EBS
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) provides persistent block storage for Amazon EC2 instances. Understanding the EBS lifecycle is essential for data durability, cost optimization, and recovery planning. SecureCart, an e-commerce platform, relies on EBS lifecycle best practices to maintain system availability and backup integrity.
🔹 EBS Lifecycle Stages
The EBS lifecycle consists of the following key stages:
Stage
Description
SecureCart Use Case
1️⃣ Volume Creation
An EBS volume is created and attached to an EC2 instance.
SecureCart provisions a gp3 EBS volume for its order database on an EC2 instance.
2️⃣ Volume Usage
The EBS volume is actively used for read/write operations.
SecureCart’s application writes order transactions and inventory changes to the volume.
3️⃣ Snapshot Creation
Periodic backups are taken using EBS Snapshots stored in Amazon S3.
SecureCart schedules daily snapshots of its database volume for disaster recovery.
4️⃣ Volume Modification
Modify volume size, type, or performance without downtime.
SecureCart scales its EBS volume size to handle increased Black Friday traffic.
5️⃣ Snapshot Management
Snapshots are retained, deleted, or moved to S3 Glacier for cost efficiency.
SecureCart moves old snapshots to S3 Glacier to save costs.
6️⃣ Volume Deletion
When no longer needed, an EBS volume is detached and deleted.
SecureCart removes unused development environment EBS volumes to reduce costs.
1️⃣ EBS Volume Creation
🔹 Key Concepts:
Volumes can be created as empty or from an existing snapshot.
Must be in the same Availability Zone (AZ) as the EC2 instance.
Default encryption is enabled using AWS KMS.
✅ Best Practices:
✔ Choose the right volume type (gp3, io2, sc1, etc.) based on workload. ✔ Encrypt volumes containing sensitive data. ✔ Use provisioned IOPS (io2) for high-performance databases.
🔹 SecureCart Use Case:
SecureCart provisions a gp3 volume to store product inventory data.
KMS encryption ensures compliance with security standards.
2️⃣ EBS Volume Usage
🔹 Key Concepts:
An EBS volume remains attached to an EC2 instance for persistent storage.
Supports read/write operations in real-time.
Performance depends on volume type, IOPS, and throughput.
✅ Best Practices:
✔ Monitor EBS performance metrics in Amazon CloudWatch. ✔ Use Elastic Volumes to scale storage dynamically. ✔ Enable Multi-Attach (io1/io2) for shared access across instances.
🔹 SecureCart Use Case:
SecureCart’s EC2 instance writes new orders to an EBS volume.
Auto-scaling instances share log storage via Multi-Attach volumes.
3️⃣ EBS Snapshot Creation
🔹 Key Concepts:
Point-in-time backup of an EBS volume stored in Amazon S3.
Incremental backups – only changed blocks are saved.
Supports manual or scheduled snapshot creation.
✅ Best Practices:
✔ Use Amazon Data Lifecycle Manager (DLM) to automate snapshots. ✔ Take snapshots before performing updates. ✔ Ensure snapshots are encrypted for security compliance.
🔹 SecureCart Use Case:
SecureCart automates daily snapshots using DLM.
Snapshots prevent data loss if an EC2 instance fails.
4️⃣ EBS Volume Modification
🔹 Key Concepts:
Modify volume type, size, and IOPS without stopping the instance.
Supported by gp3, io2, st1, and sc1 volume types.
Changes take effect instantly.
✅ Best Practices:
✔ Increase volume size incrementally as needed. ✔ Upgrade gp2 to gp3 for cost savings and better performance. ✔ Monitor CloudWatch metrics to avoid under/over-provisioning.
🔹 SecureCart Use Case:
During a holiday sale, SecureCart scales its EBS volume from 500GB to 1TB.
Upgrades gp2 to gp3 for better throughput at lower cost.
5️⃣ Snapshot Management
🔹 Key Concepts:
Snapshots can be copied across regions for disaster recovery.
Supports lifecycle policies to manage retention.
Snapshots can be moved to Amazon S3 Glacier for cost savings.
✅ Best Practices:
✔ Use Amazon S3 Glacier for long-term snapshot storage. ✔ Copy snapshots to another region for disaster recovery. ✔ Implement retention policies to delete old snapshots.
🔹 SecureCart Use Case:
SecureCart archives snapshots older than 6 months to S3 Glacier.
Cross-region replication ensures disaster recovery for critical workloads.
6️⃣ EBS Volume Deletion
🔹 Key Concepts:
Detached volumes can be manually deleted.
Deleting a volume does not delete snapshots.
Root volumes cannot be deleted while the instance is running.
✅ Best Practices:
✔ Always create a snapshot before deleting a volume. ✔ Use lifecycle policies to automatically delete unused volumes. ✔ Monitor unused EBS volumes using AWS Trusted Advisor.
🔹 SecureCart Use Case:
SecureCart deletes development environment EBS volumes after project completion.
Saves costs by removing unused storage resources.
📌 Summary Table: EBS Lifecycle & SecureCart Use Cases
Stage
Description
SecureCart Example
Volume Creation
Create new EBS volume for storage.
Create gp3 volume for SecureCart’s inventory database.
Volume Usage
Read/write operations in real-time.
Order transactions are stored in EBS-backed databases.
Snapshot Creation
Backup volume data to Amazon S3.
Daily snapshots of customer orders for disaster recovery.
Volume Modification
Resize, upgrade, or change IOPS.
Increase volume size before Black Friday traffic spikes.
Snapshot Management
Retain, delete, or archive snapshots.
Move old snapshots to S3 Glacier for cost efficiency.
Volume Deletion
Remove unused storage.
SecureCart deletes unused test volumes to reduce costs.
📌 Common Mistakes & Solutions
Mistake
Problem
Solution
Not encrypting EBS volumes
Exposes sensitive data
Enable default encryption using AWS KMS
Deleting EBS volumes without snapshots
Data loss
Always create a snapshot before deleting a volume
Under-provisioning storage
Performance bottlenecks
Monitor CloudWatch metrics and scale storage dynamically
Forgetting to delete old snapshots
Increased storage costs
Use AWS Data Lifecycle Manager to remove stale snapshots
🔹 Final Takeaways
🚀 SecureCart follows best practices for managing EBS lifecycle efficiently. 🚀 EBS Snapshots ensure data protection and disaster recovery. 🚀 Using lifecycle policies and automation saves costs and optimizes performance.
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