary storage solution. EBS volumes provide persistent storage and are automatically replicated within their Availability Zone to enhance durability. These volumes appear as network drives, allowing users to format and mount them as needed. EBS is commonly used for system drives, databases, and applications requiring frequent data updates.

Key Pairs for Secure Access

Security is a critical component of EC2, and AWS provides key pairs to ensure secure authentication. A key pair consists of a public and a private key, where the public key is stored by AWS, and the private key is retained by the user. When launching an EC2 instance, specifying a key pair allows secure SSH access to the instance. Since key pairs are region-specific, users must generate separate keys for different AWS regions.

Elastic IP Addresses

Elastic IPs are static IPv4 addresses designed for cloud-based applications requiring consistent external access. Unlike traditional static IPs, Elastic IPs can be dynamically reassigned to different instances, ensuring high availability and fault tolerance. Users retain control of their Elastic IPs until they manually release them.

User Data Scripts

EC2 allows users to automate instance configuration using User Data Scripts. These scripts run as the root user and execute only once upon the first boot of an instance. Common use cases include installing software, configuring system settings, and downloading files from AWS S3. User Data scripts can be supplied as plain text or in Base64-encoded format, with a size limit of 16 KB.

Purchasing Options

AWS offers multiple purchasing models to cater to diverse business requirements:

• On-Demand Instances: Pay per hour with no upfront commitment, offering flexibility.
• Reserved Instances: Provide up to 75% cost savings by committing to one- or three-year contracts.
• Spot Instances: Enable cost-efficient computing by bidding on unused EC2 capacity.
• Dedicated Hosts: Physical servers reserved for specific users, suitable for regulatory compliance.
• Savings Plans: Offer discounted rates for consistent usage over one- or three-year periods.

Conclusion

Amazon EC2 is an essential service for cloud computing, offering developers the flexibility, scalability, and security needed for a wide range of applications. By understanding its features, instance types, storage options, security mechanisms, and pricing models, businesses can optimize their cloud infrastructure efficiently and cost-effectively.