EC2 Instance To The Rescue

Amazon Workspaces product an EC2 instance otherwise known as a Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud is a part of Amazon.com’s cloud-computing platform, Amazon Web Services, that allows users to rent virtual computers on which to run their own computer applications. Many in the cloud industry use this as a tool to help save the day when testing and deploying new applications.

Making EC2 the hero we never knew we needed.

Here’s what we have for you today:

1. What is A EC2 Instance?

2. How to use an EC2 Instance to save the day!

3. How does Amazons product cost compare to another VM provider?

What is a EC2 Instance ?

When we hear the Google searched definition for an EC2 instance, it paints a broad picture for us, explaining that it is a virtual machine, meaning it's an instance hosted by the cloud, like an EC2 Linux Instance with the Linux operating system downloaded. You can go crazy and experiment in this virtual machine that is hosted on your device. The best part is, nothing you do in the virtual instance affects your device, since it is contained in the cloud environment you have launched. Most, if not all, VM providers allow you to launch multiple virtual machines at once, meaning you can have Linux, Mac, Windows, and many other operating systems running at once on the same device.

Now that we know the basics of an EC2 instance now we can begin to save the day!

Let’s say you are a cloud consultant, and a company approaches you to figure out how to launch and maintain their new website. This company, called the “Daily Planet,” wants to launch a website to provide a premium level of superhero reporting. With this new business adventure, they expect a high amount of website traffic and need the ability to scale up or down according to their needs.

How do you save the day?

Simple, you put on your cape and create for them an EC2 instance, which Amazon will host and take care of the hardware needs such as the servers. Once you have this, you can create an Auto Scaling Group. An Auto Scaling Group allows the EC2 servers to automatically create more servers if the website receives a large amount of traffic. It can also go back down to the desired number of instances you would like to maintain, so if there isn't a lot of web traffic, it will delete the extra instances. Congratulations! By doing this, you have helped the company save money and time by implementing your architecture!

Who would win in a battle of virtual machine super hero’s?

While AWS is one of the leading cloud service offerings, it isn't the only one. Just like Batman, AWS has to compete against other heroes, such as Microsoft and GCP (Google Cloud Platform). All three have somewhat similar tools but different methods of execution and costs. While studying these software platforms, you will be able to stay within a free tier, but for companies, the cost of these services is the main deciding factor for whom they go with.

According to Laurent Gil in “Cloud Pricing Comparison: AWS vs. Azure vs. Google Cloud Platform in 2024” the cost for these leading services are close to balancing out. However due to competition it would be no surprise if these cost were to keep fluctuating. Which is why it is critical as a new cloud services super hero. You stay vigilant and look for ways to lower the cost of your future companies cloud service bill!