EC2 Beginner Guide: Launch Your First AWS Instance

Introduction In my previous IAM article we learnt basics of IAM and how to create Users, Groups and attach Policies. You can refer here: https://dev.to/kadhamvj23/aws-identity-and-access-management-explained-for-beginners-cn7 After setting up secure access to our AWS account using IAM, the next question we mostly have is where do we actually run our application? The answer is Amazon EC2 - Elastic Cloud Compute. EC2 is one of the most widely used AWS services and understanding it well is essential for anyone starting their cloud journey. In this article we will cover what EC2 is, why it exists, the different types of instances, pricing models, Regions and availability Zones and finally hands-on walk through of creating your first EC2 instance. Breaking Down the Name -EC2 Let us understand what each word in the name actually means: Elastic --> In AWS you will notice many services have this prefix "Elastic". The reason is simple. Whenever AWS provides a service that can be scaled up or scaled down based on our needs, that service is called Elastic . With EC2 you can increase resources when traffic is high and decrease them when the traffic is low. So in simple terms EC2 = A virtual server on the cloud that you can resize anytime. Cloud: EC2 runs on AWS's public cloud infrastructure, meaning the servers are owned and managed by Amazon across the world. Compute: The word compute means you are asking AWS to provide you CPU, RAM and Disk - basically a virtual machine or server that can run your applications. How does EC2 actually work? When you request a Virtual server from AWS, here is what happens behind the scenes: You request a virtual machine on AWS ⬇️ request goes to a Hypervisor(a software layer sitting on top of physical servers that creates and manages VMs) ⬇️ Hypervisor creates your VM ⬇️ You get the access to your EC2 instance You never touch any physical hardware. AWS manages all of that for you. Why use EC2? Imagine your company wants to host an application. T