Compute

/iː-siː-tuː/

n. “A scalable virtual server service provided by Amazon Web Services for cloud computing.”

EC2, short for Elastic Compute Cloud, is a core service of Amazon Web Services (AWS) that allows users to launch and manage virtual servers, known as instances, in the cloud. EC2 provides flexible computing capacity, enabling organizations to scale up or down based on demand without investing in physical hardware.

EC2 instances can run multiple operating systems, including Linux and Windows, and can be configured with varying CPU, memory, storage, and network capabilities. Users can select from a wide variety of instance types optimized for general-purpose computing, high-performance computing, memory-intensive workloads, or GPU-accelerated tasks.

Key characteristics of EC2 include:

• Elasticity: Scale resources up or down based on workload.
• Variety of Instance Types: Supports general-purpose, compute-optimized, memory-optimized, and GPU-enabled instances.
• Flexible Operating Systems: Run Linux, Windows, or custom OS images.
• Integration with AWS Services: Works with storage, databases, networking, and security services.
• Pay-as-You-Go Pricing: Pay only for the compute capacity you use.

Conceptual example of EC2 usage:

// Launching an EC2 instance
Select instance type and OS
Configure network, storage, and security settings
Launch instance in the desired AWS region
Connect to instance via SSH or RDP
Deploy applications and scale as needed

Conceptually, EC2 acts as a virtual server you can spin up in minutes, giving developers and organizations on-demand computing power in the cloud, without managing physical servers.