EC2_Storage_and_Snapshots.md

EC2 Storage and Snapshots

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• Useful Links:

  • Instance storage
  • EC2 and EBS Performance
  • EBS Volume Types and Performance Information

• Exam Tips:

  • Ephemeral Storage (Instance Store Volumes):
    • Limitations
    • Risks
    • Performance Characteristics.
  • Know the ideal patterns and anti-patterns for ephemeral storage:
    • Ideal:
      • Temporary storage
      • High I/O & Throughput
    • Anti-Patterns:
      • Shared storage
      • Persistence
      • Durability/Resilience
      • Elasticity
    • Maximum performance possible? Use Instance Store Volumes.
  • EBS:
    • Supports a maximums per instance throughput of 1,750 MiB/s and 80,000 IOPS.
    • Be aware of what storage you might use given a situation.
    • SSD Based:
      • General Purpose (gp2)
      • Provisioned IOPS SSD (io1)
        • IOPS can scale independent of the volume size.
    • HDD:
      • Cannot be used as a boot volume.
      • Throughput Optimized (st1)
        • Frequently accessed.
      • Cold HDD (sc1)
    • Know the ideal patterns and anti-patterns for EBS storage:
      • Ideal:
        • Persistence
        • Durability
        • Elasticity
        • Provisioned performance
      • Anti-Patterns:
        • Temporary storage
        • Static Content Distribution
        • Shared Access
        • High Durability (99.5 - 99.9+)
    • Does not provide storage sharing, use EFS instead.
    • Snapshots:
    • Question Tips:
      • Cheap = ST1 or SC1
      • Throughput / streaming = ST1
      • Boot = NOT ST1 or SC1
      • GP2 = up to 16,000 IOPS
      • IO1/2 = up to 64,000 IOPS
      • RAID0 + EBS = up to 160,000 IOPS
      • More than 160,000 IOPS = Instance Store