Introduction

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) is a cornerstone of AWS, offering scalable virtual servers in the cloud. EC2 allows users to launch and manage virtual machines (VMs) with configurable resources, providing a flexible and scalable computing environment.

What is a Virtual Machine (VM)?

A Virtual Machine (VM) is a software-based emulation of a physical computer. Server virtualization enables you to create, copy, resize, and migrate servers easily. Multiple VMs can run on a single physical server, sharing resources and reducing costs. When you launch a VM in AWS, it is referred to as an "instance."

EC2 Overview

EC2 instances are highly configurable, allowing you to choose various options such as:

AMI (Amazon Machine Image): Defines the operating system and software configurations.
CPUs and Memory: Customize the amount of computational power and RAM.
Network Bandwidth: Configure network performance.
Operating System: Choose from options like Windows 10, Ubuntu, or Amazon Linux 2.
Storage: Attach virtual hard drives, such as Elastic Block Store (EBS).

EC2 forms the backbone of AWS, supporting numerous AWS services such as S3, RDS, DynamoDB, and Lambda.

EC2 vs. Containers vs. Serverless

Virtual Machines

EC2: Provides a highly configurable environment for running virtual machines. It’s suitable for running applications with specific hardware or software requirements.
Amazon LightSail: A simplified version of EC2 designed for users with less AWS knowledge. Ideal for launching basic Linux or Windows servers, like WordPress.

Containers

Containers virtualize the operating system to run multiple workloads on a single OS instance. They are often used in microservices architecture, where applications are divided into smaller, manageable components.
Elastic Container Service (ECS): Manages Docker containers on EC2 instances, providing a scalable container orchestration service.
Elastic Container Registry (ECR): A repository for container images. It stores and manages container images with version control.
ECS Fargate: A serverless option for running containers. You pay per container instance without managing the underlying servers.

Serverless

Serverless Computing: AWS manages the servers, allowing you to focus on code rather than infrastructure.
AWS Lambda: Runs code in response to events without provisioning or managing servers. Charges are based on execution time rounded to the nearest 100ms.

High Performance Computing (HPC)

The Nitro System: AWS’s hardware and lightweight hypervisor that provides enhanced performance and security for EC2 instances. It includes Nitro Cards for VPC, EBS, and instance storage and Nitro Security Chips integrated into the motherboard.
Bare Metal Instances: Allow workloads to run directly on physical hardware, bypassing the hypervisor for maximum performance.
BottleRocket: An open-source Linux-based operating system optimized for running containers on VMs or bare metal hosts.
AWS ParallelCluster: An open-source cluster management tool for deploying and managing HPC clusters on AWS.

Edge and Hybrid Computing

Edge Computing

Edge Computing: Moves computing workloads closer to the end-user or device, reducing latency. Examples include processing on IoT devices or external servers.

Hybrid Computing

Hybrid Computing: Runs workloads on both on-premises data centers and AWS.
AWS Outposts: Physical racks of AWS servers installed in your data center, allowing you to use AWS services on-premises.
AWS Wavelength: Delivers applications in telecom data centers, enabling ultra-low latency by leveraging 5G networks.
VMware Cloud on AWS: Manages on-premises VMs using VMware, integrated with AWS.
AWS Local Zones: Edge data centers located closer to end-users, providing faster computing, storage, and database services.

Cost and Capacity Management

EC2 Spot Instances, Reserved Instances, and Savings Plans: Options to save on computing costs through flexible pricing models or long-term commitments.
AWS Batch: Manages batch computing workloads, utilizing Spot Instances to reduce costs.
AWS Compute Optimizer: Uses machine learning to analyze usage history and suggest ways to reduce costs and improve performance.
EC2 Autoscaling Groups (ASGs): Automatically adjusts the number of EC2 instances based on demand, optimizing cost and capacity.
Elastic Load Balancer (ELB): Distributes traffic across multiple instances, rerouting from unhealthy instances to healthy ones.

AWS Elastic Beanstalk

AWS Elastic Beanstalk: Simplifies the deployment of web applications by handling the underlying infrastructure and scaling automatically. Ideal for developers who want to focus on code rather than infrastructure management.

Conclusion

AWS EC2 and its related services offer a wide range of computing options, from traditional VMs to serverless functions. By understanding the differences and capabilities of these services, you can select the right solution for your needs, optimize costs, and ensure efficient resource management.

Day 9:AWS Computing Services

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