Lec 04-1: Intro to Amazon EC2

Lec 04-1: Intro to Amazon EC2

Intro to Computing

Computing is the brain that makes IT application work. It collects, analyzes, processes, distributes data

 

Main Components of Computing

CPU

• runs and processes the instructions that it is given = makes the calculation possible

RAM

• store data, temporary storage, main memory (DRAM)

Hard drive

• long-term storage, stores the boot files and files that you create, SSD

Network performance

• Bandwidth: amount of data that can be sent over a specified time
• Latency: how long it takes the data to travel

Operating System(OS)

• every computer has operating system
• OS is the software package that manages the computer's HW and SW

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Amazon EC2 Overview

Amazon EC2 is a web service that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud at affordable costs all around the world.

• It provides virtual machines (= EC2 instances)
• It gives you full control over the guest OS on each instance
• You can launch instances of any size into an Availability Zone anywhere in the world
• You can control incoming and outcoming traffic on instances by security groups and Elatic Load Balancing(ELB)

Amazon EC2 Benefits

• Elastic computing: increase or decrease capacity easily
• Complete control: full control over the server
• Flexible hosting services
• Integrated with most AWS services
• Reliable, Secure, Inexpensive, Get started quickly

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Amazon EC2 architecture

Region

• physical location where AWS clusters data centers
• each region is isolated from the other regions
  • this separation is for fault tolerance and stability
• user can choose the region that is closest to their users to help cut down on latency

VPS (Virtual Private Cloud)

• Amazon VPC is logically isolated virtual network.
• EC2 instances are launched in the VPC that you choose, when set up AWS account, they give you a default VPC
• Each VPC can have a dedicated purpose to support different environments. ex) Development VPC, Testing VPC..

Subnet

• Subnet is a range of IP addresses in your VPC
  • Public subnet: connected to the internet <-> Private subnet: won't be connected to the internet
• Subnets are associated with only one Availablility Zone

Security Group

• virtual firewall for EC2 instances to control incoming and outgoing traffic

Region > VPC > Availability Zone > Subnet > Security Group > EC2 Instance

A best practice is to launch instances in multiple Availability Zones and attach an Elastic Load Balancer(ELB) which automatically distributes incoming traffic.

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Instance purchasing options

On-Demand

• Pay per second (Amazon Linux and Ubuntu) or per hour (all other os)
• No long-term commitments, No up-front payments
• Increase or decrease your compute capacity depending on the demands of your apps
• Use Case
  • short-term, spiky, unpredictable workloads
  • application development or testing
• Problem solved: The need for immediate compute capacity

Reserved Instances

• Provide a significant discount up to 72% compared to on-demand
• Prepay for capacity
• Use case
  • predictable usage workloads that don't require flexibility in compute power
  • workloads that last longer than 1 year
  • users are able to make upfront payments
• Problem solved: Provides the ability to reserve capacity ahead of time, reducing cost

Saving Plans Instances

• Compute Saving Plans
  • most flexibility, help to reduce your cost by up to 66%
  • automatically apply to instance usage regardless of instance family, size, AZ, region, os, tenancy
• EC2 Instance Saving Plans
  • apply to specific instance family within a specific region
  • provide the largest discount (up to 72%, same with RI)
• Use case:
  • long time workloads
  • need flexibility computing over location or by instance power
• Problem solved: Don't have to coordinate your RI purchases

Spot Instances

• Purchase unused EC2 capacity
• Up to 90% off
• Prices controlled by AWS based on supply and demand - if supply < demand : instance will be terminated
• Termination notice provided 2 minutes prior to termination
• Use case:
  • Apps with flexible start and end time
  • Users with urgent computing needs for large amounts of additional capacity
• Problem solved: Low budgeted workloads can be completed with low cost inatances, provided that interruptions can be tolerated

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Tenancy

Tenancy defines how EC2 instances are distributed across the physical host hardware.

• Shared Tenancy: instances share host hardware with instances from other accounts.
• Dedicated Instance: isolated on host hardware that is not shared with other accounts.
• Dedicated Host: my own physical server
  • access to manage instance placement on the host hardware
  • consistently deploy instances to the same physical server over time