AWS EC2 Cheatsheet: Cloud Computing and Virtual Machines

Overview

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) provides scalable, on-demand compute capacity in the cloud, enabling flexible and cost-effective infrastructure deployment.

Core Concepts

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
• Virtual Machine Instances
• Elastic Scaling
• Pay-as-you-go Pricing

Key Components

1. EC2 Instances

   • Compute units with various configurations
   • Multiple instance families and types

2. Amazon Machine Images (AMIs)

   • Preconfigured templates
   • Operating system and application packages

3. Security Groups

   • Virtual firewalls
   • Control inbound/outbound traffic

Instance Types

1. General Purpose

   • Balanced compute, memory, networking
   • Web servers, small databases

2. Compute Optimized

   • High-performance processors
   • Batch processing, scientific modeling

3. Memory Optimized

   • Large memory capacity
   • High-performance databases

4. Storage Optimized

   • High I/O performance
   • Data warehousing, caching

Provisioning Workflow

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# EC2 Instance Creation
1. Select Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
2. Choose instance type
3. Configure instance details
4. Add storage
5. Configure security group
6. Review and launch

# AWS CLI Provisioning
aws ec2 run-instances \
    --image-id ami-0c55b159cbfafe1f0 \
    --count 1 \
    --instance-type t2.micro \
    --key-name MyKeyPair

Key Management Commands

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# Instance Management
aws ec2 describe-instances
aws ec2 start-instances
aws ec2 stop-instances
aws ec2 terminate-instances

# Security Group Configuration
aws ec2 create-security-group
aws ec2 authorize-security-group-ingress

Networking Configurations

• Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)
• Elastic IP addresses
• Network interfaces
• Subnet configurations
• Internet gateways

Storage Options

1. Elastic Block Store (EBS)

   • Persistent block-level storage
   • Different volume types
   • Snapshots and backups

2. Instance Store

   • Temporary block-level storage
   • High I/O performance
   • Data lost on instance termination

Security Best Practices

1. Use IAM roles
2. Implement least-privilege access
3. Enable encryption
4. Regular security updates
5. Use security groups and NACLs
6. Monitor with CloudTrail

Cost Optimization Strategies

• Reserved Instances
• Spot Instances
• Auto Scaling
• Right-sizing instances
• Use of savings plans
• Tag-based cost tracking

Performance Optimization

• Choose appropriate instance type
• Use placement groups
• Implement caching strategies
• Optimize EBS volumes
• Use enhanced networking

Scaling Techniques

1. Horizontal Scaling

   • Add more instances
   • Auto Scaling groups

2. Vertical Scaling

   • Increase instance resource capacity
   • Change instance type

Monitoring and Logging

• Amazon CloudWatch
• CloudTrail
• VPC Flow Logs
• Performance metrics
• Comprehensive logging

Backup and Disaster Recovery

• EBS snapshots
• AMI creation
• Multi-AZ deployments
• Cross-region replication

Compliance and Governance

• AWS Config
• AWS Organizations
• Service Control Policies
• Compliance frameworks

Integration Ecosystem

• AWS Lambda
• Elastic Container Service
• Elastic Kubernetes Service
• CloudFormation
• Systems Manager

Hybrid Cloud Scenarios

• Direct Connect
• VPN connections
• Seamless on-premises integration
• Workload migration

Licensing Models

• On-demand instances
• Reserved instances
• Spot instances
• Dedicated hosts

Recommended Learning Resources

• AWS Documentation
• AWS Training and Certification
• Whitepapers and Best Practices
• AWS Well-Architected Framework
• Hands-on Labs

Recommended Learning Path

1. Cloud computing fundamentals
2. AWS core services
3. EC2 deep dive
4. Architecture design
5. Security and compliance
6. Hands-on implementation
7. Advanced configuration techniques