dalabsacademy

What is EC2?

by

What is EC2?

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) is a web service that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud. It enables users to run virtual servers, known as instances, on demand without needing to invest in physical hardware. EC2 allows businesses to scale computing power as needed, ensuring flexibility and cost efficiency. Users can choose from various instance types optimized for different workloads, such as general-purpose, compute-optimized, memory-optimized, and GPU-based instances.

What is an On-Demand Instance?

An EC2 On-Demand Instance means you only pay for the time the server is running. For example, if a server costs $0.10 per hour and you run it for 10 hours before shutting it down, you only pay $1 to Amazon. We will explore more about instance pricing later in this course.

Why Amazon Created EC2

Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched EC2 in 2006 to address the growing need for scalable and on-demand computing resources. Traditional IT infrastructure required businesses to invest in and maintain physical servers, which was expensive and time-consuming. EC2 was created to:

  • Enable Scalability: Businesses can scale their computing power up or down based on demand, optimizing resource usage.
  • Reduce Costs: Users only pay for the compute power they use, eliminating the need for upfront capital expenditures on hardware.
  • Increase Flexibility: Developers can launch instances in minutes, test applications quickly, and deploy workloads globally across multiple AWS regions.
  • Enhance Reliability: EC2 is built on Amazon’s global infrastructure, ensuring high availability and security for applications.

EC2 Use Cases

Since EC2 is a computer in the cloud, you can use it for virtually anything you can think of. Some common use cases include:

  • Hosting Applications: Deploy web applications, APIs, and microservices efficiently.
  • Installing a Database Server: Set up and manage relational or NoSQL databases on EC2 instances.
  • Creating a VPN Server: Use OpenVPN or other VPN software to establish secure remote access.
  • Big Data Processing: Run large-scale data analytics and machine learning models.
  • Game Server Hosting: Deploy game servers to support multiplayer online games.
  • Media Processing: Encode videos, process images, and manage content delivery.
  • Financial Computing: Perform risk analysis and high-frequency trading.

EC2’s flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and integration with other AWS services make it a crucial component of modern cloud computing infrastructure.