Fundamentals of EC2

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) delivers resizable compute capacity in the cloud. At its core, EC2 allows us to launch virtual servers, instances, based on predefined Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) templates. Each instance provides virtualized CPU, memory, storage, and networking resources, configurable through instance types tailored for different workload demands.

Although Amazon EC2 is typically associated with systems administration and infrastructure management, it plays a crucial role in modern software development workflows. Developers frequently use EC2 to:

• Host backend microservices and RESTful APIs.

• Automatically execute, build, and test scripts as part of a CI/CD pipeline.

• Provide controlled environments for integration, system, and performance testing.

• Run containers (via ECS or self-managed Docker setups).

• Simulate production-like environments locally using isolated, testable VMs.

EC2 integrates seamlessly with developer-centric AWS services like CodeDeploy, Systems Manager, and CloudWatch, allowing us to easily automate deployment, observability, and rollback strategies.

Amazon Machine Images (AMIs)

AMIs are the blueprint for launching EC2 instances. They encapsulate the software stack, operating system, and configurations required to spin up a new instance. AMIs are fundamental in creating repeatable, consistent environments across development, staging, and production.

There are three core categories of AMIs:

• Public AMIs: They are offered by AWS or third parties and are suitable for quick prototypes. These images often require post-launch configuration and are best suited for testing or short-term environments.

• Custom AMIs: These are created from a running EC2 instance and include the entire state of that instance's OS, installed packages, configurations, and data. They are ideal for scaling, automation, and ensuring consistent deployments. ...