Introduction
AWS EBS (Amazon Elastic Block Store) is a scalable block storage service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS). It is designed to provide persistent block-level storage volumes for use with Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) instances.
EBS allows you to create and attach virtual hard disk volumes to your EC2 instances. These volumes function like physical hard drives and can be used to store your application data, operating system files, or any other type of data that you need to persist. EBS volumes are network-attached storage, meaning they can be attached to EC2 instances over the network.
Key features of AWS EBS include:
- Elasticity: EBS volumes can be created, attached, and detached on the fly, allowing you to scale your storage as per your requirements. You can also increase the size of an existing volume or create snapshots for backup and restore purposes.
- Performance: EBS provides different volume types with varying performance characteristics to meet different application needs. For example, General Purpose SSD (gp2) volumes are suitable for a wide range of workloads, while Provisioned IOPS SSD (io1) volumes are designed for applications requiring high I/O performance.
- Durability and Availability: EBS volumes are replicated within a specific Availability Zone (AZ) to provide durability and availability. You can also enable automated snapshots or create manual backups to further protect your data.
- Snapshots and Encryption: EBS allows you to create point-in-time snapshots of your volumes, which can be used for data backup, disaster recovery, or creating new volumes. EBS also provides built-in encryption options to secure your data at rest.
- Integration: EBS seamlessly integrates with other AWS services. For example, you can use EBS volumes as the root device for your EC2 instances, or attach them to databases like Amazon RDS (Relational Database Service) for data storage.
Overall, AWS EBS offers flexible and scalable block storage capabilities that can be easily integrated with EC2 instances and other AWS services, providing a reliable and durable storage solution for your applications running in the AWS cloud.