Can you explain the architecture of Amazon Machine Images and how they work within the AWS ecosystem?
Amazon Machine Images (AMI) are pre-configured templates for creating virtual servers, known as EC2 instances, within the AWS ecosystem. They contain a base operating system, software packages, and configurations required to launch an instance.
There are four types of AMIs : Amazon-provided, community-shared, private, and marketplace. Users can choose from these options based on their requirements or create custom AMIs for specific needs.
When launching an EC2 instance, users select an appropriate AMI, which is then used by the AWS infrastructure to provision resources like storage, compute, and memory. The chosen AMI also determines the instance’s root volume type, either EBS-backed or instance store-backed.
EBS-backed instances have persistent storage, allowing data to be retained even after termination, while instance store-backed instances lose data upon termination. Users can modify existing AMIs by adding or removing software components and saving them as new custom AMIs.
AMIs are region-specific but can be copied across regions if needed. Sharing AMIs with other AWS accounts is possible through permissions management.
