EC2 Instance Storage Summary

1️⃣ EBS — Elastic Block Store 💽

• Network-attached block storage for one EC2 instance at a time

• Tied to a specific AZ

• Use EBS Snapshots to back up data 🛡️ or move it across AZs 🔁

Exam cue: block storage, single EC2, AZ-specific, snapshots.

2️⃣ AMIs — Amazon Machine Images 🖥️

• Ready-to-use EC2 instance templates with your customizations baked in

• Use EC2 Image Builder to automate building, testing, and distributing AMIs

Exam cue: prebuilt EC2 templates, automation-friendly.

3️⃣ EC2 Instance Store ⚡

• High-performance local storage attached directly to the host

• Ephemeral — data is lost if the instance stops or terminates

• Best for temporary, fast-access storage

4️⃣ EFS — Elastic File System 📁

• Managed NFS (network file system)

• Attaches to hundreds of instances across a region 🌍

• Use EFS-IA for infrequently accessed files to cut cost 💰

Exam cue: shared storage across instances, regional, NFS.

5️⃣ Amazon FSx 🪟⚡

FSx for Windows File Server 🪟

• Managed Windows-native file system

• Supports SMB, NTFS, Active Directory

• For Windows workloads

FSx for Lustre ⚡

• Managed high-performance Linux file system

• For HPC workloads — ML, analytics, video, financial modeling

• Connects to S3 or compute instances

6️⃣ Quick Reference

7️⃣ Exam Tips 💡

• EBS → single instance, snapshots, AZ-bound

• Instance Store → ephemeral, fast

• EFS → NFS, regional, shared access

• FSx → pick the flavor based on Windows vs. HPC Linux needs

• AMIs → prebuilt EC2 images, automated via Image Builder

8️⃣ Summary ✅

• AWS storage options let you match the right type to the workload

• Know the tradeoffs: block vs. file vs. local vs. managed high-performance

• FSx and EFS give scalable shared storage; EBS and Instance Store are instance-specific

• Always factor in backup, replication, and cost optimization