What Is Amazon EC2 In Simple Term

A web service that creates the Servers

A web service that creates the Servers — Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) is a web service that allows you to create EC2 instances i.e., virtual server, which is secure and resizable in terms of compute capacity in AWS cloud. Note: Amazon EC2 is a service and Amazon EC2

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) is a web service that allows you to create EC2 instances i.e., virtual server, which is secure and resizable in terms of compute capacity in AWS cloud.

Note: Amazon EC2 is a service and Amazon EC2 Instance is a virtual server. Funny but true i.e. People generally refer to “I launched an EC2 today”. 😀 Actually they have launched an Instance or EC2 Instance.

Imagine you need a computer with specific hardware specifications and an operating system to run your applications, but you don’t want to buy and maintain physical servers. With AWS EC2, you can rent virtual servers from Amazon’s vast infrastructure. These virtual servers, known as instances, can be customized based on your needs. You can use Amazon EC2 to launch as many virtual servers depending on your condition, configure security and networking, and manage storage for it.

Hope the above information is enough to understand the use and need of EC2. But let me try to give you an analogy with a super simple way to explain the EC2.

Analogy

You have a Home PC (Desktop or Laptop) and you also launched an EC2 Instance.

Comparison:

1. Your Home PC has a Processor, EC2 Instance also has a Processor.
2. Your Home PC has Memory (RAM), EC2 Instance also has Memory (RAM).
3. Your Home PC has a Network Card, EC2 Instance also has a Network Card.
4. Your Home PC has Storage, and EC2 Instance also has Storage.

If both the options have similar features then can we say a Home PC is a EC2 Instance or a Server?

The answer is a BIG NO.

A Home PC is something used for your personal usage with limited capabilities which is typically used for personal or small-scale tasks. It has limited processing power, memory, and storage capacity. Primarily runs a single operating system and is especially not designed for 24/7 operation.

Whereas A Server (EC2 Instance) is created by partitioning a physical server into multiple virtual machines (VMs) which are often deployed in data canters or cloud environments. It can host multiple VMs, each running different operating systems and applications. Typically designed for 24/7 operation and high-performance computing.

Key points about AWS EC2:

• Elastic Capacity: AWS EC2 provides scalable compute capacity, allowing you to increase or decrease the number of instances based on your application’s demand. This elasticity allows you to handle traffic spikes and optimize costs by only paying for the resources you actually use.
• Instance Types: EC2 offers a wide range of instance types with varying hardware configurations to meet different workloads. You can choose instances optimized for general-purpose computing, memory-intensive tasks, high-performance computing, or storage-focused applications.
• Operating Systems and Software: You have the flexibility to select the operating system and software stack that best suits your application. EC2 supports various operating systems, including Linux and Windows, and allows you to install and configure your preferred software packages.
• Networking and Security: AWS EC2 provides extensive networking capabilities, allowing you to configure security groups, manage firewall settings, and establish virtual private networks (VPNs) for secure communication between instances. You can also integrate EC2 with other AWS services, such as Amazon VPC, for advanced networking configurations.
• Storage Options: EC2 offers various storage options to meet your needs. You can attach different types of storage volumes to your instances, such as Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) for persistent block-level storage or Amazon S3 for object storage. Additionally, EC2 provides instance store volumes for temporary storage directly attached to the instance.
• Management and Monitoring: AWS EC2 provides tools for managing and monitoring your instances. You can use the AWS Management Console, Command Line Interface (CLI), or API to launch, stop, or terminate instances. Additionally, you can leverage AWS CloudWatch to monitor performance metrics and set up alerts for your instances.