Compute Service

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Module objectives

At the end of this module, you should be able to:

• Identify how Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) can be used.
• Explain the value of using Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) to accelerate the creation and
repeatability of infrastructure
• Differentiate between the EC2 instance types
• Recognize how to configure Amazon EC2 instances with user data
• Recognize storage solutions for Amazon EC2
• Describe EC2 pricing options
• Determine the placement group given an architectural consideration

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 AWS runtime compute choices
Virtual Machines Platform as a Service
Containers Serverless Specialized Solutions
(VMs) (PaaS)

Amazon Elastic Amazon Elastic AWS Elastic AWS Lambda AWS Outposts
Compute Cloud Container Service Beanstalk
(Amazon EC2) (Amazon ECS)

Amazon Lightsail AWS Fargate AWS Batch

Higher infrastructure control and customization Fully managed services

Faster application deployment

Different compute services are available to meet the needs of different use cases.
This module will discuss Amazon EC2.
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Amazon EC2

Amazon EC2 provides resizable compute capacity in

the cloud.

• Provides virtual machines (servers)

• Provisions servers in minutes

Amazon Elastic
Compute Cloud • Can automatically scale capacity up or down as needed
(Amazon EC2)
• Enables you to pay only for the capacity that you use

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EC2 instances

An EC2 instance is a virtual Amazon EC2 virtualization

machine that runs on a
physical host. EC2 instances Internet
• You can choose different
configurations of CPU and Hypervisor
memory capacity Network
CPUs
• Supports different storage AWS services
options
• Instance store RAM
Amazon
• Amazon Elastic Block Store EBS-
(Amazon EBS) optimized
Instance Amazon EBS
• Provides network store (storage)
connectivity
Host servers

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Amazon EC2 use cases

Use Amazon EC2 when you need: Web

server
• Complete control of your computing resources,
including operating system and processor type

• Options for optimizing your compute costs – Anything a Application

server can do server
• On-Demand Instances, Reserved Instances, and Spot
Instances
• Savings Plans
Amazon EC2
• Ability to run any type of workload, for example –
• Simple websites
• Enterprise applications Media Database
• High performance computing (HPC) applications server server

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Provisioning an EC2 instance
Essential instance launch configuration parameters
Amazon Machine
Image (AMI)
Security group
Key pair

Instance type
Instance
Instance store or
Amazon EBS
VPC

Network placement
and addressing
User data
Assumed role
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Amazon Machine Image (AMI)

An AMI provides the information that is needed to Create multiple instances

from the same AMI
launch an instance, including:
Launch
• A template for the root volume instance
• Contains the guest operating system (OS) and perhaps other AMI Instance 1
installed software Launch additional similarly
configured instances
• Launch permissions
• Control which AWS accounts can access the AMI Instance 2

• Block device mappings

• Specifies any storage volumes to attach to the instance
Instance 3

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AMI benefits

• Repeatability
• An AMI can be used repeatedly to launch
instances with efficiency and precision

• Reusability
• Instances launched from the same AMI are
identically configured

• Recoverability
• You can create an AMI from a configured
instance as a restorable backup
• You can replace a failed instance by
launching a new instance from the same AMI

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Choosing an AMI

Choose an AMI based on:

• Region
• Operating system
• Microsoft Windows or Linux
• Storage type of the root device
• Architecture
• Virtualization type AMI sources:
• Quick Start – Linux and Microsoft Windows AMIs that are provided by
AWS.
• My AMIs – Any AMIs that you create.
• AWS Marketplace – Pre-configured templates from third parties.
• Community AMIs – AMIs shared by others. Use at your own risk.
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Instance store-backed versus Amazon EBS-
backed AMI
Characteristic Amazon EBS-Backed Instance Instance Store-Backed Instance

Boot time for the instance Boots faster Takes longer to boot

Maximum size of root device 16 TiB 10 GiB

Can’t stop the instance, only

Ability to stop the instance Can stop the instance
reboot or terminate it
Can’t change the instance type
Ability to change the instance Can change the instance type by
because the instance can’t be
type stopping instance
stopped
You are charged for instance
You are charged for instance
usage, EBS volume usage, and
Instance charges usage and storing your AMI in
storing your AMI as an EBS
Amazon S3
snapshot

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Amazon EC2 instance lifecycle

Amazon EBS-backed instances only

Launch Start
Pending

AMI

Reboot
Stop
Rebooting Running Stopping Stopped
Stop-
Hibernate
Terminate

Shutting
down

Terminate
Terminated

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 Creating a new AMI
AWS Cloud

Region A Connect to the instance Capture as a new AMI:

and manually modify it • Create a new image
Quick Start or run a script that (EBS-backed)
or other modifies the instance • Create a bundle
existing AMI Launch an (for example, upgrade (instance-backed)
Starter instance installed software)
AMI
1 2 3
Unmodified Modified New
instance instance AMI

(Optional) Import MyAMI

a virtual machine
Region B (Optional) Copy the AMI to any other Regions
where you want to use it
New 4
AMI

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Additional resources

• Amazon EC2 User Guide for Linux Instances

• Amazon EC2 User Guide for Windows Instances
• Amazon EC2 FAQs
• EC2 Image Builder User Guide
• EC2 Image Builder FAQs
• AWS Compute Optimizer User Guide
• AWS Compute Optimizer FAQs
• How AWS Pricing Works

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