Guided architecture tour · 6–8 min
Give a server a lasting disk — EBS and EC2
Choose a disk for an EC2 app and plan how to recover it.
This tour teaches architecture decisions. Its services are not provisioned in the emulator.
Your goal
Choose a disk for an EC2 app and plan how to recover it.
Why this matters
An app needs a place for its files. You will attach a disk, understand what survives stopping, and use a saved snapshot to make a recovery copy.
Words you will use
EBS is block storage used like a disk. A volume is one disk. A snapshot is a saved point-in-time copy used to create another volume.
How to proceed
Read each situation and choose an answer. The lesson explains the result. Try again if needed, then continue through all three decisions and finish the tour.
1. Choose a disk
Your EC2 app expects a disk it can format and use for files. It is not asking for a shared network folder. Choose the matching storage.
What fits this need?
An EBS volume.
An EBS volume attaches to an EC2 instance and behaves like a disk. It must be in the same Availability Zone, a location within a region, as that instance.
The app has a disk attached in the right location.
EC2 instance and EBS volume → same Availability Zone2. Stop without erasing
You stop an EBS-backed EC2 instance for a break. You have not terminated it or deleted its volume. Choose what to expect from that EBS data.
What happens to the data on its EBS volume?
It normally remains on the volume.
Stopping pauses the instance; it does not delete the EBS volume. Termination and delete-on-termination settings are different. EBS storage may still cost money on real AWS.
You separate stopping compute from deleting its storage.
Stop instance ≠ delete EBS volume3. Recover from a snapshot
A file system becomes damaged. You have a suitable snapshot taken earlier. Choose a recovery path that leaves the original available for inspection.
What should you do with the snapshot?
Create a new volume from it and check the recovered files.
A snapshot can create a new volume. Attach and inspect that recovery copy before changing the app. A snapshot only includes the data captured at that point in time.
You have a separate recovered disk to verify.
Snapshot → new EBS volume → inspect → planned switchPractice, then check your understanding
In the interactive tour, make each decision before seeing the outcome. Wrong answers receive coaching, and replay gives you a fresh attempt without duplicating earned XP.
Read the official AWS documentation for service behavior and production details.