EC2-Fundamentals(part-1)

Today I will describe the computing options available within the AWS platform. AWS provides various computing options that can be sized based on an organization’s needs. We will dig deep into AWS compute services, which is the core of AWS web services, once you understand how computing services work and why it is designed… I’m sure, putting effort into understanding the core topic is absolutely worth it. I aim to share my knowledge, which gives me a sense of deep contentment, so I’ve decided to create a small series on the fundamentals of AWS compute services. If you are interested take a look and dive deep to learn. Here we will discuss each and every step in detail.

AWS’s primary computing platform is called Elastic Compute Cloud which is one of its most powerful and commonly used AWS computing services. EC2 stands for Elastic Compute Cloud.

Why is AWS EC2 important?

EC2 is an on-demand computing service that provides a flexible virtual environment that allows businesses to run application programs for IT projects and cloud workloads that run with global AWS data centers. For providing all these scalable resources, AWS charges some bill amount at the end of every month,bill amount is entirely dependent on your usage. EC2 has resizable capacity.

 So as to meet the demanding business needs I’ve listed out some of the key features of Amazon EC2 below that provides real business benefits.

No hardware infrastructure maintenance

·        Rather than investing in hardware infrastructure that you’ll need to manage and maintain, you can simply use these servers like they are your own. Renting cloud resources means less investment in hardware infrastructure

 Reduced need for expertise

·        EC2 instance management is a whole lot simpler than physical server management, which frees up your valuable time to focus on your business activities

You only pay for what you use

·        This is the most important feature of AWS where you can get on-demand EC2 instances to do the job for you. You only pay for the time you use them, so when the job finishes you release the resources and the bill stops ticking. Simple, yet effective.

Scalability

·        An AWS user can increase or decrease instance capacity as needed within minutes using the AWSEC2 web interface or an application programming interface (API).

·        A developer can code an application to scale instances automatically with AWS Autoscaling.

Cost and Time savings

·        These virtual machines (EC2 instances) automate most of the tasks so it saves both time and cost.

Easily Accessible

·        As EC2 instances are virtual machines you can access them from anywhere in the world with just a few clicks.

How EC2 works

To begin with, using EC2:

o  You can use the AWS Management Console

o  AWS Command Line Tools (CLI)

o  AWS Software Developer Kits (SDKs) to manage EC2.

To bring EC2 in action:

o  Create an AWS account 

o  Set up an EC2 instance 

You’ll need to create an instance EC2, For this, the first step is

·        Choosing an AMI (Amazon Machine Image):

An AMI is a template that is used to create a new instance—or virtual machine—based on user requirements. The AMI will contain information about the software, operating system, volume, and access permissions.

There are two types of AMIs:

·        Predefined AMIs: Amazon creates these, and the user can modify them.

·        Custom AMIs: The user also creates these, and they can be reused. These AMIs are also available in the AMI Marketplace.

·        AMI Marketplace is an online store where users can buy and sell software that runs on AWS.

Choosing an instance type:

Amazon EC2 provides different instance types, designed for different computing and business needs. An instance type specifies the hardware specifications that are required in the machine. Each instance type comes with different size options corresponding to the CPU, memory, and storage needs of each enterprise.

  instance types can be broken down into categories suited to particular use-cases, each with a range of machines of various sizes:

 Instance types belong to five main families:

Compute-optimized: For situations that require a lot of processing power

 C6g, C5, C5a, C5n, C4

 Memory-optimized: For setting up something to do with your in-memory cache

: R6g, R5, R5a, R5n, R4, X1e, X1, High memory, z1d

GPU optimized: For setting up a gaming system, or something with the requirement of a large graphic

 P3, P2, Inf1, G4, G3, F1

Storage optimized: When you need to set up a storage server

I3, I3en, D2, H1

General-purpose: When everything is equally balanced.

 General purpose: A1, T4g, T3, T3a, T2, M6g, M5, M5a, M5n, M4

Instance types are fixed, and their configurations cannot be altered. 

How to Configure Instance:

These are some important elements to configure an instance

You have to specify the number of instances

·        Choosing the right kind of purchasing options

·        A kind of network you require

·        The subnet

·        Assign a public IP

·        Set the IAM role,

·        Shutdown behavior, etc.

 Points to be remembered

 Stopping the system and terminating the system under ‘Shutdown behavior’ are completely different things.

Stopping = temporarily shutting down the system

Terminating = Returning control to Amazon

EC2 Naming Convention: Most people are confused

Now we will understand the EC2 instance Naming convention in detail which most of the people tend to miss out. It will help you understand how to read the names of EC2 instances. So let’s get started. 

An AWS instance name looks like R5d.2xlarge.

 The name contains characters and numbers and every character and number has its own meaning that defines the instance type. For ex: to understand the instance type R5d.2xlarge we will break it down

The name of this instance type is made up of four components.

·        Instance Family

·        Instance Generation

·        Additional Capability

·        Instance Size

 AWS EC2 Instance Family

The first letter of the Instance Type represents the EC2 Instance Family. So here, the R represents the Instance Family. This AWS EC2 instance belongs to the Memory-optimized computing instance family type.

AWS EC2 Instance Generation

Next, the number 5 in R5d represents the generation of the AWS EC2 instance. The latest or the current generation of AWS EC2 instances is always better. It is also cheaper than the previous generations. That’s why AWS always recommends using the newest generation Instance Type. 

AWS EC2 Additional capability

Then we have d in the same, which represents the additional capability of the EC2 instance.

High networking and extra capacity are the two capabilities of this instance type.

The final and most important component of this instance type is Instance Size.

AWS EC2 Instance Size

The 2xlarge of R5d.2xlarge represents the Instance size. Let’s understand what  2xlarge means.

 The 2xlarge denotes the size of the AWS EC2 instance. It represents the amount of CPU, Memory, Storage, and Network Performance of an EC2 Instance.

This Instance size (2xLarge) will have twice the number of CPU, Memory, and storage resources as compared to the base size (xlarge)

Let’s understand this with Instance Sizing.

Instance Sizing

Each instance size (2xlarge) will have twice the number of CPU and memory than the previous size (xlarge), and the On-Demand hourly cost is also twice.

Now, you must be thinking? Should I go for one 2xlarge Instance or two xlarge instances?

But it is always better to use a smaller instance size instead of a bigger one unless you have specific needs.

So in today’s article, we have discussed AWS EC2 fundamentals but there are so many things to learn about AWS EC2 instances that we will discuss further in the next blog. I hope this information will help you to understand the basics. As this is the core of all AWS services I will recommend you read this blog multiple times which will bring clarity and help you to understand the topic better.

In today’s discussion, we learned AWS EC2 is a true virtual computing platform, where we can do various operations and even launch another EC2 instance from this virtually created environment.  As we know that modern organizations require modern technology solutions and AWS offers a large suite of services, with EC2 instances as one of the key building blocks. If you have any more questions on how these cloud servers can help your business, or what else you can achieve with AWS, don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.

Pravin Mishra Shefali Arora Bhavesh Atara Ruchita Tandon Madhura DasGupta Sinha Amit Mehta Thankyou so much for constant support.

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