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DevOps > AWS EC2 > Flashcards

AWS EC2 Flashcards

1
Q

What is EC2 in AWS?

A

EC2 stands for Elastic Compute Cloud, a highly configurable virtual server.

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2
Q

What is Cloud-Init?

A

Cloud-init is the industry-standard multi-distribution method for cross-platform cloud instance initialization.

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3
Q

What are the three types of data Cloud-init uses to initialize cloud instances?

A

Meta-data, User-data, Vendor-data.

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4
Q

How can you retrieve metadata about an EC2 instance?

A

By making a call to the Metadata Service (MDS) at the special endpoint http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/ for IPv4 or http://[fd00:ec2::254]/latest/meta-data/ for IPv6.

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5
Q

What are the two versions of the EC2 Instance Metadata Service (MDS)?

A

IMDSv1 (request/response method) and IMDSv2 (session-oriented method requiring a token).

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6
Q

How is an EC2 instance type name structured?

A

The name includes the instance family, generation, processor family, additional capabilities, and available virtual resources (e.g., c7gn.xlarge).

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7
Q

What are the five main EC2 Instance Family categories and their designations?

A

General Purpose: A, T, M
Compute Optimized: C
Memory Optimized: R, X, High Memory, Z
Accelerated Optimized: P, G, F, Inf, VT
Storage Optimized: I, D, H

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8
Q

What is an EC2 Instance Profile?

A

A reference to an IAM role that is assumed by the EC2 instance upon creation to avoid passing long-lived AWS credentials.

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9
Q

What are some key points about EC2 Instance Profiles?

A

They can be associated at any time, only one IAM role can be associated, changing roles is not instantaneous, and they can be listed only via API.

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10
Q

What does the EC2 Instance Console Screenshot feature do?

A

It takes a screenshot of the current state of the instance.

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11
Q

What must be configured for hostname preserving in EC2?

A

Cloud-Init must be configured for hostname preserving, and a reboot is required after changing the hostname.

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12
Q

What are the two types of hostnames in EC2?

A

IP Name (legacy) and Resource Name.

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13
Q

What does disabling source/destination checks on an EC2 instance allow?

A

It allows the instance to pass through traffic, useful for Network Address Translation (NAT).

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14
Q

What is a Placement Group in EC2?

A

A feature that lets you choose the logical placement of your instances for communication, performance, or durability

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15
Q

What are the three types of Placement Groups in EC2?

A

Cluster, Partition, and Spread.

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16
Q

Which type of Placement Group is ideal for tightly-coupled node-to-node communication?

A

Cluster Placement Group, where instances are packed together in one Availability Zone (AZ).

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17
Q

Which Placement Group type spreads instances across different logical partitions to avoid shared hardware?

A

Partition Placement Group.

18
Q

Which Placement Group type allows placing instances on different racks and is ideal for critical instances?

A

Spread Placement Group.

19
Q

What is an Amazon Machine Image (AMI)?

A

AMI provides the information required to launch an EC2 instance.

20
Q

What are some actions you can perform with an AMI?

A
  • Turn EC2 instances into AMIs
  • AMIs are region-specific; to move between regions, create a copy.
  • Purchase or sell AMIs on AWS Marketplace.
  • Store and restore AMIs from an S3 bucket.
  • Deregister, deprecate, or disable AMIs.
  • Share AMIs with public, explicit, or implicit settings.
21
Q

What information does an AMI hold?

A

Template for the root volume (e.g., operating system, applications)
Permissions controlling who can use the AMI
Block device mapping specifying the volumes to attach.

22
Q

What are some use cases for AMIs?

A

Keep incremental changes to OS, application code, and system packages.
Routine patching with System Manager Automation.
Use with Launch Configurations or Launch Templates for managing revisions.

23
Q

What are the two boot modes for AMIs, and which one should be used unless there is a reason to use the other?

A

Legacy BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) and UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface). UEFI should be used unless there is a reason to use Legacy BIOS.

24
Q

What are the characteristics of Legacy BIOS?

A

Initializes hardware during boot-up and provides runtime services.
No secure boot.
May be required for legacy OS or software.

25
Q

What are the characteristics of UEFI?

A

Supports secure boot.
Faster startup.
Supports drives larger than 2TB.
Pre-boot environment with Graphical UI and network capabilities.

26
Q

What are the two root device types for AMIs?

A

EBS-backed: EBS volume is attached at launch and is independent of the instance.
Instance-backed: Native volumes are used; data is lost when the instance is stopped or terminated.

27
Q

What are the two virtualization types in AMIs?

A

Hardware Virtual Machine (HVM) and Paravirtualization (PV).

28
Q

What is the difference between HVM and PV virtualization?

A

HVM is full virtualization with hardware assistance; PV is software-assisted.
HVM uses hardware-assist technology; PV relies on the hypervisor.
HVM has potentially higher performance and broader OS options.
HVM can boot from EBS or instance store; PV can only boot from instance store.
HVM is recommended for modern operating systems.

29
Q

What is an Auto Scaling Group (ASG) in AWS?

A

An ASG contains a group of EC2 instances for automatic scaling and management.

30
Q

What factors can trigger scaling in an Auto Scaling Group (ASG)?

A

Capacity settings
Health check replacements (EC2 or ELB Health Checks)
Scaling policies (user-defined or AWS managed)

31
Q

What are the three adjustment types in Simple and Step Scaling policies for ASGs?

A

ChangeInCapacity - change capacity based on scaling adjustment.
ExactCapacity - change capacity to match the exact number.
PercentChangeInCapacity - change capacity by a percentage.

32
Q

What is AWS Predictive Scaling in an ASG?

A

Analyzes historical load to detect daily and weekly patterns.
Requires a forecast of 24 hours of CloudWatch data.
Uses the last 14 days of data to adjust policy.
Produces a forecast for the next 48 hours, updated every 6 hours.

33
Q

What are the capacity settings for an Auto Scaling Group?

A

Min Size
Max Size
Desired Capacity
Changing these metrics is considered manual scaling, and ASG will launch instances to meet the minimum size capacity.

34
Q

What is an Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) in AWS?

A

ELB is a suite of load balancers that distribute traffic to EC2, ECS, EKS, and Fargate instances.

35
Q

What are the types of Elastic Load Balancers (ELB) in AWS?

A

Application Load Balancer (ALB)
Network Load Balancer (NLB)
Gateway Load Balancer (GWLB)
Classic Load Balancer (CLB)

36
Q

What does a Listener do in the context of a Load Balancer?

A

Listeners evaluate any traffic that matches its port.

37
Q

What are Target Groups in AWS Load Balancing (excluding CLB)?

A

Target Groups are a logical group of possible targets, such as EC2 instances or IP addresses.

38
Q

What are the key characteristics of an Application Load Balancer (ALB)?

A

Operates on OSI Layer 7
Designed to balance HTTP and HTTPS traffic
Supports Path-Based and Host-Based routing
Can handle SSL/TLS termination
Can only be accessed by its hostname

39
Q

What are the key characteristics of a Network Load Balancer (NLB)?

A

Operates on OSI Layer 4
Designed to balance TCP/UDP traffic
Can handle millions of requests per second
Preserves the client source IP
Can be accessed by its IP, useful when a static IP is needed for a load balancer

40
Q

What are the characteristics of a Classic Load Balancer (CLB)?

A

Can use Layer 7-specific features and Layer 4 balancing for purely TCP applications.
Balances HTTP or TCP traffic but not at the same time.
Is a legacy feature and not recommended for use anymore.

DevOps (7 decks)

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