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EC2 (Elastic compute Cloud)

Amazon EC2 is a fundamental AWS service for running virtual servers and applications in the cloud. Understanding AMI, instance types, key pairs, Security Groups, EBS, networking, instance creation, and lifecycle management provides a strong foundation for learning AWS and DevOps.

Dheeraj

Amazon EC2 – Complete Guide

1. What is Amazon EC2?

Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) is an AWS service that provides virtual servers, called EC2 instances, in the cloud. It allows users to run websites, applications, APIs, databases, and other workloads without purchasing or maintaining physical servers.
EC2 provides flexibility because users can choose the required CPU, memory, storage, operating system, and networking configuration. Resources can also be scaled according to application requirements. AWS follows a pay-as-you-go pricing model.

2. Important EC2 Components

AMI

AMI (Amazon Machine Image) is a template used to create an EC2 instance. It contains the operating system and required configuration.
Examples include:
  • Amazon Linux
  • Ubuntu
  • Windows Server
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Instance Type

An instance type defines the computing resources available to the instance, including CPU, memory, and network performance.
Examples:
  • t3.micro
  • t3.small
  • t3.medium
  • m7i.large
  • c7i.large

Key Pair

A key pair provides secure authentication when connecting to an EC2 instance. Linux instances commonly use SSH with a private key.

Security Group

A Security Group acts as a virtual firewall and controls network traffic to and from an EC2 instance.
Common ports include:
  • 22 – SSH
  • 80 – HTTP
  • 443 – HTTPS
  • 3389 – RDP

EBS

Amazon EBS (Elastic Block Store) provides persistent block storage for EC2 instances. It can store operating system files, applications, databases, and logs.

3. EC2 Instance Types

AWS provides different instance families for different workloads.

General Purpose

Provides a balance of CPU, memory, and networking.
Examples: t3, t4g, m7i
Used for: Web servers, APIs, development, and general applications.

Compute Optimized

Provides higher CPU performance.
Examples: c7i, c7g
Used for: Batch processing and CPU-intensive applications.

Memory Optimized

Provides large amounts of memory.
Examples: r7i, r7g
Used for: Large databases, analytics, and memory-intensive applications.

Storage Optimized

Designed for high storage and I/O performance.
Examples: i7i, d3
Used for: Data-intensive and storage-heavy workloads.

Accelerated Computing

Uses specialized hardware such as GPUs.
Examples: p, g
Used for: Machine learning, AI, graphics, and video processing.

4. How to Create an EC2 Instance

Step 1: Open AWS Console

Log in to the AWS Management Console and open the EC2 service.

Step 2: Select Region

Choose the required AWS Region, such as Asia Pacific (Mumbai).

Step 3: Launch Instance

Select Instances → Launch instances.

Step 4: Enter Name

Give the instance a meaningful name, for example:
My-Web-Server

Step 5: Select AMI

Choose an operating system such as Ubuntu or Amazon Linux.

Step 6: Select Instance Type

Choose an instance type based on your workload and resource requirements.

Step 7: Select Key Pair

Create or select a key pair for secure access. Keep the private key safe.

Step 8: Configure Network

Select the VPC, subnet, public IP configuration, and Security Group. For a web server, ports 80 and 443 may be required, while SSH uses port 22.

Step 9: Configure Storage

Select the required EBS volume, for example a 20 GB gp3 volume.

Step 10: Launch

Review the configuration and click Launch Instance.

5. Connecting to Linux EC2

After the instance starts, use its public IP address to connect through SSH:
1
ssh -i my-key.pem ubuntu@<PUBLIC-IP>
For Amazon Linux, the username is commonly ec2-user.

6. EC2 Lifecycle

The main EC2 states are:
  • Pending – Instance is launching.
  • Running – Instance is active.
  • Stopping – Instance is shutting down.
  • Stopped – Instance is powered off.
  • Rebooting – Instance is restarting.
  • Terminated – Instance has been permanently removed.
Stop means temporary shutdown, while Terminate means permanent removal.

7. EC2 Security Best Practices

  • Use IAM roles instead of storing AWS credentials on instances.
  • Restrict Security Group rules.
  • Avoid unnecessarily exposing SSH to the internet.
  • Keep the operating system updated.
  • Use HTTPS for production applications.
  • Store sensitive information securely.
  • Monitor instances using CloudWatch.
  • Back up important data.

Conclusion

Amazon EC2 is a fundamental AWS service for running virtual servers and applications in the cloud. Understanding AMI, instance types, key pairs, Security Groups, EBS, networking, instance creation, and lifecycle management provides a strong foundation for learning AWS and DevOps.
# agents# agentic-interactions# agentic-ide# agentic-ai# amazon-mq
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