From .NET to Cloud – AWS Engineer Journey (Day 2: Deep Dive into EC2)

Source: Dev.to

What is Amazon EC2?

Amazon EC2 provides resizable virtual servers in the cloud. It allows engineers to provision compute capacity on‑demand without managing physical hardware. This is where applications actually run in AWS infrastructure.

Key Learnings from My Hands-on Practice

Launching Virtual Servers

• Created EC2 instances using different AMIs:
  • Amazon Linux
  • Ubuntu
• Followed the full launch workflow: AMI → Instance Type → Key Pair → Security Group → Storage → Launch.

Instance Types & Sizing Strategy

• Explored instance families:
  • General Purpose
  • Compute Optimized
  • Memory Optimized
• Learned how selecting the right instance type impacts performance and cost optimization.

Secure Access & Networking

• Configured Key Pairs for SSH authentication.
• Set up Security Groups (firewall rules).
• Practiced SSH connectivity via terminal.
• Understood inbound vs. outbound traffic rules.

Storage with EBS

• Studied EBS volume types.
• Attached & detached volumes.
• Differentiated root volume vs. additional storage.
• Learned persistence behavior after instance stop/terminate.

Elastic IP & Monitoring

• Explored Elastic IP for static public addressing.
• Covered basic monitoring concepts.
• Learned about auto‑recovery mechanisms.

Technical Insight Gained

Coming from an application development background, EC2 helped me see infrastructure from a system‑level perspective:

• Applications run on compute (EC2)
• Storage persists in EBS
• Access is controlled via IAM
• Traffic flows through VPC and Security Groups
• Availability requires monitoring and recovery planning

Cloud engineering is not just deployment—it’s architecture thinking.

Reflection

The more I learn AWS, the more I realize strong cloud engineers don’t just write code. They design systems that are scalable, secure, and resilient by default. Step by step, building foundations. Consistency is the real superpower 💪🐧