Elastic Block Store (EBS) Overview

Lesson Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will:

Understand what Elastic Block Store (EBS) is and how it complements Amazon EC2.
Learn the different types of EBS volumes and their use cases.
Explore features like snapshots, encryption, and performance optimization.
Practice creating and attaching an EBS volume to an EC2 instance.

Introduction: Persistent Storage for Virtual Servers

Amazon EC2 provides scalable compute power, but it doesn’t offer persistent storage for your data by default. If an EC2 instance is stopped or terminated, its local data is lost. This is where Elastic Block Store (EBS) comes in—a reliable, high-performance block storage service designed specifically for use with EC2.

Think of EBS as a virtual hard drive for your EC2 instances, providing persistent storage that you can resize, back up, and manage independently of the instance.

What is Amazon EBS?

Amazon EBS is a block storage service that provides durable, high-performance storage for use with Amazon EC2 instances. It acts like a virtual disk drive, offering flexibility in size, performance, and durability.

Key Features of EBS:

Durability: EBS volumes are automatically replicated within the Availability Zone to prevent data loss.
Persistence: Data remains intact even if the associated EC2 instance is stopped or restarted.
Scalability: Volumes can range from 1 GiB to 16 TiB, and performance can be adjusted based on workload needs.
Snapshots: Create point-in-time backups that can be stored in S3.
Encryption: Built-in encryption for data at rest and in transit.

Types of EBS Volumes

AWS offers several EBS volume types optimized for different workloads.

1. General Purpose SSD (gp3 and gp2):

Balanced performance and cost.
Use Case: Web servers, development, and test environments.
Performance:
- gp3: Baseline 3,000 IOPS with up to 16,000 IOPS.
- gp2: Scales performance with volume size (up to 16,000 IOPS).

2. Provisioned IOPS SSD (io1 and io2):

High performance for mission-critical applications.
Use Case: Databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, or Oracle.
Performance: Up to 256,000 IOPS.

3. Throughput Optimized HDD (st1):

High throughput for frequently accessed data.
Use Case: Big data, log processing, or data warehouses.
Performance: Up to 500 MiB/s.

4. Cold HDD (sc1):

Low-cost storage for infrequently accessed data.
Use Case: Archival storage or infrequent log retrieval.
Performance: Up to 250 MiB/s.

EBS Snapshots

What are Snapshots?

Snapshots are point-in-time backups of EBS volumes, stored in Amazon S3.
They allow you to:
- Recover data in case of failure.
- Create new volumes from existing snapshots.
- Transfer data across regions.

Key Features:

Incremental Backups: Only changes since the last snapshot are stored, reducing costs.
Copy Snapshots: Snapshots can be copied to other AWS Regions for disaster recovery.
Automation: Use Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager (DLM) to automate snapshot creation and deletion.

Step-by-Step Lab: Create and Attach an EBS Volume

Scenario: You have an EC2 instance and need to add additional storage for your application data.

Step 1: Create an EBS Volume

Log in to AWS:
- Go to the AWS Management Console.
- Navigate to the EC2 Dashboard.
Create a New Volume:
- In the left-hand menu, click Volumes under the “Elastic Block Store” section.
- Click Create Volume.
- Configure the volume:
  - Type: General Purpose SSD (gp3).
  - Size: 10 GiB.
  - Availability Zone: Ensure it matches the AZ of your EC2 instance (e.g., us-east-1a).
- Click Create Volume.

Step 2: Attach the EBS Volume to an EC2 Instance

Locate the Volume:
- In the Volumes list, select your newly created volume.
- Click Actions > Attach Volume.
Select an Instance:
- From the dropdown, choose your EC2 instance.
- Click Attach.

Step 3: Mount the EBS Volume

Connect to the EC2 Instance:
- Use SSH to connect to your EC2 instance:
```
ssh -i “path-to-key.pem” ec2-user@public-ip
```
- Identify the Volume:
  - Run the following command to list block devices:
```
lsblk
```
  - You should see the new volume (e.g., /dev/xvdf).
- Format the Volume:
  - Create a file system on the volume:
```
sudo mkfs -t ext4 /dev/xvdf
```
- Mount the Volume:
  - Create a mount point:
```
sudo mkdir /data
```
  - Mount the volume:
```
sudo mount /dev/xvdf /data
```
- Verify the Mount:
  - Run the df -h command to confirm the volume is mounted:
```
df -h
```

Step 4: Make the Mount Persistent

Edit the fstab File:
```
sudo nano /etc/fstab
```
Add the following line to make the mount persistent:
```
/dev/xvdf /data ext4 defaults,nofail 0 2
```
Test the Configuration:
- Unmount and remount the volume:
```
sudo umount /data
sudo mount -a
```

Reflection: Why Use EBS?

Elastic Block Store provides flexible and reliable storage for Amazon EC2 instances. It’s ideal for applications requiring persistent storage, high performance, and scalability.

In this lesson, you:

Learned about EBS volume types and their use cases.
Created, attached, and mounted an EBS volume to an EC2 instance.
Explored the importance of snapshots for backups and disaster recovery.

What’s Next?

In the next chapter, we’ll discuss Real-Life Storage Scenarios, where you’ll apply your knowledge of S3 and EBS to solve practical challenges.

Your cloud storage journey continues—let’s keep building!

AWS Fundamentals for Beginners