What is an EC2 (Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud)?

Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, EC2 is a web service from Amazon that provides re-sizable compute service in the cloud.

What is an Instance?

An instance is a virtual server for running application on Amazon’s EC2. It can also be understood like a tiny part of a larger computer, a tiny part which has its own hard drive, network connection, OS etc. But it is actually all virtual.

Types of Instances:

1. General purpose Instance
2. Compute Instances

Q1. Which EC2 Purchasing Option can provide the biggest discount, but is not suitable for critical jobs or databases?

Spot Instances (Spot Instances are good for short workloads, but are less reliable.)

Q2. Which network security tool can you use to control traffic in and out of EC2 Instances?

Security Groups (Security Groups operate at instance level and can control traffic.)

Q3. Under the Shared Responsibility Model, who is responsible for operating-system patches and updates on EC2 Instances?

The customer (The customer is responsible for operating-system patches and updates on EC2 Instances, as well as data security on the instances, Security Groups rules, etc.).

Q4. How long can you reserve an EC2 Reserved Instance?

(1 or 3 years) 1 year or 3 years terms are available for EC2 Reserved Instances.

Q5. Which of the following is NOT an EC2 Instance Purchasing Option?

Connect Instances (This EC2 Instance purchasing option does not exist.)

Q6. Which EC2 Purchasing Option should you use for an application you plan on running on a server continuously for 1 year?

Reserved Instances (Reserved Instances are good for long workloads. You can reserve instances for 1 or 3 years.)

 

AWS: EC2 Instance Storage

Q1. Which EC2 Storage would you use to create a shared network file system for your EC2 Instances?

EFS (Amazon EFS is a fully managed service that makes it easy to set up, scale, and cost-optimize file storage in the Amazon Cloud.)

Q2. What are AMIs NOT used for?

Add your own IP addresses (You cannot use AMIs to add your IP addresses. IP addresses are added to an instance as you create it.)

Q3. EBS Volumes CANNOT be attached to multiple EC2 instances at a time.

True (EBS Volumes can be attached to only one EC2 Instance at a time, but EC2 Instances can have multiple EBS Volumes attached to them.)

Q4. An EBS Volume is a network drive you can attach to your instances while they run, so your instances’ data persist even after their termination.

True (EBS Volumes allows instances’ data to persist even after their termination.)

Q5. Which statement is CORRECT regarding EC2 Instance Store?

It has a better I/O performance, but the data is lost if the EC2 Instance is terminated (EC2 Instance Store has a better I/O performance, but data is lost if: the EC2 instance is stopped or terminated, or when the underlying disk drive fails.)

Q6. What is an EBS Snapshot?

A backup of your EBS Volume at a point in time (EBS Snapshots are used to backup data on your EBS Volumes at a point in time.)

Q7. Where can you find a third party’s AMI so you can use it to launch your EC2 Instance?

AWS Marketplace AMIs (You can use AWS Marketplace AMIs to use someone else’s AMI.)

Q8. What is an EBS Volume tied to?

An availability zone (EBS Volumes are tied to only one availability zone.)

AWS: ELB and ASG

Q1. Changing an EC2 Instance Type from a t3a.medium to a t3a.2xlarge is an example of?

Vertical scaling (Vertical scaling means increasing the size of the instance. Changing from a t3a.medium to a t3a.2xlarge is an example of size increase.)

Q2. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT regarding Auto Scaling Groups?

Automatically changing the EC2 Instances Types (Auto Scaling Groups can add or remove instances, but from the same type. They cannot change the EC2 Instances Types on the fly.)

 

You would like a serverless service to launch Docker containers with no infrastructure to provision. Which AWS service should you use?

Fargate (Fargate allows you to launch Docker containers on AWS, and you don’t need to provision and maintain the infrastructure (=no EC2 instances to manage). It is serverless.)

Which AWS service allows you to launch Docker containers on AWS, but requires you to provision and maintain the infrastructure?

ECS (ECS allows you to launch Docker containers on AWS, but you must provision and maintain the infrastructure (i.e. EC2 instances).)

Which of the following statements is NOT a feature of AWS Lambda?

Definition of a minimum and a maximum of EC2 Instances running (This is a feature of Auto Scaling Groups, not AWS Lambda.)

Which AWS managed service allows to automate software deployments to a hybrid mix of EC2 Instances and On-Premises servers?

CodeDeploy (AWS CodeDeploy is a service that automates code deployments to any instance, including Amazon EC2 instances and instances running on-premises.)

You need a unified user interface that gives you visibility, control, and patching capabilities for your EC2 Instances on AWS, as well as for servers running in your on-premises data centers. Which service should you use?

Systems Managers (AWS Systems Manager gives you visibility and control of your infrastructure on AWS. It is used for patching systems at scale.)

How would you describe Amazon CloudWatch Logs?

A single, highly scalable service that centralizes the logs from all of your systems, applications, and AWS services that you use (You can use Amazon CloudWatch Logs to monitor, store, and access your log files from Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances, AWS CloudTrail, Route 53, and other sources.)