Data Management Glossary
Elastic Block Store (EBS)
Elastic Block Store (EBS) is a block-level storage service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that is designed to be used with Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instances. EBS provides durable, persistent, and high-performance block storage volumes that can be attached to EC2 instances as virtual disks.
Amazon EBS characteristics
- Block-Level Storage: EBS provides block-level storage volumes that can be formatted and used as virtual disks by EC2 instances. These volumes can be used for a wide range of applications and databases that require persistent and reliable storage.
- Performance Options: EBS offers different volume types to cater to various performance requirements. These include General Purpose SSD (gp2), Provisioned IOPS SSD (io1/io2), Throughput Optimized HDD (st1), and Cold HDD (sc1). Each volume type is optimized for specific use cases in terms of performance, capacity, and cost.
- Elasticity and Scalability: EBS volumes can be created and attached to EC2 instances on the fly, providing elasticity and flexibility in storage provisioning. Volumes can be easily resized to meet changing capacity needs without requiring downtime or data migration.
- Data Durability and Availability: EBS volumes are designed for durability and availability. Data stored in EBS volumes is automatically replicated within an Availability Zone (AZ) to protect against hardware failures. For additional data protection, EBS snapshots can be created and stored in Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3).
- Snapshots and Backup: EBS allows you to create point-in-time snapshots of your volumes, which are stored in Amazon S3. These snapshots serve as backups and can be used to restore data or create new volumes. Snapshots are incremental, capturing only the changed data, which helps reduce backup costs and storage requirements.
- Encryption and Security: EBS volumes support encryption at rest using AWS Key Management Service (KMS) keys. This helps protect data stored on EBS volumes and ensures compliance with data security requirements.
- Performance Monitoring: AWS provides tools and metrics to monitor the performance of EBS volumes, including metrics for throughput, latency, and IOPS. This allows you to optimize performance and troubleshoot any performance-related issues.
Common EBS scenarios
Common EBS scenarios include hosting databases, running applications, storing data files, and building scalable and highly available architectures on AWS. It integrates seamlessly with other AWS services, making it a versatile and integral part of the AWS ecosystem.
EBS features, including performance characteristics, and pricing details are regularly being updated so refer to the official AWS documentation or consult with AWS for the most up-to-date information and guidelines.
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