Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) is a core service within AWS that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud. It allows users to launch virtual servers, known as instances, that can run applications and workloads of varying sizes and complexities. EC2 offers various instance types optimized for different use cases such as compute-intensive workloads, memory-intensive applications, and balanced workloads. These instance families include general purpose (t3, m5), compute optimized (c5), memory optimized (r5), storage optimized (d2, i3), and accelerated computing instances (p3, g4). Users can choose from multiple purchasing options: On-Demand (pay by the hour with no commitment), Reserved Instances (1-3 year commitments for discounts), Spot Instances (bid for unused EC2 capacity at steep discounts), and Dedicated Hosts (physical servers dedicated to your use). EC2 instances can be launched in specific AWS Regions and Availability Zones for high availability. Security is managed through Security Groups (virtual firewalls) and key pairs for secure SSH access. Storage options include Amazon EBS volumes (persistent block storage), instance store volumes (ephemeral storage), and EFS (elastic file system). Auto Scaling allows EC2 instances to scale automatically based on demand, while Elastic Load Balancing distributes incoming traffic across multiple instances for fault tolerance. EC2 integrates with other AWS services like VPC for networking, IAM for access control, CloudWatch for monitoring, and S3 for storage. For the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate exam, you should understand how to select appropriate instance types, implement high availability architectures, design for cost optimization, and secure EC2 deployments using AWS best practices.

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) is a core service within AWS that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud. It allows users to launch virtual servers, known as instances, that can run appl…

Concepts covered: Auto Scaling, Instance Metadata and User Data, Placement Groups, Elastic Load Balancing, Amazon EC2 Instance Types, Amazon Machine Images (AMIs), Elastic Block Store (EBS), Amazon EC2 Spot Instances, Security Groups, Elastic IP Addresses