Course PreviewAWS Compute
AWS compute services provide on-demand processing capacity in Amazon's cloud. They range from virtual machines (EC2) and containers (ECS, EKS) to serverless functions (Lambda), each trading control for operational simplicity depending on the workload.
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Intro
AWS Compute
AWS Compute is not one service. It is a set of execution models. You can rent virtual servers, schedule containers, run functions after events, or submit jobs to a managed queue.
The first decision is not which product name you recognize. The first decision is what you want AWS to operate for you.
Amazon EC2 gives you virtual servers and broad control over the operating system, networking, and storage. That control creates work. You patch the guest operating system, deploy software, protect credentials, monitor capacity, and replace failed instances.
AWS Fargate removes the server fleet from a container workload. AWS Lambda removes server and container orchestration from a function workload. Amazon Lightsail packages common web resources behind a smaller interface. AWS Batch schedules queued work onto suitable compute capacity.
No option removes architecture. You still choose identity, network access, data placement, failure behavior, observability, and cost controls.
Start with the execution unit
The execution unit tells you what the platform starts and scales.
- EC2: an instance, which is a virtual server created from an Amazon Machine Image.
- Amazon ECS: a task, which runs one or more containers from a task definition.
- Amazon EKS: a Kubernetes pod, scheduled through a managed Kubernetes control plane.
- Fargate: serverless capacity for ECS tasks or EKS pods.
- Lambda: a function invocation triggered by an event or API call.
- AWS Batch: a queued job placed onto EC2 or Fargate capacity through managed orchestration.
- Lightsail: a bundled instance or container service for a smaller, simpler web workload.
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Sources
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/concepts.html
Supports
- EC2 instances are virtual servers and AMIs provide starting operating systems and software
- Instance types define compute, memory, networking, storage, and accelerator characteristics
- EBS provides persistent block storage while instance store is temporary
- Security groups control allowed network traffic
- EC2 has On-Demand, Savings Plans, Reserved Instance, Spot, dedicated, and capacity-reservation pricing options
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/global-infrastructure/latest/regions/aws-regions-availability-zones.html
Supports
- Regions are separate geographic areas and Availability Zones are isolated locations within a Region
- A workload placed only in one Availability Zone can lose all of its instances during a failure in that Zone
- Most AWS services use regional resources and AWS does not automatically replicate regional resources across Regions
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/ec2-security.html
Supports
- EC2 customers manage network access, instance credentials, guest operating system updates, application software, and attached IAM role permissions
- AWS protects the infrastructure that runs EC2
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/autoscaling/ec2/userguide/what-is-amazon-ec2-auto-scaling.html
Supports
- Auto Scaling groups maintain minimum, desired, and maximum EC2 capacity
- Auto Scaling replaces unhealthy instances and can balance capacity across Availability Zones
- Scaling policies add or remove capacity according to defined criteria
- Auto Scaling integrates with Elastic Load Balancing target registration and health checks
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/elasticloadbalancing/latest/userguide/what-is-load-balancing.html
Supports
- Elastic Load Balancing distributes incoming traffic across healthy registered targets
- Targets can include EC2 instances, containers, and IP addresses across one or more Availability Zones
- Load balancers support health checks and automatically scale load-balancer capacity
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/instance-purchasing-options.html
Supports
- On-Demand Instances avoid long-term commitments
- Savings Plans use a one-year or three-year consistent-usage commitment
- Reserved Instances use a one-year or three-year instance-configuration commitment
- Spot Instances use unused EC2 capacity and can reduce compute cost
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/spot-instance-termination-notices.html
Supports
- Spot interruption notices are best effort
- A notice normally precedes stop or termination by two minutes, except hibernation begins immediately
- AWS recommends fault-tolerant applications that consume interruption notices
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/decision-guides/latest/containers-on-aws-how-to-choose/choosing-aws-container-service.html
Supports
- AWS container selection separates orchestration choices from compute capacity choices
- ECS and EKS provide orchestration choices while EC2 and Fargate provide compute choices
- Containers package applications and dependencies into reproducible execution environments
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonECS/latest/developerguide/Welcome.html
Supports
- Amazon ECS is a managed container orchestration service
- ECS separates capacity, controller, and provisioning layers
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/eks/latest/userguide/what-is-eks.html
Supports
- Amazon EKS provides managed Kubernetes
- AWS manages the Kubernetes control plane for an EKS cluster
- EKS is a fit when Kubernetes compatibility and tooling are requirements
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonECS/latest/developerguide/AWS_Fargate.html
Supports
- Fargate runs ECS containers without a customer-managed EC2 cluster
- Customers specify container CPU, memory, networking, and IAM settings
- Each Fargate task has an isolation boundary from other tasks
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonECS/latest/developerguide/security-shared-model.html
Supports
- AWS provisions and patches Fargate compute infrastructure
- Fargate customers manage container images, task IAM permissions, network configuration, encryption, data, and applications
- ECS on EC2 adds customer responsibility for the EC2 AMI, patches, hardening, and ECS agent
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lambda/latest/dg/welcome.html
Supports
- Lambda runs code after events or API requests without customer server management
- AWS manages Lambda infrastructure, server maintenance, capacity provisioning, scaling, and patching
- Lambda function invocations are independent and scale horizontally with demand
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/batch/latest/userguide/what-is-batch.html
Supports
- AWS Batch schedules queued batch workloads through managed orchestration
- AWS Batch can provision and scale EC2 and Fargate compute resources
- Batch targets high-scale finite work and resource-efficient throughput
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/lightsail/latest/userguide/what-is-amazon-lightsail.html
Supports
- Lightsail bundles instances, containers, databases, networking, storage, and related web resources
- Lightsail targets websites and web applications with quick setup and predictable monthly prices
- https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonCloudWatch/latest/monitoring/WhatIsCloudWatch.html
Supports
- CloudWatch provides metrics, logs, dashboards, and alarms for AWS resources and applications
- CloudWatch alarms can trigger automated actions when metrics cross configured thresholds