Iqbals's Blog

My Journey into AWS: Understanding the Basics of Cloud and EC2

Arham Iqbal's photo
Arham Iqbal
·

4 min read

As I continue my journey in DevOps and cloud computing, diving into Amazon Web Services (AWS) has been a crucial step. AWS is a powerhouse in the cloud industry, and understanding its offerings is essential for anyone aspiring to become proficient in cloud computing. In this article, I’ll share what I’ve learned about the basics of AWS, cloud computing, pricing, EC2, and EBS volumes.

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing services—including servers, storage, databases, networking, software, and analytics—over the internet (“the cloud”). It offers faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale. Instead of owning their own computing infrastructure, organizations can rent access to anything from applications to storage from a cloud service provider like AWS.

Introduction to AWS

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a comprehensive and widely adopted cloud platform, offering over 200 fully featured services from data centers globally. AWS provides infrastructure services such as compute power, storage options, and networking, which are vital for deploying and managing applications.

AWS Pricing Basics

One of the key aspects of using AWS is understanding its pricing model. AWS offers a pay-as-you-go pricing structure, meaning you only pay for the services you use without long-term contracts or complex licensing. However, it’s essential to be aware of the different pricing models:

  1. On-Demand: Pay for compute or database capacity with no long-term commitments or upfront payments.

  2. Reserved Instances: Provide a significant discount (up to 75%) compared to On-Demand pricing, in exchange for a commitment to use a specific instance type for a period of 1 or 3 years.

  3. Spot Instances: Allow you to bid on spare AWS capacity at steep discounts, but the instances can be terminated if AWS needs the capacity back.

AWS also offers a Free Tier for 12 months, giving users the ability to explore many AWS services for free.

Exploring EC2: The Heart of AWS Compute

One of the most fundamental services in AWS is Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). EC2 allows you to rent virtual servers—known as instances—on which you can run applications.

Creating EC2 Instances

Launching an EC2 instance is straightforward, thanks to AWS’s user-friendly interface:

  1. Choose an Amazon Machine Image (AMI): An AMI provides the information required to launch an instance, including the operating system and application server.

  2. Select an Instance Type: AWS offers various instance types optimized for different use cases, such as compute, memory, or storage-optimized instances.

  3. Configure Instance Details: Customize the instance settings, including network settings, IAM roles, and more.

  4. Add Storage: AWS EC2 allows you to attach storage to your instance. The storage you add here can be an Elastic Block Store (EBS) volume, which can be used for persistent storage.

  5. Tag Instance: Assign metadata to your instance in the form of key-value pairs.

  6. Configure Security Group: Set up firewall rules to control traffic to your instance.

  7. Review and Launch: After configuring your instance, review the settings, and launch it.

Understanding EBS Volumes

Elastic Block Store (EBS) provides persistent block storage for use with EC2 instances. EBS volumes are automatically replicated within their Availability Zone to protect you from component failure, offering high availability and durability.

Creating an EBS volume and attaching it to an EC2 instance is simple:

  1. Create an EBS Volume: Specify the size, volume type, and Availability Zone.

  2. Attach to an Instance: Once created, you can attach the volume to your EC2 instance and use it like a regular hard drive.

EBS volumes are particularly useful for databases, file systems, or any application that requires persistent, low-latency storage.

Wrapping Up

Learning the basics of AWS, including cloud concepts, pricing, EC2, and EBS, has been an enlightening experience. AWS is vast, and there is still so much more to explore—from networking and databases to security and identity management. But starting with these core concepts provides a solid foundation for anyone looking to build their expertise in cloud computing.

As I continue this journey, I look forward to diving deeper into AWS and sharing more insights and practical knowledge. If you're starting with AWS, I encourage you to explore the Free Tier, experiment with EC2 instances, and see how you can leverage cloud computing for your projects.

DevopsAWSec2Cloud Computing