AWS Virtual Machine: Features and How to Setup

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An AWS Virtual Machine offers the convenience of a virtual server that can be launched on AWS, eliminating the need for a physical counterpart. It serves as a powerful alternative to physical servers, allowing you to host applications and distribute your workload efficiently across multiple servers. Opting for an AWS Virtual Machine is an ideal choice when it comes to hosting your virtual private server on AWS. Navigating and controlling a virtual machine (VM) through the AWS console is simple and user-friendly. Continue reading to gain insights into the inner workings, features, and practical applications of the AWS Virtual Machine.

Also Read: Guide to AWS Solution Architect Salary, Experience & Location

What is AWS Virtual Machine?

A virtual machine is an emulation of a computer system. It enables multiple operating systems to run on the same physical machine.

Companies that use AWS need to keep an eye on their cost while still ensuring high performance and reliability. Here is where virtualisation comes in handy. Virtualisation is used by companies to improve their server utilisation rates while still being able to meet their customers' needs at an affordable price.

Virtual machines are isolated environments where you can run applications, services and other workloads. They're managed by Amazon Web Services so you don't have to worry about the underlying physical infrastructure and all its complexities.

Managed by Amazon Web Services, VMs provide isolated environments for running applications, services, and other workloads, relieving you from the complexities of managing the underlying physical infrastructure.

Also Read: DevOps Mindset

AWS Virtual Machine: Reasons to Use

There are various benefits of working with AWS Virtual Machine. These are explained in detail below:

Security and Privacy: You can choose to use your IP address range, or let AWS allocate one for you. Virtual private clouds also provide security at the network layer through the use of security groups that control traffic flow into and out of instances. These groups can be configured to allow or deny access based on source and destination IP addresses, protocols, ports and so on.
Save Money on Infrastructure: AWS Virtual Machines allow you to rent servers by the hour or month instead of having to buy them outright. This is a great way to save money on infrastructure because you don't have to worry about taking out loans or paying back loans for hardware that may not be used all year long.
Robust Set of Functionality: VM on AWS offers a robust set of functionality, and the service has expanded to include more than just compute resources. AWS Lambda is a great example of this. It allows you to run code without provisioning or managing servers. You can use the AWS Command Line Interface (CLI) or the AWS Management Console to create and run Lambda functions in response to events such as changes in an Amazon S3 bucket, user actions on your website or new messages in a Slack channel.
Global Infrastructure: AWS Virtual Machine allows users to deploy their instances in multiple regions worldwide, bringing applications closer to end users. This global infrastructure reduces latency and ensures a seamless experience for users, regardless of their geographical locations.

How to Setup a VM on AWS?

With the help of the following steps, you can set up your AWS Virtual Machine:

Step 1: Head to the AWS Management Console and create your account.

Step 2: Next, go to the EC2 service. Click on "Launch Instance". This will begin the instance creation process.

Step 3: Now, once the process has started, you can choose the desired Amazon Machine Image (AMI). This will contain your required operating system and software.

Step 4: Next, you will need to select the type of instance you need as per your requirements. These will include CPU, memory, storage and networking capacity.

Step 5: Now, you can begin configuring instance details. You will need to mention network settings, security groups and storage options.

Step 6: Once you have completed the configuration of instances, you can set up key pairs for secure remote access to the instance.

Step 7: Make sure that you review your instance configuration. Finally, you can now launch the instance,

Step 8: Now, your instance can be connected to methods such as Secure Shell Protocol (SSH) and Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

Step 9: You can further customise based on the requirements of your platform.

Features of AWS Virtual Machine

AWS offers a variety of different features for its VMs. The following list describes some of those features:

1. Freedom of Location

Amazon Virtual Machines are deployed across multiple AWS regions, enabling your applications to have higher availability and fault tolerance while reducing latency for users in different locations around the world.

2. Portability of Applications

Applications can be moved from one data centre to another without any changes. AWS has a wide range of virtualisation technologies that enable you to do this. You can choose between different hypervisors, such as Xen, KVM and VMware ESXi, depending on your needs.

3. Autoscaling Groups

Autoscaling groups can also be used with load balancers to automatically add new instances when they receive too many requests per second (RPS) and remove them when the RPS falls below this threshold again.

4. On-demand Virtual Servers

You can start, stop and terminate instances on demand. You can scale up or down the number of instances you want to run based on your needs. This is a pay-per-use model, but it's also very cost-effective. You only pay for the resources you use.

5. Manual Fine Tuning

The default configuration of a VM might not be what you want. For example, if you are running an application on a platform as a service (PaaS) solution such as Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), you might need to manually adjust the memory and CPU usage for your instance.

6. Automatic Fine Tuning

Automatic fine tuning automatically optimises your CPU, memory and storage resources based on the actual usage of your application. This feature helps you reduce costs and increase performance by automatically increasing or decreasing resource allocation as needed.

7. Smooth Release Cycle

The release cycle for AWS products is generally very smooth. You can use the latest version of any product without worrying about breaking something or having to wait for a new version of that product.

8. Low Latency

With AWS, low latency is possible because all Amazon EC2 instances are hosted in data centres located around the world. This means that users will experience little latency when accessing applications hosted on Amazon EC2 instances.

9. Extreme Scalability

Every VM on AWS can be automatically scaled up or down based on your current needs. You can add or remove instances based on your business requirements and pay only for what you use.

Also Read: Prerequisites for AWS Solution Architect

Use Cases of AWS Virtual Machine

The AWS Virtual Machine is a great way to run your virtual private server on AWS. It’s easy to create a VM, and it’s simple to access and manage from the AWS console.

Here are three use cases for the AWS Virtual Machine:

1. Launching an application server

To ensure high availability at all times, you have the option to deploy multiple instances of an application across multiple availability zones. If one Availability Zone (AZ) goes down due to an outage or failure, then another AZ will pick up the slack.

2. Testing an application before deploying it to production

You can use VMs to test your applications in production-like environments before deploying them. For example, if you want to test your application against different configurations of databases or storage systems, then you can use VMs to simulate those configurations as needed.

3. As a PaaS

You can use AWS as a platform for building applications without worrying about servers and infrastructure management. Just upload your code base, configure everything and let AWS handle everything else for you. Provisioning is fast and easy; it takes only minutes to start up an application.

Conclusion

AWS Virtual Machines are used for various purposes like testing software, development, testing and other processes. By harnessing the power of AWS Virtual Machine, organisations can optimise their operations and achieve greater efficiency. You can get hands-on experience with AWS and learn how to implement cutting-edge technology in your business at the same time with DevOps training. Take the next step in your professional growth by enrolling in our DevOps course.

Also Read: AWS Solution Architect Certification Path

FAQs

Q1. Can I run multiple virtual machines on AWS?

Ans. Yes, you can run multiple virtual machines on AWS. AWS allows you to launch and manage multiple instances as per your requirements.

Q2. How can AWS Virtual Machine improve application performance?

Ans. AWS Virtual Machine offers scalability and the ability to distribute instances across multiple availability zones, ensuring high performance and reduced latency.

Q3. Can I change the instance type after launching a virtual machine on AWS?

Ans. Yes, you can change the instance type after launching a virtual machine on AWS. AWS provides options to resize instances based on your needs.

Q4. What security measures are in place for AWS Virtual Machine?

Ans. AWS offers various security measures for VMs, such as security groups, network access control lists and encryption options to protect your instances and data.

Q5. Is technical expertise required to set up and manage AWS Virtual Machines?

Ans. While technical expertise can be beneficial, AWS provides a user-friendly interface and detailed documentation to guide users through the process. It is accessible to both technical and non-technical users.

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