Part 2: AWS Cloud Practitioner Essentials

Introduction to AWS EC2 Instances, Types and Pricing Models

Introduction to AWS EC2 Instances, Types and Pricing Models

Remember yesterday when we talked about how cloud computing is just fancy client-server stuff under the hood?
If you haven’t read about it yet. Please read it here

Well, now imagine you opened a coffee shop.

You’re hiring people.

  • Some are great at multitasking.
  • Some are fast at taking orders.
  • Some? Absolute artists with that latte foam.

That’s exactly how EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) instances work.

They’re not just “servers” — they’re roles in your app’s workflow.

☕ Your Coffee Shop = Your App

Your cashier is like a memory-optimised instance — fast, alert, and ready to juggle orders.

  • Your barista is a compute-optimised instance, churning out coffee shots nonstop.
  • And your latte artist? Can you guess? That’s an accelerated compute instance, handling niche yet beautiful workloads such as ML or GPU-intensive tasks.
  • AWS lets you build this dream team using different EC2 instance families tailored to your app's needs.
giphy- cat seeing coffee

What Are EC2 Instance Families?

Each EC2 instance type offers a different mix of:

  • 🧠 CPU power
  • 🧵 Memory (RAM)
  • 💾 Storage
  • 🌐 Networking capacity

Here’s the breakdown:

Family Best For Real-World Use Case

Real world use cases

How Much Will It Cost?

AWS pricing is like ordering coffee — there’s a basic black version, and then there’s the full oat milk extra-shot experience.

Here are your billing options (and when to use them):

1️⃣ On-Demand (a.k.a. “Just testing”)

  • You pay only when the instance is running
  • Ideal for experiments, demos, and short-term use
  • No commitments, no headaches
    🧾 Think of it like: walk-in order, pay as you go

2️⃣ Savings Plan (your “coffee subscription”)

  • Commit to a consistent usage level (e.g., $0.50/hr)
  • Save up to 72%
  • Works across EC2, Fargate, and Lambda
    🧾 Good for teams with steady usage over 1 or 3 years

3️⃣ Reserved Instances (like booking a coffee table every day)

  • Commit to a 1 or 3-year term
  • Up to 75% cheaper than On-Demand
  • Great for predictable traffic apps
    🧾 Pay all upfront / partial / no upfront — totally flexible

4️⃣ Spot Instances (coffee, but only if there’s leftover milk)

  • Use AWS’s extra, unused compute power
  • Up to 90% cheaper, but…
  • AWS can kick you off with 2 mins’ notice
    🧾 Best for batch jobs, testing, or processes that can restart

5️⃣ Dedicated Hosts (VIP lounge)

  • Physical server only you can use
  • Used when you need regulatory compliance or software licenses
    🧾 Most expensive, most isolated, least shared

Real Example: Building a Simple App with EC2

Let’s say you’re deploying a To-Do List app with a Node.js backend.

  • Frontend? You might use a static S3 bucket or React on Vite.
  • Backend? EC2 General Purpose instance (t3.micro) for handling API requests.
  • Database? Host on RDS or use EC2 with a Storage-Optimised instance.
  • Analytics in future? Add an Accelerated instance with GPU for ML.

That’s how a simple app scales into an intelligent one — with EC2 letting you plug in team members as needed.

Try This Today

  1. Head over to https://calculator.aws/
  2. Estimate the cost of a t3.micro instance running 24/7
  3. Explore what instance family would suit your next project best

AWS t3.medium Yearly Estimate

Want to get hands-on?

🚀 Launch an EC2 instance using the free tier (e.g., t2.micro)
🧠 Follow this AWS doc to launch your first EC2 instance

✅ Key Takeaways

  • EC2 instances are like your team — pick the right person for the right job
  • Use On-Demand to explore, Savings Plan for stability, and Spot for budget experiments
  • Know your instance families like tools in your developer toolbox
  • Plan your cloud costs like you’re scaling a real-world business

Next Read

Day 3: AWS EC2 scaling and elastic load balancing

Coming Up Tomorrow- AWS EC2 scaling and elastic load balancing

Your Turn

  • What’s the first app you’d want to try building on EC2?
  • Would you go for On-Demand or are you ready to commit to a Reserved plan?

Drop your answers, thoughts, and questions below 👇 Let’s get your hands dirty with the cloud 🚀

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