Storage - EC2 Instance Storage

Question 1

What is an EC2 instance store volume?

Answer 1

• It is referred to as an instance store volume.
• It provides local disk drives for storing data on EC2 instances.
• It offers ephemeral storage, which means the data is considered temporary.

Question 2

What is the risk associated with EC2 instance store volumes?

Answer 2

• Data stored on instance store volumes is lost if the instance is stopped or terminated.
• Any data stored on the volumes is not recoverable.
• Instance store volumes provide no means of persistency.

Question 3

When does data remain intact on instance store volumes?

Answer 3

• Data remains intact if the instance is rebooted.
• Rebooting an instance does not delete the data on instance store volumes.

Question 4

What happens to data on instance store volumes during stop or termination?

Answer 4

• Data on instance store volumes is deleted without any means of recovery during stop or termination.
• All blocks on the storage volume are reset, effectively wiping data.

Question 5

Why are EC2 instance store volumes used despite the risk of data loss?

Answer 5

• Storage used by instance store volumes is included in the price of the EC2 instance, reducing additional storage costs.
• Instance store volumes offer high I/O speeds, making them ideal for handling high-demand applications like NoSQL databases.
• They are commonly used for frequently changing data, such as caches or buffers, and for services within load balancing groups.

Question 6

Do all instance types support instance store volumes?

Answer 6

• No, not all instance types support instance store volumes.
• It is important to check the latest AWS documentation to confirm if the desired instance type supports instance store volumes.

Question 7

What security features do instance store volumes offer?

Answer 7

• Instance store volumes do not offer additional security features.
• They have the same security mechanisms provided by EC2, such as IAM policies for instance launch and actions.

Question 8

When are EC2 instance store volumes not recommended?

Answer 8

• They are not recommended for data that needs to remain persistent or accessed/shared by others.
• If persistency is required, the elastic block store (EBS) service is recommended as a block-level storage solution.