As I continue learning Microsoft Azure, I’ve started exploring Amazon Web Services (AWS) to understand how core cloud concepts translate across platforms.
Today, I worked on creating an EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) instance — AWS’s virtual server service. While the interface and terminology differ from Azure Virtual Machines, the fundamentals remain the same:
- Choose an image
- Select instance size
- Configure networking & security
- Launch and connect
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Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) is an AWS service that lets you run virtual servers in the cloud whenever you need them. Instead of buying physical hardware, you can quickly create servers online and start building or running applications faster and at a lower cost.
With EC2, you can choose how many servers you need, set up security and networking, and manage storage easily. You can increase server capacity when you have heavy workloads or high website traffic, and reduce it again when demand is low, helping you save costs.
An EC2 instance is simply a virtual server in AWS. When you create one, you choose an instance type, which decides how much computing power, memory, networking, and storage the server will have.
Documenting these similarities and differences is helping me strengthen my cloud fundamentals and build a true multi-cloud mindset.
Here’s a step-by-step guide from my hands-on experience:
Sign in & Navigate
- Log in to your AWS Management Console.
- Go to the EC2 service under “Compute.”
- Click Launch Instance to start creating your virtual server.
Add Tag
Choose an Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
- Pick a pre-configured operating system (Linux, Windows, etc.).
- Think of it like choosing the OS for an Azure VM — same concept, different interface.
Add key pair
Select RDP and http
Launch & Connect
- Review all settings and click Launch.
*Generate and copy the password
- Download the key pair (.pem file) to securely connect via SSH (Linux) or RDP (Windows).
- Download the RDP file and connect with the copied password
- Congratulations! Your EC2 instance is live.
- Start surfing the internet
EC2 creation feels different from Azure VMs at first, but the cloud fundamentals are consistent.
Documenting these steps helps me compare platforms and strengthen my multi-cloud skills.
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