5 Different EC2 Instance Types

Today, we will examine one of the most used AWS services: Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).

EC2’s are virtual servers provided by AWS that allows users to run web applications. They come in different type to cater to different workloads, with different combinations of CPU, memory, storage, and network capacity.

In this article we will be breaking down some of these different instance types:

1. General Purpose

2. Compute Optimised

3. Memory Optimized

4. Accelerated Computing

5. Storage Optimized

General Purpose

General Purpose Instances are used for the majority of workloads.

This instance is suitable for applications that need a balance of compute, memory and network capacity.

Examples of these workloads include web applications that simply serve traffic.

Compute optimised Instances (C Types)

As the name implies, this instance is best suited for workloads that needs higher processing resources to carry out operations. These workloads uses a lot of Compute power (CPU)

E.g are Dedicated Game servers. A gaming website needs to be fast and it's requires a larger capacity to be able to accommodate and process numerous requests sent at the same time.

Memory Optimized Instance (R types):

These are for workloads that need large datasets.

Best suited for workloads that needs to process previous data before executing a new request.

E.g : Portals that students use to access their results.

This instance type is used to run applications that requires lot of memory capacity.

Memory Optimized Instances (R types) are best suited for workloads that need to process large datasets, such as a school student portal that students access to see their results. This instance type helps you run applications that require a lot of memory capacity.

Accelerated Computing Instances:

This is best suited for workloads with specific functions (specially Optimised) for workloads that needs high processing power and low latency network like Data Analytics and deep learning.

Storage Optimized Instance:

This is for workloads that demand fast read and write access to huge datasets.

Such as Data Warehousing applications that requires higher storage capacity and low latency while accessing data.

Irrespective of the kind of workload ( applications and websites) you can think of creating. AWS has services to cater for them all.

We hope you now have a better grasp of the various EC2 instances available and can find a way to express the knowledge in your next interview ;)

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