Day 15:AWS Compute EC2

What is Amazon EC2?

Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) is a highly configurable virtual server service that offers resizable compute capacity. It allows users to quickly launch and manage servers, scale them up or down as needed, and choose from a variety of configurations. EC2 provides the flexibility to handle a wide range of computing tasks, from small web applications to large-scale enterprise solutions.

Key Features

• Instance Types: Choose from various instance types based on your needs.

• Amazon Machine Images (AMIs): Select the operating system you prefer, such as Red Hat, Ubuntu, Microsoft, Amazon Linux, or SUSE.

• Storage Options: Attach storage volumes like Elastic Block Store (EBS) or Elastic File System (EFS), with options for SSD, HDD, and more.

• Security and Networking: Configure security groups, key pairs, IAM roles, and placement groups to manage access and network traffic.

EC2 Instance Families

EC2 instances are grouped into families based on their capabilities. Each family offers different combinations of CPU, memory, storage, and networking capacity to suit various use cases.

• General Purpose: Balances compute, memory, and networking resources. Suitable for web servers and code repositories.

  • Examples: A1, T2, T3, T3a, T4g, M4, M5, M5a, M5n, M6zn, M6g, M6i, Mac.

• Compute Optimized: Designed for compute-bound applications that benefit from high-performance processors. Ideal for scientific modeling and gaming servers.

  • Examples: C5, C4, C6g, C6gn.

• Memory Optimized: Provides fast performance for workloads that process large datasets in memory. Suitable for databases and in-memory processing.

  • Examples: R4, R5, R5a, R5n, X1, X1e.

• Accelerated Computing: Uses hardware accelerators or co-processors for specialized applications like machine learning and computational finance.

  • Examples: P2, P3, P4, G3, G4ad, G4dn, F1, Inf1, VT1.

• Storage Optimized: Offers high, sequential read and write access to large datasets on local storage. Best for data warehousing and NoSQL databases.

  • Examples: I3, I3en, D2, D3, D3en, H1.

EC2 Instance Types

An instance type defines the size and family of an EC2 instance. Sizes generally follow a pattern but can vary.

• Common Sizes: nano, micro, small, medium, large, xlarge, 2xlarge, 4xlarge, 8xlarge.

• Exceptions: Some instance sizes do not follow the typical pattern. For instance, c6.metal is a bare metal machine, and c5.9xlarge is not a power-of-2 size.

EC2 Pricing Models

EC2 offers several pricing models to fit different usage patterns:

• On-Demand: Pay-as-you-go pricing with no long-term commitment. Ideal for short-term, spiky, or unpredictable workloads. Charges are based on per-second or per-hour usage.

• Spot Instances: Provide up to 90% savings compared to On-Demand pricing by utilizing unused capacity. Suitable for flexible, low-cost applications that can handle interruptions.

• Reserved Instances (RI): Offer up to 75% savings with a commitment to use EC2 instances over a 1- or 3-year term. RIs can be Standard (more cost-effective but less flexible) or Convertible (more flexible with slightly higher costs). Options include All Upfront, Partial Upfront, and No Upfront payments.

• Dedicated Hosts: Provide physical isolation for regulatory or licensing requirements. You can bring your own licenses and control the physical server attributes.

• Savings Plans: Provide flexibility across multiple AWS services with potential savings up to 72%. They include Compute Savings Plans and EC2 Instance Savings Plans.

EC2 Tenancy

EC2 offers three levels of tenancy:

• Dedicated Host: Provides physical isolation and control over hardware.

• Dedicated Instance: Runs on hardware dedicated to a single customer but may share with other instances from the same AWS organization.

• Default: Runs on shared hardware with other AWS customers.