Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) Overview and Setup Guide

Learn about Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud), a web service providing scalable compute capacity in the AWS cloud. Discover its components, features, and a step-by-step guide to getting started with EC2 instances.

Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) Overview

Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) is a web service that offers resizable compute capacity in the AWS cloud. It gives developers full control over web-scaling and computing resources, making it a flexible and scalable solution for various applications.

EC2 Components

Operating System Support

Amazon EC2 supports a range of operating systems, including Red Hat Enterprise, SUSE Enterprise, Oracle Enterprise Linux, UNIX, and Windows Server. Note that some operating systems may require additional licensing fees. EC2 instances work seamlessly with Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).

Security

With EC2, users have complete control over their AWS accounts' visibility. You can create security groups, assign instances to these groups, and define rules for communication between groups and with the internet.

Pricing

AWS provides various pricing options depending on the resources, applications, and databases used. You can configure your resources and compute charges according to your needs.

Fault Tolerance

EC2 ensures fault tolerance by distributing instances across multiple Availability Zones (AZs) in a region. Elastic IP (EIP) addresses allow for quick remapping of instance addresses to maintain continuous service in case of failures.

Migration

Amazon EC2 supports migrating existing applications to EC2. The migration service costs $80.00 per storage device and $2.49 per hour for data loading.

Features of EC2

Reliability

Amazon EC2 offers a highly reliable environment with a 99.9% availability SLA for each region. Instances can be quickly replaced if needed.

Integration with AWS Services

EC2 integrates seamlessly with other AWS services like Amazon S3, Amazon RDS, Amazon DynamoDB, and Amazon SQS, providing a complete solution for computing, storage, and query processing.

Security

EC2 operates within an Amazon VPC, offering a secure and robust network environment.

Flexibility

EC2 provides tools for developers and administrators to build fault-tolerant applications that are isolated from common failure scenarios.

Cost-Effectiveness

EC2 offers several purchasing options, including On-Demand Instances, Reserved Instances, and Spot Instances, allowing you to pay only for the resources you use.

How to Use AWS EC2

Step 1: Sign in to AWS Account

  1. Sign in to your AWS account and open the IAM console.

Step 2: Create/View Groups

  1. In the navigation panel, create or view groups and follow the instructions.

Step 3: Create IAM User

  1. In the IAM console, select "Users" and create new users. Add these users to the groups you created.

Step 4: Create a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)

  1. Open the Amazon VPC console and create a VPC:
  2. Select "VPC" from the navigation panel and ensure the region matches the one where your key pair was created.
  3. Start the VPC wizard, choose "VPC with a Single Public Subnet," name your VPC, and create it with the default configurations.

Step 5: Create Security Groups

  1. In the VPC console, select "Security Groups" and create a new security group (e.g., WebServerSG):
  2. Fill in the required details and select your VPC ID.
  3. Edit inbound rules to allow necessary traffic.

Step 6: Launch EC2 Instance into VPC

  1. Open the EC2 console and launch a new instance:
  2. Select the instance type and configure the instance details.
  3. Choose your VPC and subnet, then proceed to the "Tag Instances" page.

Step 7: Tag Instances

  1. Provide a tag for the instance, such as a name, and proceed to configure the security group.

Step 8: Configure Security Group

  1. Select "Existing Security Group" and choose the WebServerSG group you created earlier.

Step 9: Review and Launch

  1. Review the instance details and click "Launch."

Step 10: Key Pair Selection

  1. Select or create a key pair, acknowledge the terms, and launch the instance.

By following these steps, you can efficiently set up and manage your Amazon EC2 instances, ensuring they are secure, scalable, and reliable.