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Al-ameen Musa
Al-ameen Musa

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A Beginner’s Guide to AWS Elastic Block Store (EBS)

Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) is a high-performance, scalable block storage service designed for use with Amazon EC2 instances. Whether you're running a database, managing a file system, or handling critical workloads, EBS provides reliable storage that can scale to meet your application's needs. Let’s explore what EBS is, its features, use cases, and best practices.


What Is AWS EBS?

Amazon EBS provides persistent block storage volumes that can be attached to EC2 instances. Unlike ephemeral instance storage, EBS volumes persist independently of the life of the EC2 instance. This makes EBS ideal for use cases requiring data durability, high performance, and easy scalability.


Key Features of EBS

  1. Persistent Storage

    Data stored in EBS volumes persists even after the attached EC2 instance is stopped or terminated.

  2. High Performance

    EBS is optimized for low-latency, high-throughput workloads and offers multiple performance tiers.

  3. Scalability

    Resize volumes or switch between performance tiers without downtime.

  4. Snapshots

    Easily back up EBS volumes using snapshots, which are stored in Amazon S3 for durability.

  5. Encryption

    Encrypt data at rest, in transit, and during snapshots to ensure security.

  6. Availability and Durability

    EBS automatically replicates within an Availability Zone to protect against component failure.


EBS Volume Types

EBS offers several volume types optimized for different workloads:

  1. General Purpose SSD (gp3, gp2)

    • Use Case: Balanced performance for general workloads like web servers and small databases.
    • Performance: Consistent performance with baseline IOPS and the ability to provision additional IOPS (gp3).
  2. Provisioned IOPS SSD (io2, io1)

    • Use Case: High-performance workloads like large databases or latency-sensitive applications.
    • Performance: High IOPS and throughput with predictable performance.
  3. Throughput Optimized HDD (st1)

    • Use Case: Big data, data warehouses, or log processing.
    • Performance: High throughput for large, sequential workloads

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