Instance Store

aws/compute aws/storage

💡 Definition

Instance Store provides temporary block-level storage for your EC2 instance. This storage is located on disks that are physically attached to the host computer.

🔑 Key Concepts

Temporary/Ephemeral: Data on an instance store volume persists only during the life of the instance. If the instance is stopped, hibernated, or terminated, the data is lost.
High I/O Performance: Offers very low latency and high I/O performance, making it suitable for applications that need fast access to data.
Physically Attached: The storage is physically attached to the host machine.

⚙️ How it Works

Some EC2 Instance Types come with pre-configured instance store volumes. When you launch such an instance, the instance store is automatically available. You can use it as a scratch disk, for temporary data, or for caching.

🎯 Use Cases

Temporary Data: Buffers, caches, scratch data, or other temporary content.
Highly Available/Replicated Data: Data that is replicated across a fleet of instances (e.g., a distributed database where data loss on one node is acceptable).
Workloads needing very high I/O: Certain big data applications.

💰 Pricing Model

The cost of instance store volumes is included in the price of the instance that uses them.

📝 Exam Tips (CLF-C02)

Key characteristic: Data is lost when the instance is stopped or terminated.
Provides very high I/O performance.
Contrasted with EBS (persistent, network-attached storage).
Only available with certain EC2 Instance Types.

See Also: * EC2 * EBS * Instance Types