What is EC2 instance?

This recipe explains what is EC2 instance

What is EC2 instance?

A virtual server in Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) for running applications on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure is known as an Amazon EC2 instance. AWS is a comprehensive and ever-evolving cloud computing platform; EC2 is a service that allows business subscribers to run application programs in a computing environment. It can serve as a virtually limitless number of virtual machines (VMs).

To meet the needs of users, Amazon offers a variety of instances with varying configurations of CPU, memory, storage, and networking resources. Each type is available in a variety of sizes to meet the needs of different workloads.

Amazon Machine Images are used to create instances (AMI). The machine images function as templates. They are pre-installed with an operating system (OS) and other software that determines the user's operating environment. Users can choose an AMI from AWS, the user community, or the AWS Marketplace. Users can also create and share their own AMIs.

Amazon EC2 instance features

Many EC2 instance features, such as storage, the number of virtual processors and memory available to the instance, the OS, and the AMI on which the instance is based, are customizable . The Amazon EC2 instance features listed below:

    • Operating system -

EC2 supports a wide range of operating systems, including Linux, Microsoft Windows Server, CentOS, and Debian.

    • Persistent storage.

Amazon's Elastic Block Storage (EBS) service lets you attach block-level storage volumes to EC2 instances and use them as hard drives. EBS allows you to increase or decrease the amount of storage available to an EC2 instance, as well as attach EBS volumes to multiple instances at the same time.

    • Elastic IP addresses -

IP addresses can be associated with instances using Amazon's Elastic IP service. Elastic IP addresses can be moved from instance to instance without the assistance of a network administrator. This makes them ideal for use in failover clusters, load balancing, and other applications where multiple servers are running the same service.

    • Amazon CloudWatch -

This web service allows for the monitoring of AWS cloud services and AWS-hosted applications. CloudWatch is capable of collecting, storing, and analyzing historical and real-time performance data. It can also monitor applications proactively, improve resource utilization, reduce costs, and scale up or down based on changing workloads.

    • Automated scaling

In response to application demand, Amazon EC2 Auto Scaling automatically adds or removes capacity from Amazon EC2 virtual servers. Auto Scaling adds capacity to handle temporary spikes in traffic during a product launch or to increase or decrease capacity based on whether usage is above or below certain thresholds.

    • Bare-metal instances -

These virtual server instances are made up of hardware resources like a processor, storage, and a network. They are not virtualized and do not run an operating system, so they have a smaller memory footprint, more security, and more processing power.

    • Amazon EC2 Fleet -

This service allows you to deploy and manage instances as a single virtual server. The Fleet service allows you to launch, stop, and terminate EC2 instances across all EC2 instance types in a single action. Amazon EC2 Fleet also offers API-based programmatic access to fleet operations. Existing management tools can be used to integrate fleet management. Policies can be scaled in EC2 Fleet to automatically adjust the size of a fleet to match the workload.

    • Pause and resume instances -

EC2 instances can be paused and resumed at a later time. For example, if an application consumes too many resources, it can be paused without incurring usage charges

Steps to create EC2 instance

    • • Step 1:

Enter "EC2 instance" in the search bar after signing into your AWS (Amazon Web Service) account. The EC2 instance management console's dashboard will then open. To create a new EC2 instance, click on new to instance.

    • • Step 2

You can add tags to an instance in the Name and Tags phase. For instance, you could create a list of tags to keep track of each instance's owner, setting, or function. Any resource, including accounts, security, and tags, can be described.

    • • Step 3

As required, you can also launch additional AMIs, such as an Amazon Linux,Windows,Ubuntu,Red Hat AMI. Other than the t2.micro instance type, which you can choose, all other instance types are charged and are not eligible for the AWS free tier.

    • • Step 4

You need to first create a key pair in order to connect to the Windows Server. Click "Create a new key pair" and give the key-pair a name, such as "Windows-key," to accomplish this.

    • • Step 5

Continue by clicking Launch Instance without making any changes to the default settings.

    • • Step 6

We've started our instance. Now Then select View all Instances.

    • • Step 7

You will see there that your instance is starting to run and that the Status check is initializing.

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