Features of Amazon EC2
Amazon EC2 provides the following features:
- Virtual computing environments, known as instances
- Preconfigured templates for your instances, known as Amazon Machine Images (AMIs), that package the bits you need for your server (including the operating system and additional software)
- Various configurations of CPU, memory, storage, and networking capacity for your instances, known as instance types
- Secure login information for your instances using key pairs (AWS stores the public key, and you store the private key in a secure place)
- Storage volumes for temporary data that's deleted when you stop, hibernate, or terminate your instance, known as instance store volumes
- Persistent storage volumes for your data using Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS), known as Amazon EBS volumes
- Multiple physical locations for your resources, such as instances and Amazon EBS volumes, known as Regions and Availability Zones
- A firewall that enables you to specify the protocols, ports, and source IP ranges that can reach your instances using security groups
- Static IPv4 addresses for dynamic cloud computing, known as Elastic IP addresses
- Metadata, known as tags, that you can create and assign to your Amazon EC2 resources
- Virtual networks you can create that are logically isolated from the rest of the AWS Cloud, and that you can optionally connect to your own network, known as virtual private clouds (VPCs)
Access Amazon EC2
Amazon EC2 provides a web-based user interface, the Amazon EC2 console. If you've signed up for an AWS account, you can access the Amazon EC2 console by signing into the AWS Management Console and selecting EC2 from the console home page.
If you prefer to use a command line interface, you have the following options:
AWS Command Line Interface (CLI)
Provides commands for a broad set of AWS products, and is supported on Windows, Mac, and Linux. To get started, see AWS Command Line Interface User Guide. For more information about the commands for Amazon EC2, see ec2 in the AWS CLI Command Reference.
AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell
Provides commands for a broad set of AWS products for those who script in the PowerShell environment. To get started, see the AWS Tools for Windows PowerShell User Guide. For more information about the cmdlets for Amazon EC2, see the AWS Tools for PowerShell Cmdlet Reference.
Amazon EC2 supports creating resources using AWS CloudFormation. You create a template, in JSON or YAML, that describes your AWS resources, and AWS CloudFormation provisions and configures those resources for you. You can reuse your CloudFormation templates to provision the same resources multiple times, whether in the same Region and account or in multiple Regions and accounts. For more information about the resource types and properties for Amazon EC2, see EC2 resource type reference in the AWS CloudFormation User Guide.
Amazon EC2 provides a Query API. These requests are HTTP or HTTPS requests that use the HTTP verbs GET or POST and a Query parameter named Action. For more information about the API actions for Amazon EC2, see Actions in the Amazon EC2 API Reference.
If you prefer to build applications using language-specific APIs instead of submitting a request over HTTP or HTTPS, AWS provides libraries, sample code, tutorials, and other resources for software developers. These libraries provide basic functions that automate tasks such as cryptographically signing your requests, retrying requests, and handling error responses, making it is easier for you to get started. For more information, see Tools to Build on AWS.
Pricing for Amazon EC2
When you sign up for AWS, you can get started with Amazon EC2 for free using the AWS Free Tier.
Amazon EC2 provides the following purchasing options for instances:
On-Demand Instances
Pay for the instances that you use by the second, with a minimum of 60 seconds, with no long-term commitments or upfront payments.
Savings Plans
You can reduce your Amazon EC2 costs by making a commitment to a consistent amount of usage, in USD per hour, for a term of 1 or 3 years.
Reserved Instances
You can reduce your Amazon EC2 costs by making a commitment to a specific instance configuration, including instance type and Region, for a term of 1 or 3 years.
Spot Instances
Request unused EC2 instances, which can reduce your Amazon EC2 costs significantly.
When calculating the cost of a provisioned environment, remember to include incidental costs such as snapshot storage for EBS volumes. To calculate the cost of a sample provisioned environment, see Cloud Economics Center.
To see your bill, go to the Billing and Cost Management Dashboard in the AWS Billing and Cost Management console. Your bill contains links to usage reports that provide details about your bill. To learn more about AWS account billing, see AWS Billing and Cost Management User Guide.
For an overview of Trusted Advisor, a service that helps you optimize the costs, security, and performance of your AWS environment, see AWS Trusted Advisor.