What is Amazon Elastic Block Store?
Tags: aws, amazonelasticblockstore, infosectrain, cloudcomputing
Published: 2023-09-27 10:22:31


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## **What is Amazon EBS?**
Amazon Elastic Block Store, commonly known as EBS, is a significant component of Amazon Web Services (AWS) storage services, offering a versatile and reliable solution for managing data storage in the cloud. EBS allows users to create and attach block storage volumes to Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instances, making it an integral part of building scalable and high-performance applications on the AWS platform.

## **Features of EBS**
●       **Scalability:** EBS allows easy storage scaling to match application requirements by creating new volumes or increasing the size of existing ones through the AWS Management Console.

●       **Backup and Snapshot**: Robust data protection with manual or scheduled snapshots stored in Amazon S3. Snapshots are incremental, saving changes since the last snapshot and optimizing costs.

●       **Encryption:** EBS supports encryption with AES-256 through AWS Key Management Service (KMS), ensuring data security. Encrypted volumes attach only to specific instance types.

●       **Charges:** EBS pricing depends on allocated storage capacity, not actual usage. If you allocate 5 GB but use only 1 GB, you're charged for the full 5 GB volume. Charges vary by AWS region.

●       **High Availability:** EBS volumes are independent of EC2 instances and survive reboots or terminations. However, they are tied to specific availability zones, attaching only to EC2 instances in the same zone.

## **Types of EBS Volumes**
**1. SSD (Solid State Drive)**
●       **General Purpose SSD (GP2):** Suitable for applications requiring low latency and moderate I/O performance. It offers burstable IOPS (input/output operations per second) and scalable throughput.

●       **Provisioned IOPS SSD (IO1):** Designed for IO-intensive workloads, IO1 volumes allow users to specify the exact IOPS requirements, making them ideal for mission-critical applications. 

**2. HDD (Hard Disk Drive)**
●       **Cold HDD (SC1):** Cost-effective and suitable for storing extensive, infrequently accessed data.

●       **Throughput Optimized HDD (ST1)**: Best for large, frequently accessed data with a focus on delivering consistent throughput.

## **Use Cases for EBS**
●       **Database Storage:** EBS is a go-to choice for storing data in relational and NoSQL databases due to its low latency and scalability.

●       **Business-Critical Applications:** Its snapshot-based backup system ensures efficient recovery and minimal data loss, making it suitable for mission-critical applications.

●       **EC2 Server Storage:** EBS volumes can serve as independent hard drives for EC2 instances, guaranteeing data safety even in the face of instance failures.

●       **Hosting Large Applications:** With low-latency access and scalability, EBS is perfect for hosting large enterprise applications and their data.

●       **Root Volumes for EC2:** GP2 and IO1 EBS volumes can be used as root volumes for EC2 instances, providing a solid foundation for your cloud-based servers.

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